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Thin Mini-ITX Platform Enables DIY iMacs
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."
You're advocating violating the OS X EULA!
Heresy!!!
are growing exponentially faster than
you keep using that expression... it does not mean what you think it does
factor 966971: 966971
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!
The article is about a similar form factor to an iMac, not running OS X.
They aren't talking about building Hackintoshes here, just DIY PC-in-a-monitor.
It has a fan...
You might want to have that looked at... LOL
-- This space for lease, low setup fee, inquire within!
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
WTF does this have to do with iMacs?
[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]
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"
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.
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.
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...
I think Steve Jobs must have loved fans judging by the jet engine I call a 2010 unibody macbook pro on my desk.
ahh yes - you were holding it wrong!
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).
So, in other words == != =
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.
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.
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.
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?
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