Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Apple To Discontinue Mac Pro In EU Over Safety Regulations

Posted by Soulskill on from the not-all-product-lines-are-created-equal dept.

jones_supa writes "Apple has been forced to remove the Mac Pro from sale in the European Union after an amendment to a safety regulation left the machines non-compliant. The updated electronics safety standard IEC 60950-1 increases requirements around electrical port protection (PDF) and the fan guards in the system. Apple does not plan to modify their machines and will simply pull them from market in the EU. Apple wishes to warn customers and partners about the change so that they would have sufficient time to order Mac Pro units and meet any needs prior to 1 March, when the amendment comes into effect."

31 of 371 comments (clear)

  1. "fan guards in the system" by Mateo_LeFou · · Score: 4, Funny

    Macs have fans?

    --
    My turnips listen for the soft cry of your love
    1. Re:"fan guards in the system" by Sponge+Bath · · Score: 5, Funny

      Macs have fans?

      Cooling fans and fanboys.

    2. Re:"fan guards in the system" by Carewolf · · Score: 5, Funny

      Macs have fans?

      Yes, and they are hard to miss since they whine loudly if put to work. I am ofcourse refering to the the cooling fans, not the fanboys.

    3. Re:"fan guards in the system" by blind+biker · · Score: 4, Funny

      "Fan guards" - thoroughly indoctrinated followers of the cult of Jobs, willing to sacrifice their lives for what they believe in.

      It takes many a queuing at the Temples of Jobs (also known as Apple® Stores) before one reaches such lofty spiritual/materialistic station.

      --
      "The agriculture ministry is not in charge of Gundam" - Japanese ministry official.
    4. Re:"fan guards in the system" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Look. That law exists to prevent products that don't include appropiate safety measures which would reduce the profit margin to harm someone.

      While in this case there might not be much harm if someone got a nick their finger, that law is still a good idea in general.
      So please don't grab the first edge case to shoot down the concept. But feel free to implement the Ferengi way of life at your place, as long as you keep it far enough away from me.

      As neither of us knows exactly how dangerous those fans are, what the new requirements actually are and why there was a consensus for raising them.... we can only read up on it or continue to talk about it without expert knowledge.

  2. Unlikely to be discontinued altogether by Bogtha · · Score: 5, Informative

    Apple does not plan to modify their machines and will simply pull them from market in the EU.

    In all likelihood it's because they've got a new Mac Pro model ready to launch. The Mac Pro hasn't had a significant update in years, it's the only Mac that doesn't have a Thunderbolt port, for example.

    A new Mac Pro is being released in 2013, confirmed by Apple.

    --
    Bogtha Bogtha Bogtha
    1. Re:Unlikely to be discontinued altogether by Seb+C. · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Yeah, so instead of telling their customer :" Hold on, we'll deliver a brand new one", they go for "Rush for the shops, we won't comply the EU directives and there'll be no more of those Mac Pro in store in a couple of weeks".
      Yeah thank you Apple...

      It's not as if they would release 2 ipad versions in one year, completely killing the brand new tablet you bought 6 month earlier...

    2. Re:Unlikely to be discontinued altogether by PhotoJim · · Score: 4, Insightful

      If you bought your "brand new tablet" as a user device instead of an investment, you shouldn't really care if new versions come out.

      I'm still happily using my first-gen iPad and aside from the sneers of derision from the 12-year-olds at airports :), I manage just fine.

      The reality is that we're now a laptop world. A few want desktops, and that's why the Pro exists, and I'm sure it will be updated, but it's hardly a leading seller for Apple.

    3. Re:Unlikely to be discontinued altogether by tibit · · Score: 4, Interesting

      You're crazy. This is nothing new, the industry has been aware of those changes for some years now! Who the heck do you think writes those standards? If Apple doesn't have a company person, or better, many people, in ANSI or IEC, they're being stupid. I don't know who the heck spun this non-story as if Apple was up to the wall, or this was a new regulation, or whatever. Nobody who knows how those standards come into being is surprised at all. Many big corporations join standards bodies and have their say and are always aware of what's going on. I'm pretty damn sure Apple must have their people in standards bodies. They can certainly afford it. Note: standards are written by volunteers. A company buys sufficiently large membership, and they get to have their people doing the work. That's how it has been since beginning of time, really.

      --
      A successful API design takes a mixture of software design and pedagogy.
    4. Re:Unlikely to be discontinued altogether by AmiMoJo · · Score: 4, Informative

      I am an average EU citizen and think this directive is a good thing. It applies to all sorts of appliances that have fans capable of damaging internal wiring or causing injury. Guards cost pennies and every other manufacturer managed to comply in good time.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    5. Re:Unlikely to be discontinued altogether by macs4all · · Score: 4, Informative

      I'm surprised nobody has made any 'Dysan' style bladeless computer fans. Probably higher power, but close to silent. Based on Apple's slimy patenting of magnetic power cord attachment (which had been used in other places for many years), it's probably patentable.

      Dysan fans aren't "bladeless". They conceal the impeller in the base, then "magically" distribute that airflow around a ring. Very cool looking the first time you see it; but once you know what's going on, not so much.

    6. Re:Unlikely to be discontinued altogether by AmiMoJo · · Score: 4, Insightful

      So basically you are arguing that Apple should be exempt from the rules because you judge its products to be safe. Perhaps you think the EU members should pay for inspectors to check every product and decide if it is safe enough for an exemption, rather than passing a blanket rule that isn't difficult or expensive to abide by.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    7. Re:Unlikely to be discontinued altogether by Gonoff · · Score: 3, Interesting

      BTW, I wonder how the average EU CITIZEN thinks of all this?

      Sounds like they are doing what they are supposed to do. One of the jobs of a government is to protect the people from those richer and more powerful.
      You don't get much richer and more powerful than Apple.

      --
      I'll see your Constitution and raise you a Queen.
    8. Re:Unlikely to be discontinued altogether by Gonoff · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Seriously people in the EU, WAKE UP!!! Your governments are NOT your friends!!!

      Correct. On this side of the Atlantic, they are our servants.

      --
      I'll see your Constitution and raise you a Queen.
    9. Re:Unlikely to be discontinued altogether by radish · · Score: 4, Insightful

      As someone who's spent significant time living in both, your belief that the US government is significantly better/different is quaint and amusing. Maybe the EU went overboard on fan guards (the new rule actually seems reasonable to me) but at least no one tells you how big your soda cup can be, or threatens to lock you up for carrying a bottle of wine in public, or crossing the street at the wrong place. Every country has their little restrictions and laws which often seem normal to those living there and batshit crazy to everyone else. C'est la vie :)

      --

      ---- Den ene knappen er powerknapp, den andre er Bender voice knapp "Bite My Shiny Metal Ass"

    10. Re:Unlikely to be discontinued altogether by Trepidity · · Score: 4, Interesting

      BTW, I wonder how the average EU CITIZEN thinks of all this? Fascinating that I'm not seeing the typical Slashdot posturing and whining against government overreach

      One thing that makes me better disposed to this case is that it wasn't a regulation pulled out of thin air by random government bureaucrats, but rather one drawn up by electrical engineers, from an independent standards body not controlled by the EU, the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC). The US even has substantial representation on the body, so it's not just European engineers drawing it up. The EU just chose to implement their recommendation as mandatory, whereas in some other countries IEC recommendations may be treated as only advisory.

      --
      10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10
    11. Re:Unlikely to be discontinued altogether by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      > Who would have thought you could sell small appliances by marketing them the same way as a Mercedes...

      Steve Jobs would.

    12. Re:Unlikely to be discontinued altogether by Kat+M. · · Score: 5, Informative

      BTW, I wonder how the average EU CITIZEN thinks of all this? Fascinating that I'm not seeing the typical Slashdot posturing and whining against government overreach; just people bitching at Apple for doing the only thing they can on short notice.

      It's an IEC standard, not something that the EU thought up. The same standard will presumably come to the United States and Canada in a year or two. Note that this also affects several non-EU countries (Switzerland and Norway in particular).

      Also, it hasn't been "short notice". The amendment was published in December 2009, over three years ago.

  3. It must be about "the children" by mariox19 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Thank goodness Europe will be safe now from those assault Macs.

    --

    quiquid id est, timeo puellas et oscula dantes.

  4. Apple only cares about consumer gear now by erroneus · · Score: 4, Informative

    They have no interest in keeping their legacy gear up to date or up to code. Their primary investments are:

    1. Lawyers
    2. iPhone/iPad/iPod

    Their OSX currently reflects this direction.

    I for one and sad to see Apple giving up this part of their product line. It is the only part I really like.

    The sad reality is that Apple only cares about what Apple cares about. Not about what its consumers want and Apple (Steve Jobs) has stated it plainly. It is not for the people to tell Apple what they want, but rather for Apple to tell people what they want. And by extension, it is not for "the people" to tell Apple anything at all. They would rather exit a market they cannot control and dominate.

    And so, as things progress, they will continue to lose control over the iDevice market and the end is inevitable.

    1. Re:Apple only cares about consumer gear now by janrinok · · Score: 4, Insightful

      It is interesting that you seem to place the blame on the EU - if you read the second link of TFS it finishes by pointing out: 'This standard has been approved as a National Standard of Canada by the Standards Council of Canada, and has been approved as by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) as an American National Standard.' It is, if I understand it correctly, an International Standard that the EU is obeying. I cannot imagine why the US or Canada, for example, is not also complying.

      --
      Have a look at soylentnews.org for a different view
  5. SRSLY? by cellocgw · · Score: 5, Insightful

    So if I understand the reg. in question, hardware with an internal fan (like a Mac Pro) that is only accessible if you pull the housing must have an internal fan guard? WTF?
    This makes no sense. For that matter that thing about minimum and max cord length is pretty wacked. Is there really a computer, or transistor radio, manufacturer out there who wanted to deliver 7-meter power cords?

    --
    https://app.box.com/WitthoftResume Code: https://github.com/cellocgw
    1. Re:SRSLY? by moronoxyd · · Score: 3, Insightful

      So if I understand the reg. in question, hardware with an internal fan (like a Mac Pro) that is only accessible if you pull the housing must have an internal fan guard? WTF?

      The Mac Pro has a power supply. The power supply has a fan. This fan is close to the outer housing of the Mac Pro and accessible through some gills of some sort ... Do you now see where the potential risk lies?

    2. Re:SRSLY? by iluvcapra · · Score: 4, Informative

      When was the last time you saw someone EAT a circuit board?

      Cellphone goes into trash, trash goes into landfill, rain goes into landfill, reactive compounds go into groundwater.

      Proper eWaste disposal methods can minimize this, but in a lot of cases this just means shipping the cellphone to Dalian or Inner Mongolia where an 11-year-old makes a dime an hour dipping circuit boards into a hot bath. In the open air. Without a mask.

      --
      Don't blame me, I voted for Baltar.
    3. Re:SRSLY? by macs4all · · Score: 4, Informative

      So if I understand the reg. in question, hardware with an internal fan (like a Mac Pro) that is only accessible if you pull the housing must have an internal fan guard? WTF?

      The Mac Pro has a power supply. The power supply has a fan. This fan is close to the outer housing of the Mac Pro and accessible through some gills of some sort ... Do you now see where the potential risk lies?

      Please show me ANY picture of a Mac Pro where an EXPOSED-TO-THE-OUTSIDE fan is shown. The Mac Pro has PLENTY of fans (ask anyone who has made one really work hard!), BUT NONE OF THEM ARE ACCESSIBLE OR EVEN VISIBLE (except through perforated metal GUARDS) WITHOUT OPENING THE CASE!!!

      Got it?

      Here's a handy DIY document from Apple, that shows ALL of the fan locations. Please tell me how these aren't "guarded" already.

      Your move.

    4. Re:SRSLY? by icebraining · · Score: 5, Insightful

      We have grills on our fans, you have the TSA, and we're the nanny continent?

      Yeah, keep telling yourself that.

      --
      Dilbert RSS feed
  6. Build your own by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    http://www.tonymacx86.com/325-building-customac-buyer-s-guide-january-2013.html

  7. Hmm by _Shad0w_ · · Score: 4, Informative

    I'm going to assume the EU actually stipulates that particular IEC standard must be followed in law then, because the IEC isn't an EU body, it's an international one. In fact ANSI is a full member of the IEC.

    --

    Yeah, I had a sig once; I got bored of it.

  8. Yeah, so? by phillymjs · · Score: 3, Informative

    IIRC, Tim Cook already publicly stated a redesigned Mac Pro would be released in 2013.

    The other Macs in the lineup have grown more powerful over the years, so the number of people who still specifically need the abilities of a Mac Pro is relatively small. It would make no financial sense for Apple to address these regulations by changing the current Mac Pro design. The best move was what they did-- simply giving those people some warning so anyone who was planning future Mac Pro purchases could decide if they needed to buy the existing model or could afford to wait for the redesigned model to be announced.

  9. Re:Typical Apple Attitude by whisper_jeff · · Score: 4, Informative

    Or, as they've already announced, they plan on launching a new Mac Pro this year and see no reason to modify the existing design to meet new standards for a couple of months when their new machines, which are coming soon, probably meet those standards.

    Or you can pretend that it's some elitist attitude thing because that sounds cool, right.

  10. Re:Apple is getting out of the computer biz by phantomfive · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Why do you think that? At their last conference call where they talked about money, I recall Apple being excited about the growth in their Mac sales.

    --
    "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."