G5 in a rack?

philipturnerphilipturner
Posted:
in Future Apple Hardware edited January 2014
Hello!



Just joined - here's a first post...



Having a G5 in a 19" rack enclosure would be the perfect solution for home/pro recording studios where space is limited or some portability is needed. In a rack the computer could sit along side audio interfaces, effects units etc. making a really neat and compact system. Especially running the new Logic Pro 6 suite! And on the road it would be much more physically secure (from theft and beer!) than using a Powerbook.



Apple's X-Serve has such an the enclosure but it's quite pricey because it has server spec hardware and software that I don't need. It's also rather noisy apparently.



Will Apple be making a regular G5 in a similar (1U,2U,3U?) 19" rack enclosure? (Of course it would have to be very quiet for use in a recording studio.)



Pack it with Logic Pro 6 and a second, large hard disk for audio: "Logic-al Rack Mac" ... I'd buy one. Anyone else?



I searched and could not find. If this has been discussed before, please show me where!



Cheers,



Phil

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 8
    cosmocosmo Posts: 662member
    Interesting idea. Seems like there woldn't be too much demand for another 1U unit from apple though.



    There were rack adaptors available for the b/w g3s and g4 towers that allowed the towers to be mounted in a rack horizontally, but the g5 case is taller and may not fit in a rack horizontally.
  • Reply 2 of 8
    pscatespscates Posts: 5,847member
    Yeah, I think Marathon is the company big on making those rack-mounting doodads for G4 towers. They advertise often in the back of Macworld.



    As for the G5 rackmount thing, that would be a neat idea, for the situations mentioned above (recording and stuff). Much easier to take one of those around than lugging a tower.



    I could see lots of studios and musician types digging it.
  • Reply 3 of 8
    philipturnerphilipturner Posts: 3member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Cosmo

    Interesting idea. Seems like there woldn't be too much demand for another 1U unit from apple though.





    Cosmo,



    Apple's re-packaging of Logic at $299 and $999 tells me they are hoping to get a lot of people using it. Some say it's actually a drive to boost sales of the G5 in that segment.



    If that's really what's going on, I'm surprised they couldn't easily re-engineer the X-Serve enclosure (mainly for noise) and sell a really good value machine.



    Everyone making music has a rack. It's also a very convenient form for many other people; needs zero floor or desk space: easy to make cheap mounting brackets to hang the thing flat on a wall or tucked away on the underside of a desk. I wonder if Apple's missed an opportunity here.



    Cheers,



    Phil
  • Reply 4 of 8
    philipturnerphilipturner Posts: 3member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by pscates

    Yeah, I think Marathon is the company big on making those rack-mounting doodads for G4 towers. They advertise often in the back of Macworld.



    As for the G5 rackmount thing, that would be a neat idea, for the situations mentioned above (recording and stuff). Much easier to take one of those around than lugging a tower.



    I could see lots of studios and musician types digging it.



    pscates,



    I know about the Marathon rack-mounting stuff. Looks slightly ridiculous! And so are the prices. And takes up loads of space.



    Ideally, Apple should put a regular G5 in the X-Serve 1U enclosure. Elegant! Wonderful!



    Cheers,



    Phil
  • Reply 5 of 8
    bjnybjny Posts: 191member
    These folks offer G4s & G5s in rack mount.

    http://www.gvstore.com/gvs90004u1.html



    Too bad the Xserve is so deep front to back.
  • Reply 6 of 8
    whoamiwhoami Posts: 301member
    it's too bad that they made the G5 bigger than the G4 enclosure...

    the G4's were easily rack mountable, the G5's won't fit, that's why i bet virginia tech is gonna have a field day resizing their racks to fit the x-serve's! the rack's they built were custom sized!
  • Reply 7 of 8
    ~ufo~~ufo~ Posts: 245member
    being a music producer and musician I've wondered the same thing before.



    Xserves were a step in the good direction but aimed at the wrong market to be really helpful to the music industry.

    Being a 1u affair it has a few downsides:

    one is, of course, expandability and the other is noise.

    There's just now way they could make a 1u machine as quiet as the tower.



    The solution would be relatively simple, just make a 3-4u 19" case just like the built-for-music rackmount PCs.

    that way you can get the airflow going and have the same expandability as the g5 tower or maybe even better.



    do I want apple to do this?



    "YES"



    will they do this?



    sadly, I doubt it, I don't see them making a different rackmount G5 just for the creative industry after having released the xserve.

    Too much of a niche market I'm afraid.



    over here (the netherlands) I've heard of a company that would take your G4 powermac and built the components into a relatively silent rackmount case. This was long before the xserve g4 was even released.

    Downside is that it is very likely to not look nearly as cool as it would having been made by apple.

    but still, maybe they do it for G5s now, and you could use the left over G5 case as a sexy desk lamp or, what it was originally designed for, in the kitchen as a bulky supersexy cheese grater!
  • Reply 8 of 8
    ~ufo~~ufo~ Posts: 245member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by BJNY

    These folks offer G4s & G5s in rack mount.

    http://www.gvstore.com/gvs90004u1.html



    Too bad the Xserve is so deep front to back.



    sorry, didn't see that one.



    cool but sadly they are butt ugly, I wonder what they do with the left over cases ? they should have shitloads of them!
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