[itai195]

I'm not sure how they can fit all those extra drives in the case without either making the case larger or using fewer fans. People already complain about the case being too large, and I'd imagine they put considerable effort into streamlining the cooling system as much as possible. I wouldn't get my hopes up, but who knows...

Most common complaint I've heard about the G5 is price.

[Zoom]

I am definitely hoping for some case mods in this release. Would they do it? Sure, why not? This is Apple we're talking about. Design is everything. If they wanted to change something, they would change it, no matter what the time table. Sure, they could have bought a billion cases and need to use them up, but in today's JIT environment for manufacturing, I'm guessing that's not the case. A case redesign is absolutely possible, it's just a matter of whether Steve wants one.

The lack on expandability is plenty of reason to do a case mod at this stage. This is a damn pro machine, for God's sake. We took a step backwards on expandability with the G5 case - less space for hard drives, less space for optical drives. I personally think they're wasting a ton of space in that enclosure. The area where the CPUs are is full of empty space. Put the CPUs on top of each other, or stagger them a bit so it doesn't require 2x height. Make little wind tunnels and stuff in there. You don't need open air, you need flow-through air.

Look at this picture.

If you were to look at the absolute exterior dimensions, this is a huge box. The handles on the top and bottom add, what, 2-3 inches to the overall height? They can't be needed for air flow, there are no holes in the top of bottom (right?). I realize in SOME pro environments, these machines might get moved a lot... but for most people (95%?) I'm assuming they just waste space.

There there's that floor space below the CPU area, maybe another 1.5"... what's in there? Then look at all the empty space in general. Apple is the same company that produced the iMac and the Cube. Can't they do a little better than this? Yeah, yeah, the G5 is hotter and more expandable, but still, I think they can do better. And I actually love the beauty of this, it's SO clean. But at what cost?

Finally, what the hell is behind that huge "G5" panel? Is there a fan in that box? Heat fins? That's a HUGE heat sink. I thought G5's were supposed to run cooler than P5's? Do P5's have heat sinks that damn big?? And then there are, what, 9 fans? Plus, this thing is basically open-air already. Standard PC cases do not have a completely perforated front and rear grille. (And if you only have one CPU, you're REALLY wasting space.)

I suppose maybe all that is required to make them quiet, and I love the fact that they're quiet... but I would sacrifice a little noice for a case 2/3 the size with an extra bay for an optical drive.

I guess what I'm saying is that it appears to me that Apple's case design was focused primarily on (a) noise and (b) tidiness. I would prefer that they relax those constraints a bit in favor of more practical things like expandability. My primary complaint about this case is lack of a second optical bay.

Why? Well, a Superdrive is nice, but it sucks as a CD burner, which I also need. A superdrive does 16x CD burning. Modern drives run 4x faster than that and that's important to me. Plus, I want to be able to copy disc-to-disc, not disc-to-harddrive-to-disc. I have an external FW drive now and I hate it. It's loud and it takes up precious desk space. That said, if the Superdrive could burn CDRs at 40x or 48x, I could probably live with a single optical drive.

Finally, I look at $400 PCs and say, why can't my $2000 Mac be that expandable? For that kind of a premium, I expect a lot. But you can assemble a decent PC for under $500 with all sorts of expansion and upgrade options. I should be able to do that with a PowerMac.

[Link]

Originally posted by Simon:

So a case re-design less than a year after they did a completely novel case?

The post probably was baloney, but a case lasting "only a year" is NOT unusual. The QS only lasted a year and the production run of the FW800 was only 6 months (it counts as a slight revision to the MDD case)...

Apple could very well nix the g5 case. While it's pretty spiffy it's also really huge and the fact it has very little optical/hard disk expandability is nuts for a machine of it's class.

A dual drive door machine would be nice for a start, and at least 3-4 HD slots as the MDD had.

[jgcan]

Originally posted by Link:
The post probably was baloney, but a case lasting "only a year" is NOT unusual. The QS only lasted a year and the production run of the FW800 was only 6 months (it counts as a slight revision to the MDD case)...

Apple could very well nix the g5 case. While it's pretty spiffy it's also really huge and the fact it has very little optical/hard disk expandability is nuts for a machine of it's class.

A dual drive door machine would be nice for a start, and at least 3-4 HD slots as the MDD had.

baloney? why? want to bet on it ...

[blakespot]

We have heard reports of 2.5GHz PPC 970's being fabbed successfully at IBM. We have heard no such reports of 3GHz or anything higher. Such reports would circulate before Apple brings to market (or even announces, methinks) a 3GHz G5. I am thinking that 2.5GHz is going to be the top offering out of WWDC. Though I am certain something will arrive on the G5 front.

I was at the FOSE 2004 Expo in DC a few months back and spoke to an Apple rep, telling him I was waiting for the next iteration of G5 to jump and upgrade my dual G4 800. He said "Just wait for WWDC..." I am not sure if he knows something solid or is just making the same assumption that we all are - but it was an interesting comment to hear from someone within Apple.

Can't wait for WWDC.


blakespot

[Simon]

Originally posted by Link:
A dual drive door machine would be nice for a start, and at least 3-4 HD slots as the MDD had.

Yes!

Apple should find a way to duplicate the top zone of the G5. That would give two optical drive bays and 4 SATA bays. More than good enough for most people. And it would hopefully stop all the bitching about the second optical bay missing, yada yada. The boundary condition is that the box should become not a single mm taller and it should retain the handles. I would like to see if Apple's design team can deliver such an improvement.

Nevertheless, I think the French rumor is bull. There has been no buzz about anything above 2.5GHz and no reliable info or a decent rumor about the 975. I think they're just taking us for a ride.

[Commodus]

Remember that the 2.5 GHz figure was cited in February. By WWDC it will have been a good 4+ months. In that kind of time, there can be yield improvements or tweaks that increase the maximum attainable clock speed. I certainly don't rule out a top end of 2.6 GHz or so, but we really don't know what improvements in IBM's yields have meant so far.

One thing to consider is that IBM only had the official clock speed of the PPC 970 at 1.8 GHz, up until WWDC 2003. What IBM says to the public in advance and what's actually being readied can be two distinct things...

[Sparkletron]

Originally posted by Zoom:
There there's that floor space below the CPU area, maybe another 1.5"... what's in there?

That's the power supply (transformer, etc.). I agree that the G5 is a large chassis. I also agree that it would be nice if it could handle more HDs. On the other hand, the G5 wasn't designed merely for digital video. If you need a five-HD RAID then buy one. I don't need one and I wouldn't want to pay extra for a chassis that can handle one. For the fashion-conscious Mac user I suggest a MediaVault U320-R.

[Link]

Originally posted by Simon:
Yes!

Apple should find a way to duplicate the top zone of the G5. That would give two optical drive bays and 4 SATA bays. More than good enough for most people. And it would hopefully stop all the bitching about the second optical bay missing, yada yada. The boundary condition is that the box should become not a single mm taller and it should retain the handles. I would like to see if Apple's design team can deliver such an improvement.

Nevertheless, I think the French rumor is bull. There has been no buzz about anything above 2.5GHz and no reliable info or a decent rumor about the 975. I think they're just taking us for a ride.

I'm sure if they had verax or zalman take a good look at the machine they could find a more efficient way to setup the cooling, eliminating the need for such a huge piece of the case being dedicated to the lower zones..

[booboo]

Perhaps if there were two optical drive bays, there could be the option to fit one of them with an X-serve style drive-in-a-caddy?

It seems to me Apple should try to cover as many bases as possible with (different configurations of) their hardware.

[djohnson]

Different configurations would be good, but not always feasible. I would merely be happy to get a new machine right now!

[DeathMan]

Originally posted by Simon:
More than good enough for most people.

A superdrive, and a half terrabyte of storage is already more than enough for most people.

[Will McGoonigle]

Damn the Power Macs move forward slower than any puter on the market. Apart from Sun Sparcs.

[Eriamjh]

What if the new top-of-the-line G5 was the only one to get the case upgrade?

For $3000, you'd get a case that has two CD_ROM bays, and at least 4 HD bays?
Apple could keep the existing case for the mid and low-end models.

It would help cover the cost of the new design, but those who wanted more space would have to opt for the fasest machine (most do anyway).

[SMacTech]

Originally posted by Zoom:
Finally, what the hell is behind that huge "G5" panel? Is there a fan in that box? Heat fins? That's a HUGE heat sink. I thought G5's were supposed to run cooler than P5's? Do P5's have heat sinks that damn big?? And then there are, what, 9 fans? Plus, this thing is basically open-air already. Standard PC cases do not have a completely perforated front and rear grille. (And if you only have one CPU, you're REALLY wasting space.)

Where are these P5s you are talking about?

[Zoom]

Originally posted by SMacTech:
Where are these P5s you are talking about?

Yeah, those are proprietary secrets. I must kill you all now.

No, I just had "5" on the brain. I meant P4.

I'll almost surely be buying a G5 in July - either one of the current ones at a discount price or one of the new ones if the price and features are right.

[Eug Wanker]

Originally posted by DeathMan:
A superdrive, and a half terrabyte of storage is already more than enough for most people.

But not all people, especially power users. And these are Power Macs.

I really think a lot of people can make use of at least 3 internal drives. For example, a 160 GB boot drive with two-drive RAID0 scratch disk would be great for video.

Interestingly, the new G5 design does open up potential space for more drives.

[Leonard]

Talking about RAID and the G5, I think all G5s should come with a RAID setup, the G5 actually benefits from RAID due to the bandwith. Someone I know did some tests with the 2 SATA HD RAIDed and it gave the G5 a significant boost. The HD is now the bottleneck on the G5s.

[booboo]

Originally posted by DeathMan:
A superdrive, and a half terrabyte of storage is already more than enough for most people.

Yes, if you occupy the middle ground between G5 and X-Serve, or you'd like to take your drive with you, you don't exist!

[booboo]

Service documentation for forthcoming G5's?

http://www.appleinsider.com/article.php?id=474

[Eug Wanker]

Originally posted by booboo:
Service documentation for forthcoming G5's?

http://www.appleinsider.com/article.php?id=474

Heheh. Look up 3 posts above yours.

[Link]

THis image has been removed at the demand of apple legal

I'd say they hit right on the nail.. whether it be real or not

[jgcan]

Again from the same guy, the new G5's to be announced today or tomorrow?

http://croquer.free.fr/

2004-06-05 - Les nouveaux G5 arrivent

Il seront annonc�s Lundi ou Mardi. On attend 3 nouveaux mod�les, le haut de gamme ne sera disponible que cet �t�.

[The Placid Casual]

Originally posted by jgcan:
Again from the same guy, the new G5's to be announced today or tomorrow?

http://croquer.free.fr/

2004-06-05 - Les nouveaux G5 arrivent

Il seront annonc�s Lundi ou Mardi. On attend 3 nouveaux mod�les, le haut de gamme ne sera disponible que cet �t�.

The French guy copies everything from AppleInsider and any other sources he can get his hands on, and then claims the rumours as his own.

He is the biggest fraud out there.

[jgcan]

Originally posted by The Placid Casual:
The French guy copies everything from AppleInsider and any other sources he can get his hands on, and then claims the rumours as his own.

He is the biggest fraud out there.

Hummm, from AppleInsider below, it seems that it doesn't come from there ...
------------------------------------------------------------------------
PB
Senior Member

Registered: Jun 2002
From:
_ posted 06-05-2004 09:49 AM _ _ _ _
_
Now Croquer strike again and pretend the new Power Macs will appear this Monday or Tuesday. They expect 3 models, the high end one being available in this summer. Let's wait and see, Tuesday is too close.

[booboo]

Originally posted by teknik:
All I know is that the low-end model will definitely not be a dual processor model.

I hate to say I told you so.

But I TOLD YOU SO!!!

;-)