After some thoughts & re-thoughts here's my synopsis on the new Powermac G5.
Internally ::
I love the design inside & the according parts & specs. I've been watching the development of AMD's Hammer for what seems like ages now, and I must say that Apple's internal design & choice of specs for the G5 are next to sheer stunning!!!!!! 10 out of 10 FOR SURE!
Externally ::
Here's the tough issue about the whole G5 ordeal. I really don't like the front of the new Powermac. The profile & back shots are nice [could be better] but doable. Their implementation of the mesh holes in the front & back are understandable, for their need of airflow, but it could've been designed more modern [& accomodate their need for airflow]. Their design on this one definitely departs from their modern trend and has gone more industrial than modern/futuristic. Yes they design "industrial", but it's also heavily modernistic. Reminiscant of a case design that Marc Newson would come up with if he'd work for Apple. The case lost all of it's curvature and center-of-attention appeal. For those that say "the computer is just for performance, doesn't matter about looks" ........ isn't one of the points of Apple is to design ATTRACTIVE attention grabbing designs? I just don't find this design to be attention grabbing. Apple's MODERN 'and' INDUSTRIAL designs are made to attract attention, basically a work of technological art, a piece of art. It seems like Apple cut some corners on the design to be more cost effective. The case seems too simplistic and just plain "bulky" looking from the outside. Honestly, I was expecting a hybrid Aluminum & PolyCarb design, with more of a futuristic ambiance to it. 5 out of 10.
Just for some referencing, my favorite Apple designed case so far is the first generation Quicksilver. VERY minimal [not much in the front], smooth and very curvaceous, with a touch of futuristicness.
Too each their own of course. But that's my take on the new case.
Despite my general unsatification with the enclosure, that wouldn't deter me from buying one! Maybe when August comes around, I'll be willing to hold off on it until the next variation.
And as far as television and movies are concerned, I'm sure they'll be sticking with the older designs.
Did someone say that the perforated(much better description than mesh imo) panels were plastic rather than metal? This would make sense if you ask me because they will be more durable and less dentable than perforated metal panels.
The reason I bring this up though... is that I think if the perforated panels were a different color rather than silver it might help the cases looks.
Maybe even a much lighter silver color that would match the color of the apple logo on the side?
Everybody whined about Macs not being powerful enough so Apple gave you what you asked for. A F*#king powerful machine!
And if you are worried that all of a sudden your PC buddies aren't going to drool over your flashy Mac then just put it on your desk with and leave the outer door off.
It's like looking under the hood of a Shelby Cobra. You may not know what all of it does, but you know it will blow the doors off of whatever you are driving.
Everybody whined about Macs not being powerful enough so Apple gave you what you asked for. A F*#king powerful machine!
And if you are worried that all of a sudden your PC buddies aren't going to drool over your flashy Mac then just put it on your desk with and leave the outer door off.
It's like looking under the hood of a Shelby Cobra. You may not know what all of it does, but you know it will blow the doors off of whatever you are driving.
CLive is right . . . in the Welsh sport known as the Capitain Clump-wump, where the kilt wearin muscle bound MacMen be sweating their dualies two to a swing, then it just might be difficult with that 3mm edge?!
oh how will they compete now that it is difficult to take the necessary two-fisted Mac graspin pose?! . . .heaving with one step and swingin a Mac in each arm . . . oh !! the sport is doomed I say!!
anyway . . . yes, the fear of the inability to achieve a two fisted Mac-walk is just about the lamest arse whimper I've come across . . . heehee . . .
just picture the sight of it!!!
ah but its justified by the ownership of a 67 Mustang . . .
The only thing that is "for sure" is that you don't NEED a G5. If you did, you would realize that Apple has delivered exactly what Professionals have needed them to develop.
Well, you are right: i am a portable power user.
However, you have to admit that i'm not the only person who is far from bowled over by the case design.
At least the prev case wowed people world over...i think Apple could have still got more 'form' into the design as well.
If you want something that looks pretty by an imac.
If you want something with power ...
Seriously though i would say it was fairly obvious that the asthetics were lower on the list than getting all of the kit in the case and keeping it working.
Ives probably wasn't allowed near this thing until the techies had finished squeezing stuff in, hence the token gesture handles. It's a show case. A first cut to get the G5 "out there".
Personally i think its looks emulate some of the high unix servers we have at work. I like it.
The other thought that occurs to me is that in the past Apple have differentiated their products by looks, now they don't have to.
This thing looks beautiful.Wouldn't it be great if the stores could have at least an enclosure so people could see them in person? This enclosure looks just MEAN. I love it. In fact, it'll make the "plastic" G4s look like toys next to it.
Horizontal flow typically requires more or faster fans. However it also comes with at least one notable benefit.
Last year, someone knocked a glass of water off a bookshelf next to a 14-year-old 27" triniton TV. Although the shelves are over 2 feet from the TV stand in my studio, the water still managed to splash onto the TV case. In about 1.5 seconds, and about .5 seconds before I managed to unplug the TV, it had emitted a small plume of bluish smoke. Upon purchasing a new TV for this room I noticed a drastic improvement in TV case design. No longer are they putting air vents on the top of the plastic casing around the tube. Instead, slats on the bottom and sides allow for all the necessary cooling. If the same mishap were to happen with this TV, I suspect no water would drip onto the electronic boards.
Clive's completely lost it... raving on and on about how it's a fact that the handles will cut your hands and/or feel very uncomfortable (without having tried them) and questioning the intelligence of those who disagrees!
Clive, you are FAR outnumbered on this subject. 8)
The case is definately growing on me. As I see it this case means power and business. Yes, business is one keyword! I have a feeling this machine will mark the beginning of a renewed efford to gain entrance in the business-market.
Wow! Doe this case need a LOT of help, a LOT of help.
The prices and aesthetics and the guts all say workstation, but curiously the design choices DO NOT.
1 Optical? Chalk it up to Apple philosophy, and perhaps forgivable. 3 PCI-x, given the addition of built-in audio I/O (do macs now support 5.1?) and USB2.0 and FW800, and gigabit ethernet on the Mobo, I think that three is plenty. All good.
But it only has space for 2 HDD's as far as I can tell. Bad , veddy veddy bad.
Pro's would like 4 HDD's in a box, it doesn't matter that you can get bigger drives, there's never enough storage and now there isn't enough room for A/V/3d guys to put one main drive and two RAID drive on the machine. BIG mistake. Does S-ATA only support one drive per link? Even so, if the space were there, adding a PCI RAID controller and dropping the drives in the box is mucho more convenient than setting them up externally.
AS to the look, apart from the handle being a bit too tall, it looks nice, a lot nicer than that mock up, and nicer than it did in the low res keynote image. It isn't as pretty as the QS or MDD, but it makes it's own rationale, nice, serious.
UNfortunately, the drive situation is bad, veddy bad. Apple seems to have accomplished the paradoxical outcome of making a case bigger on the outside and smaller on the inside.
I din't say it was commonplace, but it's a factor for me. I'd rather walk up and down the stairs three times than six. I'd rather walk accros the car park, through the loading bay, across the warehouse and up the studio stairs twice, rather than four times.
These things make my life easier.
For somebody who so loudly prides his sense of design, you seem to work for a poorly designed company - if all that moving around is required to work on a design job.
Perhaps we could suggest some other ways to make your life easier.
IMO the G5 is an attractive machine. Although, as is the case with me, the less the common denominator likes it, the more I probably will.
It's a shame I dont need one though, it would look great with my 12" powerbook.
There is a very simple solution to the sharp edged handles... aftermarket fixed pads. They could be made of rubber also, to give the case some traction. This would allow your one handed carrying.
Comments
Internally ::
I love the design inside & the according parts & specs. I've been watching the development of AMD's Hammer for what seems like ages now, and I must say that Apple's internal design & choice of specs for the G5 are next to sheer stunning!!!!!! 10 out of 10 FOR SURE!
Externally ::
Here's the tough issue about the whole G5 ordeal. I really don't like the front of the new Powermac. The profile & back shots are nice [could be better] but doable. Their implementation of the mesh holes in the front & back are understandable, for their need of airflow, but it could've been designed more modern [& accomodate their need for airflow]. Their design on this one definitely departs from their modern trend and has gone more industrial than modern/futuristic. Yes they design "industrial", but it's also heavily modernistic. Reminiscant of a case design that Marc Newson would come up with if he'd work for Apple. The case lost all of it's curvature and center-of-attention appeal. For those that say "the computer is just for performance, doesn't matter about looks" ........ isn't one of the points of Apple is to design ATTRACTIVE attention grabbing designs? I just don't find this design to be attention grabbing. Apple's MODERN 'and' INDUSTRIAL designs are made to attract attention, basically a work of technological art, a piece of art. It seems like Apple cut some corners on the design to be more cost effective. The case seems too simplistic and just plain "bulky" looking from the outside. Honestly, I was expecting a hybrid Aluminum & PolyCarb design, with more of a futuristic ambiance to it. 5 out of 10.
Just for some referencing, my favorite Apple designed case so far is the first generation Quicksilver. VERY minimal [not much in the front], smooth and very curvaceous, with a touch of futuristicness.
Too each their own of course. But that's my take on the new case.
Despite my general unsatification with the enclosure, that wouldn't deter me from buying one!
And as far as television and movies are concerned, I'm sure they'll be sticking with the older designs.
The reason I bring this up though... is that I think if the perforated panels were a different color rather than silver it might help the cases looks.
Maybe even a much lighter silver color that would match the color of the apple logo on the side?
Originally posted by buckeye
I am curious. What do you need two optical drives for?
CD-R burn speed on the Superdrive is only 16x.
Check out the pictures:
http://maccentral.macworld.com/galle...e/index_5.html
That plastic side is their for a reason.
Everybody whined about Macs not being powerful enough so Apple gave you what you asked for. A F*#king powerful machine!
And if you are worried that all of a sudden your PC buddies aren't going to drool over your flashy Mac then just put it on your desk with and leave the outer door off.
It's like looking under the hood of a Shelby Cobra. You may not know what all of it does, but you know it will blow the doors off of whatever you are driving.
Check out the pictures:
http://maccentral.macworld.com/galle...e/index_5.html
That plastic side is their for a reason.
Everybody whined about Macs not being powerful enough so Apple gave you what you asked for. A F*#king powerful machine!
And if you are worried that all of a sudden your PC buddies aren't going to drool over your flashy Mac then just put it on your desk with and leave the outer door off.
It's like looking under the hood of a Shelby Cobra. You may not know what all of it does, but you know it will blow the doors off of whatever you are driving.
Originally posted by pfflam
CLive is right . . . in the Welsh sport known as the Capitain Clump-wump, where the kilt wearin muscle bound MacMen be sweating their dualies two to a swing, then it just might be difficult with that 3mm edge?!
oh how will they compete now that it is difficult to take the necessary two-fisted Mac graspin pose?! . . .heaving with one step and swingin a Mac in each arm . . . oh !! the sport is doomed I say!!
anyway . . . yes, the fear of the inability to achieve a two fisted Mac-walk is just about the lamest arse whimper I've come across . . . heehee . . .
just picture the sight of it!!!
ah but its justified by the ownership of a 67 Mustang . . .
. . . tell me Clive: is it stock or suped-up?
That was great!
....
Originally posted by Clive
No need to say more.
(Someone changed the subject from just "Fugly")
(late to the party as ususal...)
clive, i have to disagree
looks very sharp edged, tight and fine attention to detail. of course the real decision will be made once i see one for real.
Originally posted by buckeye
The only thing that is "for sure" is that you don't NEED a G5. If you did, you would realize that Apple has delivered exactly what Professionals have needed them to develop.
Well, you are right: i am a portable power user.
However, you have to admit that i'm not the only person who is far from bowled over by the case design.
At least the prev case wowed people world over...i think Apple could have still got more 'form' into the design as well.
If you want something with power ...
Seriously though i would say it was fairly obvious that the asthetics were lower on the list than getting all of the kit in the case and keeping it working.
Ives probably wasn't allowed near this thing until the techies had finished squeezing stuff in, hence the token gesture handles. It's a show case. A first cut to get the G5 "out there".
Personally i think its looks emulate some of the high unix servers we have at work. I like it.
The other thought that occurs to me is that in the past Apple have differentiated their products by looks, now they don't have to.
Horizontal flow typically requires more or faster fans. However it also comes with at least one notable benefit.
Last year, someone knocked a glass of water off a bookshelf next to a 14-year-old 27" triniton TV. Although the shelves are over 2 feet from the TV stand in my studio, the water still managed to splash onto the TV case. In about 1.5 seconds, and about .5 seconds before I managed to unplug the TV, it had emitted a small plume of bluish smoke. Upon purchasing a new TV for this room I noticed a drastic improvement in TV case design. No longer are they putting air vents on the top of the plastic casing around the tube. Instead, slats on the bottom and sides allow for all the necessary cooling. If the same mishap were to happen with this TV, I suspect no water would drip onto the electronic boards.
Solid-topped electronic cases are a good thing.
Clive, you are FAR outnumbered on this subject. 8)
The case is definately growing on me. As I see it this case means power and business. Yes, business is one keyword! I have a feeling this machine will mark the beginning of a renewed efford to gain entrance in the business-market.
The prices and aesthetics and the guts all say workstation, but curiously the design choices DO NOT.
1 Optical? Chalk it up to Apple philosophy, and perhaps forgivable. 3 PCI-x, given the addition of built-in audio I/O (do macs now support 5.1?) and USB2.0 and FW800, and gigabit ethernet on the Mobo, I think that three is plenty. All good.
But it only has space for 2 HDD's as far as I can tell. Bad , veddy veddy bad.
Pro's would like 4 HDD's in a box, it doesn't matter that you can get bigger drives, there's never enough storage and now there isn't enough room for A/V/3d guys to put one main drive and two RAID drive on the machine. BIG mistake. Does S-ATA only support one drive per link? Even so, if the space were there, adding a PCI RAID controller and dropping the drives in the box is mucho more convenient than setting them up externally.
AS to the look, apart from the handle being a bit too tall, it looks nice, a lot nicer than that mock up, and nicer than it did in the low res keynote image. It isn't as pretty as the QS or MDD, but it makes it's own rationale, nice, serious.
UNfortunately, the drive situation is bad, veddy bad. Apple seems to have accomplished the paradoxical outcome of making a case bigger on the outside and smaller on the inside.
Originally posted by Clive
I din't say it was commonplace, but it's a factor for me. I'd rather walk up and down the stairs three times than six. I'd rather walk accros the car park, through the loading bay, across the warehouse and up the studio stairs twice, rather than four times.
These things make my life easier.
For somebody who so loudly prides his sense of design, you seem to work for a poorly designed company - if all that moving around is required to work on a design job.
Perhaps we could suggest some other ways to make your life easier.
IMO the G5 is an attractive machine. Although, as is the case with me, the less the common denominator likes it, the more I probably will.
It's a shame I dont need one though, it would look great with my 12" powerbook.
I didn't like MDD at all by looking at the pics.
Problem solved.