Apple's laptops...cheap looking
I recently had the chance to finally see the 17" PB in person. While it's an amazing engineering feat cramming all these features into such a slim enclosure, I couldn't help but be unimpressed by the "look". It's a premium priced laptop, but somehow the keyboard and palm rests with it's super smooth shine look rather cheap and tacky. It looks like cheap spray paint was used.
I don't like the two tone effect with black keys and titanium casing in the 15" PB, but this keyboard looks worse. But at least the TI has a bit of texture on the palm rests.
Right next to the PB, was the new opaque white iBooks which IMHO, looks like crap. I suspect Apple's trying to differentiate between their two product line, but this plastic white palm rest is going overboard. The previous iBook (with the silver rests) was much classier, yet it still said "consumer". This new one says, "toy".
Hopefully when the new 15" arrives (along with possibly a new 17"), a new slightly textured matte finish will also appear. But I doubt it.
I don't like the two tone effect with black keys and titanium casing in the 15" PB, but this keyboard looks worse. But at least the TI has a bit of texture on the palm rests.
Right next to the PB, was the new opaque white iBooks which IMHO, looks like crap. I suspect Apple's trying to differentiate between their two product line, but this plastic white palm rest is going overboard. The previous iBook (with the silver rests) was much classier, yet it still said "consumer". This new one says, "toy".
Hopefully when the new 15" arrives (along with possibly a new 17"), a new slightly textured matte finish will also appear. But I doubt it.
Comments
Originally posted by satchmo
I recently had the chance to finally see the 17" PB in person. While it's an amazing engineering feat cramming all these features into such a slim enclosure, I couldn't help but be unimpressed by the "look". It's a premium priced laptop, but somehow the keyboard and palm rests with it's super smooth shine look rather cheap and tacky. It looks like cheap spray paint was used.
I don't like the two tone effect with black keys and titanium casing in the 15" PB, but this keyboard looks worse. But at least the TI has a bit of texture on the palm rests.
Right next to the PB, was the new opaque white iBooks which IMHO, looks like crap. I suspect Apple's trying to differentiate between their two product line, but this plastic white palm rest is going overboard. The previous iBook (with the silver rests) was much classier, yet it still said "consumer". This new one says, "toy".
Hopefully when the new 15" arrives (along with possibly a new 17"), a new slightly textured matte finish will also appear. But I doubt it.
Hmm that doesnt sound like my 17" PB. It does not have a smooth shine, its actually sleek looking aluminum, not shiny. Infact, the new 17 and 12 look way more "expensive" than the old painted 15 tibook. Dont know what you are talking about.
Just wish it didn't look that shiny...and more understated.
Originally posted by satchmo
If you compare a 17" to a 15", the 17" is decidedly shinier and less textured. The 15" has a matte finish (especially on the palm rests).
Just wish it didn't look that shiny...and more understated.
-Looking closely at 15" in front of me-
The texture is uniform. there is nothing special on the "palm rests." maybe you just saw dirt.
Oh yeah. . . this is the 3rd Ti I've had. I have never noticed anything special in the "palmrest" area.
Haha my old roommate's Compaq laptop was the dumbest design I ever saw, I swear they must outsource their R&D to a zoo of monkeys. It had no trackpad, just an indentation, and the only pointing device was that stupid little red eraser thing in the keyboard that IBM ThinkPads have. The speakers were where the palmrests are so his hands would cover the speakers and the music would randomly blare. The mouse buttones were thin slices, only a a quarter of an inch tall but as wide as my trackpad button. The keyboard layout was impossible. And it broke in two months. It was loud, heavy, large....PC laptops suck.
Best looking 'Books I would say are the original iceBooks, the 12" PB, the Pismo, Duo 2300, the 2400, and the original iBooks, especially graphite and blueberry, and I have a thing for key lime.
Please don?t blast me by telling me how you run MAYA and decode human DNA while playing Doom III because your special super secret Mac is not sitting on my desk meeting a deadline. I love my Apple for home use just not going to use at work until they do something about their performance.
i just love it
i think that it is the best looking machine. it has an authintic look. it is an honest look. it is not painted it is wat it is. the screen is huge but the machine is small. the dvd r is a surprise.
the trak pad could be lower and the release switch could be easier to press. if the 17 PB is unatractive i do not see it, then again love is blind.
on the other hand i think the iBooks look like toys that were made by matel.
8)
Originally posted by satchmo
I recently had the chance to finally see the 17" PB in person. While it's an amazing engineering feat cramming all these features into such a slim enclosure, I couldn't help but be unimpressed by the "look". It's a premium priced laptop, but somehow the keyboard and palm rests with it's super smooth shine look rather cheap and tacky. It looks like cheap spray paint was used.
I don't like the two tone effect with black keys and titanium casing in the 15" PB, but this keyboard looks worse. But at least the TI has a bit of texture on the palm rests.
Right next to the PB, was the new opaque white iBooks which IMHO, looks like crap. I suspect Apple's trying to differentiate between their two product line, but this plastic white palm rest is going overboard. The previous iBook (with the silver rests) was much classier, yet it still said "consumer". This new one says, "toy".
Hopefully when the new 15" arrives (along with possibly a new 17"), a new slightly textured matte finish will also appear. But I doubt it.
Do you want to take this outside ...?
But seriously i must admit i was surprised by the keyboard on my 12" pb. At first i was amazed at how chunky and almost childlike it looked. soon got over that though and now i cant type properly on a pc.... i think my fingers may have swelled to accomodate the pb.
Originally posted by mrmister
It's good to know your opinion.
Hey that's all it is. Don't mean to get everyone up in a tizzy and I know how attached we get to our macs.
But we must agree that the 17" is shinier than the 15"?
And this simple fact (to me and perhaps only me), makes it look less classy.
But no one seems to dispute the look of the new iBooks.
*shrug*
Originally posted by satchmo
Hey that's all it is. Don't mean to get everyone up in a tizzy and I know how attached we get to our macs.
But we must agree that the 17" is shinier than the 15"?
And this simple fact (to me and perhaps only me), makes it look less classy.
'less classy' doesn't sound as bad as 'cheap' and 'tacky'. I know this is all subjective. But in good design there are always objective reasons behind teh seemingly subjective. I'm sure if we got the chance to talk to an Apple design engineer, he wold tell us exactly why they did what they did, not just because it looked 'cool' or 'modern'. There is always a psychological and functional reason behind every element and detail of real design, and not just what is aesthetically pleasing.
I seem to remember a quote from Steve Jobs that goes something like this:
"Most people think design is about how it looks, but if you look a little deeper, it's about how it works".
As far as performance... the 17" just screams in Photoshop.
So how did the Apple stack up against the IBM?s? Choked and choked hard! These machines were no slouch 1ghz CPU, 1gig RAM and a 60gig 5400 HD. I personally use a Powerbook at home but I don?t run it into the ground, some light gaming, Perl, PHP and Java scripting. I had no idea that these machines really had a performance issue, they must too because our 1.3 Pentium III IBM?s ran circles around the Powerbooks. No these machine don?t run Windows, Windows only exists on servers through Citrix, we ran Redhat 8.0 on them. Needless to say I lost the battle, the Mac?s were given to our Management and we received new IBM T40?s, nice machines but no OSX.
I won't argue with you (though I don't think you're telling the whole truth), but what i want to know is how you got all those Apps running in Redhat? Running all that stuff through Citrix would not be fast at all. In fact, I'm tempted to flag you as a troll on the spot.
Anyway, the PB G4 would almost certainly outpace the 1.3Ghz PC's. In general, mine outpaces faster PC's than that, especially when a lot of apps are running.
Originally posted by RANSOMED
'less classy' doesn't sound as bad as 'cheap' and 'tacky'. I know this is all subjective. But in good design there are always objective reasons behind teh seemingly subjective. I'm sure if we got the chance to talk to an Apple design engineer, he wold tell us exactly why they did what they did, not just because it looked 'cool' or 'modern'. There is always a psychological and functional reason behind every element and detail of real design, and not just what is aesthetically pleasing.
You're right. I stand corrected. Let me rephrase it...the Powerbooks look less classy...but the iBooks look cheap (sorry but they do).
My guess is that it's neither a functional reason for the changes but more a cost savings reason.
And yes, design/tastes are so subjective... one man's cheap is another man's cool.
Originally posted by RANSOMED
There is always a psychological and functional reason behind every element and detail of real design, and not just what is aesthetically pleasing.
...which is why the power button on the iMac is so conveniently located halfway around the base.
I agree that the new PowerBooks look less classy than the Ti. I'm sorry, but the aluminum case looks more Sony than Apple. The new iBooks are definitely a step backward as well. I don't mind the opaque plastics, but I agree with satchmo that swapping the metallic palm rests for the white plastic makes them look more like toys. I can't imagine how hard Apple must be squeezing costs out of the line to have made that change.
think it makes it look a lot more elegant.
dont really like the new keys on the alu pb's
the pb will hold its own against a pc upto a point
im running apache & oracle on mine (ti800)
if you work purely cmd line (vi etc etc) & some app
then it will be quick.
after a point it will get thrashed by a pc
this is purely due to the wm aka quartz not being completely
optimized & it also has to work a lot harder than
a bitmapped based gui.
Originally posted by madmax559
i still prefer a black keyboard as on the ti powerbooks
think it makes it look a lot more elegant.
dont really like the new keys on the alu pb's
the pb will hold its own against a pc upto a point
im running apache & oracle on mine (ti800)
if you work purely cmd line (vi etc etc) & some app
then it will be quick.
after a point it will get thrashed by a pc
this is purely due to the wm aka quartz not being completely
optimized & it also has to work a lot harder than
a bitmapped based gui.
I like the black as well. I bought a black keyed keyboard (Apple USB keyboard) that I made Dvorak. Looks slick on the desk.
About bitmap graphics: as it seems, the next Windows will be vector based. Heh. I guess it's MS's plan to write some API's that behave like QX and then force them down the throats of card manufacturers.
But seriously i must admit i was surprised by the keyboard on my 12" pb. At first i was amazed at how chunky and almost childlike it looked. soon got over that though and now i cant type properly on a pc.... i think my fingers may have swelled to accomodate the pb.
Hahaha I know what you mean. I hurt my hands on a Apple Pro Keyboard no less. Even with that thing on the bottom flipped back. The PowerBook 12" has to be the best Mac ever made, on the outside at least. I am scared I will have to buy the next rev or two down the road. The 12" rev b or c perhaps. They can make it smaller! Make the bezel around the screen thinner, get rid of the little border on the sides of the keyboard, and cut a little bit off the edges of the edge keys, and squeeze the latch hole close to the trackpad buttone, and squeeze the trackpad closer to the keyboard, and make the whole PB skinnier. How cool woudl that be, if it lost half an inch of width and height and thickness, and a pound! 1ghz with 440 or 4400 Go hopefully, or Radeon Mobile 9600, if Apple comes back to its senses for laptops graphics and gets ATi again. And of course lighted keys. And making the power button like the one on the Cube would be cool. And FireWire 800, USB 2, DVI out, and Gigabit Ethernet. mmm
and the keyboard is better than my logitech keyboard that i just bought, or any keyboard i have ever used for that matter
(except for the miniaturized inverted T arrows)