What is a heaviest 'desktop' you ever own or work(-ing) on?

[jake111]

I have an HP9000/847 like this one:


I'm not sure how much it weighs, but I think it's in the vicinity of 50kg, especially with the full height 5.25" hard drives. Granted, it's a deskside, not a desktop. My heaviest real desktop is one like this:


According to the manual, it weights 18kg/40lb.

(None of the pics are mine, can't be arsed to go take them, found some on the internet for illustration purposes only).

Ummm, I believe I have at least 2 spare power supplies as well as a box of hard drives still in caddies for your HP.... And also probably a full set of Novell Netware 3.x manuals and disks?  The Novell might be gone, can't remember, but I still have these supplies and drives.  Lol.

[rdl]

Does it count if it's a stack?

Here is my setup from 20 years ago. This photo was taken in spring 2000 with my first digital camera. The machine on the floor is actually the first I ever built myself. I have no idea how much it weighed. The case was a Supermicro SC-750 and probably 15 lbs. or so by itself. Processor was Athlon XP 2200 or something like that.

On top is a custom Micron PentiumPro system which was pretty heavy also. It was the second computer I bought and I still have it stored away in the bedroom closet.

[NivagSwerdna]

Xerox Danelion... used these at University

http://www.digibarn.com/collections/systems/xerox-8010/index.html



and a bit later at work...

Xerox Daybreak (aka 6085... aka Star)

http://toastytech.com/guis/star3.html

PS

The Pilot/Viewpoint environment, one of the first proper windowing development environments, came with lots of examples and contributed gagets... in fact a lot of the fun was developing these gadgets... my favourite was VP Cruise Missile which would run in the background and every now and again you would hear an incoming whistling sound and a cruise missile would appear and hit one of the desktop icons and move it off the screen (presumeably into a folder)... a great way to keep your desktop from getting cluttered. 



The later Star had the on/off switch exactly at knee level so every now and again you would accidentally turn it off with your knee and lose all your work.

It was very fun to program, in MESA, and I remember it had a 7 phase compiler for which the progress was shown by a rotating six sided dice... never sure what happened to one of the phases.

[Cerebus]

People are stretching 'desktop system' to breaking point here: obvious desk-side boxes like the ML350, whole racks full of kit...

What's wrong with using an ML350 server as a "desktop" machine? It's extremely capable (albeit a bit noisy). Most people I know who have normal consumer mid-tower cases place them on the floor, does that mean they aren't desktops either?

The context is the OP asking about the heaviest desktop system people have worked on/with because of their encounter with a 40kg desktop system. The original post implies that the form factor is important. Given that, it's a bit lame to rapidly morph it into "what's the heaviest computer you've ever used as if it was a desktop system". Do that and all us old hands who've used any of the early workstation systems like, say, the Three River's Perq or who've had exclusive use of minicomputers or mainframes will hold all the trumps.

[MarkMLl]

Sun SPARCserver 1000E. Was jammed with 4x XDbus cards with 2x 100MHz hyperSPARC processors on each. Fully stacked with 2Gb of RAM. This had an external SPARCstorage array of 2.1Gb SCSI disks. System unit was around 35kg and disk array was about the same!

Interesting machines. They were basically a Xerox PARC architecture with SPARCs grafted in, I managed to get Linux (2.2?) running SMP and got flamed by the kernel maintainer because he didn't like an assumption I'd made as a temporary fix for his bus-initialisation mistake. I'm not sure but I think that with an external JTAG controller you had a lot of control over what the bus was actually doing, Cray fully exploited that with the CS6400 and later designs which found their way back into Sun.

However, as somebody has pointed out they weren't exactly desktop machines: particularly when that extra box was fully-loaded with something like 64 drives, and particularly if there was a big Sun CRT sitting on the top.

Neither, for that matter, are various standalone accounting machines, some of which had a significant amount of electromechanical stuff particularly when golfball printers were popular.

MarkMLl

[pcmad]

People are stretching 'desktop system' to breaking point here: obvious desk-side boxes like the ML350, whole racks full of kit...

we are nerds anything goes servers and be used as i desktop pc

[Halcyon]

People are stretching 'desktop system' to breaking point here: obvious desk-side boxes like the ML350, whole racks full of kit...

What's wrong with using an ML350 server as a "desktop" machine? It's extremely capable (albeit a bit noisy). Most people I know who have normal consumer mid-tower cases place them on the floor, does that mean they aren't desktops either?

The context is the OP asking about the heaviest desktop system people have worked on/with because of their encounter with a 40kg desktop system. The original post implies that the form factor is important. Given that, it's a bit lame to rapidly morph it into "what's the heaviest computer you've ever used as if it was a desktop system". Do that and all us old hands who've used any of the early workstation systems like, say, the Three River's Perq or who've had exclusive use of minicomputers or mainframes will hold all the trumps.

But using your mentality, a laptop isn't a laptop unless it's physically used on the lap. Just because a desktop doesn't physically sit atop a desk, doesn't make it less of a desktop PC. I do agree that once you start getting into anything require a rack, it no longer meets the definition.

[george.b]

Ummm, I believe I have at least 2 spare power supplies as well as a box of hard drives still in caddies for your HP.... And also probably a full set of Novell Netware 3.x manuals and disks?  The Novell might be gone, can't remember, but I still have these supplies and drives.  Lol.

You might be thinking of a different machine, then - as far as I know, there was no PA-RISC port of NetWare.
Fortunately, my power supplies are in working order, and when I do replace the hard drives, I'll just throw a quieter, faster, smaller, more modern SCSI drive in there

[Cerebus]

People are stretching 'desktop system' to breaking point here: obvious desk-side boxes like the ML350, whole racks full of kit...

What's wrong with using an ML350 server as a "desktop" machine? It's extremely capable (albeit a bit noisy). Most people I know who have normal consumer mid-tower cases place them on the floor, does that mean they aren't desktops either?

The context is the OP asking about the heaviest desktop system people have worked on/with because of their encounter with a 40kg desktop system. The original post implies that the form factor is important. Given that, it's a bit lame to rapidly morph it into "what's the heaviest computer you've ever used as if it was a desktop system". Do that and all us old hands who've used any of the early workstation systems like, say, the Three River's Perq or who've had exclusive use of minicomputers or mainframes will hold all the trumps.

But using your mentality, a laptop isn't a laptop unless it's physically used on the lap. Just because a desktop doesn't physically sit atop a desk, doesn't make it less of a desktop PC. I do agree that once you start getting into anything require a rack, it no longer meets the definition.

I said "form factor", not 'thou musteth useth thine computer on thy desktop for it to qualifieth'.

[Halcyon]

People are stretching 'desktop system' to breaking point here: obvious desk-side boxes like the ML350, whole racks full of kit...

What's wrong with using an ML350 server as a "desktop" machine? It's extremely capable (albeit a bit noisy). Most people I know who have normal consumer mid-tower cases place them on the floor, does that mean they aren't desktops either?

The context is the OP asking about the heaviest desktop system people have worked on/with because of their encounter with a 40kg desktop system. The original post implies that the form factor is important. Given that, it's a bit lame to rapidly morph it into "what's the heaviest computer you've ever used as if it was a desktop system". Do that and all us old hands who've used any of the early workstation systems like, say, the Three River's Perq or who've had exclusive use of minicomputers or mainframes will hold all the trumps.

But using your mentality, a laptop isn't a laptop unless it's physically used on the lap. Just because a desktop doesn't physically sit atop a desk, doesn't make it less of a desktop PC. I do agree that once you start getting into anything require a rack, it no longer meets the definition.

I said "form factor", not 'thou musteth useth thine computer on thy desktop for it to qualifieth'.

Sure, so how does something like a HP ML350 not qualify? Looks like a desktop PC to me.

[SL4P]

About 15 years ago, I had an old sixties corporate style office desk, all steel - including the laminated top.
It was extremely heavy, I’d guess around 100Kg+

I only moved it once, but it was easy to ground, and was great for hammering or bending stuff, it was virtually indestructible.

[olkipukki]

It seems like a bit confusion and misunderstanding regarding 'desktop' definition, sorry that not been defined initially.

Some follows to Cambridge dictionary https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/desktop-computer

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"a computer that fits on a desk but that is not easily moved from place to place " 
,others https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desktop_computer

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"A desktop computer is a personal computer designed for regular use at a single location on or near a desk or table due to its size and power requirements. "
I think wiki is one we are after.  with some amendments "personal computer designed" => "personal computer (re-)designed" to fill a void for demanded users

P.S.
If you sit close to a rack, I will buy a beer (or cup of tea) and would love to hear your story - why you been locked in a server room on daily basis

[SL4P]

Just having some fun ? 😉😉

A bit earlier, I had a PDP-11/23 on my desk at home...

[olkipukki]

A bit earlier, I had a PDP-11/23 on my desk at home...

Wow, just wow - 100+ kg on your desk?!   

[Ian.M]

The original 'desktop' was a big beige box on your desk with its monitor on top of it.   Classic examples of that form factor were the original IBM PC/XT and PC/AT.   Its questionable whether computers built in full tower cases can be regarded as desktop machines.

I've got a 486 DX2-80 PC built in an original IBM PC/AT case, with all slots full, some with cards with daughterboards  and all drive bays occupied with 5 1/4" form factor drives.  As the weight of a PC/AT in standard fit-out (1xHDD, 1xFDD) was 19.5 Kg, and I've just weighed a half height 5 1/4" FDD at 1.25 Kg that system's gotta be around 25 Kg just for the system unit.

[Cerebus]

Sure, so how does something like a HP ML350 not qualify? Looks like a desktop PC to me.

Nearly 800mm deep and it'll fit on your desk? With a keyboard in front of it? Pull the other one it. I've had difficulty getting these to fit into racks because they're so deep - deeper in fact than most standard 600 x 800 data centre racks will take - you have to go up to a 600 x 1000 or 800 x 1000 rack to get them in there.

A more realistic picture with the front door open, showing 24 3¹/₂" drive bays:

[bd139]

Yeah that's a big much. My desktop PC is 400mm deep and that sticks out from under the desk. Even my old Z820 was 520mm deep and that was about as large as a workstation chassis gets. The ML350 is a floor standing server not a desktop.

The Sun 1000E I mentioned earlier was a deskside as they called it. You could get a vertical mount so it could sit beside it.

[Halcyon]

Nearly 800mm deep and it'll fit on your desk? With a keyboard in front of it? Pull the other one it.

My desk is 1000mm deep, so yes. But I don't put it on my desk, it's on the floor under the desk so it's not taking up room on the tabletop.

Also, generally if you have a tower case sitting on a desk, you would place the keyboard next to the tower, not in front of it.

[NiHaoMike]

If a tower or rack PC isn't a proper "desktop", the heaviest desktop PC probably will be a literal desktop (furniture) that happens to have PC parts in it. I've seen a few of those case mod projects, but it seems like bolting a PC to the underside of a normal desk gives almost the same result with less effort.

[rsjsouza]

20+ years ago we used to have a pretty heavy full height tower (about 20kg) with eight or ten bays in total and it was terribly noisy, a Dual Pentium II 300MHz on a large Supermicro board with several 220VAC fans and a few Seagate Cheetah 15krpm Ultra Wide SCSI 2 drives.

It was incredibly fast for the time, but the silence after power down was gold. 

[Haenk]

A ML350 would rather qualify as "deskside", as do the SGI ONYX etc. The ML350 (I have one in our server room, with stands, so not rack mounted) - you'd need a really large table, or you no space left to work on it
Then it is not really suited for office use, it's just too noisy.

[Halcyon]

Then it is not really suited for office use, it's just too noisy.

You don't notice how noisy it is, until it's turned off.

[lwatts666]

I did some software development and testing on a pair of Oracle/Sun M5000's. They are rack mount monsters, but since it was a temporary (18 month) setup before being installed on site, I decided to put them up on two heavy duty benches.

Great plan until they were delivered, and I found they weigh about 150kg each.

Final plan - leave them on their pallets, put a couple of 4-by-2's and a sheet of ply between them and make them INTO a desk.

[Haenk]

You don't notice how noisy it is, until it's turned off.

I might add that you *really* will notice how noisy it is, when you turn it *on*.
(Reboots and hardware failures will work too.)

It is just loud, like a jet engine.

[Wuerstchenhund]

Sure, so how does something like a HP ML350 not qualify? Looks like a desktop PC to me.

/quote]

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Nearly 800mm deep and it'll fit on your desk? With a keyboard in front of it? Pull the other one it. I've had difficulty getting these to fit into racks because they're so deep - deeper in fact than most standard 600 x 800 data centre racks will take - you have to go up to a 600 x 1000 or 800 x 1000 rack to get them in there.

A more realistic picture with the front door open, showing 24 3¹/₂" drive bays:

These are different computers. The upper image shows a ProLiant ML350 Gen5 or Gen6 (same chassis), the bottom image shows a ProLiant ML350 Gen9.

The Gen5/6 can only take 6 LFF (3.5") or 8 SFF (2.5") drives (plus a number of 5.25"HH slots).