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Here’s some bizarre fallout from an EU ruling on the safety of electrical equipment. Apple’s being forced to stop selling the Mac Pro in Europe from March, including the UK, because it’s got exposed fans and they’re dangerous, apparently.
The amendment to the IEC 60950-1 spec puts increased requirements on computer manufactures to put fan guards and extra shielding around electrical ports in place. Sounds sensible, but bizarrely that counts the Mac Pro out. Until Apple modifies it, the Mac Pro will be banned from sale from March because of the big fans its got on its rear.
That means if you want a Mac Pro from Apple, you’ll have to get your order in by February 18th so Apple can ship it to you before the February 28th cut off. Resellers with existing stock will be able to continue to flog their wares until inventory runs dry, but that’s it.
Apple’s been neglecting the Mac Pro, which apart from a small spec bump here and there, has remained unchanged for years. Something tells me a Mac Pro refresh might be just around the corner. But maybe Apple really doesn’t sell enough of the beasts to justify it any more? Who knows. All I do know is that when I look around the video teams in the office they’re all using Mac Pros. Maybe Apple’ll spit out a Mac Mini or iMac Pro instead? [MacWorld]
Image credit: Banned from Shutterstock
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I’d like to see the stats on Mac pro fan accidents. I’d guess the number is very low. Quite apart from anything else the fans are at the back of the tower, which I would guess in the majority of cases is pointed away from the computer operator…
Yeah, seems a little daft to me, but I see the point. Probably to protect children from getting their fingers mashed up.
Possible fire sale? Roll on 2013!
I like your thinking!
Don’t be silly, it has nothing to do with accidents.
Its more that the F***ing EU can’t keep their noses out of anything unless its going to:
a) Make it hard for people to do anything
b) Make it expensive for people to do anything
c) Interfere with something that is running perfectly fine
d) Make a it inconvenient for the sake of it
It’s pretty much ‘nailed on’ that there’s going to be a redesigned Mac Pro at some point this year: http://www.macrumors.com/2012/06/12/apple-spokesperson-confirms-new-mac-pro-and-imac-designs-likely-coming-in-2013/
Every Mac sold is a tragic, preventable accident.
By God, the whole Mac thing brings out the troll in me like nothing else can
They see me trolling, they hating.
Anyone found a pic of what’s wrong with the Mac Pro? The only one I’ve got here is an old G5 Dual, but the fan on that looks fine.
All the Mac Pro’s in my office seem to have covers over the fans too. Possibly newer models only affected?
LOL EU interfering. And they wonder why half of Britain wants to leave.
From what I can find on Google Images the fans on the Mac Pro are no more exposed than any other computer with rear fans, and they could be even more covered with a simple piece of mesh. Also I don’t see how you could better shield the mains input (the only electrical port that could actually do any harm), and the same applies for pretty much any other electrical device with a detachable mains cord. I think this is more likely an excuse for Apple to discontinue it due to shitty sales without admitting so.
This article blew me away.
Normally I’m a huge … fan… of the EU, but this just took the … wind… out of my sails…
HAHAHA.. quite often if im cleaning the fans out i turn the PC on so they spin and thus the brush of the hoover can rub on the blades and clear a little more stubbon dust, from this i have put my fingers through these fans plenty of times.. never hurt once.. it just stops spinning.. so stupid..
I don’t get it. The fans aren’t exposed… we have them at college and they have a crossgrid in the aluminium…
Does anyone have a reliable source for this that explains the reasons why as all I can find is alot of blog posts that speak of a notice sent out to Apple resellers explaining that Apple will not be shipping any more to the uk.”Because of some European standard that will be put into effect soon and the current mac pro doesn’t meet the standard”
Can anyone point me to the standard that the macpro doesn’t meet, as there is mention of the way that the IO ports are powered, and here is me being simplistic but aren’t the IO ports powered by the motherboard in the same way as every desktop PC in existence. So will this standard affect system builder and PC manufactures.
As for the exposed fan I honestly canot see what the issue is, you have more chance of putting your finger in the fan of the PSU on my HTPC than you do a mac pro from looking at the images that google throws up.
The EU is clearly run by idiots. I’d have a hard job harming myself on the fans of my Mac Pro. The Mac Pro is actually extremely well designed. If people in the EU can’t run Mac Pros any more I hate to think what businesses who really need them (e.g., newspapers, graphic designers, etc) are going to do. They’d have a hard time finding a similarly equipped Windows machine and it would almost certainly cost more.