I know this has been said before, but where is Apple's mid-range desktop ? I'm hitting this problem myself at the moment : I'm running a brain transplanted 2.16GHz Core 2 Mac mini, but it struggles as times because it's heavily IO bound. I could use a machine with a more balanced architecture.
The iMac is nice - but I don't need another monitor, and at the end of the day it's a laptop in a desktop case. It's also limited to 3Gb of RAM, and a single HD.
The MacPro is
awesome - but it's expensive, uses expensive RAM, has far more HD bays than I need, twice the number of optical bays I'll ever need, and I'll never use those PCI slots. It's also
huge...
What I'm crying out for is a mid range desktop Mac:
* Something with a desktop class architecture and chipset (not a laptop one, like an iMac or a Mini, not a Workstation or Server like the Pro).
* Twin HD bays would be perfect, especially if they were as easy to swap as the Pro.
* A single optical drive is all I need (I'll take a Superdrive, but make it user-swappable so I can but HD-DVD-RW in there later).
* I don't need PCI, but put one double and one single width slots in there just in case, and slap one of the video cards from the pro in there for good measure.
* Give it the capability to use upto 8GB of RAM (4 even), a couple of FW400 and an 800, 3 or 4 USB 2.0, optical audio in and out, and a single gigabit ethernet (not two, like the Pro).
* Wrap the whole thing in a case that looks like a smaller version of the Pro.
* Make the Apple logo light up - just because
* call it what you like - MacStation will do. Just sell me the bl**dy thing for about £800UKP.
Surely I'm not the only one who's looking at the iMac thinking 'too little' and the MacPro thinking 'too much' ?
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