Re: [Fed-Talk] OS on new hardware?
Re: [Fed-Talk] OS on new hardware?
- Subject: Re: [Fed-Talk] OS on new hardware?
- From: "Link, Peter R." <email@hidden>
- Date: Tue, 20 Sep 2011 07:43:55 -0700
- Acceptlanguage: en-US
- Thread-topic: [Fed-Talk] OS on new hardware?
John/Jerry,
I have been fantasizing about an xMac for years (and an xMacServer for nearly as long). Yes, you can stuff a quad i7 into a mini but I'm not seeing Apple stuff a powerful GPU in as well. The Mac Pro has built-in hardware RAID for 4 drives, the most a mini can support is two and those are either laptop drives or SSDs. I know the future is SSDs with external RAID and the cloud. Of course the cloud only works when you have access to it. TB should satisfy most people's demands for high speed access to RAIDs. What I'm not seeing, and something GPU-intensive applications like Matlab demand, is the ability to run even one real good GPU in something the size of a mini or more than one GPU in something the size of an iMac. I always thought GPU computing was the next big thing but Apple isn't providing that capability in something the size of a mini. Starting with a MBP gives you more capabilities but again, there's only so much you can cram into a MBP before it catches on fire (or the desk does).
I wouldn't mind Apple coming out with a second incarnation of the Cube; maybe a half-height one. This could also be considered a pregnant mini (twice as high). The top half would contain a powerful GPU or two (or three) as well as additional room for RAM. Leave out the optical drive and make room for at least four internal drives and a couple fans (I don't think you can get away from fans in this configuration). The bottom half would then have room for multiple CPUs. The resulting box could be 1U high by 1/3 rack width, allowing it to be used as a server (in Apple's mind). This should enable 6 or these pregnant mini's to fit in 1U or rack space or at least 12 quad i7s per 1U.
I think it's time for Apple to throw a toy to the enterprise people who have championed Apple for two decades. Designing something like this shouldn't be that hard and the resulting product should only cost twice as much as the current mini. Why not just use two mini's you ask? Because two mini's still won't get you a good GPU. As far as a mini not being "computer-room capable," when was the last time you saw a mini's power supply die? Sure, Apple could also build LOM into the server version if they still consider OSX Server to be a viable product. Even if Apple doesn't, enterprise users can build their own open source servers using OSX as the base.
forgot my tea, gotta go......
On Sep 20, 2011, at 7:09 AM, Blackmon Jerry (Contractor) wrote:
> No offense taken, that was an idle comment not intended to be a serious suggestion. I understand the constraints of putting hot processors into configurations for which they were not designed, I'm just saying that Apple has a history of thinking outside the box and the Mac Pro is the biggest box they make :)
>
> ---
> Jerry Blackmon <email@hidden>
> Engraving Support: Mac Specialist
> Senior Systems Administrator, OITO
>
> "The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change. The realist adjusts the sails." -- William Arthur Ward
>
> From: "Lamb, John (NIH/NHLBI) [C]" <email@hidden<mailto:email@hidden>>
> Date: Tue, 20 Sep 2011 10:04:14 -0400
> To: Mac Federal <email@hidden<mailto:email@hidden>>
> Subject: Re: [Fed-Talk] OS on new hardware?
>
> All,
>
> I think I just had a "doesn't have aspergers, but I play someone who does
> on TV" moment - I meant no disrespect to Mr. Blackmon. It just occurred to
> me that the physical constraints of the mini were not suited to a
> processor that demands that much cooling (much less 2 of them). If Mr.
> Blackmon was wondering about what the arstechnica forums refer to an xMac
> (think Mac pro in a smaller form factor, with various compromises.), that
> is certainly possible (but unlikely for reasons listed below).
>
> The bigger issue is that the i7 does much of what you'd expect a xeon to
> be able to do (and certain xeons on certain motherboards are
> interchangable with i7s), but with an eye toward power management.
>
> The xeons are meant to be stuffed in a box/rack somewhere, run at full
> load for 5 years and not fail. The i7s are not over engineered like that,
> but provide much of the same power on an intermittent basis.
>
> So, a Mac Mini with an i7 is much of what Mr. Blackmon is asking for.
> Perhaps not specifically, but in effect. And it makes an "xMac" redundant.
>
> --
> John Lamb
> Desktop Support Technician (Contractor)
> Customer Service Branch
> Center for Biomedical Informatics (CBI)
> National Heart Lung and Blood Institute, NIH
> 10 Center Drive - Building 10 6C103
> Bethesda, MD 20814
> Telephone (240) 751-6562 | Email: email@hidden<mailto:email@hidden>
> NHLBI Computer Services: http://insider.nhlbi.nih.gov/computer
>
>
>
> On 9/20/11 9:49 AM, "Lamb, John (NIH/NHLBI) [C]" <email@hidden<mailto:email@hidden>>
> wrote:
>
> I have a Mac Pro at home. The heatsink is bigger than a Mini. So... that
> perhaps.
>
> --
> John Lamb
> Desktop Support Technician (Contractor)
> Customer Service Branch
> Center for Biomedical Informatics (CBI)
> National Heart Lung and Blood Institute, NIH
> 10 Center Drive - Building 10 6C103
> Bethesda, MD 20814
> Telephone (240) 751-6562 | Email: email@hidden<mailto:email@hidden>
> NHLBI Computer Services: http://insider.nhlbi.nih.gov/computer
>
>
>
> On 9/20/11 9:25 AM, "Blackmon Jerry (Contractor)" <email@hidden<mailto:email@hidden>>
> wrote:
>
> I was talking to someone about this yesterday. What's to stop Apple from
> putting Xeon chips in a mini and calling it a day? Thunderbolt solves
> expansion problems. Hell, the new i5 minis alone are pretty powerful.
> I've got one effortlessly handling streaming video that choked a Core 2.
> Processor load is negligible where the Core 2 was running at 98% and
> stuttering.
>
> Trucks. I handle H I G H end data processing requirements. The Mac Pros
> we currently have are overkill.
>
> ---
> Jerry Blackmon <email@hidden<mailto:email@hidden>>
> Engraving Support: Mac Specialist
> Senior Systems Administrator, OITO
>
> "The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to
> change. The realist adjusts the sails." -- William Arthur Ward
>
> From: "Pike, Michael (IHS/HQ)"
> <email@hidden<mailto:email@hidden><mailto:email@hidden>>
> Date: Mon, 19 Sep 2011 19:43:29 -0400
> To: Todd Heberlein
> <email@hidden<mailto:email@hidden><mailto:email@hidden>>
> Cc: "email@hidden<mailto:email@hidden><mailto:email@hidden>"
> <email@hidden<mailto:email@hidden><mailto:email@hidden>>
> Subject: Re: [Fed-Talk] OS on new hardware?
>
> I predict mac pro goes way of Xserve.
>
> Mac pro is too much power for the average Facebook/twitter user and that
> seems to be apples new target. IMHO.
>
> They dumped optical media why keep a machine around that has not one but
> two optical drives?
>
> Sent from my iPhone 4
>
> On Sep 19, 2011, at 5:13 PM, "Todd Heberlein"
> <email@hidden<mailto:email@hidden><mailto:email@hidden>> wrote:
>
> I picked up a new Mac Pro at an Apple Store today and was surprised to
> find that it had Snow Leopard (10.6.4) on it and not Lion. Is Apple not
> shipping Lion on the latest Mac Pros, or do I just have an exceptionally
> old computer that had been sitting around in the back room? :-\
> And if anyone has a new Mac Pro that came with Lion, how was the
> re-install media shipped? On a little USB stick?
> Todd
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Peter Link
Cyber Security Analyst
Cyber Security Program
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
PO Box 808, L-315
Livermore, CA 94550
email@hidden
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