Thin Mini-ITX Platform Enables DIY iMacs

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Thin Mini-ITX Platform Enables DIY iMacs

Posted by Soulskill on Tuesday August 7, 2012 @06:40AM from the computer-from-concentrate dept.

crookedvulture writes "Shipments of all-in-one PCs are growing exponentially faster than those for typical desktops. Unfortunately, highly integrated systems like the iMac have traditionally made it difficult to replace or upgrade parts. And forget about assembling an all-in-one for yourself. Now, however, Intel has developed a Thin Mini-ITX platform that allows system builders and end users to put together all-in-one systems with standard parts. This hands-on look at Thin Mini-ITX pieces together an ersatz iMac using off-the-shelf components, and the process is pretty easy. While the end result isn't quite as slick as one of Apple's creations, parts can be swapped out with ease, and the configuration can be tailored to suit one's needs."

206 comments

Min score:

Reason:

Sort:

You can't do that! by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-07 06:44 · Score: 3, Funny

You're advocating violating the OS X EULA!
Heresy!!!
1. Re:You can't do that! by Theoden · 2012-08-07 06:47 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  You're advocating violating the OS X EULA!
  Heresy!!!
  Pretty positive TFA is about building an all-in-one similar to an iMac, not installing OS X. :P
2. Re:You can't do that! by imagined.by · 2012-08-07 06:48 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  Which is legal in a lot of countries! For example Europe!
3. Re:You can't do that! by imamac · 2012-08-07 06:49 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  It didn't look like they were talking about installing OS X on it. But, it does use the Intel DH61AG motherboard, which is easily used for a hackintosh.
4. Re:You can't do that! by h4rr4r · 2012-08-07 06:49 · Score: 0, Redundant
  
  Europe is a continent, not a country. You could have suggested as an example the nations found on that continent.
5. Re:You can't do that! by arkane1234 · 2012-08-07 06:53 · Score: 1
  
  your right, he meant the EU.
  
  --
  -- This space for lease, low setup fee, inquire within!
6. Re:You can't do that! by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-07 06:55 · Score: 0
  
  They'll smoke a turd in Hell once Father Steve hears of this!
7. Re:You can't do that! by BitZtream · 2012-08-07 07:02 · Score: -1, Redundant
  
  Again, not a country, its several.
  
  --
  Persistent Volume manager for Kubernetes - https://github.com/dwimsey/openshift-pvmanager
8. Re:You can't do that! by cpu6502 · 2012-08-07 07:10 · Score: 2
  
  I can understand the error. With each passing year the EU is looking more like a single, united country than even the U.S. country.
  Just last week I read the UK has to "ask permission" before they can rollout rural broadband expansion. Even U.S. states do not need to do that. They just do it.
  
  --
  My AC stalker: " I personally agree with your posts most of the time, but that won't keep me from modding you troll"
9. Re:You can't do that! by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-07 07:15 · Score: 0
  
  I think imagined.by meant:
  Which is legal in a lot of countries! For example all the countries in Europe!
10. Re:You can't do that! by PRMan · 2012-08-07 07:19 · Score: 1
  
  rural broadband expansion... They just do it.
  Link? As far as I know, they have all taken money for it, but has anyone actually done it?
  
  --
  Peter predicted that you would "deliberately forget" creation 2000 years ago...
11. Re:You can't do that! by imagined.by · 2012-08-07 07:27 · Score: 1
  
  EU law mostly supercedes country law.
12. Re:You can't do that! by ganjadude · 2012-08-07 07:29 · Score: 1
  
  when did the US start doing that? last I checked our broadband is pitiful compared to other countries.
  
  --
  have you seen my sig? there are many others like it but none that are the same
13. Re:You can't do that! by fustakrakich · 2012-08-07 07:44 · Score: 1
  
  Even U.S. states do not need to do that.
  Actually they do need 'permission' from the private telecom industry. Otherwise they'll have laws passed to prohibit state run services.
  
  --
  “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
14. Re:You can't do that! by mcgrew · 2012-08-07 08:00 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  Pretty positive TFA is about building an all-in-one similar to an iMac, not installing OS X. :P
  Then it's hardly an iMac, now is it? You might as well say your Linux desktop is a Mac. If it's not running Windows it's not a Windows computer, if it's not running Linux it's not a Linux computer, and if it's not running OSX it's not an iMac.
  A computer is a lot more than just hardware.
  
  --
  Free Martian Whores!
15. Re:You can't do that! by joh · 2012-08-07 08:09 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  Just last week I read the UK has to "ask permission" before they can rollout rural broadband expansion.
  These things are heavily regulated in the EU. Seems a pretty good way of dealing with this, since broadband (and this is *real* broadband) seems to be much cheaper and competitive in the EU than in the US. I'm paying 20 Euros a month for 50 Gbit with unlimited traffic and a flat landline and I can choose between half a dozen suppliers. What about you?
  
  Even U.S. states do not need to do that. They just do it.
  You surly meant to say "they just don't", I guess.
16. Re:You can't do that! by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-07 08:11 · Score: 0
  
  Including Belarus, the last bastion of True and Total Freedom?
17. Re:You can't do that! by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-07 08:55 · Score: 0
  
  Then it's hardly an iMac, now is it? You might as well say your Linux desktop is a Mac. If it's not running Windows it's not a Windows computer, if it's not running Linux it's not a Linux computer, and if it's not running OSX it's not an iMac.
  http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ersatz
18. Re:You can't do that! by icebraining · 2012-08-07 09:51 · Score: 1
  
  There's no such thing as EU law. There are EU directives, which have no power of law.
  
  --
  Dilbert RSS feed
19. Re:You can't do that! by hoggoth · 2012-08-07 09:56 · Score: 1
  
  Alright, "Scandanavia", OK. Stop being so pedantic.
  
  --
  - For the complete works of Shakespeare: cat /dev/random (may take some time)
20. Re:You can't do that! by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-07 10:36 · Score: 0
  
  United States of Europe. USE! USE! USE!
  But the abbreviation would not be as easy as USE. They'd adopt EUE, for (google translation) États-Unis d'Europe.
  EUE! EUE! EUE!
21. Re:You can't do that! by ModernGeek · 2012-08-07 10:44 · Score: 1
  
  They're just using the iMac brand to promote their computer kit. There have been a lot of all in one computers that have been built into the LCD display. If I recall correctly, there was a $99 machine around 1999 that ran a locked down, proprietary OS, and was subsidized by a bundle-in ISP. I believe the company failed, but the units did sell out pretty quickly, proving it to be a very popular form factor.
  
  --
  Sig: I stole this sig.
22. Re:You can't do that! by MartinSchou · 2012-08-07 11:15 · Score: 1
  
  I'm paying 20 Euros a month for 50 Gbit with unlimited traffic and a flat landline and I can choose between half a dozen suppliers.
  You surely meant to say "50 Mbit", I guess.
23. Re:You can't do that! by Pax681 · 2012-08-07 11:37 · Score: 2
  
  Just last week I read the UK has to "ask permission" before they can rollout rural broadband expansion. Even U.S. states do not need to do that. They just do it.
  SORRY BUT THAT IS CRAP!
  they didn't have to ask permission, they applied for funding from the EU to assist with the payment of the rollout to rural areas.
  so please.... check the facts before opening your mouth and letting your belly rumble
24. Re:You can't do that! by quenda · 2012-08-07 13:48 · Score: 1
  
  OK then, England.
25. Re:You can't do that! by davydagger · 2012-08-07 14:24 · Score: 1
  
  you could make a hackintosh, but whats the point.
  
  I like my tower hidden under my desk the way it is.
26. Re:You can't do that! by Kjella · 2012-08-07 14:30 · Score: 1
  
  I'm paying 20 Euros a month for 50 Gbit with unlimited traffic
  I guess I live in the wrong part of Europe... would be fun to fully saturate a dual 10G NIC and then some though.
  
  --
  Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
27. Re:You can't do that! by Bigfield · 2012-08-07 19:05 · Score: 1
  
  Slightly offtopic, but a little education isn't harmful...
  Again, there is no such thing as Scandanavia. There is Scandinavia which is a peninsula, not a country. Countries in Scandinavian peninsula include Norway and Sweden. Some would include Denmark into Scandinavia but it really isn't part of the peninsula. It is a part of scandinavian region though.
28. Re:You can't do that! by jones_supa · 2012-08-07 19:22 · Score: 1
  
  And further, then there is Fennoscandia, which is a term mostly tailored for Finns feeling sad being left out of "Scandinavia". ;)
29. Re:You can't do that! by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-07 19:33 · Score: 0
  
  Exactly. I know since I'm a Finn. :-)
30. Re:You can't do that! by imagined.by · 2012-08-07 21:34 · Score: 1
  
  Well, the directives have to be implemented in country law. So effectively, there is something like EU law, and it's seeping into the countries.
31. Re:You can't do that! by Plumpaquatsch · 2012-08-07 21:50 · Score: 1
  
  Just last week I read the UK has to "ask permission" before they can rollout rural broadband expansion. Even U.S. states do not need to do that. They just do it.
  Err, no they don't, because that would be Communism.
  
  --
  Of course news about a fake are Fake News.
32. Re:You can't do that! by bingoUV · 2012-08-08 02:16 · Score: 1
  
  all-in-one similar to an iMac
  
  Then it's hardly an iMac, now is it?
  
  "Similar" to iMac. Not iMac.
  
  --
  Bingo Dictionary - Pragmatist, n. A myopic idealist.
33. Re:You can't do that! by hoggoth · 2012-08-08 02:34 · Score: 1
  
  Woooosh! Hook, line and sinker.
  
  --
  - For the complete works of Shakespeare: cat /dev/random (may take some time)
34. Re:You can't do that! by cpu6502 · 2012-08-08 04:43 · Score: 1
  
  My state didn't need permission.
  Of course they were careful to only install the broadband where Comcast did not already exist, so there was no legal fight. Anyway the POINT is that a State Government does not need permission from the Congress. They can do their own internal improvements. (The UK on the other hand does need permission from the central EU bureaucrats.... which is why they are currently waiting instead of rolling-out the broadband.)
  
  --
  My AC stalker: " I personally agree with your posts most of the time, but that won't keep me from modding you troll"
35. Re:You can't do that! by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-08 10:02 · Score: 0
  
  Which is why it irks me when companies say I need a PC to run their software when I really need a Windows PC. I have a PC! It runs linux.
  I think I can safely classify this as a first-world problem and get on with my day.
36. Re:You can't do that! by joh · 2012-08-09 12:59 · Score: 1
  
  I'm paying 20 Euros a month for 50 Gbit with unlimited traffic and a flat landline and I can choose between half a dozen suppliers.
  You surely meant to say "50 Mbit", I guess.
  Yes. God. I must have been drunk.
Why? by slashmydots · 2012-08-07 06:46 · Score: 0, Flamebait

We got in a 27" iMac at my college and because Steve Jobs liked to cram everything into an impossibly small box and didn't like fans, it didn't work so well. It shut itself down an average of 3 times per class period due to overheating and they got rid of it after a week. So, why exactly would I want to make the same mistake with my build? Also,

highly integrated systems like the iMac have traditionally made it difficult to replace or upgrade parts
Yeah! I can just about park my car inside my Coolermaster Centurion, thank you.
1. Re:Why? by arkane1234 · 2012-08-07 06:55 · Score: 2
  
  It has a fan...
  You might want to have that looked at... LOL
  
  --
  -- This space for lease, low setup fee, inquire within!
2. Re:Why? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-07 06:56 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  I've had a 27" iMac running at home powered on 24/7 for over two years now. It has never shut itself off due to over heating.
  I'm guessing you either got a faulty unit or your school room is a pig sty or you're lying.
3. Re:Why? by ilsaloving · 2012-08-07 06:56 · Score: 2
  
  Sounds like you may have had a faulty device then. Either that, or your environment was generally too hot for the work you were doing on it.
  I got one for my mom, and we have several in the office. Not once has anyone ever reported such an issue.
4. Re:Why? by TheRaven64 · 2012-08-07 07:00 · Score: 1
  
  Most people I know who have bought iMacs have done so because they were the cheapest desktop Macs available (and they wanted both a desktop and OS X). When the Mac Mini was introduced, this was still often the case if they didn't already have a display to use. It's also fairly popular with the 'we can afford to by Macs for our secretaries' demographic for machines in visible positions, but it never seemed like a particularly practical form factor. Other companies have launched all-in-one machines before, but none has been a commercial success, and I'd have expected it to be if there were a real demand for them.
  Marketing this as the self-build crowd seems especially weird, as self-builders tend to either want expandability or something that they can't get from an OEM, and this form factor is weak in both. There are already a lot of nice Mini ITX HTPC cases, and they let you upgrade the monitor separately from the rest of the machine, if you want to...
  
  --
  I am TheRaven on Soylent News
5. Re:Why? by imagined.by · 2012-08-07 07:01 · Score: -1
  
  But it doesn't matter, since its a negative comment on Apple it will get upvoted anyways.
6. Re:Why? by gman003 · 2012-08-07 07:02 · Score: 2
  
  Say what?
  Both my high school and college used a large number of iMacs. I don't think one ever overheated on me, in the six years we had them. And we did some decently-power-hungry things with them (I once tried to compute the XKCD number on one - long story short, it didn't work).
  Now, there was a problem in one lab, where running all of them at once at full brightness would trip the breaker for the room, but that's a building power fault, not a computer power fault.
  Which generation was it that you used? All of the ones I've used were post-Intel ones, and I've heard the G4/G5 iMacs were terrible at heat management - I know the G5 Power Macs the graphics department had generated more heat than the server room.
7. Re:Why? by cpu6502 · 2012-08-07 07:05 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  Why do people automatically assume ONE bad device == all such devices are bad? It's called "birth mortality". When a device is not properly assembled and dies early (or other serious flaws). Just because 1 Mac suffered birth defects does not mean the other 100,000 Macs were bad. Your school should have simply traded the bad Mac for a good Mac.
  
  --
  My AC stalker: " I personally agree with your posts most of the time, but that won't keep me from modding you troll"
8. Re:Why? by BitZtream · 2012-08-07 07:06 · Score: -1, Informative
  
  Clearly your experience is typical of iMac use which is why the sell so well, they must all be broken like ONE that you've seen.
  Why do people like yourself make such retarded statements about one trivial experience as if its the norm?
  Just curious as to why no one at your college was smart enough to have it replaced since you know, it has a warranty and all. Sounds like you went a college full of people too stupid to return a defective product, which leads me to believe theres more to this story than you're telling us.
  I have no doubt you had a broken iMac ... but your response just makes you sound like a moron.
  
  --
  Persistent Volume manager for Kubernetes - https://github.com/dwimsey/openshift-pvmanager
9. Re:Why? by 91degrees · 2012-08-07 07:10 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  Yeah. Overheating is a problem with fanless macs. Sometimes you can prevent this by flipping it upsidedown from time to time and giving the components at the top time to cool.
  
  This technique is called the Hot Apple Turnover.
10. Re:Why? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-07 07:13 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  I currently work at a location with 41 27" iMacs, and I used to work at an authorized repair depot for apple. I have repaired and handled MANY of these machines, and I can tell you they don't "shut down due to overheating". They will clock themselves down to a point where the machine is excruciatingly slow, but the aluminum back of the machine will act as a large enough heatsink to keep the processor cool at whatever speed it clocks down to (probably something like 200mhz judging by the slowdown).
  There are three components that would likely cause the symptoms that you describe:
  1. DC/SATA Cable - on early 27" (and some 21.5") iMacs, these would short out somewhere along the cable and cause all sorts of shutdown and sleep issues. It was a bitch to fix but generally the first part we would replace if we couldn't determine the cause of a problem.
  2. Power supply - Even someone as simple-minded as you would probably understand how a faulty power supply could cause this issue - not "Steve Jobs hating fans".
  3. Display Inverter Board - The inverter board on early 27" units would fail regularly, causing the screen to go black, and making standard luddite users think the whole machine powered off.
  Steve Jobs did not hate fans. Steve Jobs hated loud and obtrusive fans. The 24 and 27" cinema/thunderbolt displays contain fans, and every iBook, PowerBook, and MacBook (including the air) has had at least 1 fan (the 15" before late 2009 and 17" up until they cancelled it had 2).
  Get your facts straight, your single anecdotal story != true for every iMac.
11. Re:Why? by FictionPimp · 2012-08-07 07:33 · Score: 2
  
  I think Steve Jobs must have loved fans judging by the jet engine I call a 2010 unibody macbook pro on my desk.
12. Re:Why? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-07 07:40 · Score: 0
  
  Why do people automatically assume ONE bad device == all such devices are bad?
  Your use of the comparison operator "==" here is incorrect. You are performing an assignment and should use simply "=".
  You've been charged with the knowledge. Go and sin no more.
13. Re:Why? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-07 07:44 · Score: 0
  
  Clown College, perhaps?
14. Re:Why? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-07 07:53 · Score: 0
  
  You're either new here or just an idiot.
15. Re:Why? by omnichad · 2012-08-07 08:03 · Score: 1
  
  It's pretty hard to tell how many were bad with Apple for any product. They more or less cover-up all of their product flaws. They even go as far as deleting community forum threads to avoid acknowledging a problem.
16. Re:Why? by zerro · 2012-08-07 08:05 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  ahh yes - you were holding it wrong!
17. Re:Why? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-07 08:07 · Score: 0
  
  Ok, so his Mac didn't fail due to overheating, but for any of the numerous reasons you listed. You've just multiplied the number of issues Macs have. With all of those problems, they're dying left and right. Unreliable piles of shit, just like everything made by Apple.
18. Re:Why? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-07 08:13 · Score: 1
  
  looks at his UID
  
  looks like he is both.
19. Re:Why? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-07 08:17 · Score: 0
  
  No, cpu6502's use of the "==" comparison operator was *quite* correct, though it would *also* have been correct (with a slightly different context) written with the "=" assignment operator.
20. Re:Why? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-07 08:20 · Score: 0
  
  Actually, it's easier to tell how many were bad with Apple than with most computer brands. Having 7 or so distinct models of computer each year makes 'bad units' easier to track than having 40+ 'distinct' models. Especially when those 'distinct' models (which largely share a mix components across a variety of supposedly disparate lines) have more component variance *within* the line than between similar, but 'different', lines.
21. Re:Why? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-07 08:23 · Score: 0
  
  No, cpu6502's use of the "==" comparison operator was *quite* correct, though it would *also* have been correct (with a slightly different context) written with the "=" assignment operator.
  Dear AC, I challenge you to a match of intellectual fisticuffs.
  
  Why do people automatically assume ONE bad device == all such devices are bad?
  The "people" in cpu6502's anecdote aren't testing for equality. They are assuming equality as a matter of fact which is an explicit assignment.
  You have been told. Good day, sir!
22. Re:Why? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-07 08:24 · Score: 0
  
  Every brand of computer has issues like this, and repair-folks will have seen quite a few examples of each one if they handle a statistically significant number of systems of any brand. The question is how *common* they are. Apple systems, according to many studies, rank *consistently* among the top 2-3 brands in reliability (despite the Internet echo-chamber effect), and usually tops for customer satisfaction. That would indicate that your last two sentences are, in fact, both false.
23. Re:Why? by jo_ham · 2012-08-07 08:30 · Score: 2
  
  ahh yes - you were holding it wrong!
  I know you're trolling, but... umm... yes?
  In the years of iMac use I have had, even taxing the thing a high CPU load for long periods during the summer (and I have no AC) the fans have barely ever ramped up enough to hear them.
  If he had an iMac that was overheating "an average of 3 times per class period" then it was either faulty or installed inside an oven, or inside a case that restricted airflow to the heatsinks (not a problem unique to the iMac).
24. Re:Why? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-07 08:32 · Score: 0
  
  >ONE bad device == all such devices are bad?
  One bad device might mean that their QC isn't good. If that happens often enough, means that their design had not leave enough margins to cover full operating range & device to device variations.
25. Re:Why? by synapse7 · 2012-08-07 08:32 · Score: 1
  
  Should you use the disk drive there is a good chance you will not get the disk back.
26. Re:Why? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-07 08:47 · Score: 2, Funny
  
  So, in other words == != =
27. Re:Why? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-07 08:52 · Score: 0
  
  Apple consistently comes in behind Toshiba which, if you've ever used Toshiba hardware, is really, really bad. Compared to Asus or IBM, Apple hardware is very unreliable.
28. Re:Why? by jo_ham · 2012-08-07 08:53 · Score: 1
  
  Ok, so his Mac didn't fail due to overheating, but for any of the numerous reasons you listed. You've just multiplied the number of issues Macs have. With all of those problems, they're dying left and right. Unreliable piles of shit, just like everything made by Apple.
  So other brands of computers don't have LCD displays, power supplies or SATA power cables? Good to know! How do non-Apple laptops display the UI without a display though?
29. Re:Why? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-07 08:58 · Score: 0
  
  Ahh look. It's the white knight here to defend Apple with his anecdotal evidence.
30. Re:Why? by jedidiah · 2012-08-07 08:58 · Score: 2
  
  Of course he's lying. He's declaring that Apple hardware can break just like any other PC. [/sarcasm]
  My Apple horror story is a an nv9400 Mac Mini. The thing cooked itself to death. A logic board replacement didn't help either.
  Compact machines are tricky but they have certain obvious engineering challenges. If a machine burns your hand when you touch it, that might be a problem.
  
  --
  A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
31. Re:Why? by jedidiah · 2012-08-07 09:00 · Score: 2
  
  He's not trolling. He's expressing a contrary opinion.
  Calling you a blinded cult follower. ---- THAT is trolling/flaming.
  
  --
  A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
32. Re:Why? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-07 09:00 · Score: 1
  
  What is a liquid crystal display display? Must be one of those magical Apple technologies.
33. Re:Why? by jedidiah · 2012-08-07 09:02 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  The most rational thing that people can do is make judgements about their own personal first hand experiences and second hand experiences from people they know and trust.
  
  --
  A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
34. Re:Why? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-07 09:25 · Score: 0
  
  Um...yeah. He was using Boolean logic, not assigning a value, so the "==" is the proper use.
  You must not use C much...
35. Re:Why? by jo_ham · 2012-08-07 09:54 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  Ahh look. It's the white knight here to defend Apple with his anecdotal evidence.
  My anecdotal evidence is just as valid as the OP's anecdotal evidence based on a data set of one alleged machine.
  Take that for what it's worth, or is his post "valid data" because it criticises Apple?
36. Re:Why? by pnot · 2012-08-07 10:02 · Score: 1
  
  [iMacs] will clock themselves down to a point where the machine is excruciatingly slow... DC/SATA Cable - on early 27" (and some 21.5") iMacs, these would short out somewhere along the cable and cause all sorts of shutdown and sleep issues. It was a bitch to fix... faulty power supply could cause this issue... The inverter board on early 27" units would fail regularly, causing the screen to go black, and making standard luddite users think the whole machine powered off...
  So, in short, "your Mac died of something else, therefore it doesn't count"? I'm not sure whether you've technically won the argument, but your post isn't exactly a great advert for the reliability of Macs.
37. Re:Why? by pnot · 2012-08-07 10:08 · Score: 1
  
  The old G4/G5 towers were also pretty impressive for fan noise.
38. Re:Why? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-07 10:43 · Score: 0
  
  The same as "chai tea" and "pizza pie" -- today, "literacy" means you can come up with as many as 140 characters in a row that might, with suitable interpolation, hand waving, and a bit of imagination, constitute a partial thought.
39. Re:Why? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-07 11:33 · Score: 0
  
  And you calling that out gets you downvoted. Nice.
40. Re:Why? by aztracker1 · 2012-08-07 11:42 · Score: 1
  
  For that matter, plenty of case options that mount to the VESA ports on the back of a typical monitor (where the stand isn't using the vesa ports).
  
  --
  Michael J. Ryan - tracker1.info
41. Re:Why? by vettemph · 2012-08-07 12:13 · Score: 1
  
  Best ever Apple comment, thank you.
  I'm gonna go have a snack now, I'm feeling hungry for some reason.
  
  --
  The government which is strong enough to protect you from everything is strong enough to take everything from you.
42. Re:Why? by gmhowell · 2012-08-07 12:32 · Score: 1
  
  Clown College, perhaps?
  I'll thank you not to refer to Princeton that way.
  
  --
  Jesus was all right but his disciples were thick and ordinary. -John Lennon
43. Re:Why? by Kjella · 2012-08-07 15:05 · Score: 1
  
  My anecdotal evidence is just as valid as the OP's anecdotal evidence based on a data set of one alleged machine. Take that for what it's worth, or is his post "valid data" because it criticises Apple?
  Finding one black sheep in the herd says more about their presence than finding a white sheep does about their absence. Imagine he'd said "Flying the space shuttle is dangerous, I went to see a launch once and it blew up" then you replying "Well I went to a launch too and it didn't blow up, so it must be safe", that wouldn't make much sense. Unless the failure rate is close to 100% one anecdotal working machine doesn't really say anything.
  
  --
  Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
44. Re:Why? by slashmydots · 2012-08-07 15:09 · Score: 1
  
  It was hot as hell in there! At least 85. But still, it was a computer lab classroom so it was 1 mac surrounded by about 30 PCs all with socket 775 Pentium 4 w/HT (and those run HOT!) and not a single PC overheated. Just the 2 inch thick, fanless mac. And this was like 5 years ago so no, it did not have fans, person who attempted to correct me above. We all put our hands around it. It had no air coming out of anywhere.
45. Re:Why? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-07 16:00 · Score: 0
  
  I guess I wasn't entirely clear on what exactly my point was here.
  Let me lay it out more clearly:
  The 27" iMac was initially more prone to failures that would cause this behavior, it wasn't an inherent design flaw with the cooling system causing this issue, and it certainly was not Steve Jobs disallowing fans.
  I would estimate, though this is purely a guess, that about .5% or so of the early 27" machines that were sold at my location came back for repair for any issue, and I never had a heat-related random shutdown failure. Later machines had a lower failure rate (until a bad batch of HDDs got installed, but I digress).
  The statement that our great and holy leader hates fans is patently false, especially with the unit in question. There are a total of 3 very large blower fans in the machine, and they will sound like a jet engine at full speed, though they never really hit that unless there was a sensor failure or a PRAM issue.
  In closing, the 27" iMac was and is still less or equally as prone to failure as the leading PC manufacturers, but because it has a fruit on the back, haters gonna hate.
  Side note - I fucking hate working on iMacs. The necessity to remove a pane of glass, 10 torx screws right next to large magnets, the LCD, a mounting bracket, and a temp sensor is infuriating. Apples no dust policy between the LCD and front glass is an absolute nightmare, you need a clean room and a whole can of duster just to close it up and see a speck of dust right in the middle of the screen. At least it's an improvement over the 2007-2009 iMacs.
46. Re:Why? by pentalive · 2012-08-07 16:04 · Score: 1
  
  No the assignment operator is ":=" : ^ P
47. Re:Why? by jones_supa · 2012-08-07 19:34 · Score: 1
  
  He's not trolling. He's expressing a contrary opinion.
  It's a shame how often those two are mixed up in /. .
48. Re:Why? by dbIII · 2012-08-07 19:34 · Score: 1
  
  Sometimes the design just sucks for different conditions. Some macs (especially the cube and some mac mini models) just were not designed for hot conditions and other machines that just happen to be in much larger cases with better airflow cope better. In both cases the things are getting pushed beyond the expected limits by being always on in a crowded room with a tin roof in the tropics.
  So yes, in some conditions all of some model of macs and most PCs suck but it's not as if it doesn't warn you on the box. They are not appliances designed for a rough life but instead designed for a comfortable environment.
49. Re:Why? by dbIII · 2012-08-07 19:39 · Score: 1
  
  If the ambient temperature is high enough the heatsink doesn't really help much. Some PCs just happen to have a higher maximum operating temperature than fanless macs, but it usually doesn't matter becuase by the time things get that hot it's a pretty awful working environment. BTW, my old mac (eMac) has a fan so the shitloads of heat it produces via it's CRT can get out and it can run when the ambient temperature is at tropical summer levels.
50. Re:Why? by jo_ham · 2012-08-07 19:40 · Score: 1
  
  Nice strawman.
  There are (were) five space shuttles, involved in the very dangerous business of launching into space. The comparison to a mass market consumer product manufactured on the million unit plus scale is simply not applicable.
  There will *always* be lemons in mass market products - no production line or assembly process is perfect. The original poster is claiming that the design of the iMac is the reason it "overheated and average of 3 times per class period". I'm simply saying if they had an iMac that did that, then it was clearly faulty or installed in a place where airflow to the vents was restricted. His user experience of the iMac is atypical (but note this does not mean the iMac never fails or never ships from the factory broken).
  One anecdotal working machine "doesn't really say anything" in the same way that one broken machine "doesn't really say anything". I only talked about my own personal machine though. If we include other machines that I have helped to set up then it's more like 10 or 15 working ones to his one bad one, plus one bad one of mine that shipped with a faulty fan speed sensor causing one of the three internal fans to run at high speed so it was slightly noisier than the other 10 in the room. Apple fixed it quickly and easily. It never overheated.
51. Re:Why? by Waccoon · 2012-08-07 21:14 · Score: 1
  
  Steve Jobs did not hate fans. Steve Jobs hated loud and obtrusive fans.
  Then why does my Mini sound like a vacuum cleaner when the CPU does more than just idle? It is literally the loudest computer I've ever owned.
  Seriously, the first time the blower kicked in, I was shocked at how loud it is (not to mention the fact that the cooler is either at idle or full blast. There is no grey area).
52. Re:Why? by jones_supa · 2012-08-07 23:13 · Score: 1
  
  No, cpu6502's use of the "==" comparison operator was *quite* correct, though it would *also* have been correct (with a slightly different context) written with the "=" assignment operator.
  And ultimately, when you want to write proper and good looking natural language text, you don't use characters like '=', '/', '+', etc. but replace them with proper real words.
53. Re:Why? by jones_supa · 2012-08-07 23:24 · Score: 1
  
  My computer is powered by CoolBreeze(TM)* and MarvelType(TM)** technologies.
  *) It has a fan
  **) It has a keyboard
54. Re:Why? by ArsenneLupin · 2012-08-07 23:33 · Score: 1
  
  Just because 1 Mac suffered birth defects does not mean the other 100,000 Macs were bad. Your school should have simply traded the bad Mac for a good Mac.
  But, didn't you know, one bad Mac spoils the bunch!
55. Re:Why? by Plumpaquatsch · 2012-08-08 00:14 · Score: 1
  
  He's not trolling. He's expressing a contrary opinion.
  "you were holding it wrong!" is not a "contrary opinion". At best it's a stale catch phrase - often used by trolls.
  
  --
  Of course news about a fake are Fake News.
56. Re:Why? by Plumpaquatsch · 2012-08-08 00:30 · Score: 1
  
  It was hot as hell in there! At least 85. But still, it was a computer lab classroom so it was 1 mac surrounded by about 30 PCs all with socket 775 Pentium 4 w/HT (and those run HOT!) and not a single PC overheated. Just the 2 inch thick, fanless mac. And this was like 5 years ago so no, it did not have fans, person who attempted to correct me above. We all put our hands around it. It had no air coming out of anywhere.
  If it had no fan, it was already at least 6 years old 5 years ago. What color was it?
  
  --
  Of course news about a fake are Fake News.
57. Re:Why? by bingoUV · 2012-08-08 02:27 · Score: 1
  
  One anecdotal working machine "doesn't really say anything" in the same way that one broken machine "doesn't really say anything".
  Only if expected percentage of working machines is 50%. If that is your expectation, sure. Not mine though, given the $$$ they cost.
  If the expected percentage of working machine is 99%, 99 anecdotal working machines "doesn't really say anything" in the same way that one broken machine "doesn't really say anything".
  
  --
  Bingo Dictionary - Pragmatist, n. A myopic idealist.
58. Re:Why? by bingoUV · 2012-08-08 02:34 · Score: 1
  
  when you want to write proper and good looking natural language text
  That is irrelevant. Ohh, you forgot? This is /.
  
  --
  Bingo Dictionary - Pragmatist, n. A myopic idealist.
59. Re:Why? by jo_ham · 2012-08-08 04:14 · Score: 1
  
  Exactly, but the poster above me was attempting to claim that the OP's anecdotal machine that overheats 3 times per class period as more valid than my suggestion that he had a duff one (assuming the original report is accurate - if it was overheating and shutting down that frequently you'd simply stop using it).
  My point was that comparing it to the space shuttle is not valid, since one of those is a custom built, 5-of-a-kind limited production run item that performed a very dangerous task compared to a mass market consumer device made by the million. One broken one is not representative of the experience of the vast majority. Without polling a statistically significant population of iMac owners then both anecdotes don't really say much, but given that the internet is not aflame with stories about iMacs shutting down "an average of 3 times per class period" I'm going to go out on a limb and say that's an atypical user experience.
60. Re:Why? by bingoUV · 2012-08-08 07:30 · Score: 1
  
  No your point was (at least what I quoted and responded to ) that anecdotal positive and negative evidence is equally invalid for a mass marketed device. That is seriously wrong. Anecdotal negative evidence is far less invalid, 99 times less invalid under the stated assumptions, than anecdotal positive evidence.
  
  --
  Bingo Dictionary - Pragmatist, n. A myopic idealist.
61. Re:Why? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-08 23:39 · Score: 0
  
  All these ACs who modded you down ^^^ then commented are dicks.
62. Re:Why? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-09 00:56 · Score: 0
  
  ...why are you answering one guys mind reading of steve jobs with your own? bullshit does not cancel out bullshit, and Apple under Jobs made some of the loudest (and hottest) computers I'd ever been exposed to, especially towards the end of the PowerPC era.
exponentially faster??! by doti · 2012-08-07 06:49 · Score: 5, Insightful

are growing exponentially faster than
you keep using that expression... it does not mean what you think it does

--
factor 966971: 966971
1. Re:exponentially faster??! by slashmydots · 2012-08-07 07:01 · Score: 2
  
  I know that ITX cases almost always have fans. I just threw that in there because Steve Jobs made the same mistake in like 1982 as he did in 2011 with style over function causing severe overheating problems.
2. Re:exponentially faster??! by VortexCortex · 2012-08-07 07:22 · Score: 2
  
  are growing exponentially faster than
  you keep using that expression... it does not mean what you think it does
  Introducing: FRACTIONAL EXPONENTS! Try our patented Zero over ONE!!!1!!
  Also try our small line of negative exponents.
3. Re:exponentially faster??! by Daniel+Dvorkin · 2012-08-07 07:31 · Score: 1
  
  If the quantity (sales of product X) / (sales of product Y), plotted over time, forms an exponential growth curve, it seems entirely reasonable to say that "sales of X are growing exponentially faster than sales of Y." Note that I have no idea if that's the case for this particular example, just noting that the phrase itself isn't inherently unreasonable.
  
  --
  The correlation between ignorance of statistics and using "correlation is not causation" as an argument is close to 1.
4. Re:exponentially faster??! by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-07 07:42 · Score: 0
  
  OFFS. The quote you are butchering:
  "You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."
No OpenFirmware, no Mac. by Kenja · 2012-08-07 06:51 · Score: 0

Its just a PC running OSX against the terms of use. Nothing wrong with that, but its not a "Macintosh" anymore then a kit car is a Ferrari.

--

"Have you ever thought about just turning off the TV, sitting down with your kids, and hitting them?"
1. Re:No OpenFirmware, no Mac. by imamac · 2012-08-07 06:53 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  The article is about a similar form factor to an iMac, not running OS X.
2. Re:No OpenFirmware, no Mac. by Chris+Mattern · 2012-08-07 06:59 · Score: 2
  
  If you believe this, then you believe that Apple stopped making Macs in 2006, because no Intel Mac uses Open Firmware; the use the Extensible Firmware Interface instead.
3. Re:No OpenFirmware, no Mac. by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-07 07:03 · Score: 0
  
  Hey, now. In 2005 slashdotters didn't read TFA. Today, nobody reads the summary past the title before commenting! Welcome to the new normal.
4. Re:No OpenFirmware, no Mac. by cpu6502 · 2012-08-07 07:18 · Score: 0
  
  If it looks like a Mac and quacks like a Mac and runs OS X like a Mac, it's a Mac. So where would I go to buy one of these Hackintosh PCs? I'd like to try OS 10.8 but don't want to spend $600 to do it. (And besides: an i5 Mac at 2 GHz is sloooow.)
  
  --
  My AC stalker: " I personally agree with your posts most of the time, but that won't keep me from modding you troll"
5. Re:No OpenFirmware, no Mac. by omnichad · 2012-08-07 08:33 · Score: 1
  
  You can't buy one at retail with the OS, as Apple has somehow managed to make the right of resale illegal due to EULA, even though other software makers have had opposite court rulings. Or at least nobody's been brave enough to try since Psystar's minor goofs that Apple did find tiny licensing issues with.
  These days if you want to be as legal as possible, you still have to find a retail copy of Snow Leopard (OS X 10.6) as the only place to buy it is now in the App Store within OS X.
  Lifehacker has a number of good guides on what parts to get and what chipsets to avoid. It's really not hard at all to put together compatible hardware now that there are boot loaders like Chameleon or Chimera.
  You then have to update to the later version of Snow Leopard to get the App store, and then buy Mountain Lion in the App Store. They figure if you can't buy it without owning a Mac first, you can't legally make a Hackintosh. And they buy back old Snow Leopard discs - they don't want them on retail shelves.
  MobileMe was giving out a free copy of Snow Leopard to any user who logged in with a special link just before they closed their doors. I logged into several accounts and stocked up on copies for myself.
6. Re:No OpenFirmware, no Mac. by jedidiah · 2012-08-07 09:06 · Score: 1
  
  Except there is nothing remarkable about a Mac. It is no Ferrari.
  It's more like a Lincoln or Mercury.
  
  --
  A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
7. Re:No OpenFirmware, no Mac. by gmhowell · 2012-08-07 12:38 · Score: 2
  
  If it looks like a Mac and quacks like a Mac and runs OS X like a Mac, it's a Mac.
  That bolded item? It doesn't do that. The article headline should be 'Thin Mini-ITX Platform Enables New All in One PCs'. The mention of 'iMacs' was just a bit of linkbait.
  
  --
  Jesus was all right but his disciples were thick and ordinary. -John Lennon
8. Re:No OpenFirmware, no Mac. by dbIII · 2012-08-07 19:43 · Score: 1
  
  I logged into several accounts and stocked up on copies for myself.
  Don't you only need one? Isn't MS the only one with the insane "you don't own the OS your computer does".
9. Re:No OpenFirmware, no Mac. by omnichad · 2012-08-08 00:02 · Score: 1
  
  I have friends who may eventually choose to do it. Just being prepared. It will be online only for probably the rest of its existence. That, and I do computer repair from time to time, and I run across people who have Leopard - and there's no App Store in Leopard. They have to find someone to sell them the Snow Leopard disc just to get the App store to install the newer OS.
10. Re:No OpenFirmware, no Mac. by dbIII · 2012-08-08 12:15 · Score: 1
  
  Oh well, I'm still on Tiger so on my mac haven't been paying much attention. However with the hardware (1.42GHz PowerPc G4) it's apparently not well supported by a newer OS X, and I mostly have the mac for occasional use so I don't feel totally lost when I go near OS X.
  I agree that the change you are writing about sucks.
11. Re:No OpenFirmware, no Mac. by omnichad · 2012-08-08 12:33 · Score: 1
  
  Even if it supported it, I couldn't imagine running Leopard on that hardware. It's so slow that everybody who could upgraded in droves when Snow Leopard came out.
Kinda like a kit-car lamborghini by arkane1234 · 2012-08-07 06:52 · Score: 2

This is kinda like a kit-car Lamborghini set that people like to put together. Now you too can have a lamborghini, with a chevy V8 on a chevy frame!

--
-- This space for lease, low setup fee, inquire within!
1. Re:Kinda like a kit-car lamborghini by oakgrove · 2012-08-07 07:21 · Score: 2
  
  Gutting older Jaguars and installing Chevy V8's is fairly common actually. It's a reliability thing.
  
  --
  The soylentnews experiment has been a dismal failure.
2. Re:Kinda like a kit-car lamborghini by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-07 07:47 · Score: 0
  
  That's a FACT. As a kid my dad owned a diesel repair shop and one of the other repair shops in our "center" worked on Jags all the time and that was a very common replacement. Thanks to that I also know to never buy an old Jag, or at least the XJ-6, because they tended to have the floorboards rot out.
3. Re:Kinda like a kit-car lamborghini by jedidiah · 2012-08-07 09:08 · Score: 1
  
  Except the distance between a Hyundai and a Lamborghini in this case is nothing more than a single chip that prevents the Hyundai from acting like a Lamborghini.
  In all other respects they are identical.
  This comes in real handy when you're running Linux or Windows on a Mac.
  
  --
  A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
4. Re:Kinda like a kit-car lamborghini by Kozar_The_Malignant · 2012-08-07 11:21 · Score: 1
  
  It's also a weight thing. The old 327 Chevy or 289 Ford V8s are considerably lighter than the Jag inline 6. This was also a pretty common swap out in Austin-Healey 100-6 and 3000 roadsters. Not only did you save considerable weight, but you could easily get 400 hp out of the V8s. Of course the extra power meant you should swap out the entire drive train also.
  
  --
  Some mornings it's hardly worth chewing through the restraints to get out of bed.
5. Re:Kinda like a kit-car lamborghini by davydagger · 2012-08-07 14:38 · Score: 1
  
  jaguar != lambrotghini
  
  the jaguar was a terrible fucking car.
  
  I think the comparison is apt. Take your fancy jaugur and trying running it against a peroid chevy or ford with a good engine, perhaps with a motorhead who knows how to tune it with some work into.
  
  You see fancy get out performed.
  
  This generation we can run a BMW 3 series against a dodge SRT4, a 5 series against an SRT 6/8, and a 7 series/anything BMW has vs a dodge viper.
  
  There are plenty of good ITX cases, and some manufactures make OEM all in one PCs. I still see no good use for copy-ing mac's design ideas. If you wanted a mac, just get one.
6. Re:Kinda like a kit-car lamborghini by oakgrove · 2012-08-07 14:57 · Score: 1
  
  Couldn't agree more.
  
  --
  The soylentnews experiment has been a dismal failure.
7. Re:Kinda like a kit-car lamborghini by ContraB · 2012-08-08 02:22 · Score: 1
  
  I think the comparison is apt. Take your fancy jaugur and trying running it against a peroid chevy or ford with a good engine, perhaps with a motorhead who knows how to tune it with some work into.
  You see fancy get out performed.
  Until you encounter the first turn in the road. :-)
  (I assume we're talking about E-Types here. Newer Jaguars were pretty lousy until well into the Ford era.)
  
  --
  
  -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
  Much like a newborn puppy...
Slick, huh? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-07 06:53 · Score: -1

While the end result isn't quite as overpriced as one of Apple's creations
FTFY
Not Hackintosh/OSX86 by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-07 06:53 · Score: 2, Interesting

They aren't talking about building Hackintoshes here, just DIY PC-in-a-monitor.
isn't quite as slick as one of Apple's creations by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-07 06:55 · Score: -1

i.e. it won't cost 3 times more than it should.
the cost is in the monitor by alen · 2012-08-07 06:55 · Score: 2

i don't have an imac but i've ready that apple uses very high quality displays for them and that dell sells a similar monitor for $800 or so
sure you can build something cheaper, but you aren't saving anything if you cheapen out on the monitor
1. Re:the cost is in the monitor by arkane1234 · 2012-08-07 07:03 · Score: 2
  
  You're right... it's kinda like people painting their impala with a certain design and saying they have a dale earnhardt sr racecar.
  
  --
  -- This space for lease, low setup fee, inquire within!
2. Re:the cost is in the monitor by cpu6502 · 2012-08-07 07:31 · Score: 1
  
  A 1920x1080 video is a 1920x1080 video. The video won't look any better just because you up the monitor resolution higher than those specs.
  
  --
  My AC stalker: " I personally agree with your posts most of the time, but that won't keep me from modding you troll"
3. Re:the cost is in the monitor by CastrTroy · 2012-08-07 07:49 · Score: 1
  
  Which is fine if all you ever do is watch videos. Some people like to do other things with their computers. Don't even get me started on the problem with widescreen monitors in general. Very few monitors can be flipped on their side, even though that's their most useful orientation for a lot of tasks.
  
  --
  
  Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
4. Re:the cost is in the monitor by omnichad · 2012-08-07 08:35 · Score: 2
  
  A 6-bit TN panel is not as good as a 10-bit IPS panel. It's about color quality, and ability to calibrate to get a nice picture.
5. Re:the cost is in the monitor by erp_consultant · 2012-08-07 08:57 · Score: 2
  
  That's a very good point. On my iMac at home I have an external monitor. It's a decent monitor but the display on the iMac is vastly superior. I'd go as far as to say that the iMac has the best display I've ever used. I'm sure there are monitors that rival it but they are not your $100 Fry's specials. Apple makes extremely good displays, both on the iMac and the MacBook.
6. Re:the cost is in the monitor by Jeremy+Erwin · 2012-08-07 09:00 · Score: 1
  
  Blacker blacks, better veiwing angles, more vibrant colors, better coverage of the standard color gamuts?
  Also, a high resolution monitor does allow the user to spread out his work. If you're' programming, it's helpful to have enough space for editors/debuggers/IDEs/shells and a couple of web pages/pdfs/dvis for documentation.
7. Re:the cost is in the monitor by erp_consultant · 2012-08-07 09:03 · Score: 1
  
  Yes but it's not just about the resolution. Contrast and color depth are very important for some tasks. My iMac has an external display and, when seen side by side, it's obvious which one is better. Even putting the same background wallpaper and comparing them shows that the iMac screen has truer colors. The sky looks like a real sky. Grass looks like real grass. By the way, the second monitor is an AOC LED 21 inch model. It's a decent monitor but try as I might I can't get the display to look as lifelike as the iMac does. Now if you go and spend $500-600 on a monitor that's a different argument.
8. Re:the cost is in the monitor by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-07 09:27 · Score: 0
  
  Evidently not enough use computers for other than video consumption. I am forever pissed I can't buy a laptop with 4:3 screen ratio.
  I've resorted to buying some stand to rotate my obnoxious wide screen so I can actually view a page of code.
9. Re:the cost is in the monitor by ArsenneLupin · 2012-08-07 23:23 · Score: 1
  
  If you're' programming, it's helpful to have enough space for editors/debuggers/IDEs/shells and a couple of web pages/pdfs/dvis for documentation.
  He's a windows head. He likes to use his windows maximized. And then wants web sites to have horse blinkers because else the text lines would be too long for him to follow on his expensive widescreen monitor.
  And yes, windows heads do program too. Although we would call that "monkeying around with Visual Basic".
10. Re:the cost is in the monitor by cpu6502 · 2012-08-08 04:38 · Score: 1
  
  >>>He's a windows head. He likes to use his windows maximized. And then wants web sites to have horse blinkers because else the text lines would be too long for him to follow on his expensive widescreen monitor. And yes, windows heads do program too. Although we would call that "monkeying around with Visual Basic".
  If we did a search & replace of "windows" with "blacks" we could call your post positively racist. Good! Job! Way to stereotype the world around you like a KKK idiot.
  
  --
  My AC stalker: " I personally agree with your posts most of the time, but that won't keep me from modding you troll"
11. Re:the cost is in the monitor by ArsenneLupin · 2012-08-08 04:53 · Score: 1
  
  If we did a search & replace of "windows" with "blacks"
  If my grand-mother had wheels, she'd be a city bus...
  
  we could call your post positively racist.
  Let's try it:
  
  He's a black head. He likes to use his blacks maximized. And then wants web sites to have horse blinkers because else the text lines would be too long for him to follow on his expensive widescreen monitor.
  And yes, black heads do program too. Although we would call that "monkeying around with Visual Basic".
  Doesn't seem to make that much sense actually... Or is any text containing the word black racist for you? And btw, for me "black head" invokes hair colour, rather than skin colour. But either way, it becomes a non-sequitur. Usually the blondes are the butt of jokes, not the black haired...
  
  Way to stereotype the world around you like a KKK idiot.
  Does this count as invoking Godwyn's law?
Competition is a good thing. by danaris · 2012-08-07 06:56 · Score: 2

Let's hope that some of the major retail PC makers pick up on this, and start making their own.
I love Apple, but I'd also love to see some competition out there for them in areas like this, to ensure that they always have a good reason to be keeping one step ahead. ;-D
Dan Aris

--
Fun. Free. Online. RPG. BattleMaster.
1. Re:Competition is a good thing. by slashmydots · 2012-08-07 07:03 · Score: 1
  
  Acer made a shockingly similar one several years ago but with an Atom chip (so no overheating problems, lol) and it was slow, the touchscreen was sluggish, and overall it sucked lol.
2. Re:Competition is a good thing. by kidgenius · 2012-08-07 07:04 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  Vizio just came out with one. Looks pretty nice too
3. Re:Competition is a good thing. by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-07 07:18 · Score: 0
  
  lol
4. Re:Competition is a good thing. by Anubis+IV · 2012-08-07 08:33 · Score: 1
  
  Am I the only one suspecting that the delay in the iMac lineup may be the result of Apple responding to something like this by revamping the entire line so that the sorts of things possible with this thin ITX board seem trivial in comparison?
5. Re:Competition is a good thing. by jedidiah · 2012-08-07 09:10 · Score: 2
  
  Get a Zotac low profile machine. They come in various shapes and sizes. Many are Atoms but some are not.
  Then use the VESA mounting kit they give you.
  Except for Flash Games, an Atom based (ION) machine does pretty well as a AIO desktop actually.
  
  --
  A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
6. Re:Competition is a good thing. by danaris · 2012-08-08 00:41 · Score: 1
  
  Am I the only one suspecting that the delay in the iMac lineup may be the result of Apple responding to something like this by revamping the entire line so that the sorts of things possible with this thin ITX board seem trivial in comparison?
  If so, that's exactly the kind of thing I was talking about :-)
  Dan Aris
  
  --
  Fun. Free. Online. RPG. BattleMaster.
Nicely done by kyrio · 2012-08-07 06:58 · Score: -1, Offtopic

Make a product that's as big as, and probably still costs much less than an Apple product, and make a fortune selling it to people who want Apple products but can't afford them.

On an unrelated note, why is it that I can post 50 comments that are modded up or just stay at 1 (assuming unmodded), yet a single post that's marked as a troll, by butthurt people, knocks my "excellent" karma down to "good", seemingly permanently?
1. Re:Nicely done by slashmydots · 2012-08-07 07:05 · Score: 1
  
  They do seem to cap the upper limit at a VERY low level. You can't just skyrocket it then post offensive stuff with the padding, lol. I don't know if it's variable or not but this new account (lol) seems to have a lot more padding against hater mod-downs than my old one.
2. Re:Nicely done by Spy+Handler · 2012-08-07 07:14 · Score: 2
  
  Weird, i made 3 posts that became -1 (troll) in within the past week and my karma's still excellent. Maybe your cumulative karma was just barely in the excellent range and the one troll was enough to knock you down?
  Slashdot works in mysterious ways...
3. Re:Nicely done by oakgrove · 2012-08-07 07:28 · Score: 1
  
  I went on a tear a few months ago and got something like 30 -1 flamebait/troll posts in a day and my karma went to terrible. Got 3 +5s a couple of days later and was back to good then got a couple of small upmods and was back to excellent. I've had a good past few days so this is probably a good time for me to let a couple of people have it. :)
  
  --
  The soylentnews experiment has been a dismal failure.
4. Re:Nicely done by xstonedogx · 2012-08-07 07:52 · Score: 1
  
  Karma is overrated.
5. Re:Nicely done by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-07 08:01 · Score: 0
  
  you seems to be laughing quite a bit today. Enjoying yourself?
6. Re:Nicely done by ceoyoyo · 2012-08-07 08:11 · Score: 1
  
  There have been several all-in-ones made by various PC manufacturers. My friend had an HP with a touchscreen that he hung on the wall in the kitchen.
  None of them have really been successful. They tend to either cost as much as an iMac or be compromised in some way. Intel releasing a new form factor isn't going to do much to change anything, except to let individuals and mom and pop shops build them.
7. Re:Nicely done by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-07 08:35 · Score: 0
  
  Maybe the issue is that you care about meaningless virtual points?
8. Re:Nicely done by jo_ham · 2012-08-07 08:56 · Score: 1
  
  Karma is overrated.
  It's not if it stops you from taking part in discussions. If you get too many downvotes (deserved or not) you end up with a posting cap per 24 hour period.
9. Re:Nicely done by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-07 09:06 · Score: 0
  
  Those flamebait/troll posts probably had something to do with an irrational Obama obsession.
10. Re:Nicely done by jedidiah · 2012-08-07 09:11 · Score: 1
  
  I dunno. Perhaps people that use PCs are just used to having cheaper devices that provide more features while being more maintainable and more upgradeable.
  Embed your PC into your monitor so that you can reuse neither?
  Only seems to make sense to form over function types and people that live in overpriced studio apartments.
  
  --
  A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
11. Re:Nicely done by oakgrove · 2012-08-07 09:21 · Score: 1
  
  Actually it was a two day offtopic war with apk over host files. You'd have had to have been there.
  
  --
  The soylentnews experiment has been a dismal failure.
12. Re:Nicely done by nojayuk · 2012-08-07 10:32 · Score: 1
  
  HP had a deskstand that would take some of their small-form-factor PCs like the dc7900 and an HP LCD and make an all-in-one PC with the SFF case mounted behind the display. I don't think it was available ready-built.
13. Re:Nicely done by ceoyoyo · 2012-08-07 12:24 · Score: 1
  
  I think it was an older model TouchSmart:
  http://www.hp.com/united-states/campaigns/touchsmart/index.html
14. Re:Nicely done by ceoyoyo · 2012-08-07 12:27 · Score: 1
  
  Or people who value desk space.
  There are lots of arguments for all in one computers. People rarely upgrade their machines, almost never maintain them themselves, and usually replace the monitor at the same time as the computer. Just because you don't see the point doesn't mean that everyone who does use them is a rich hipster.
15. Re:Nicely done by dbIII · 2012-08-07 19:49 · Score: 1
  
  Yes I remember when you did that.
16. Re:Nicely done by kyrio · 2012-08-08 05:01 · Score: 1
  
  That's the thing, I was excellent for about two straight years.
17. Re:Nicely done by kyrio · 2012-08-08 05:02 · Score: 1
  
  Nope.
Fake Mac running a fake OS by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-07 06:59 · Score: -1

The picture showed Windows 8. Go figure.
Forget iMac clones... by ilsaloving · 2012-08-07 07:01 · Score: 1

This could be WAY bigger than just making iMac clones. Combine that with the new video hardware coming onto the market that permits greater than 1080p resolution displays, and that this new form factor could be made dirt cheap, this could usher in the era of interactive wallscreen devices.
I always figured it would be great to have some cheap tablets mounted into walls for various applications, for example, being able to quickly check the weather report before heading out the door. But something like this would be even cooler.
1. Re:Forget iMac clones... by nschubach · 2012-08-07 07:16 · Score: 1
  
  I've yet to find a nice small form factor PC that supports any sort of high end graphics (3D gaming/rendering... not video). Most of the SFF machines have built in crappy video cards and/or have no PCI-Express slot capability. It would be nice to have a motherboard with the ability to plug in a graphics card on the edge parallell to the mainboard itself. Unfortunately, the way the cards are designed, the heatsink would be under the plane of the motherboard unless the PCI-Express slot was moved to the other side of the CPU or a GPU with all it's components on the inverse side.
  The only way I've found around that is to install a riser with a 90 degree bracket (Example) but these require that the board have a PCI-Express slot to begin with and most likely a custom mounting solution.
  
  --
  Every time I start to have faith in humanity, I ruin it by driving to work between 7 and 8 am.
2. Re:Forget iMac clones... by bingoUV · 2012-08-08 21:35 · Score: 1
  
  If AMD fusion graphics is enough for you, that is a good option. Tiny power supply can keep it happy, a slow fan would be enough, 90mm more than enough size for the fan.
  If fusion graphics is not enough, it is unlikely to be "small", because graphics card would be big, it would need big active cooling, and power supply would be big to support it.
  
  --
  Bingo Dictionary - Pragmatist, n. A myopic idealist.
Nice by StripedCow · 2012-08-07 07:02 · Score: 2

Nice to see Apple losing their prime advantage: looks.
Now we just have to wait until Intel comes with DIY phones.

--
If Pandora's box is destined to be opened, *I* want to be the one to open it.
1. Re:Nice by royallthefourth · 2012-08-07 07:56 · Score: 1
  
  It's not just about looks; it's about desk space and portability. I'd be far more inclined to try putting my computer and desk in a new location if it wasn't such a pain in the ass to move.
2. Re:Nice by tlhIngan · 2012-08-07 09:26 · Score: 1
  
  Nice to see Apple losing their prime advantage: looks.
  Now we just have to wait until Intel comes with DIY phones.
  Apple's lost that advantage last year when Intel finally got fed up and spent at least $100M doing the R&D for all the ultrabook manufacturers. Now all we need is Intel to spend another $100M doing all the R&D for everyone eles to clone the iMac.
3. Re:Nice by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-07 09:33 · Score: 0
  
  Nice to see Apple losing their prime advantage: looks.
  Now we just have to wait until Intel comes with DIY phones.
  Yeah. Now Apple will have to fall back on having the only desktop Unix that actually runs real commercial applications. However will they stay in business?
4. Re:Nice by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-07 17:03 · Score: 0
  
  thats why you move all your cables from under your desk to the top of it?
  tell me more about your desk space!
Are all in one desktops now all known as iMacs? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-07 07:03 · Score: 4, Insightful

WTF does this have to do with iMacs?
1. Re:Are all in one desktops now all known as iMacs? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-07 07:05 · Score: -1
  
  Stupid people continue to think Apple invented the ideas that they actually stole.
2. Re:Are all in one desktops now all known as iMacs? by oakgrove · 2012-08-07 07:35 · Score: 1
  
  I'm not an Apple apologist but was anybody doing anything that could really be compared to a modern all-in-one before this?
  
  --
  The soylentnews experiment has been a dismal failure.
3. Re:Are all in one desktops now all known as iMacs? by nedlohs · 2012-08-07 07:51 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  Yes, the Commodore PET was 7 years earlier.
4. Re:Are all in one desktops now all known as iMacs? by oakgrove · 2012-08-07 08:00 · Score: 1
  
  Heh. Figures I'd miss something. That screen looks like it'd be pretty easy to detach though.
  
  --
  The soylentnews experiment has been a dismal failure.
5. Re:Are all in one desktops now all known as iMacs? by omnichad · 2012-08-07 08:39 · Score: 1
  
  Umm...seriously? And this one even has a built-in keyboard.
6. Re:Are all in one desktops now all known as iMacs? by nedlohs · 2012-08-07 08:43 · Score: 1
  
  it might look so, but it isn't.
  It looks less so here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=rWgmD2is91g#t=52s
7. Re:Are all in one desktops now all known as iMacs? by JazzLad · 2012-08-07 08:48 · Score: 2
  
  That wasn't the only one, either.
  
  --
  "If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear." - Every fascist, ever
8. Re:Are all in one desktops now all known as iMacs? by ArsenneLupin · 2012-08-07 23:27 · Score: 1
  
  and another one
MAFIAA logic by firesyde424 · 2012-08-07 07:03 · Score: 3, Insightful

[sarcasm] Breaking news: Intel sued by Apple for patent infringement. Apple has sued CPU manufacturer Intel claiming infringement of their patent on the design of small, compact, all-in-one devices that can run OSX. Apple filed the lawsuit in a federal court located in western Texas. They are asking for an injunction against Intel as well as an award of $5,000 for each device sold by Intel. Apple has claimed that the only reason people buy something other than an Apple device is because they can and therefore every sale of these devices by Intel represents a lost sale for Apple. [/sarcasm]
Ugly with a capital U by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-07 07:16 · Score: 1

That desktop in the article is some hideous looking shit. What crap OEM plastered that fisher-price shit all over Windows?
1. Re:Ugly with a capital U by oldmac31310 · 2012-08-07 08:03 · Score: 1
  
  Isn't that what Metro looks like?
  
  --
  http://www.acetonestudio.com
2. Re:Ugly with a capital U by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-07 08:13 · Score: 0
  
  Isn't that what Metro looks like?
  ===> The joke
  ===> Outer space
  .
  .
  .
  .
  ===> You
3. Re:Ugly with a capital U by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-07 08:19 · Score: 0
  
  He told a joke so great it's in outer space?
4. Re:Ugly with a capital U by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-07 08:32 · Score: 0
  
  Whoosh!!!
  That's the sound of the entire thread flying over your head. Waaaay over your head.
but but but by biodata · 2012-08-07 07:32 · Score: 0

it's rounded rectangles!

--
Korma: Good
No graphics by edxwelch · 2012-08-07 07:33 · Score: 1

The idea looked good... until I saw that you can't install a graphics card. That's the one thing that these all-in-ones lack - decient graphics. Considering there are laptops with gtx 680, I don't see why we can have them in an all-in-one
1. Re:No graphics by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-07 08:33 · Score: 0
  
  The Gigabyte GB-AEGT accepts a full height double slot graphics card with up to 400W of power.
2. Re:No graphics by chill · 2012-08-07 10:50 · Score: 1
  
  It has a full PCIe x4 slot. You can, but you're defeating the purpose of "slim".
  There are also Mini-ITX motherboards with PCIe x16 slots.
  
  --
  Learning HOW to think is more important than learning WHAT to think.
3. Re:No graphics by edxwelch · 2012-08-07 13:15 · Score: 1
  
  It says in the article that there's no room:
  "Our only real regret is that the enclosure lacks room for a good discrete graphics card. We were stuck with the Core i5 processor's HD 3000 integrated graphics"
4. Re:No graphics by chill · 2012-08-08 11:12 · Score: 1
  
  The article covered two things -- the specific mini PC and the thin-mini ITX as a motherboard standard.
  I was addressing the motherboard spec, which you can pop in a whole range of cases depending on your need.
  
  --
  Learning HOW to think is more important than learning WHAT to think.
Not Hackintosh/OSX86 by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-07 07:36 · Score: 0

They aren't talking about building hackintoshes here, just building PCs into the monitor, i.e. the form factor of an iMac.
Inconceivable! by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-07 07:45 · Score: 0

Don't pester him. He's had a hard day.
1. Re:Inconceivable! by bigredradio · 2012-08-07 08:32 · Score: 1
  
  He's really very short on... charm!
  
  --
  Flexible bare-metal recovery for Linux/UNIX
Ersatz by tylersoze · 2012-08-07 07:57 · Score: 1

"Made in imitation; artificial, especially of an inferior quality."
Not an iMac by Lost+Race · 2012-08-07 09:53 · Score: 1

Please stop feeding Apple's "we invented everything!" hubris. This is just a computer attached to a monitor, which is an obvious combination that has been around since there have been computers small enough to attach to monitors.
come on. ersatz? really? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-07 10:30 · Score: 0

No, "ersatz" doesn't cut it. it's not an "inferior mac", it's not a mac *at all*. It can't run mac software, it doesn't run the mac OS.
On any rational scale of "mac-ness", it's a zero.
Now, if you had a jumble of components, didn't LOOK like a mac at all, but it ran the OS and the apps reliably... now you'd be somewhere up that scale, and probably around a seven or eight out of ten -- or even higher if you're not worried about the looks.
This is the same mental blind spot people get when they try to price compare a mac -- any mac -- with a pc or linux boxen. Without the OS, there's nothing to compare. If the hardware was exactly equal AND the price was exactly equal AND the looks were exactly equal... you're not going to have even *remotely* the same experience.
And that's what makes one machine better than another: the experience.
thin or thinclient by ThorGod · 2012-08-07 10:55 · Score: 1

Not going to lie, I thought they were going to review a thinclient...kind of seems like a better idea, with the space constraints.

--
PS: I don't reply to ACs.
bad by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-07 11:44 · Score: 0

osx is just as bad as windows 8
How to get MacOS X in a VM? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-07 14:14 · Score: 0

How can we run MacOS X in a virtual machine?
We already have ChromeOS in a virtual machine. What about MacOS X?
C'mon by pbjones · 2012-08-07 19:20 · Score: 1

It looks more like a giant iPad on a stand, it doesn't look like an iMac. The article is about hardware and not building a Hackintosh, so please read the article before posting. It Looks like what it is, a cheap housing for a small format motherboard, and it sounds OK to me. I would like to have seen a complete price breakdown too. No optical drive? interesting trend?

--
There was an unknown error in the submission.
Touchscreen? by danaris · 2012-08-08 00:43 · Score: 1

Acer made a shockingly similar one several years ago but with an Atom chip (so no overheating problems, lol) and it was slow, the touchscreen was sluggish, and overall it sucked lol.
Why would it need a touchscreen?
The only major uses I've ever seen for a touchscreen all-in-one like an iMac are for a kiosk machine of some sort, or a POS system (fancy cash register).
For normal use, as various people (including, I believe, Steve Jobs) have noted, it's just too darn hard on the arms.
Dan Aris

--
Fun. Free. Online. RPG. BattleMaster.