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Report: Mac Pro To See Redesign

MacRumors

MacRumors

macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
56,993
19,862


LoopRumors believes that Apple is staging a redesign of its Mac Pro systems. The new systems are said to be smaller, with a new cooling system that will direct hot air out the top of the system rather than the back.

When Apple introduced the Mac Pro in August last year, it left the design of its pro system largely untouched outside of slight internal shifts and the addition of a second optical drive. The Mac Pro was first rumored to be updated last year, with reports that Apple's research and development efforts having been completed some time ago, however the Mac Pro remains unchanged since its introduction.
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2007/02/14/report-mac-pro-to-be-redesigned/
spicyapple

spicyapple

macrumors 68000
Jul 20, 2006
1,724
1
I hope it has a smaller form factor, although once Apple puts in 160-cores and room for a 12-drive SATA RAID... I don't know about that! :)

The size I don't mind... if only they could make it lighter. oooy.
 
pianoman

pianoman

macrumors 68000
May 31, 2006
1,962
0
i'd like to see a smaller Mac Pro but it'd be hard to fit 1TB of hard drive space with 8 cores (rumored) while keeping everything cool and functioning properly.

i'd also like to see something besides brushed metal. Apple's used it for a while and it might be time to move on.
 
0007776

0007776

Suspended
Jul 11, 2006
6,473
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Somewhere
pianoman said:
i'd like to see a smaller Mac Pro but it'd be hard to fit 1TB of hard drive space with 8 cores (rumored) while keeping everything cool and functioning properly.
Click to expand...

The 1TB shouldn't be hard since a 1TB drive is coming out sometime this year.
 
zap2

zap2

macrumors 604
Mar 8, 2005
7,241
3
Washington D.C
Hope so...Apple's whole Mac line needs a redisign..they look nice, but a little dated. The iMac and MacBook Pro are on the top of the list, the Mini and the MacBook are on the bottom of the list.
 
pianoman

pianoman

macrumors 68000
May 31, 2006
1,962
0
mrkramer said:
The 1TB shouldn't be hard since a 1TB drive is coming out sometime this year.
Click to expand...

i meant to say 4TB (referring to the possibility of 4 x 1TB drives). i'm no expert when it comes to the innards of a Mac Pro but i think everything's packed pretty tightly in there now. i'm interested to see if Apple could reduce the size without making it a fire hazard.
 
B

BobbyDigital

macrumors member
Sep 13, 2006
96
0
I wish they'd make it rack-mountable... It would be more convenient in a studio setup. There is a company that builds special racks to fit the current MacPro design, but with the heat coming out on top, this new design could cause a ventilation problem.
 
wakerider017

wakerider017

macrumors 68000
Sep 20, 2006
1,790
1
US of A
pianoman said:
i'd like to see a smaller Mac Pro but it'd be hard to fit 1TB of hard drive space with 8 cores (rumored) while keeping everything cool and functioning properly.

i'd also like to see something besides brushed metal. Apple's used it for a while and it might be time to move on.
Click to expand...

8 cores does NOT mean 8 CPU's... There will still only be 2 CPU's...

Also 500 GB drives are VERY common these days... 2 of them don't take up much space...


Consumer TB drives are just around the corner...:rolleyes:
 
DMann

DMann

macrumors 601
Jan 13, 2002
4,001
0
10023
Mac Pro

A revisit to the G4 design, only sleeker... perhaps polycarbon with a subtle gloss finish....
 
devilot

devilot

Moderator emeritus
May 1, 2005
15,584
1
Turkish said:
Since when is LoopRumors reliable? :rolleyes:
Click to expand...
Less trusted rumors/ stories are placed on Page 2, exactly where this article is. :p

I'd love to see a more compact tower, I'm not a huge fan of towers 'cause I'd never need that sort of power, but it'd be more appealing if it were more compact. I'm guessing other consumers might feel that way as well.
 
M

macfan881

macrumors 68020
Feb 22, 2006
2,345
0
i actaully think this would be a good idea i would have thought apple went with a smaller model when they switch considering they didnt need all the fan power for the former g5 but i do think we may see some sort of redisgn soon
 
apfhex

apfhex

macrumors 68030
Aug 8, 2006
2,670
4
Northern California
I like my big honkin aluminum box, but a redesign would be interesting. Top ventilation though? With my habit of stacking stuff atop the machine (surely others do this?! :D), I don't think that would work out too well. :p
 
0

081440

macrumors regular
Mar 14, 2006
161
33
New Jersey
Hot air out the top!?

how and why would they push heat out the top!? In a large number of cases I find that people (including myself) place external hard drives and USB hubs and everything else on top of the machine.. it's so convenient. I can't see Apple routing the output up there... but we'll see :cool:
 
A

Astral Cars

macrumors regular
May 11, 2005
198
0
St. Paul
I imagine since hot air rises it reduces the need for fans if the heat is vented through the top. Wasn't that the idea on the Cube?
 
U

uaaerospace

macrumors 6502
Feb 15, 2005
396
0
Alabama
081440 said:
In a large number of cases I find that people (including myself) place external hard drives and USB hubs and everything else on top of the machine.. it's so convenient. I can't see Apple routing the output up there... but we'll see :cool:
Click to expand...

I completely agree. Not to mention the freedom of dust to settle in the case and cause heating problems over time. I have a G5 case, and for the most part, there is quite a bit of extra room in there. I'm not as familiar with the newer Mac Pros, but surely they could make it a tad smaller (and lighter....I'm a college student and the case kills me on move in day :) ) and still keep the storage and processor capacity high.

That being said, they put a lot of thought into making the inside and outside of the current cases clean (at least on the G5). No bundle of wires as is found in some other desktops. For that, they are to be commended.
 
QCassidy352

QCassidy352

macrumors G4
Mar 20, 2003
11,830
5,553
Bay Area
I've never liked the G5/mac pro cases, not even when I owned one. It looks like an industrial cheese grater. A lot of people say they like it, but IMO if it were a PC case, they'd hate it - just can't divorce the innards from the outards. (the inside is fantastic though.) A redesign would be great.
 
Analog Kid

Analog Kid

macrumors 604
Mar 4, 2003
6,898
6,843
My vote? Don't mess with the current design. I like it. I don't want to go carrying that beast around with me, but it's roomy and easy to muck with the insides of, I've got space on top to stack peripherals, it's strong enough to feel reliable, there's plenty of ventilation so the fans spin slow and I don't worry about overheating...

Keep it.

I'm amazed how many people think it's "dated". It still looks good to me. That's one of the things I've always liked about that case-- it's timeless. The curvey G4 plastic cases look dated now, but the aluminum? Timeless...

wakerider017 said:
8 cores does NOT mean 8 CPU's... There will still only be 2 CPU's...

Also 500 GB drives are VERY common these days... 2 of them don't take up much space...

Consumer TB drives are just around the corner...:rolleyes:
Click to expand...
Is the first page of comments too early to go careening off on a tangent? Oh well, can't help myself... Is there an official nomenclature now that things are going all multi-core? The nomenclature I've been seeing makes no sense to me... Here's my view of the world:

CPU: Central Processing Unit. There can't be more than one, because if there were it couldn't be central. This must therefore refer to the collection of processing units working cooperatively.
Core: a full and self sufficient processing unit. May be one of many on a single piece of silicon. Not all cores in a system, or on a single piece of silicon, need be identical.
Multi-core: containing more than one "core". May be on one or many silicon components. The Dual G5s were multi-core machines. The Quad Xeons are multicore.
Processor: seems to refer to the chip containing one or more processing cores, which must be interesting for those in the UK-- do you say "The processor are..."?

The processor/core thing has always felt nebulous to me... Multi-processing used to be the phrase used, then multi-core became the hip jargon. I still think people think in terms of what each processor is doing on a multi-core chip. It makes sense that this would be nebulous since it doesn't really matter... How many chips are used to carry all the cores is an implementation detail.

I'm kind of tired of hearing people bash each other over the use of nomenclature when I don't think that nomenclature is well established...

081440 said:
how and why would they push heat out the top!? In a large number of cases I find that people (including myself) place external hard drives and USB hubs and everything else on top of the machine.. it's so convenient. I can't see Apple routing the output up there... but we'll see :cool:
Click to expand...
Ahhh... So you're the one I've seen peeking through my windows...

Heat out the top makes a lot of sense from a thermal management perspective, but it would suck for me-- I'd lose the shelf.
 
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