Even before the Cube
was released, people were looking for an aesthetically pleasing way to
make a computer part of their living room/home theater. But the cases,
even the Cube, look out of place. Everyone wants a black case that
looks like their receiver.
Working in a lab that does bio-informatic research (using computers
to sequence the human genome), Macs have never been a viable option
because they supposedly lack horsepower. With Apple's new BLAST
program, it's a lot faster than on a Pentium 4.
Imagine, however, if instead of having two processors do the
calculation, how fast would it be with 16 processors? This would be
possible through clustering technology, which is available for Macs.
But the problem with Apple's pretty cases is that they take up a lot of
space and can't easily be put into a rack. (Terra Soft makes brackets
for G3 B&W and G4 Towers.) Terra Soft came up with a small G4 case
called a briQ that can be
put into their proprietary rack.
What do these two problems have in common? How about killing two
birds with one stone? Create a rack mounted case that can also be a
computer control for your home theater. Apple has a lot of experience
creating pleasing looking cases; all they would need to do is have two
small holes on each side in case someone wanted to mount it in a server
rack or on their wall rack mounted home theater system (brackets must
be included). To hit each user segment, have three models.
|
Home User
|
Power User
|
Server/Lab
|
|
G4 at
|
800 MHz
|
933 MHz
|
Dual 1 GHz
|
|
RAM
|
512 MB
|
1 GB
|
2 GB
|
|
Media Drive
|
Combo
|
SuperDrive
|
SuperDrive
|
These would also include onboard 100/1000 ethernet, a 4x AGP slot
with an Nvidia card (possibly using a riser card). For home users it
would have component, composite, and S-video out as well as Digital
Comp.
The rack-mount Mac would have two PCI slots (probably on a riser
card), and for home users it would include a premium sound card with
optical and RCA audio out.
The new model would have two USB ports on the front and two on the
rear, a FireWire port up front and two in the back, and IR on the front
for a wireless keyboard or remote control.
Of course it would support an AirPort card, and it should be capable
of working as an AirPort Base Station.
If Apple is serious about being a digital hub, they need to make
computers that look like regular home electronics. Could you imagine
having the family over during the holidays, plugging your digital
camera into the front USB port, and looking at all your pictures on a
regular TV? Plus, with the AirPort card, it can become the center of
the digital wireless network as well.
Also, if Apple wants to be a serious competitor in the server
market, they need to add a rack mounted case to their product line.
The market is waiting.
Share your perspective on the Mac by emailing with "My Turn" as your subject.
