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More rumors to scoff at.
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With Apple’s design talent, you’d think they could design a handle that was a little more ergonomic and a little less enhanced interrogation…
That’s why I put quotes around “handles”, they barely qualify.
Best,
Andy -
Think if those handles werent there. How would you move the computers aroun easily?
Every time I need to get behind the rack or swap a PCI board, those handles come in handy.
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[Jeremy Garchow] “Those handles keep the bottom of the machine off the floor and the top actually let you pick that beast up and move it. There’s a method to it.”
The Z800 has handles, too — they just don’t push the size of the case beyond 19″. It’s also got a rackmount kit available from HP.
Apple could have made the current design rack-friendly, if they had chosen to. They chose form over function.
Walter Soyka
Principal & Designer at Keen Live
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
RenderBreak Blog – What I’m thinking when my workstation’s thinking
Creative Cow Forum Host: Live & Stage Events -
Oh I use them too, but I wish they required less than a hacksaw to remove and weren’t so harsh on the hands. On my fantasy box they are held on the top and bottom with a few beefy screws that would also support optional rails. Having them molded in shouldn’t be a design necessity. It is only seamless on one side anyway since the access babel breaks up the other side.
Best,
Andy -
[Walter Soyka] ” They chose form over function.”
That’s my point. “Design rules the roost” as how I ineloquently put it. They are still Apple.
I’d like to see a rack mount capable product, but they killed the one they had.
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This means nothing other than 10.7.3 will have drivers to support a new AMD card. It could me a new MacPro or simply that this newer version of Lion will be required to support the new AMD cards that will be released in Jan 2012 for existing MacPro’s.
That Apple is approx 18 months off cycle for a MacPro, that they’ve dumped the main app that needed MacPro’s (FCP) for something that runs fine on an iMac (FCPX) would lead me to believe towers are not long for this world in Apple’s lineup. In terms of both revenue and profit, this product line is nil. It doesn’t even register it is so small and desktops in this traditional sense are a declining market. There may be one more spin left in there but I would not bet on it and I certainly would not bet my company on it.
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[Phil Hoppes] “It could me a new MacPro or simply that this newer version of Lion will be required to support the new AMD cards that will be released in Jan 2012 for existing MacPro’s.”
Apple’s business model is not to have you update the GPU but buy a new Mac.
Apple says 5770/5870 only “officially” supports MacPro 2010 forward even though people bought them for MacPro original 2006 for FCPX.[Phil Hoppes] “they’ve dumped the main app that needed MacPro’s (FCP)”
The same FCP7 that was 32 bit so didn’t take advantage of the memory and didn’t take advantage of all 8 or 12 cores for most functions? Actually FCPX is better suited to MacPro because it can use both the memory and the cores. When the time comes to push the 4K files around that FCPX is capable of handling, one might need a beast. While MacPros offered expansion, the power was severely underutilized by FCP7.[Phil Hoppes] “t doesn’t even register it is so small”
Which is why it will be replaced by a more profitable but equally powerful box. -
[Walter Soyka] ” They chose form over function.”
[Jeremy Garchow] “That’s my point. “Design rules the roost” as how I ineloquently put it. They are still Apple.”
I don’t mean to split hairs, but that’s not design; that’s aesthetics.
Good design would be aesthetically pleasing AND functional; I don’t think that shrinking the Mac Pro and inch and a half would have completely foiled the aesthetics of the case, but it would have allowed it to sit on its side in a rack.
I would be very curious to know what percentage of Mac Pros are rack-mounted, and how many RUs of space are wasted in the world because Mac Pros must be mounted vertically (unless you modify the case).
Walter Soyka
Principal & Designer at Keen Live
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
RenderBreak Blog – What I’m thinking when my workstation’s thinking
Creative Cow Forum Host: Live & Stage Events -
[Jeremy Garchow] “I’d like to see a rack mount capable product, but they killed the one they had.”
They didn’t kill it because it was rack-able, they killed it because it didn’t sell enough units to justify continuing. If Jony Ive can stomach making an iMac hang on a wall, he should be able to tolerate a Mac Pro neatly suspended in a rack.
Best,
Andy -
Well we will all see won’t we. A lot of people really don’t understand profitability especially when it comes to large business (but they should even for small ones). There is a significant cost (which is factored into the total “profit” equation) called “Opportunity Cost” which basically boils down to if you have X resources to use what is the best way to maximize your ROI on those resources. If you have a product line that is in a declining market (High end desktop PC’s) that is also returning less profit than it should, a prudent business manager will look at that and say is there another use for those resources (say a low cost iPhone????) that can return far more revenue and profit? If you don’t think those arguments are not going on within the halls of 1 Infinite Loop, well you are loopy. Relative to:
“Apple’s business model is not to have you update the GPU but buy a new Mac.
Apple says 5770/5870 only “officially” supports MacPro 2010 forward even though people bought them for MacPro original 2006 for FCPX.”Well, if they are killing the MacPro line they may in fact not do what they have done in the past just so the new AMD cards could be supported.
I don’t think it is a question of IF Mac Pros will die, simply a matter of WHEN. Their may be one more spin left in there but it’s future is most certainly on the bubble.
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