an easier to carry Power Mac?
I was browsing <a href="http://www.alienware.com/"; target="_blank">Alienware</a>'s site and custom-configured a "dream" machine (just for shits and giggles--I didn't expect it to be so fun, but it's really nearly or more fun as doing the same over at <a href="http://store.apple.com/"; target="_blank">The Apple Store</a>). I noticed that they offer a package that allows you to strap this thing around your Alienware PC's case, and it gives you a handle/harness, holds your mouse and keyboard, cables, probably CDs and other stuff too. They even offered a little package perfect for LAN parties and whatnot, the strap and holder plus a pair of decent headphones.
I just thought this was a cool idea. The current "El Capitan" enclosure we've seen since the first B&W G3 has some neat handles, but with all of the cords and the mouse and keyboard and the delicate, expensive innards, plus the layout of the handles, it's just not the same.
If Apple made an easier to handle case, or a really neat add-on enclosure that users could pick up right at the Apple Store, I think a lot of people would get it, and then more people would be willing to bring them to LAN parties, have LAN parties, see them at LAN parties, be impressed at LAN parties, investigate them, buy them, recommend them, bring them to LAN parties, etc. And not just LAN parties, but any kind of gathering. They could be used for MUGs or DJ setups or moving to a different dorm room or going to a friend's house to frag a bit or just a weekend at Grandma's house.
So.. discuss.
I just thought this was a cool idea. The current "El Capitan" enclosure we've seen since the first B&W G3 has some neat handles, but with all of the cords and the mouse and keyboard and the delicate, expensive innards, plus the layout of the handles, it's just not the same.
If Apple made an easier to handle case, or a really neat add-on enclosure that users could pick up right at the Apple Store, I think a lot of people would get it, and then more people would be willing to bring them to LAN parties, have LAN parties, see them at LAN parties, be impressed at LAN parties, investigate them, buy them, recommend them, bring them to LAN parties, etc. And not just LAN parties, but any kind of gathering. They could be used for MUGs or DJ setups or moving to a different dorm room or going to a friend's house to frag a bit or just a weekend at Grandma's house.
So.. discuss.
Comments
<strong>Where is everyone carrying their macs? Mine almost never moves, whether it be at work or at home. i guess if you like to go to LAN parties..</strong><hr></blockquote>
I said in the last sentence of the last paragraph. You could take your machine to a MUG meeting or you could take it around being a DJ, if you lived in a dorm and maybe moved rooms a lot or even occasionally, if you wanted to go over to a friend's house to play some LAN games or something, or if you're a teenager (and they are one of Apple's core markets) and you're staying at a relative's place but (like me) you couldn't stand being away from your computer for a weekend, or a week, or a few weeks. Maybe you're taking it in to get serviced a lot, maybe you are servicing Power Macs and want an easy way to carry them. I think there are plenty of good reasons for Apple to offer something like this for the PowerMacs. But really, the LAN party/games/gatherings thing alone is a good enough reason, it would help to introduce Apple into the gaming segment even more.
And hey, there must be enough people interested in this thing for them to offer it with any machine you try to build.
Plus, look at all of the people with LCD iMacs that say they are constantly repositioning their screen, because now that it's so easily possible it's just as natural as repositioning your body or your glasses or a chair you're sitting in. Maybe the same could go for your PowerMac!
What's the deal with all the dumb-ass ideas here lately? Don't people want future hardware that's FAST and has new hardware that will enhance computing performance? What's with all the gee-whiz design features here lately?
Oh, I want an iMac in the shape of a backpack that straps on my back so I can carry it around, and it should have wireless keyboard, mouse, and monitor, so I don't have too many cords, and make the display telescope in and out so I don't have to move the iMac closer to me on the desk, and make the casing a cool chrome/custom color with a special engraving of my AI handle, and I want a wireless 120 MB iPod so I can carry my entire CD collection and 20 years worth of backup data with me at all times, and make sure the power supply for my iMac is wireless, because I really hate cords they are so ugly and tacky, oohhh, they clash with my study's decor, and also I want my iMac to FLOAT on water so I can use it in the bathtub, and make it waterproof, too, and since it will be in the shape of a back pack, put a camel-pack water jug on it with a tube running to my mouth so I can sip water out of my iMac while I work without using a glass.
Do you have a problem and/or disability with or relating to the generation and/or identification and/or comprehension and/or synthesis of information?
[ 04-16-2002: Message edited by: Lucky ]</p>
[QB]
What's the deal with all the dumb-ass ideas here lately? <hr></blockquote>
You hadn't been posting as much, so someone had to fill the void. (Sorry, groverat has made me cynical tonight)
<strong>... and I want a wireless 120 MB iPod so I can carry my entire CD collection and 20 years worth of backup data </strong><hr></blockquote>
Junkyard thats one hell of a CD collection you must have, not to mention your backup data.
Sorry couldn't resist.
Dobby
[ 04-16-2002: Message edited by: dobby ]</p>
<strong>Oh! <a href="http://www.apple.com/powerbook"; target="_blank">They already make that</a>!</strong><hr></blockquote>
Why would I buy a $3-4K PowerBook when I could buy a $1700-2000 Power Mac and get more expandability, more power, more speed, more I/O, easier access, easier servicability, far less chance of breakage, and I wouldn't have to put up with crap like paint flaking off and flimsy design? How am I gonna connect my 23" HD Cinema to my PowerBook? Which, between the PowerBook and the Power Mac, is gonna have a full-fledged G5 (or dual G5) and an appropriate motherboard first? (not the PowerBook.)
And considering I might go to a LAN party at a maximum of once a month or every couple of months, perhaps I do amateur DJing a few times a year (where I need the aforementioned advantages of a Power Mac), and maybe I stay at my Grandma's or Aunt's once a year, I am not going to get a laptop as a desktop replacement. It makes no sense for me.
I'd just like Apple to come up with a more easily portable case, a case add-on, an optional case, or even just sell a nice third-party product for something like this. AlienWare does it, and if you want to be pessimistic about how many people could use or KNOW they desire such a thing, be so; but I'm betting that a ton of suckers fall for something like that, regardless of if they knew they wanted it or if they'll ever use it. How many of you AREN'T like a kid in a candy store with accessories and hardware and new computers? The only reason I noticed it or added it to my imaginary AlienWare cart is because it caught my eye and I said to myself that maybe if I got that, I'd use it, and what a cool idea, I've never seen a manufacturer sell such a thing! Right there, impulse buying.
Trivial in comparison to the topics that are constantly discussed here all of the time like the G5 and new PowerBooks and 17" LCD iMac webpads and mice griping? Maybe, maybe not. A dumb idea? No, not at all. Something Apple would do? Who knows, that's why I started a thread about it. Just an interesting idea.
[ 04-16-2002: Message edited by: bradbower ]</p>
Lucky , I think you're possibly the one with the problem, Junkyard Dawg's post made me laugh, you know -a sense of humour, not a sense of self-importance is good thing.
Anybody who DJ's with a mac/PC is pretty sad. I guess it's OK for your junior high school 'dances' in the gymnasium.
<hr></blockquote>
I know a guy who DJ's with his mac professionaly. He uses a 9600 with 3 internal CD drives and two external ones. He uses the 9600 to play CDs, and a B&W to mix music and serve a huge MP3 collection. HE runs the two powermacs into a mixing board with 2 scratch pads and pumps the sound out into a pro speaker system (Not the pro speakers but speakers made by Boise). His setup kicks major butt.
edit: still a fairly sad set-up for a 'DJ,' but I guess it's good for playing a crap load of pirated Mp3's to a hall full of drunken relatives gorging themselves on free food and the open bar.
[ 04-16-2002: Message edited by: Matsu ]</p>
they're handles!
Pres
Ah, weddings.
edit: still a fairly sad set-up for a 'DJ,' but I guess it's good for playing a crap load of pirated Mp3's to a hall full of drunken relatives gorging themselves on free food and the open bar.
<hr></blockquote>
"Everyone takes the limits of his own vision for the limits of the world. "
\t\t\t\t\t\tArthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860)
<strong>what the hell do you think the four curvy things sticking out of the corners of a powermac are?
they're handles!
Pres</strong><hr></blockquote>
How about you click the link I posted to AlienWare's site and check out what I'm talking about? kthxbye.
You can make an argument that both groups are professionals, but there's some finer distinction to be made. Real disc jockeys don't spin Mp3. Maybe one day (soon) they will, but then again, real DJ's ussually don't have to put on some dinner music while the drunken bridesmaids barf under the table during dinner. Both sets probably feel up under-age girls in the back room, though.
<strong>I don't need Schopenhauer to tell me I'm no DJ (thank God), but I do know that 'professional' DJ's come in two varieties. 'Real' DJ's who work for radio, night clubs, or some form of urban music collaboration (either those who just spin music in the former cases, or those who make a more creative collaboration in the latter) and then there are the DJ's 'for hire' travelling the house party, wedding, HS dance,teeny-bopper house party route in a white van filled with milk crates and home made, Radio Shack sourced, strobe lighting kits. Sure, an Mp3 rig is a good way for the latter to cut down on milk crates and still bring enough pirate music along to keep fat brides and squealing teen girls happy.
You can make an argument that both groups are professionals, but there's some finer distinction to be made. Real disc jockeys don't spin Mp3. Maybe one day (soon) they will, but then again, real DJ's ussually don't have to put on some dinner music while the drunken bridesmaids barf under the table during dinner. Both sets probably feel up under-age girls in the back room, though.</strong><hr></blockquote>
"Real" DJs still use computers, sometimes. Why do you automatically assume using a computer automatically means mp3? NIN uses PowerBooks live. so does Moby. etc. etc. You seem to be pretty down on technology for someone who posts on a computer board.