opening a mac case

Post by **hubird** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 6:35 pm

wrong forumaccidently...excusez moi

I made some pictures of my G4 MDD 1.25 mac, to add some reality to the discussion about the mac hardware.
I made it a new thread, to avoid being OT in the SC/magazin thread in this forum.

If I'm right a regular case should be unscrewed first, and then removed completely, sliding it off the frame, right?
I don't know if cable connections should always be removed first also, maybe this differs from case to case I guess?

On my mac at least I can just open the case completely, and every action can be done.
I.e. I changed my DVD drive without any concern about the connections, as you can see.

I'm showing this not to 'prove' a mac is better or something, I just hope you can see that it's not all about being 'fancy' or 'slick', it's just user friendly.
They had some dedicated thoughts about accessability, and - indeed - this is what you pay for.

What you see:
The motherboard with the PCI slots is seated in the door itself.
You see a RME card+exp.board (heil to CW for it's slot friendly system of ecpanding cards) and two graphic cards.
The small green card is an usb interface which I had laying around.

The case itself contains the harddisks, the 2 drive boxes, and the supply.
Only the power cable is connected to this power of the case, everything else (PCI, ADAT, usb, etc. get's down with the door opening.

Harddisks are easy to get out by a handle-click system.
Two disks are seated to the low-right, in one box.
Left down there's place for another three disks, I use 4 in total, directly cooled by a fan from the rightside, that's where those spacy wholes are for down at the frontside .

The same handle-click system for the drives, but here you have to remove three screws also.

The supply is the broad box in the top, it has two small fans built in at the small left side.
It's noisy, even after Apple's action of the fans update (35,- euro if I'm right).
But there's a 3rd p. 5part fan set which is said to be absolutely silent, according a planetz member, forgot his name (I think from Israel).

check it out:

Neutron · Post by **Neutron** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 6:44 pm

my work has 4 of those soon to be thrown out. i wonder if i can use it for something.

i was also wondering what is that round hole on the front for?

Post by **hubird** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 6:58 pm

that's the speaker

the sound is bad, but hey, it's a medea machine

I'm thinking of hanging the machine at and under the table, the big handles will do perfectly.

Astro mentioned weird mystery troubles with this model, but mine works great.
A real no brainer.
The main point with it is (was) the double boot possibility, it's the last (fastest) model which can do that, tho the later (same)models with Firewire 800 instead of 400 can't.

Fan upgrade kits:
Verax Apple G4 Dual CPU cooling system M10 and M12 (supply fans).
http://www.pcsilent.de/en_hersteller_Ve ... se_69.html
There was an package offer, but I'm afraid it has gone.

Post by **hubird** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 7:44 pm

wrong forum...excusez moi

Shroomz~> · Post by **Shroomz~>** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 8:13 pm

Man, Appaul really screwed up when they designed those things.

Post by **hubird** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 8:14 pm

not sure what you mean

is screwing up a positive thing to do?

Shroomz~> · Post by **Shroomz~>** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 8:26 pm

I didn't mean to offend, but it's just a badly designed piece of hardware. The type of design which just isn't meant to be tampered with. I mean honestly, who the hell came up with the idiotic idea of mounting the mainboard on the removable side panel? WTF?

Post by **hubird** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 8:36 pm

that's why I'm posting it, it's perfect.
It gives full and instant access to all user elements, PCI, disks, drives, without removing any cable.
Putting in a PCI card is a piece of cake, the side panel door laying flat allowes easy mounting.
Do I miss something?
no offence taken, I like to be proven

Shroomz~> · Post by **Shroomz~>** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 8:45 pm

Perfect? Huub, you've got to be joking. It's one of those hardware designs that's designed to be perfect.... as long as you don't need to take it apart.

Post by **hubird** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 8:50 pm

what would you like to take apart except the usual stuff...?

You have to look differently to a mac I guess, you don't want to take everything apart at all, it's no mecano box.
But the things you wánne be able to remove are removable very easy, partly with a simple click system, like explained in the first post.

Suppose the motherboard with the PCI slots would stand up-right.
You would push the machine from the table or simply overturn it if you'd put a card in a slot...
Now you can let the machine exactly where and how it is...
This is intentionally, it serves the user.

The panel-door when closed doesn't leak air, the edges are carefully isolating, and the airstream inside the case as intended is garanteed.

A friend of mine who worked at a Apple repair firm told and showed me that Apple machines are great to have to repair or to customize, and I saw his working routines in my studio when we checked and changed some stuff.
He says it's great to have to work with, mechanically.

Don't hesitate to confront me with disadvantages which I apparently don't see, I'd like to know

I like your amazement tho, as that's a good sign, even when it's negative or doubtful so far

getting some Zzz now

kylie · Post by **kylie** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 11:43 pm

<Shroomz> wrote:I mean honestly, who the hell came up with the idiotic idea of mounting the mainboard on the removable side panel? WTF?

my major concern is the way they mounted the hard drive. it's not the way it is supposed to hang, afair...
and the cpu cooler is very close to it when the case is closed. not that much clever either...
but then, if it works, it works. and if huub likes it, even better

-greetings, markus-

Post by **garyb** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 1:13 am

engineers have been at it for sure...

Shroomz~> · Post by **Shroomz~>** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 3:31 am

hubird wrote:Don't hesitate to confront me with disadvantages which I apparently don't see, I'd like to know

Ok, well since you've prompted me huub...

Here's just one example of why it's a bad design:- I spoke to someone who'd been using Macs professionally for almost 10 years & he told me a funny story. The very first time he had to open his Mac at work to exchange a drive, he understandably didn't know that half of the damn machine was attached to the side access panel, so when he opened it... booofff ... it clattered down onto the desk & could easily have been broken.. They should at least put warning & hazard signs next to that opening latch ...

kylie · Post by **kylie** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 5:06 am

<Shroomz> wrote:They should at least put warning & hazard signs next to that opening latch ...

...or apply an "It was O.K. before you touched it" sticker afterwards

astroman · Post by **astroman** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 5:23 am

well, that's obviously the 'cable too short' version of the story - you easily run into this trap, even if you know what happens as you just mis-estimate that final inch

btw it's clearly pictured in the booklet that comes with the machine, but those dudes in front of a Mac screen only produce booklets - they never look inside, let alone if it's about a Mac.
There's a remaining attitude that you're (supposed to be) a 2nd class Mac user if you read manuals

this machine is not the best example, as it's clearly overengineered.
There is a perfect airflow inside - even between the outer shell and the inner shield under the mobo.
Unfortunately the controlling software was much less smart than the technical design - as it turned the box into a virtual hoovercraft.
Originally it jumped between fan almost off and full speed and Apple supplied replacement parts. There even were 3rd party 'silencers'
In our machine the problem vanished from one day to the other after a firmware update

another proof for 'overengineering' is the non-fitting of the case if a PCI card needs a tiny bit of extra space, like for the S/TDM cable.

But Apple usually had great case designs before this one.
Of course you find similiar things in some HP/Compaq models or with Maxdata etc, but strangely those are no budget machines either...

cheers, Tom

Neutron · Post by **Neutron** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 5:26 am

kylie wrote:
<Shroomz> wrote:I mean honestly, who the hell came up with the idiotic idea of mounting the mainboard on the removable side panel? WTF?
my major concern is the way they mounted the hard drive. it's not the way it is supposed to hang, afair...
and the cpu cooler is very close to it when the case is closed. not that much clever either...
but then, if it works, it works. and if huub likes it, even better

-greetings, markus-

The hard drives can be mounted any which way. the manufacturers say, but if the spindle is parallel or perpendicular to the ground that is better, so this is ok.

im going to open one of the ones at work.
last time i had a mac, i had a hell of a time trying to get an older version of the OS from anywhere. i think they have some kind of osx on them

kylie · Post by **kylie** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 6:05 am

astroman wrote:btw it's clearly pictured in the booklet that comes with the machine, but those dudes in front of a Mac screen only produce booklets - they never look inside, let alone if it's about a Mac.
There's a remaining attitude that you're (supposed to be) a 2nd class Mac user if you read manuals

...thus proving that it is a myth that a mac is flawlessly conctructed, and therefore a manual is a waste of resources, and if there is one, it's a waste of time to look inside. it's well built, for sure, but not in every single detail, as with many if not all other computers as well

Of course you find similiar things in some HP/Compaq models or with Maxdata etc, but strangely those are no budget machines either...

agreed, if we speak of the SFF cases. starting with the minitowers there is enough room, and nowadays they can be serviced toolfree as well.

-greetings, markus-

Neutron · Post by **Neutron** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 6:21 am

i just looked inside one, there is room for full length scope cards in there. however there is no fan for them, and the DSPs do get a bit warm.

apart from that it seems quite well designed to me.

Shroomz~> · Post by **Shroomz~>** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 6:46 am

If I was opening one that had a lot of cable stress/weight attached to it (like with 3 Scope cards), I'd want to be more than carefull. Not for the sake of the mac, but for the sake of the 4000 dollars worth of cards being stressed.

kylie · Post by **kylie** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 6:50 am

<Shroomz> wrote:If I was opening one that had a lot of cable stress/weight attached to it (like with 3 Scope cards), I'd want to be more than carefull. Not for the sake of the mac, but for the sake of the 4000 dollars worth of cards being stressed.

and that's where magma enters the arena