A new concept called the Mac Evo seeks to bring faster performance through liquid cooling. The computer would be just three times the size of Mac mini but offer greater speed by lowering the temperature of the processor.
The Intel chips Apple uses in its OS X computers often have to be throttled down to keep them from overheating. Liquid cooling is one solution.
“The Mac Evo is meant as a viable alternative for the growing number of enthusiasts/prosumers that require powerful systems for productivity, media creation or even gaming, without the need for a large tower. It could fit between the Mini and the Pro in Apple’s product lineup,” says Pierre Cerveau, the designer.
His concept is literally built around cooling the processor. “In the center, a centrifugal fan pulls fresh air from the bottom and exhausts it to the sides through the radiator fins,” says Cerveau of his creation. He calls it the Liquid Radia system because it uses a radial radiator.
Photo: Pierre Cerveau
But he emphasizes that this is a concept rather than a set of design schematics. “I have no idea what real world cooling efficiency Liquid Radia would have and I imagine producing a circular radiator would be quite the manufacturing challenge. I liked the idea however and thought it would be interesting to put it out there,” he said on his website, designbypierre.com.
He makes no predictions on how much the Mac Evo would cost. That said, he’s positioning the computer between the Mac mini and the Mac Pro so it would have to cost somewhere between $1,099 and $2,999.
A modular Mac
In his design, Cerveau takes a swipe at Apple’s habit of using non-upgradeable components. “The CPU, GPU, memory and storage would all be user replaceable.”
While Apple isn’t very likely to make the Mac Evo into a real product, the company has committed to launching a new Mac Pro this year. Very little is known about it, but the company has promised it will be modular so it will apparently answer at least one of Cerveau’s requests.
