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G5 Design???

That wouldn´t work if they are still towers. Towers remain UNDER the desk. <p>
Well, I for one keep my tower on my desk. And I too would like a firewire and a couple of usb ports on the front.
 
The Gene Pool is Getting Shallow Around Here

What? G5 sphere? Have you guys lost your minds? You oughta know by now, if you are a mac user, that pro models are towers because they need expandibility and structure. Steve has warped your minds with cubes and half-spheres via the iMac and G4 cube.

Dont you know that the iMac exists as a 'playful yet powerful' home computer? It begs to have a unique design and look. The powermac, on the other hand, wants style and elegance -but most importantly, expandibility.

Anyway, plenty of people have already said this.

My guess for the new G5 ( when it comes out MYSF '03 ;) ) will be a slender tower (not like the kinda pudgy G4's now) and will resemble in some ways the Play Station 2. (not in color or design, just in its dimensions) Of course, it will still have the traditional Apple translucent/metallic look. At least, I hope it does. I also think black will be a more integral part of the color scheme.
 
wow, long time agreenster, jefhatfield here

as much as the g4 tower is boring, it does have those slots which i would never use but many would

i wonder if a cube could be made to have mini slots or someting but major industry changes would have to take place first and my guess is that the g4 sized towers won't be like that forever but still for a long time

-jef
 
Coherent discussion

Okay, focus here!

The consensus is that G5 will be a re-configged tower. The existing blue/Grey tower design is limited by a need to dissipate heat and accomodate a larger than current mobo. The case design is also constrained by the transverse mounting of internal HD's and the overall length of "full size" PCI cards. I could see mounting the internal HD's front-to-back instead of side-to-side, but at that point the height of PCI cards becomes an issue.......Perhaps a vertical arangement of PCI (ports at the top)?

I think the next case will be an extension of the existing design, shrunk down to conform to the new Mobo dimensions with a fan intake in the front and the default ATA HD in place of the existing Zip bay.

At that point you could go to an outboard power supply and vastly expand the PCI and drive support by removing the Mobo's second ATA bus in favor of ellective PCI host cards. I suppose you could do 6 PCI, 2 AGP and 6 internal drive bays. If the mobo could be shrunk down to a strip just wide enough for the PCI slots, lose the internal modem, switch to a rear-access PCMCIA slot for the Airport card......... The case would actually be a bit bigger to accomodate fans and airspace....hmmmmm.....It'd kick a** though.

After all that brutalization:

Optical drive-front+ATA 133 HD to Mobo ATA 133 bus (128 bit scalable mobo)


6 PCI slots
2 8x AGP
64 bit PCI bridge

8 DDR 1GB-per capable 200Mhz 168 pin DIMM slots

4 Firewire (1 or 2)

4 USB (1 or 2)

10/100/1000 Base T Ethernet
Airport +Gigawire Airport ("short" range implementation Airport)

Yes, I did find some very strong Ganja and no, you can't have any!;) :p :D :cool: :rolleyes:

Not a prediction, just a bit of fun.
 
heres a thought

How about this one? The standard tower but with no drives, or connectors. This sits under the desk. On the desk is a dome, like the iMac base which contains the Superdrive, maybe a Zip and all the USB, Firewire, Video, speaker, etc. ports as well as the power. This dome is connected to the back of the tower by a proprietary cable, Gigawire perhaps? This lets the tower sit below your desk and you don't have to bend down to reach the drives. The dome might even include a docking-station type setup for the iPod, so it could slide in, making the firewire connection without cabling. I don't know if the Cinema Displays are all the same height off the desk, but if they are, the dome could be designed to sit right under , with the drive tray sliding out under the monitor.
 
agreed about the intel designs.
geez I haven't seen stuff like that even late at night in amsterdam!:eek:

some look like what my dad used to say "Like it got pulle dout of a tall cow's ass!":confused:
 
I agree with wrylachlan, this would make sense. Modular units make the size of each one smaller and the design could be more stylish. U could even let the consumer deside whether he wants an enclosure for 4 or 6 or how much ever PCI-slots. This sounds practical to me.
 
Design for Design Sake

did you guys read the interview of Jonathan Ive? The design principle behind Apple computer is not to "Design for Design Sake."

That means that they will not design something just to make it 'Cool' and 'Hip'. It has more to do with the ease of use on the end-user. Course there are elements of the design that matters little on the end user part such as some of the colors and materials and texture.

As far as position of components and shape, its definitely not going to just carry shock value..
 
Re: Coherent discussion

Originally posted by mischief
Okay, focus here!

The consensus is that G5 will be a re-configged tower. The existing blue/Grey tower design is limited by a need to dissipate heat and accomodate a larger than current mobo. The case design is also constrained by the transverse mounting of internal HD's and the overall length of "full size" PCI cards. I could see mounting the internal HD's front-to-back instead of side-to-side, but at that point the height of PCI cards becomes an issue.......Perhaps a vertical arangement of PCI (ports at the top)?

I think the next case will be an extension of the existing design, shrunk down to conform to the new Mobo dimensions with a fan intake in the front and the default ATA HD in place of the existing Zip bay.

At that point you could go to an outboard power supply and vastly expand the PCI and drive support by removing the Mobo's second ATA bus in favor of ellective PCI host cards. I suppose you could do 6 PCI, 2 AGP and 6 internal drive bays. If the mobo could be shrunk down to a strip just wide enough for the PCI slots, lose the internal modem, switch to a rear-access PCMCIA slot for the Airport card......... The case would actually be a bit bigger to accomodate fans and airspace....hmmmmm.....It'd kick a** though.

After all that brutalization:

Optical drive-front+ATA 133 HD to Mobo ATA 133 bus (128 bit scalable mobo)


6 PCI slots
2 8x AGP
64 bit PCI bridge

8 DDR 1GB-per capable 200Mhz 168 pin DIMM slots

4 Firewire (1 or 2)

4 USB (1 or 2)

10/100/1000 Base T Ethernet
Airport +Gigawire Airport ("short" range implementation Airport)

Yes, I did find some very strong Ganja and no, you can't have any!;) :p :D :cool: :rolleyes:

Not a prediction, just a bit of fun.
Click to expand...

How about making the memory 266MHz for PC2100 memory or the newer PC2700 memory(not 168pin but 184 pin)?? That would give the Mac a leg up over the peecee world. Keep two firewire ports on the back, and put either one or two on the front of the case. That way people can easily plug in either FireWire hard drives or burners easily and not have to crawl under the desk. Also USB ports on the front would be nice to allow you to attach a printer there. I would love ports on the front, since I share both USB and FireWire devices between my two Mac's.

Faster Airport capabilities would be sweet. The 11Mbit speed that we are kept to now is good for internet access only. If I need to move a file between systems, I either have to run an ethernet line between them, or use an external drive. I would imagine that Apple could make something faster then the 802.11a protocol (54Mbit each way speed). It would be great to have 100Mbit, full duplex networking via Airport...

I think I might have gotten some of the same ganja you got... it was sweeeeeet!!! :D
 
Originally posted by Digidesign
I don't care what it looks like, as long as it doesn't look like any of these! :D

http://developer.intel.com/technology/easeofuse/conceptpc.htm

(shudder)
Click to expand...

Everyone, all together now... intel BLOWS!!! intel chips are for the rich and foolish (I know, repetative). Who else would spend upwards of $700 for a single chip??? Anyone have bets on how long before intel is brought to court for being a monopoly too?? They are starting to use practices to stiffle the competition.
 
doesn't matter

some of my clients are fortune 500 companies and in the design departments i have seen the darn thing is shoved under a crowded desk anyway

i have not seen a pro setup where the tower is even seen, with exception of the kinko's chain where they have them on the desktops to look nice and neat to attract customers

i like eyelikeart's jpeg pix of one in the second post on this thread, and i guess at my apartment, a nice looking case would be a plus

the g5 under the hood is what would turn my wheels more than looks...but at least apple macs are not beige
 
yeah, i only ever see towers under the desk.

possibly thats why the imac was so popular in offices, space efficient.
 
I've never seen a setup quite like mine... my desk has shelves above it. In the middle is my k/b and mouse. To the left is my 19" CRT, to the right is the main bit of my HI FI. Top left is a speaker, top right is a speaker, top middle is my G4 sitting sideways.

Mmm, so I only ever see the side of my machine...
 
i like the current quicksilver enclosure.
apple will make a new one, though. i think it will be a tower. it will probably be bigger than the current cases because i think the motherboard will be larger. beside being impractical for expansion, i also think that a sphere or tube would suck asthetically. i just hope it's released this summer or before, hopefully before.
 
re: imacs in offices

so many imacs in offices doing "pro" work

also congrats, spikey, on 600! belatedly though

...i miss kela and wonder where the heck she is these days
 
Re: re: imacs in offices

Originally posted by networkman
so many imacs in offices doing "pro" work

also congrats, spikey, on 600! belatedly though

...i miss kela and wonder where the heck she is these days
Click to expand...

speaking of imacs in offices doing pro work, around our work we have powermacs in offices doing secretarial work. do you guys know how annoying it is to see your secretary using the new g4 quicksilver two weeks before the thing is announced just so she can do email and word and spreadsheets, while you are using an old g3? during her lunch break im always going and playing around with it. i like changing the alert sound to "stop doing that cindy!" my voice of course. really freaks her out.

as far as the new g5 enclosure some sort fo tower is almost assured, especially considering all the prototypes have been towers. but there is still a lot of room for apple ingenuity in the tower form.
 
Mac on the side

A desktop on its side...gee, how original. Let's paint it beige, too. While it would be nice to save a bit more space so the monitor can rest on the case, I don't find a side-sitting tower that critical.

But I would say that the expandability is a must, making it an appealing feature for the tower. When I was looking for a new computer last year, I debated between the cube and the G4 tower. I went with the tower because I could put two hard drives into it, and also I had heard quite a few horror stories about the Cubes being faulty. I'm not saying that every Cube was bad, and there are many days that I wish I had the cube so I didn't have to lug my tower to school a few times...the cube would have been much easier. But if there are any changes, I hope that the inside is as clean and accessable as my G4 is. I used to work on PCs, and some of those are ungodly horrible to try and work with, since many of the cables and boards and chips are smashed so close together. Now if my fingers had three knuckles and an extra 3 or 4 inches long, it wouldn't be so bad! Whereas with the PowerMacs, just pull the handle (no screws or nasty cases to try and pry off), then pull the side down. Pretty much everything is quite easy to get to. RAM slots are out in the open, switching drives and such is pretty simple, too.
 
eden: i agree the ease of working on a g4 (or one ofthe old blue/white g3s) is amazing. i cant imagine apple creating a new pro mac without equal accessability.

as far as the desktop on its side, just a guess (maybe i read it worng) but i thought he didnt mean on its side as in like the old machines with the monitors on top he meant "sideways" which i took to mean (again maybe im the one reading this wrong) that it was turned so the cd drive is facing the side with the square side panel of the g4 facing forward (rather than the top of the g4 facing forward as your interpretation assumes). i was thinking he was proud of showing off the beautiful side panel of his g4.
 
Hmmmmmm................

So apart from the case aesthetics, what would we all like?

1. more ports
2. DDR
3. A wider Mobo Bitstream
4. A hatch that closes reliably
5. Faster Airport

I don't know about y'awl but I'd like:

6. Elective (PCI) Drive Hosting
7. A second AGP, both faster if possible
8. More RAM slots
9. Lose the internal Modem
10. Lose the internal Power supply
11. Lose the internal Zip bay
:D
 
Originally posted by trinitishwar
That wouldn´t work if they are still towers. Towers remain UNDER the desk. <p>
Well, I for one keep my tower on my desk. And I too would like a firewire and a couple of usb ports on the front.
Click to expand...

I ditto that. Tower stays on desk. Reach under the desk to insert a DVD or ZIP? I don't THINK so!
 
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