MWNY Form Factor...

Posted:
in Future Apple Hardware edited January 2014
I wrote this up a while back on the MacNN forums... thought I'd see what comments it might generate over here... be prepared for some wacky ideas :cool:



[quote]It's Star-Trekky, but bear with me



I'm sure most of you heard that rumor a while back about the '"Dodecahydron"(spelling?) PowerMac G5, right? Let's follow that idea, and see where it takes us...



A PowerMac with 12 sides, each in the shape of a pentagon.



The Dodecahydron is suspended in mid-air inside an encompassing clear plastic sphere(ala the Pro Mouse).



All 12 sides are finished in a polished chrome look.



The size of the PowerMac would have to be such that one of the sides(or pentagons) would be used as the PCI Card 'Point of Access', which would be where you access the ports of any installed Cards. It would hold 5 PCI Slots,(We'll talk specs later)



Another of the sides would be for factory installed ports.



The front side would bear the Apple logo, with a "G5" Watermark



I know what you're thinking - how the heck am I supposed to access my ports!??!



Here that comes - There is a (small) motor that controls the sphere, allowing one side(of the sphere) to seperate itself from the other half of the sphere, and rotate (splitting into two quarters of the sphere, which recede into their counterparts on the other side.



This leaves exactly one half of the Dodecahydron exposed, (this part's awesome ) After this, the Dodecahydron, which is suspended from the top center of the sphere, can rotate a full 360 degrees(cables permitting, that is). This is just hand-controlled rotation, not motor-driven like the sphere. The way the Dodecahydron achieves this rotation is as follows:



The top side of the Dodecahydron is attached to the top center of the sphere with either a small cylindrical column, or a turntable of sorts(maybe electro-magnetically powered(but that would probably cause problems with the electronics of the computer)). Anyway, either method would allow for manual rotation.



After the sphere is opened and rotation is able to take place, you simply rotate the dodecahydron until you have easy access to the ports you desire to use, plug in the cable you want to, then rotate the computer back to center position(center would be easy to find via one of those "grooves"(or whatever you call them, they have them on audio consoles to let you know when you're dead center(on a PAN, etc.). So there's your easy port access.



Now about ease of expandability, it would function much in the same way as the port access explained above. After the sphere is opened and the rotation is possible, you rotate to the thing you wish to expand, such as PCI, RAM etc. (RAM would have it's own dedicated "side") take PCI for example: once the PCI "side" was available, you press a pressure-sensitive button(ala the Cube power button) which you hold down for 5 seconds or so, then the PCI "bay"(which is motor driven, like a CD drive) slides smoothly out, giving you full access to all five slots(BTW, bay refers to both the "side" and the "innards" meaning the slots/cards. side refers just to the external surface of the bay).



The Same applies for the RAM bay, 5.25 bays, etc.



Now, speaking of optical drive bays, here's where we get into trouble. In a computer enclosure with which (supposedly) no part of the computer(dodecahydron) is accessible at all times, how do achieve access to one of the most important items in your computer, your SuperDrive?!



Here's one idea: the dodecahydron is attached to the sphere with the turntable, and there is some way of raising the top of the sphere away from the rest, revealing a cd holder(kind of like a consumer CD Walkman) This causes a few problems but if you were able to engineer everything else listed here, it shouldn't be unsurmountable.



Concerning a way for cords to exit the sphere it would be handled basically like the Cube did it.



So, if you're still reading this, what d'ya think? Suggestions for improvements? Problems you see(besides the near impossibility of all of this)?



If anybody could do it, Apple can.



oh, about specs(CPU speeds are derived from a dream I had ):



2.0, 2.2, and 2.4 GHz G5

256, and 512 MB, 1GB of 266MHz DDR-RAM

Superdrive standard on all models

USB 2.0, Firewire 2.0 and Gigawire(wireless Firewire - check the patent reg.)

80, 100, 120GB 7200rpm HD

Silent convection cooling system.



For release at MWNY 2002 at same pricepoint as current pro models. <hr></blockquote>



this was written before Apple decreased the price of the PowerMac line with the release of the dual 1 GHz model(one of which I consider myself lucky to be typing on right now )



so price points would be (if I remember correctly),



$1799

$2500

$3500

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 5
    ghost_user_nameghost_user_name Posts: 22,667member
    Sounds like it adds a lot of extra cost to an overly complex design. Also sounds like a pain to work on and upgrade, not to mention it would create a larger footprint and be difficult to move. I don't believe I would want one.
  • Reply 2 of 5
    eupfhoriaeupfhoria Posts: 257member
    Uhh...tell me why again I would want to wait for anything to rotate? I prefer the current "add a hard drive in 10.4 seconds" to "add a hard drive in 10.4 minutes."

    I have 3 USB devices that I have to switchbetween my 2 free USB ports. I want to do this almost instantly. When I eject a CD, I want it to come out, I don't want to have to move my computer . Especially witht he problem that one hand is picking up the CD in the drive and the other one is putting the next CD in...If one hand is on the somputer I have to do an additional CD swap.

    Sorry man, WAY to complicated. WAY too much R&D and not a very good design.
  • Reply 3 of 5
    matsumatsu Posts: 6,558member
    I'll give you the only (but arguable) possible improvement to El-Capitan's flip down door -- besides the two full size bays.



    A cube-style, slide-out nuclear reactor type core. More compact than El-Capitan, and possibly easier to service, but you might lose the handles.



    edit:



    Not a cube style though. ATX case form factor. The core slides out of the front of the machine -- part way for your drives and RAM, fully for your PCI/AGP cards. A custom cable connector keeps all your rear panel I/O still while the rest of the guts slide forward.



    [ 05-21-2002: Message edited by: Matsu ]</p>
  • Reply 4 of 5
    junkyard dawgjunkyard dawg Posts: 2,801member
    Well since it appears that Apple will not be offering any interesting CPU/motherboard improvements to the Powermacs, perhaps it's time that they focus on styling gimmicks to move units.



    The world is full of vain idiots in need of Powermacs shaped like you described...it's time Apple capitalize on this market! Oh wait--Apple already targeted this market with the Cube, and learned the hard way that there aren't enough rich, vain fools to sustain such a product. Maybe if it ran Windows XP it would have more of a chance.



    EDIT: I just re-read SJ's post and I must ask, could you please snail-mail me some of that LSD you're trippin' on? Thanks!



    [ 05-21-2002: Message edited by: Junkyard Dawg ]</p>
  • Reply 5 of 5
    ghost_user_nameghost_user_name Posts: 22,667member
    i don't see why this can't go into one of the 30 existing G5 threads?



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