I like rackmount equipment where racks or cabinets are possible. Much of the whole rackmount ethos seems to be to make it thin as possible and use screaming 50mm fans as little jet engines to keep things cool.
We have racks in offices and home where quiet is good too. Racks in garages where fanless is good to prevent dust ingresss.
I skip over a ton of switch choices simply because they are noisy or potentially noisy, especially POE switches. The CSS610-8P–xxxx is very helpful in this regard.
I would welcome 1u equipment built as 2u if it meant quieter operation with bigger slower fans (or more fanless design flexibility). Really my customers and my office does not crowd a rack so much that every single RU is precious.
If some conservation of space is so important 2u options could be side-by-side rackmountable like the 5009 with bracket.
anyone else a big proponent of quiet being more important than tiny?