How Small Should Next Case Design Be?

drewprops · January 15, 2002 11:21PM

Looking at how compact Apple's current crop of products have become, I'm curious as to the final size of the next iteration of the PowerMac case design.

Present professional boxes accomodate PCI cards. Although it's been several years since I've had to pop a card into my B&W G3, I believe that the size of expansion cards hasn't changed too much in that time.

Do you think that this means that the dimensions of any future PowerMac towers will remain reasonably close to the existing crop of boxes?

Do you believe that they can get smaller?

kidred · January 15, 2002 11:49PM

I think they could take an inch or so off the width and possibly some of the height. I can see it getting smaller but not a huge difference in size. Dunno tho, hard to tell with Apple's latest simplistic route they seem to be taking.

tsukurite · January 15, 2002 11:56PM

big enough to hold everything.

sorry, couldn't resist.

tsukurite

junkyard dawg · January 16, 2002 12:19AM

It would be nice if they added a second optical drive expansion bay, but I doubt they will.

I doubt it will get much smaller, however. The goal of the Powermac case is to make it hold as much crap as possible. There must be room for HDs, PCI cards, RAM, zip/optical bays, and all of these items need to be easily accessed.

The current case design is almost perfect, I hope Apple doesn't change much on it. All it really NEEDS is another drive bay, and it would be nice if the top of it was flatter so peripherals could be stacked on it.

Also, the powermac needs better audio I/O support. Ports for Line in, mic in (a REAL mic, not that mickey mouse apple mic), and line out. There is no excuse for a $2000 computer to lack these ports, furthermore, OS X should support them, along with 5.1 surround and a preference pane for managing audio input and output. The current state of audio on OS X equipped powermacs is a disgrace.

jay · January 16, 2002 2:16AM

Small? If anything, I'd like a bigger case! More PCI slots and please at least one more front-accessible drive bay. Smaller for an addition to the product matrix, but the pros should be bigger.

ghost_user_name · January 16, 2002 2:26AM

I agree with JD especially on the audio jacks. We really don't need to be choking USB bandwidth with things like the Griffin iMic. <img src="graemlins/bugeye.gif" border="0" alt="[Skeptical]" />

Furthermore, regarding the iMic and why we shouldn't have to use adapters like it: [quote]Please note that there is currently some latency when using playthrough feature from the Apple USB audio drivers. This latency can range from a few milliseconds to as long as half a second depending upon the computer model and OS version.<hr></blockquote>

[ 01-16-2002: Message edited by: starfleetX ]</p>

koldolme · January 16, 2002 4:39AM

BIGGER!!

powerdoc · January 16, 2002 4:50AM

We need 2 5,25 inch front bay in the addition of one front 3,5 inch bay.Unfortunately i doubt Apple will do that : they will said if you want both a dvd reader and CD burner : buy a combo or a DVD r-w .... But i'll say that two 5,25 bays are better if you want to do copy it's more simple than to make an virtual copy on the HD, and if you want to evolve you don't have to remove something.

The number of PCI slots is sufficiant in my opinion because there is many stuff in the mobo.

One more RAM slot would not be too much either.

renan · January 16, 2002 6:19PM

Shorter and wider.It should be able to hold all those drive bays the hard-core are praying for.Put multiple fans inside for cooling / ventilation.Plus, 5 PCI Slots.It would open from the rear.It could hold all the latest technology Apple can possibly throw at you.If MOSR is right and Apple has been working on the case design for almost two years...sketches have to be out there

somewhere...MOSR says they will bring us more info. soon....When????We need more.....

ghost_user_name · January 16, 2002 6:26PM

I think apple will keep the same case they have now with some tweaks considering that the current case is a proven winner.

applenut · January 16, 2002 7:44PM

[quote]Originally posted by Macintosh:

<strong>I think apple will keep the same case they have now with some tweaks considering that the current case is a proven winner.</strong><hr></blockquote>

this always amsuses me. People love Apple's design, Apple has never failed design wise, yet whenever there is a design everyone hopes that they don't change it much cause its a "proven winner".

Don't you uys have ANY confidence? Look at the iMac. the original was one damn cool design. then apple came out with the new iMac that is nothing like anyone expected and everyone loves that.

same thing with the powerbook. everyone was like, "oh, powerbook needs to be black, pismo is fine" then apple releases the coolest laptop known to man

same thing with powermac G3 beige. people back then said beige was "professional" and there was nothing wrong with the case. G3 case blew it away and the G4 case only improved it.

I don't understand what there is to worry about. Apple= design

It's what they do and they do it best

tht · January 16, 2002 9:22PM

I think they should come out with two Power Mac lines, a low end ($0.8K to $1.5K) and a high end (>$1.5K):

The low end Power Mac

An SGI O2 type form factor (8x8x16 in.)

1 5.25" bay for optical

1 hard disk drive bay

1 AGP slot

1 PCI slot

2 DDR SDRAM slots

The high Power Mac

A workstation form factor (20x10x20 in.)

3 5.25" bays

4 hard disk drive bays

1 AGP slot

5 PCI slots

4 DDR SDRAM slots

[ 01-16-2002: Message edited by: THT ]</p>

drewprops · January 16, 2002 11:13PM

As I suspected, most of the crew here thinks that the size of the pro machines MUST remain very near the current dimensions. The desire for expansion has not diminished among pro users, even if the consumer models have steadily climbed within reach of the pro boxes in many areas of performance and capability.

Would there be any reason for the new machines to implement some kind of new way to modularize the system for greater growth? That idea occured to me, but I shot it down...

Stacking external components? Apple would find it too hard to compete with inexpensive after-market external solutions and customers would consider it a big problem to be forced to work around a proprietary linking system.

It only makes sense that the box retains its ease-of-internal-access feature while gaining improved components (yes, including built-in PRO audio...or at least that option).

Insofar as the actual design goes, I would only hope for better access to often-used I/O, like USB, Firewire and audio/video.

D

tigerwoods99 · January 17, 2002 5:45PM

Why would anyone want a compact Power Mac case?If anything, make it a big bad-ass case! They actually don't need to make it any taller than the Quicksilver case to fit more drive bays in. I'd say that the Quicksilvers are even a little taller than my beige G3 case, yet I've got a floppy, cd-rw, 100 MB zip, and one full drive bay that I can still use! If there's one thing I like about my G3, it's the fact that you've got a lot more expandability than the current towers. People don't buy a tower so they can have a compact computer. They buy it because they want more expandability. I'd just want a taller case for even more drive bays and PCI slots in there, and to look really big and powerful. Imagine a nice big G5 in silver or glossy black? That's what I'm talkin about.

How Small Should Next Case Design Be?

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