One thing I really did not like about the new G5 -- I guess the design necessitated it -- was the location of the motherboard. It is now not attached to the swing-out door but rather is inside the box. This will make working on these things a little more difficult.
I think they need a second cutout panel for another removable media drive.
I'd second that, but from Apple's drawings, there isn't any space left in that case AT ALL. Kind of odd...I think they're being a bit presumptious this time. For a lot of possible switchers, not being able to have two built-in optical drives kind of sucks. Not a big deal to me, but for some people it is.
I think the overall design of the G5 case is starting to grow on me. When I first saw it, I thought it was a pretty ugly beast, but now I think I am starting to like it. It may not have the organic look PowerMacs have had for years, but it does have very clean lines.
I only have one major problem with the case design. That is the elimination of the hinged door. The new case basically works like every other PC case, in that you fully remove the side panel to access the internals. But, you must go a step further and remove some sort of clear plastic or fiber casing behind the panel to get inside. Seems like they went from the incredible and envied el Capitan door, to a cumbersome and common removable panel and threw in an extra step to make it that much less intuitive. I think Ives screwed up on this one. Maybe he had good reason, maybe we might find out why the dramatic departure from the door.
I agree, I really like my el cap case with the hinged door. But who really needs room for 2 optical drives anyway? There may be a possibility that a small percentage of peope do, but I think this case may not look as nice as my el cap, but it is very revolutionary. The 4 different temperature controlled zones is the coolest feature.
I think they should have made the G5 more like a tower version of the Xserve.
Had the cooling vents on the top and bottom instead of front back.
However, Kudos to Apple for finally producing a very fast and economical 64-bit machine...i guess just as the performance is more on par with PCs and workstations, it's got a design that is more serious too...
I can't believe they didn't hide the ports on the front behind a little door or spring out mechanism etc.
I suppose though, the iBooks and newer PowerBooks have exposed ports, so maybe it's not that surprising.
I think the case design is growning on me. My first impressions (before I saw the stream or the website) was that it was over compartmentalised and that it reminded me (internally) of the Quadra/8100 series towers - way to fiddly to work inside and generally a pain in the tits. I can now see that they did this to facilitate controlled air flow however.
I guess at the end of the day it's the performance we should really be looking at.
Tulkas is right, it sure is ugly but hey funcion over form. It is missing the DOOR? That is just retarded. Oops they messed up. I always hated port covers, they break. I have had an iBook and now PBG4 12" and I haven't had any problems with exposed ports but YMMV. I guess the Hi Ho Quicksilver will always be the best looking. I don't really like all this metal stuff but at least a XServer theme or Pro Mouse theme or Shiny Metal like iPods and the Mirrored doors would've been cool, or the Al of the new AlBooks. But remember class it's what's inside that counts. As long as you can get inside with a door... Man that was stupid. Are there screws involved?
I think they need a second cutout panel for another removable media drive.
That would be a good 3rd party addition. A matching external drive bay (3 drives or so + power supply) that sits on top of the G5 case and plugs into the FW400 or FW800 port.
In my opinion, the new design isn't harder to work on.
The el capitan, hinged MB door seems like a great idea but in practice it always caused me problems. Since all of the cords were on the hinged portion, it was necessary to remove nearly all of them to get enough slack to let the door out. Also, when underneath a desk, it was difficult to get enough space to rotate the machine sideways and into a position with enough room for the lowered door. Even if there was enough room for the rotation and flipped down door, it was still typically necessary to unplug all the wires and move the machine around.
With the old case, I have to unplug everything, move the case out, and set it on a large, stable surface before beginning work. With the new case, I can leave everything plugged in, and not even move the computer one millimeter.
Of course, this all depends the electronics and furniture in your work area... I'll post a photo of my desk upon returning home today. It will be immediately obvious why, for this computer user, the new case design is far more convenient.
Given that it's not shipping for another couple of months, I'm wondering if Apple will still make some minor design tweaks before shipping.
The only thing that sticks out is the drive bay. It does look like it was an afterthought. The current G4's and iMacs have a rounded cornered rectangle.
I appreciate the looks, and can make an excuse for having only one optical, but...
A pros NEED internal HDD's. 4 slots. MINIMUM. The way it is now, you can't even drop in a RAID card and drop 2-3 extra drive in it, not possible, poor decision making.
Even if they had to mount 4 cassettes vertically behind the sigle optical, they really should have worke that out.
Glaring oversight.
The rest of the case looks good, and will be quiet.
Comments
The mesh... cheese grader... is to allow air to flow in... So you don't want air (and more importantly dust) to flow into your optical drive.
Plus to keep air out you would have to block the mesh and that would look fugly... which this case needs none of.
Originally posted by Tomb of the Unknown
I think they need a second cutout panel for another removable media drive.
I'd second that, but from Apple's drawings, there isn't any space left in that case AT ALL. Kind of odd...I think they're being a bit presumptious this time. For a lot of possible switchers, not being able to have two built-in optical drives kind of sucks. Not a big deal to me, but for some people it is.
I only have one major problem with the case design. That is the elimination of the hinged door. The new case basically works like every other PC case, in that you fully remove the side panel to access the internals. But, you must go a step further and remove some sort of clear plastic or fiber casing behind the panel to get inside. Seems like they went from the incredible and envied el Capitan door, to a cumbersome and common removable panel and threw in an extra step to make it that much less intuitive. I think Ives screwed up on this one. Maybe he had good reason, maybe we might find out why the dramatic departure from the door.
]
Had the cooling vents on the top and bottom instead of front back.
However, Kudos to Apple for finally producing a very fast and economical 64-bit machine...i guess just as the performance is more on par with PCs and workstations, it's got a design that is more serious too...
...Small Iron from Apple.
I suppose though, the iBooks and newer PowerBooks have exposed ports, so maybe it's not that surprising.
I think the case design is growning on me. My first impressions (before I saw the stream or the website) was that it was over compartmentalised and that it reminded me (internally) of the Quadra/8100 series towers - way to fiddly to work inside and generally a pain in the tits. I can now see that they did this to facilitate controlled air flow however.
I guess at the end of the day it's the performance we should really be looking at.
there don't seem to be any screws to remove, just a lever to pull.
the internal layout seems very well laid out. bordering on artistic.
there are cables in the way. a seperate area for each specific function: storage, expansion cards, and memory/processor.
it seems it would be pretty easy to pop it open and install a new card and some memory without even flipping the machine on it's side.
Originally posted by Tomb of the Unknown
I think they need a second cutout panel for another removable media drive.
That would be a good 3rd party addition. A matching external drive bay (3 drives or so + power supply) that sits on top of the G5 case and plugs into the FW400 or FW800 port.
Originally posted by pesi
the internal layout seems very well laid out. bordering on artistic.
A nice perk of Serial ATA: no more nasty ribbon cables, which probably helps airflow a lot.
If they do, then that's rather impressive. Very clean internal layout if a little fiddly.
The el capitan, hinged MB door seems like a great idea but in practice it always caused me problems. Since all of the cords were on the hinged portion, it was necessary to remove nearly all of them to get enough slack to let the door out. Also, when underneath a desk, it was difficult to get enough space to rotate the machine sideways and into a position with enough room for the lowered door. Even if there was enough room for the rotation and flipped down door, it was still typically necessary to unplug all the wires and move the machine around.
With the old case, I have to unplug everything, move the case out, and set it on a large, stable surface before beginning work. With the new case, I can leave everything plugged in, and not even move the computer one millimeter.
Of course, this all depends the electronics and furniture in your work area... I'll post a photo of my desk upon returning home today. It will be immediately obvious why, for this computer user, the new case design is far more convenient.
The ram looks easy to get to, no tangle of wires getting in the way as happens on alot of PC's.
Slots looks easy to get to also.
I love the internal design frankly.
I can't wait to actually see one close up.
I will be buying.
The only thing that sticks out is the drive bay. It does look like it was an afterthought. The current G4's and iMacs have a rounded cornered rectangle.
I appreciate the looks, and can make an excuse for having only one optical, but...
A pros NEED internal HDD's. 4 slots. MINIMUM. The way it is now, you can't even drop in a RAID card and drop 2-3 extra drive in it, not possible, poor decision making.
Even if they had to mount 4 cassettes vertically behind the sigle optical, they really should have worke that out.
Glaring oversight.
The rest of the case looks good, and will be quiet.