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Sonnet's Latest Enclosures Help You Rack Mount Your Mac Studio

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Professional storage and networking accessory company Sonnet Technologies today announced a pair of solutions for Mac Studio users who are looking to rack mount their machines alongside other components.

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The RackMac Studio is a 3U rackmount enclosure measuring 9.5 inches deep that can support a pair of ‌Mac Studio‌ units while preserving access to the front ports and offering front access to a USB-A port and the power button for each machine right from the front of the enclosure. Space beneath the ‌Mac Studio‌ units can also be used to house small peripherals like bus-powered external SSDs. It will be priced at $449.99 and will be available starting the week of October 24.

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The xMac Studio is a larger enclosure that still measures 3U high but 16.5 inches deep and which can pair a single ‌Mac Studio‌ with Sonnet's Thunderbolt to PCIe card expansion systems. The enclosure is available in three configurations for maximum flexibility: with either an Echo I or Echo III module or without a module in case you want to reuse an existing one. All versions also include a four-port USB-A hub fed from the ‌Mac Studio‌, as well as a front-mounted power button and space underneath for small peripherals.

The Echo I module includes a single x16 PCIe slot for one full-height, full-length card, a single 40Gbps Thunderbolt port, dual fans, and a 400W power supply, while the Echo III module bumps that up to three PCIe slots (one x16 and two x8) and two Thunderbolt ports. The version without an expansion module will be priced at $549.99, while the Echo I version will be priced at $1,249.99 and the Echo III version will be priced at $1,649.99. The xMac Studio systems will begin shipping the week of September 26.

Tag: Sonnet

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Top Rated Comments

Michael Scrip Avatar
Michael Scrip
53 months ago

That power button solution is kind of a kludge. :oops:
I thought it was clever!

:P



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Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
D
deconstruct60
53 months ago

Has anyone been able to get GPUs working with M1 Macs via Thunderbolt to PCIe bridges?
There are zero 3rd parth GPU drivers for macOS on M-seires. In fact, there is not even an DriverKit API for "Graphics" at all for 3rd party drivers. There is a PCI-e DriverKit API. So there are already more than several cards that work. Apple has provide not even a long term abstraction on how to get 3rd party GPUs working with Apple Silicon. It has been three WWDCs (2020 , 2021 , 2022 ) and nothing.

I would not hold my breath waiting on one. Intel's current purgatory on jacked up , immature GPU drivers is only even more evidence about why Apple probably is in zero hurry to provide one. Just getting the Apple GPU driver family smoothly flushed over a much wider breadth of performance implementations and a large set of 3rd party controlled applications fully updated on optimizations is a huge task.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Apple Knowledge Navigator Avatar
Apple Knowledge Navigator
53 months ago
Interesting concept. Very expensive, but I imagine the target audience have plenty of budget.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Nermal Avatar
Nermal
53 months ago

I wonder what PCI cards would be compatible with the M1.
There's a compatibility list (https://www.sonnettech.com/support/downloads/manuals/TB_PCIe_Card_Compatibility.pdf).
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
red elma Avatar
red elma
53 months ago
This is an awesome option for small A/V studios.
Been using Sonnettech Echo Express III ('https://www.sonnettech.com/product/echo-express-3d/overview.html') for years now without a single glitch and it being compatible with this new enclosure is a big bonus. Hats off to Sonnettech!
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
J InTech82 Avatar
J InTech82
53 months ago

Looks good and is something I would do but the price is hilarious.
How is it hilarious? The price is nothing to the professionals who will be purchasing it. If you're able to afford a Mac Studio, surely you are able to afford this, or at least be able to get the work, to then be able to afford this. Surely this was not made for the hobbyist.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
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