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Mac Pro case for PCs now on Kickstarter

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P

PetriP-TNT

Member
Looks preeeettty familiar

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/dunecase/dune-case

86 backers
$11,265 pledged of $130,000 goal
41 days to go
Click to expand...

LqhqTiz.png


DrBN0TN.png


Yup, it's the Mac Pro cylindrical case all right. Hell even the marketing materials are straight up Apple style.
 
N

NoblesseOblige

Banned
That case is so stupid looking. Should have modeled it after the older mac pros, like the 2012. As much as I hate Apple I absolutely love opening the one we have at work. It'd be an absolute nightmare to replace parts in, but its aesthetically very pleasing.

mac-pro-02-inside.jpg
Click to expand...
 
entremet

entremet

Member
Why copy one of Apple's worst design decisions?

I'm an Apple fanboy through and through, but the garbage bin Mac Pros look awful.

I get that they want to pimp Thunderbolt and probably USB-C in later revisions, but all those wires are unsightly.
 
Z

Zepp Twofist

Member
The IO panel has only 2 hdmi out as display connectors? That seems like a horrible limitation for a full sized PC. At least stick 2x display port on there so people can convert to any other signal type with adapters.
 
E

ElTorro

I wanted to dominate the living room. Then I took an ESRAM in the knee.
I don't know if this makes much sense without the original Mac Pro's massive heat sink and custom cooling design. The air flow in this replica, with the fans of the standard graphics cards and the Mini-ITX board blowing against it in that confined space, seems not particularly effective.
 
Pagusas

Pagusas

Elden Member
entremet said:
Why copy one of Apple's worst design decisions?

I'm an Apple fanboy through and through, but the garbage bin Mac Pros look awful.

I get that they want to pimp Thunderbolt and probably USB-C in later revisions, but all those wires are unsightly.
Click to expand...

Its true, I was excited when we got ours in at work, they looked great right out of the box sitting on the desk.... Until you plugged them in. So ugly looking with all the wires coming out of them, and impossible to hide the wires if you want to easily plug in head phones or us the USB ports. such a horrible design in regards to functionality.
 
entremet

entremet

Member
Pagusas said:
Its true, I was excited when we got ours in at work, they looked great right out of the box sitting on the desk.... Until you plugged them in. So ugly looking with all the wires coming out of them, and impossible to hide the wires if you want to be about to easily plug in head phoens or us the USB ports. such a horrible design in regards to functionality.
Click to expand...

You'll probably need to a get USB hub and then it's more wires.

Very un-Apple like to me.
 
F

Fuchsdh

Member
Well it's probably the best-looking Mac ripoff case I've seen, so there's that.

As for the Mac Pro I would have been happier with a smaller version of the tower (just stick some 3.5" bays with 2.5" support up where the 5.25" bays are and cut out the extra height, at least), but considering Apple isn't interested in serving specific niches it seems ultimately like a misstep to turn the Mac that was a jack of all trades into a hyper-focused multi-GPU machine that's only good for a few select pro use cases.
 
T

The Chef

Member
"We dont believe creativity should reside in a box..."

lol they honestly are trying to act like they came up with this design?
Oh lord that is just sad.
 
O

opticalmace

Member
plainr_ said:
What? itx boards have standard size pcie slots.
Click to expand...

I'm just going by the FAQ. Looks like in the pic it has a regular sized GPU though, so...?

"Will the case accept motherboards/RAM/Video cards from other manufacturers such as ASUS, Gigabyte, Corsair, or EVGA?

Dune Case is a case, and therefore crafted to house and support components from manufacturers. Because of its cylindrical size, Dune Case supports the following component sizes:
a. Motherboard: Mini ITX
b. GPU: Mini ITX
c. RAM: Standard ATX
d. CPU: Standard ATX
e. HDD: 2.5 inch only"
 
N

NoblesseOblige

Banned
entremet said:
Probably patented so intentional to avoid apple's legal team.

Heat sink
Click to expand...

It was a joke. And you couldn't clone the heat sink even if Apple's legal team wasn't a concern. It wouldn't fit with regular consumer parts. The board in Apple's device is specifically developed.
 
P

plainr_

Member
opticalmace said:
I'm just going by the FAQ. Looks like in the pic it has a regular sized GPU though, so...?

"Will the case accept motherboards/RAM/Video cards from other manufacturers such as ASUS, Gigabyte, Corsair, or EVGA?

Dune Case is a case, and therefore crafted to house and support components from manufacturers. Because of its cylindrical size, Dune Case supports the following component sizes:
a. Motherboard: Mini ITX
b. GPU: Mini ITX
c. RAM: Standard ATX
d. CPU: Standard ATX
e. HDD: 2.5 inch only"
Click to expand...

Upon closer look it does look like it only supports graphics cards with short PCB's. There is only one 980 in that size but the cooling might need to be custom to fit.
 
L

Latvian Hitman

Member
NoblesseOblige said:
That case is so stupid looking. Should have modeled it after the older mac pros, like the 2012. As much as I hate Apple I absolutely love opening the one we have at work. It'd be an absolute nightmare to replace parts in, but its aesthetically very pleasing.
Click to expand...

Actually, from the 2009 model onward, the OG Mac Pros were very easy to replace parts in so long as you have a long screwdriver to get down to the heatsink screws.
 
V

VAD

Member
I will wait for reviews, I like the look but I would like to know about the thermal performances.
 
N

NoblesseOblige

Banned
Latvian Hitman said:
Actually, from the 2009 model onward, the OG Mac Pros were very easy to replace parts in so long as you have a long screwdriver to get down to the heatsink screws.
Click to expand...

I've only been inside the 2012 model so I'll take your word on it. And I should have limited my initial response to things like the motherboard. Swapping hard drives and graphics card is really easy in the 2012 pro, but everything else seems like it'd be a headache.
 
entremet

entremet

Member
NoblesseOblige said:
I've only been inside the 2012 model so I'll take your word on it. And I should have limited my initial response to things like the motherboard. Swapping hard drives and graphics card is really easy in the 2012 pro, but everything else seems like it'd be a headache.
Click to expand...

They're definitely not as modular as PCs in this regard. Mostly due to their internal case designs.

Most PC cases are designed to more modular by design.
 
L

LyleLanley

Banned
"Dune Case is designed to inspire innovation and imagination for custom PC builders ready to think outside the box. "

This definitely inspires innovation.

For those who are worried about a potential lawsuit from Apple the creator has been commenting on that possibility.

Dune Case is just a case, not a computer. Prior art exists for cylindrical cases designs pre-2013. We refined our design to support mini-ITX components. Thanks to everyone for their support so far!
Click to expand...
 
N

NoblesseOblige

Banned
Sony actually had cylinder computer back in Vista days, so whatever years that was being loaded as default. However it was much shorter, and the parts were still oriented horizontally.

$_86.JPG
Click to expand...

I think they were supposed to be able to 'stack' optional components, but I don't know if they ever took off to that point:

sonyvaio-vgx-tp1dt.jpg
 
V

Vuze

Member
I don't like the cylindrical design tbh. But it's a new Mini ITX case so yay. Ended up ordering the node 202 the other day, only wish it was available in white and without the front logo but oh well
 
A

Aztechnology

Member
biggersmaller said:
I bought a brand new G5 case ten years ago for this purpose. There are online guides for getting it done. Someday I will get around to it.

Example:

image.jpg
Click to expand...

Same I kept an old G5 Case just never get around to it.

As far as the kickstarter does that not infringe on Apples patent for design?
 
diffusionx

diffusionx

Gold Member
LyleLanley said:
For those who are worried about a potential lawsuit from Apple the creator has been commenting on that possibility.
Click to expand...

Well that settles it.

NoblesseOblige said:
Sony actually had cylinder computer back in Vista days, so whatever years that was being loaded as default. However it was much shorter, and the parts were still oriented horizontally.
Click to expand...

As you point out this design is very different. It's not just a cylinder. It's the way components are ordered, the way heat flows out, etc.
 
I

itsbenoclock

Member
So like a Mac Pro but without the custom cooling and the assumption that all your parts will fit in correctly, great. For the record I like the Apple design because it's made to work in that way and it's compact, although I'd never buy one personally.
 
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