G5 Tower design

[mischief]

I want to know who wants what in terms of Case design.We seem to have a good mix of casual and power users so this may work out well:

1. Geek factor X ........ Thumb screws, modularity and ease of Access. Screw the curves.

2. Contemporary American "Muscle Car". Not quite so Geek friendly but at least not ignoring the power user.

3. About what the Quicksilver's like: Kinda easy but an obvious compromise that borders on irritating.

4. What's a Power User? I just want a bigger screen. A tower's better right?

 

[mcrain]

A good poll attempts to obtain the unbiased input of the poll-taker. In order to do that, the poll must be fasioned in such a way that no choice seems more appropriate or desired than any other choice, so that the poll-taker's personal opinion is the only deciding factor.

Here, the poll is clearly biased, thus any results will not be instructive.

I personally vote for the baddest machine possible even though I'm not a power user. I want all the bells and whistles.

By the way, what the heck is a power user, and towers are better right?

 

[mischief]

Pardon Me.......I forgot my statistics textbook.

Cool off........

I make no effort to hide my oppinion to stimulate discussion. If I wanted accurate data do you think I'd poll on a Mac Rumors forum?

 

[mcrain]

I'm not upset, just being expressive. I personally agree with your viewpoint that apple needs to come out with a killer machine that the tech and geek world will drool over, but it has to have a few concessions for people like me. People like me spend tons of money on computing power we don't need, and Apple needs our cash. (Please spare me the 5 bil in the bank arguments)

As for discussion purposes, I don't think you are going to get much argument about putting the maximum horsepower into a tower, but I think if your point is that Apple should put out an ugly machine, then your point should be made clearer.

I want apple to continue making aesthetically pleasing machines. I'd sacrifice some (albiet a little) pro-power to keep my apple from looking like an old Compaq, or even an old Apple PowerPC.

 

[mischief]

IMHO:

Although the Polycarb slab is cool......Apple must stop compromising Pro-User features solely to improve aesthetics. I too like a nice looking tower but there must be a limit.

As I said elsewhere:

I figure modularity is where it's at. The problem is: where do you draw the line between form and function.

If you build a tower for optimal geek-friendliness it will lose some of it's sex appeal to raw tech-savvy. If you design a slab of smooth polycarbonate it will lose out on accessability.

Personally......I want function over sex-toy like curves.

I want a tower that'll fit under the desk with the cables coming out the top.


I want the drives arranged longitudinally with the case for a slimmer profile.

I want the HD controller OFF THE MOBO so if I want something else I can have it without wasting mobo space.

I want all the drives arranged such that the cables can reach ALL OF THEM without monkeying them in there.

I want the round drive cables.

I want drives mounted with thumb screws and a reel-away integral grounding strap.

I want the front bank of drives set up to be accessed from the front of the case as if they were all removeable media drives.

I want nothing but MP towers.

I want 8 RAM slots.

I want four high-quality variable-speed fans with sound-concious ducting.

I want room for 6 HD's and 2 optical drives.......screw the internal Zip they cost the same as the external kits and modify a drive space for no good reason.

I want the whole case set up like a funny car: no crammed components.....no inadequate cables.....no inexplicably tight framing.....no unused parts on the mobo.


I'm quite irritated with the fact that so many rich schmucks buy towers for home use and NEVER utilize ANY of the features that make them cool other than varying the monitor size.

I think a pro machine should be a ****ing pro machine and that's the end of it. I want a tower that'd scare away these spoiled brat-consumers with sheer geek factor. I want a tower we can really put in the "muscle-car" category. I want a tower that a power-geek could fiddle with all day without injury, a screwdriver or a hacksaw. I want ADEQUATE FANS. The existing cluge of heat sinks and half-*ssed fan assemblys is an embarrasment that shows the timid compromise of design over substance.



Bottom line: I want a Tower to make PC Hardware nuts ejaculate just looking at it.

 

[eyelikeart]

hey....it's mischief's poll....when has he been known to be biased anyway?!

maybe we should be able to design our own Macs and then we can all be happy?

 

[germanknee]

i don't think that apple would have to compromise between appearance and power. i'm confident in the id department at apple.

if they did have to, i wouldn't care what the thing looked like; as long as it was fast, stable, and of high quality, i could deal with the sight of it.

 

[crassusad44]

What's this??? Isn't the current tower design any good? I have never seen a computer so easy to open and add stuff to. Ever tried to open an IBM? Or an E-machine??? Yeah, I want more stuff in there too, like faster motherboard, more PCI-slots and so on, but the tower as of now is great. I have a bad-ass computer with sex-appeal...

 

[oldMac]

The current design ain't bad...

I love the current drop-down door with the motherboard sitting on it. You should see how much I curse my Dell in comparison to opening my B&W G3.

The drive bay setup does kind of suck, though. Lots of wasted space, no logical cable routing.

 

[oldMac]

What I would like to see...

I think more modularity would be cool.

Apple once made a machine (the IIsi inparticular - and possibly other in the II series) that could be completely disassembled without using a single tool. Everything, including drives, motherboard, fan and power supply were held in place by clips, plugs and other tension devices.

You could strip the entire device down to the motherboard within 60 seconds.

I would like to see that kind of modularity applied to the hardware *AND* software for the Macintosh. Mac OS 7 was close to that level of software modularity, we lost it over time and started to see it come back recently.

The hardware modularity, (pulling and replacing power supplies, drives, etc) would be very nice for server hardware. This would be especially true if this modularity could be put in place to allow the expansion of a professional-level box into a server-level box with little additional cost.

Think LEGO-type functionality for adding/swapping drives, redundant fans and power supplies.

 

[Mindtrics]

Ive have been wondering for some time what the new powermac g5 is going to look like. I was hoping to find a picture of sorts in this thread, but o well.

I dont own a Mac now and haven't for years. I have been concidering buying a New Mac, but Im waiting for the g5 to arrive b4 I make the purchase. I hope that they make the tower design look cool, like the g3/g4's. But I am also hoping that they make it moddable.

Here's a pict of what my current pc is using(case)

If you looked, that case has 5 fans, a window w/ light.
A nicely modded case. That keeps the mb, cpu, gpu and drives cool. And the games running smoothly.

 

[tortus]

I don't care

I could care less what the case looks like. It would be a plus if it adopted some kind of post-modern, industrial design (bauhaus influence preferred.) I just want the g5. That is all. I want the performance. You know what else would be nice...CPU upgradability. It would be nice to plop in a better processor a year after I buy my g5 without having to buy a Sonnet card. This will allow me to also sell my old CPU on ebay to some genius that figures out how to adopt the g5 to the current g4 system architecture Come on Apple, get with the program. Lower prices and allow me to upgrade the brain whenever I feel frisky. Screw the case. I hardly see my case. I look at two monitors for 12 hours a day. I forget what my case looks like.

 

[Pants]

metal - it has to be metal. and thinner than teh current g4 (slightly shorter would be nice too)

 

[iGav]

Monolithic......

Going back to the post root.....

I hope it will be made out of metal....... minimal...... monolithic......very squared-off, sharp lines with laser engraved G5 on the side....... a glowing Apple logo on the side too!!!

Firewire 2 and USB 2 ports on the front of the machine...... with all logos laser engraved........

Slot loading drives, so not to have those cup holder things popping out all of the time!!

And be completely impenetrable to diamond drills...... and have a hovercraft function to allow it to be easily moved!!!

 

[iGav]

metal - it has to be metal

pants:
metal - it has to be metal. and thinner than teh current g4 (slightly shorter would be nice too)

Yeh!!! Monolithic..........

but with hovercraft funtionality as it'll have no carrying handles to disrupt those monolithic lines........

 

[wrylachlan]

modular

I keep posting this idea, but then the thread always disappears before I get any feedback.

Modular design with two units: a CPU Module which sits under the desk and has the motherboard and pci bus connected by a Cable Bundle to an Input Module (looks like a smaller iMac base) that sits on the desk and has the ports and optical drive, and maybe an open drive bay for a zip or second optical drive.

The CPU module would be more efficient at heat dispersal because without the optical drive in the tower you could put fans on the back and front - lots of air flow.

With all the things you need to connect to on your desk, no more stooping over to put disks in the drive, or dealing with ports underneath and in the back of your desk.

This would sort of go with apple's design philosophy of each part being "true to itself" (admittedly some pretentious jargon). The CPU Module is for heat dispersal, and the Input Module is for connectivity.What do you think folks?

 

[Mr. Anderson]

Everyone seems to be talking about metal, metal, metal...

Why?

Given Apple's track record lately, there is no doubt in my mind that if the G5 is a redesign (should be), that it will be beyond our expectations. Look at the flat screen iMac, no one came close to guessing what it would look like.

Try to think like Apple's design group has to. Throw everything out that you arleady know and start with no preconceived ideas.

Start with what you have to build into the design.

CD/DVD access
Cable ports (USB,Firewire, Power, etc.)
Space for harddrives
Space for expansion cards
Transformer

The mother board can be configured to fit the enclosure after all of the above things are arranged.

Construction with metal makes curved surfaces much more costly, not that its not possible. But why would Apple add more cost to a product when they could make something just as slick with plastic. Sure, some people will have no problem coming up with the extra cash for a metal machine. If the G5 is the speed demon its been rumored, the industry will sit up and take notice, but they need to get more people in the seat behind a G5, and the only way to do that is to make it affordable.

 

[iGav]

Thinking like the Apple Product Design Division.....

Using metal would be approaching the construction differently...... look at the Ti Book, the use of Titanium and clever design, material and construction techniques allow the Ti Book the luxury of more advanced heat dissipation i.e that the whole casing becomes a giant heat sink.....

Also metal isn't exactly a common material interms of constructing towers..... using metal would also differentiate the Pro-sumer from the Consumer machines.....

I quite like the idea of a sharp lined, crisp minimal machine..... Monolithic maybe?? much like the Ti book when closed, sure it wouldn't be to everyones taste, but neither is the imac or the ibook.....

I think the G5 will be an incredible example of innovative product design, but it's the little details that Apple specialise in that make their machines really stand out for instance does the machine have to be really curvey?? there are many conotations that can be applied to shapes, curvey, soft lines, light colours can be interpreted as to being more friendly, more approachable etc etc..... the same can be said of using metal, having hard crisp lines = strength etc.....

And having the detailing such as logos etc. laser etched into the case would look outstanding...... this kind of detailing is what sets Apple apart......

They'll undoubtedly be looking at the use of various materials, the advantages of using plastics over metals etc... and ultimately will decide on the most suitable with regards to aesthetical and operational functionality!!! I just think having a slab of minimalist metal on my desk would look rather cool and fit into the look of my flat rather well.....

 

[iGav]

Modular....

I do actually quite like the concept of a modular G5...... I definitley think that having the most widely used ports such as Firewire and USB should be easily accessible...... i.e. situated at the front of the machine, so it allows easy plug and play, also have Firewire and USB ports on the module underneath the desk...... so you can stack up with other goodies.......

Think is, I quite like having the mac on display, as opposed to underneath a desk......

but I completely see tha validity in have 2 seperate components, increased desk space is always a luxury for creatives.......

 

[iGav]

Modular....

I do actually quite like the concept of a modular G5...... I definitley think that having the most widely used ports such as Firewire and USB should be easily accessible...... i.e. situated at the front of the machine, so it allows easy plug and play, also have Firewire and USB ports on the module underneath the desk...... so you can stack up with other goodies.......

Think is, I quite like having the mac on display, as opposed to underneath a desk......

but I completely see tha validity in have 2 seperate components, increased desk space is always a luxury for creatives.......

 

[mischief]

Fun with 1/4" graph paper.

I played with layout a bit last night while waiting for my carpool. I settled on a single housing with 3 compartments by function......each with it's own fan(s) and ducting.

Case consists of a monolithic assembly 18"x18"x8" which occupies a similar amount of space as the existing tower once the handles and slight side curvature are factored.

Similar aesthetic to this case: [url:http://www.theapplecollection.com/design/macdesign/Gx.html]

But without all the extra curves, keep the dome front and slight flare of the side panels. Overall look more like: [url:http://www.theapplecollection.com/design/macdesign/G5-2.html]

The dome in front, occupying the top 1/2 of thr front panel is the mobo proper: a Cube size mobo w/ 8 RAM slots and as many as 8 Gn processors. the dome unlatches and swings open.

Below the dome are two tray-load optical drives-which are the front 2 drive bays in the drive section........ which runs along the bottom 5" of the case. The drive compartment holds 2 full-height optical drives and as many as 6 HD's. Frames and thumb-screws included for up to 6 drives.

The entire remainder of case volume is occupied by 6 PCI slots arranged vertically. Only the optical drives run from the mobo. All HD's run from a factory installed 3rd party drive-host PCI card.

Case has up to 4 fans. Access to rear and bottom portion is through a hatch like the one we all know and love but since the mobo is up front the PCI bus can be along the inside of the non-door side of the case. Modularity could allow for swapping PCI bus architecture, mobo and drives seperately.

Power supply is moved out like the cube's brick (flame bait ) to remove it's heat and wasted space. Airport and other "peripheral" I/O cards (like the modem) move to a series of PCMCIA slots along the PCI-chamber side of the mobo.

I call it the Gx Gorgon. With an upgraded ADC and Firewire moved to the monitor you'd have that top-access issue taken care of. All standard connectors save those for networking move to the Gorgon's "forehead", Networking connectors move to the rear of the PCI compartment's exterior.

 

[3rdpath]

2 things please

1) rack-mountable from the factory

2) whisper-quiet operation

 

[Mr. Anderson]

smooth boxy metal enclosure

add a few slots for cd/dvd and you get a toaster!!

don't like the metal picture from mischief's post, too boxy, flat, with sharp edges

there was a design way back (~1-2 years) by some Italians with a very slick tower design that reminded me of chrome locomotive. Can't find anything now, anyone know what I'm talking about?

 

[lordsinforge]

Re: smooth boxy metal enclosure

Originally posted by dukestreet

there was a design way back (~1-2 years) by some Italians with a very slick tower design that reminded me of chrome locomotive. Can't find anything now, anyone know what I'm talking about?

If memory serves that was buy some group that midified the G4 case for water cooling the prossessor, the case served as a giant radiator, dissapating the heat. If I remember correctly they overclocked the hell out of the prossesor.

 

[Mr. Anderson]

locomotive design

I couldn't find it, so I made it up from memory.

This is very rough, 3D version of something I saw 2 years ago online. It was chrome, and the horizontal slats were there along with the 'eye'. But it might not have been red.