I thought tacky was an angry teenager with a horribly disfigured bubbling PowerBook, typing away furiously with titanium paint chips flying left and right, calling one of the most elegant computers ever designed "tacky" out of spite.
But then again, I'm horrible with english and almost never check a dictionary.
**insert totally loud hearty laugh with a Canadian accent**
The people who were hung up on color were male geeks who considered them a direct challenge to their role as tech gatekeepers.
Excellent post!
I can't tell you the number of women who have asked me personally and professionally over the last few years "when are they coming out with a pink iBook"?
But what do I know, I actually liked Blue Dalmatian.
Well, Amorph, I disagree. This is not about chauvinism. You say all products have color choices. Fine. You mention washing machines and household appliances. Huh? Last I checked, a green washer/dryer works the exact same way as a blue one or a yellow one. When all else is equal, color is a great option. The Gameboy Advanced is a great example of this. I bought one as a Christmas present for someone. The salesman asked me what color I wanted. I did not even know they came in different colors. Secure in the knowledge of the item I was purchasing, I was free to select a color.
You do not buy a car because it is red. You buy it because that is the type of car/truck/mini-van/SUV you want/need. After you have found the right kind of vehicle, you then settle on the right color. If car companies did what Apple was doing with the gumdrop iMac, then the LX would be blue and the EX would be green and the LE would be yellow and people would be walking into dealerships saying "I want the blue one." They would do that instead of considering the price and options of the vehicle to be certain that they are choosing the right one. Frankly, your argument seems a little ridiculous. If certain colors are limited to certain models, color is certainly not the deciding factor for the informed buyer. In the case of the gumdrop iMac, color was the deciding factor. They never even knew that there was a difference in the computers beyond color. The thought they were getting a personalization option when they were actually getting a configuration option. I am all for true personalization options. I am not for dummying down the marketing so much, that people believe that the color options on your computer is the same as the color option for their toaster. Computers are not appliances or cars. Get a clue. Selling them as if they were is exploitative to the technically naive.
Well, Amorph, I disagree. This is not about chauvinism.
Not exclusively. But chauvinism is rampant. Not just male chauvinism, either: Any belief that some people are better than others is chauvinistic. The whole idea that the mass of people are too ignorant or too stupid to buy a computer is chauvinistic. Until J. Random Person can go to a computer store and walk home with just the thing they want - whatever that is - the industry is broken.
Quote:
If car companies did what Apple was doing with the gumdrop iMac, then the LX would be blue and the EX would be green and the LE would be yellow and people would be walking into dealerships saying "I want the blue one."
Have you ever bought a new car?! There are, in fact, different finishes for different models within the same line. The same is true with musical instruments and anything else that can be segregated into models (I don't believe there's a "special edition" Gameboy Advance, is there? A GA is a GA is a GA, so that example is irrelevant).
And if you think people don't buy things because they like the color, you haven't spent a lot of time shopping with people. The line of reasoning you're prone to is far narrower than most, and it leaves out variables that lots of people consider. All you have to do is look at the tremendous amount of work and research done to make colors and textures look good and feel high-quality: This is big business. This is the mainstream that computers have resisted joining. And that resistance correlates precisely to the fear and dislike and distrust that so many people have for computers.
It's very common practice for a similar model/chassis with better internals to get a more "sophisticated" finish: scanners, stereos, washing machines, refrigerators, etc. This was common practice well before the Graphite iMac showed up. Metal is usually deemed the more "elegant" material, and fiberglass/polycarb is usually the base model.
There's nothing wrong with that. If I'm paying more, I'd like to have some of that money go towards a better finish. There's no sin in finding value in that.
People think beauty is surface, that design is icing on a turd.
there was nothing at all tacky about graphite, sage, ruby and indigo....nothing.
tacky is an ugly off white dome with a metal rod sticking out of it with an attached LCD
So, a computer that screams for attention with vibrant colors is not tacky, but a computer with subdued colors and an elegantly functional design is tacky. That is, uh, well, that's.... an interesting opinion.
Actually there was, it featured a slightly bigger screen and better speakers if I'm not mistaken.
Theres the gameboy advance SP (fliptop backlight LCD screen, rechargeable battery) and a Gameboy Advance (no backlight LCd, runs on 4 AA batteries) The cheaper ones use plastic, the newer ones are coated or something.
Different colors for higher end merchandise is a rule of thumb, why do you think they only make red car the higher end models (well mostly anyway) Its just how things are. i just wish there was a commercial showing... (not some dude talking about it) a guy/girl using iphoto, idvd, making a dvd, and photoalbum and handing it to their relatives as presents, they ask wow how did you do this... they say, "oh.. on my iMac"
I thought tacky was an angry teenager with a horribly disfigured bubbling PowerBook, typing away furiously with titanium paint chips flying left and right, calling one of the most elegant computers ever designed "tacky" out of spite.
But then again, I'm horrible with english and almost never check a dictionary.
**insert totally loud hearty laugh with a Canadian accent**
I agree, my favourite colours. I always got a graphite iMac cos it was the highest spec. I bought my Dad an indigo one for Christmas - he still has it and I still think its the best looking desktop Mac.
I'm currently the kinda proud owner of a 17" iMac. For ages I wanted the iMac to go G4, have a superdrive and a widescreen display. All of this I got, and in technical terms it is the best Apple I've ever owned. I rate it thus, for the simple reason of a rank amateur, that its the only Mac that I've NEVER (touch wood) had the need to do a clean install on. The thing just works, keeps working and I use it for everything. I love the fact that I can adjust the display so much - something that was never really a selling point when I bought the system. I will have to be strongly convinced to get rid of it ...
... but I do want to get rid of it. Why? Because from the day it came out I disliked the way the new iMac looked - I think it looks like a dumpling with a cocktail stick sticking out of it. I'd be more than happy to return to the colours of the old iMac, even a similar, thinner, LCD form factor - frankly - because, as so many of you have said, it looked like a cool, trendy piece of kit - not something that a geek would umm and ahh over, but everyone. I'm also a big fan of the 12" Powerbook - the best looking portable, in my opinion. I particulalry love the metal keyboard. However, I don't know how Apple can carry that over to the iMac and still make it trendy - warm, like the gumdrop - as opposed to cold and austere.
Its a big challenge, made greater by Sony's increasing competence with design. I know some good and bad things have been said about their AIO W1, but I saw one the other day In Waitrose, along with their new displays and it all looks pretty good. I'm not saying Apple can't beat it (and the current iMac display beats it hands down on manouverability, obviously) but at least it doesn't look like a desk lamp or comedy dumpling.
I hope I'm impressed in January, if/when the new iMac is unveiled. I want to love it like the old one.
I feel the same way, mpw. It didn't bother me one single bit to sell my iMac G4. I had NO sort of attachment or sentimental, "gonna miss ya!" feelings toward it whatsoever. Could've just been me, but I've heard many people say this, so your comments struck me.
I dug my G4 iMac and loved the whole "screen on an arm" thing, but it was just a hunk of plastic to me, where my tangerine iMac DV was - hands down - the coolest computer I ever owned! Something about it, I guess. Partly sentimental (my first "good", modern Mac?), the color (ha!), the chick-magnet coolness and "wow" factor it had, etc.
(...and I get it back next week) Gonna Pantherize it and put it to work as a living room-based iTunes jukebox and visitor/guest surfing station!
The new iMac is superior to the old one in every design sense. It looks better; it works better. I don't prefer any gumdrops to the luxo-lamp. I guess I'm just too cool.
People saying it looks ridiculous are being a bunch of silly bandwagon jumpers. It looks damn good. Its price doesn't, nor its expansion, but it's a beautiful design that speaks to anyone with aesthetic sense. Maybe that's why it's so wrong, then, most people don't have any aesthetic sense. Better to sell them kitschy gumdrops, which, while not ugly, were far less challenging to the average person's limited design vocabulary.
My favorite gumdrops were "Snow" "Tangerine" and "Graphite" -- not sure about the order of tangerine and graphite in that mix, it would all depend on my mood. Some, were just plain ugly -- hello "Lime" -- and others didn't really stand out either way, the subdued Sage for example, not offensive, but not particularly interesting either.
Now if you wanna talk color, lets talk color. Polished magnesium would look amazing, but perhaps not as the backing for the display. That lovely automotive orange, slighly burnt and metallic, would look wonderful both on the base and the screen backing -- it also contrasts nicely with steel surfaces, like the arm.
Some candy colors like those seen on high end espresso machines would also work nicely: a deep red or blue, but not metallic, the same for a black.
The current iMac recalls some truly great shapes, not just lamps, but stand mixers, tanker desks, and jukeboxes to name but a few.
What the fvck is wrong with you people when I'm here defending the iMac?
my tangerine iMac DV was - hands down - the coolest computer I ever owned! Something about it, I guess. Partly sentimental (my first "good", modern Mac?), the color (ha!) (...and I get it back next week) Gonna Pantherize it and put it to work as a living room-based iTunes jukebox and visitor/guest surfing station!
I just replaced my tangerine iMac DV with a used PowerMac and I'll be passing the iMac on to my mother-in-law at Christmas (her first computer). I'm going to miss it. Something about the things just makes you grow attached to them.
I had a G4 iMac on my desk at work for a year and loved the machine. But when I upgraded to a new 1.25 GHz PowerMac a few months back, the sentimental attachment just wasn't there.
And yes, color was a huge factor in buying the first iMac and liking it as much as I did. I even bought one of those mini-me tangerine iMac clocks to sit next to it on my desk, although that's probably more than anyone here wanted to know.
The new iMac is superior to the old one in every design sense. It looks better; it works better. I don't prefer any gumdrops to the luxo-lamp. I guess I'm just too cool.
People saying it looks ridiculous are being a bunch of silly bandwagon jumpers. It looks damn good. Its price doesn't, nor its expansion, but it's a beautiful design that speaks to anyone with aesthetic sense. Maybe that's why it's so wrong, then, most people don't have any aesthetic sense. Better to sell them kitschy gumdrops, which, while not ugly, were far less challenging to the average person's limited design vocabulary.
Amen!
A design something as radical as the iMac naturally leads to a discussion of aesthetics. And because aesthetics are so subjective, you'll get those who love it and those who hate it.
I must admit that I was completely floored by the design of the current iMac when it was unveiled at MacWorld. But I didn't fall in love with the design right away. Only after studying and seeing it in person that I understood it's brillant design.
What many don't realize is that it's often more difficult to design something simple than something complex. With simplicity, you have to be perfect.
i love my floating screen iMac (and still love the iMac DV blueberry in the kids room--though sage and ruby are my favs for colors...simple and lovely)...part of the reason people may dismiss the iMac FP is because you almost never see the base...i have mine positioned so that the screen is all you see when you work at it...the bubble macs took more space and had more "personality", the new iMac FP is more functional, but also more hidden...but i like that...half the PC people who see my iMac FP still think it is just a screen and that the rest of the computer is under the desk or something...gotta love those PC people...stupid little fools that they are
g
ps...1799 for the dual G5 might be the edu price after jan...
pss...if the iMac gets a G5 in jan i will get a new toy...if not, i might have to check out a tower for the first time in my life....or i could just wait...
My Mom came to visit me a couple of years ago when I was in SoCal and she saw my iMac and the FIRST thing out of her mouth: "where is it?"
She thought the dome was just something for the LCD to attach to.
She was looking under my desk for a tower.
She promptly freaked out when I explained to her - by popping open the SuperDrive tray and spinning the dome around to show the ports in the back - that what she saw WAS "it".
"How do they fit all that in there? The hard drive is in that? The guts? The whole thing? I don't get it..."
"It's Apple, Mom. They do this crap in their sleep."
Comments
But then again, I'm horrible with english and almost never check a dictionary.
**insert totally loud hearty laugh with a Canadian accent**
Originally posted by Amorph
The people who were hung up on color were male geeks who considered them a direct challenge to their role as tech gatekeepers.
Excellent post!
I can't tell you the number of women who have asked me personally and professionally over the last few years "when are they coming out with a pink iBook"?
But what do I know, I actually liked Blue Dalmatian.
You do not buy a car because it is red. You buy it because that is the type of car/truck/mini-van/SUV you want/need. After you have found the right kind of vehicle, you then settle on the right color. If car companies did what Apple was doing with the gumdrop iMac, then the LX would be blue and the EX would be green and the LE would be yellow and people would be walking into dealerships saying "I want the blue one." They would do that instead of considering the price and options of the vehicle to be certain that they are choosing the right one. Frankly, your argument seems a little ridiculous. If certain colors are limited to certain models, color is certainly not the deciding factor for the informed buyer. In the case of the gumdrop iMac, color was the deciding factor. They never even knew that there was a difference in the computers beyond color. The thought they were getting a personalization option when they were actually getting a configuration option. I am all for true personalization options. I am not for dummying down the marketing so much, that people believe that the color options on your computer is the same as the color option for their toaster. Computers are not appliances or cars. Get a clue. Selling them as if they were is exploitative to the technically naive.
Originally posted by Mac Voyer
You do not buy a car because it is red.
You haven't spent much time around car dealerships if you believe that.
Originally posted by Mac Voyer
Well, Amorph, I disagree. This is not about chauvinism.
Not exclusively. But chauvinism is rampant. Not just male chauvinism, either: Any belief that some people are better than others is chauvinistic. The whole idea that the mass of people are too ignorant or too stupid to buy a computer is chauvinistic. Until J. Random Person can go to a computer store and walk home with just the thing they want - whatever that is - the industry is broken.
If car companies did what Apple was doing with the gumdrop iMac, then the LX would be blue and the EX would be green and the LE would be yellow and people would be walking into dealerships saying "I want the blue one."
Have you ever bought a new car?! There are, in fact, different finishes for different models within the same line. The same is true with musical instruments and anything else that can be segregated into models (I don't believe there's a "special edition" Gameboy Advance, is there? A GA is a GA is a GA, so that example is irrelevant).
And if you think people don't buy things because they like the color, you haven't spent a lot of time shopping with people. The line of reasoning you're prone to is far narrower than most, and it leaves out variables that lots of people consider. All you have to do is look at the tremendous amount of work and research done to make colors and textures look good and feel high-quality: This is big business. This is the mainstream that computers have resisted joining. And that resistance correlates precisely to the fear and dislike and distrust that so many people have for computers.
There's nothing wrong with that. If I'm paying more, I'd like to have some of that money go towards a better finish. There's no sin in finding value in that.
People think beauty is surface, that design is icing on a turd.
Originally posted by applenut
there was nothing at all tacky about graphite, sage, ruby and indigo....nothing.
tacky is an ugly off white dome with a metal rod sticking out of it with an attached LCD
So, a computer that screams for attention with vibrant colors is not tacky, but a computer with subdued colors and an elegantly functional design is tacky. That is, uh, well, that's.... an interesting opinion.
Originally posted by Ahorse
(I don't believe there's a "special edition" Gameboy Advance, is there? A GA is a GA is a GA, so that example is irrelevant).
Actually there was, it featured a slightly bigger screen and better speakers if I'm not mistaken.
Originally posted by pscates
Get the hell back over to AppleOutsider where you belong!
Oh. Sorry. I couldn't tell the difference, actually.
Originally posted by Wrong Robot
Actually there was, it featured a slightly bigger screen and better speakers if I'm not mistaken.
Theres the gameboy advance SP (fliptop backlight LCD screen, rechargeable battery) and a Gameboy Advance (no backlight LCd, runs on 4 AA batteries) The cheaper ones use plastic, the newer ones are coated or something.
Different colors for higher end merchandise is a rule of thumb, why do you think they only make red car the higher end models (well mostly anyway) Its just how things are. i just wish there was a commercial showing... (not some dude talking about it) a guy/girl using iphoto, idvd, making a dvd, and photoalbum and handing it to their relatives as presents, they ask wow how did you do this... they say, "oh.. on my iMac"
I know we've all said the same thing ourselves.
Originally posted by murbot
I thought tacky was an angry teenager with a horribly disfigured bubbling PowerBook, typing away furiously with titanium paint chips flying left and right, calling one of the most elegant computers ever designed "tacky" out of spite.
But then again, I'm horrible with english and almost never check a dictionary.
**insert totally loud hearty laugh with a Canadian accent**
touché!
You're still my bitch
and the ruby, indigo, and sage iMacs
I agree, my favourite colours. I always got a graphite iMac cos it was the highest spec. I bought my Dad an indigo one for Christmas - he still has it and I still think its the best looking desktop Mac.
I'm currently the kinda proud owner of a 17" iMac. For ages I wanted the iMac to go G4, have a superdrive and a widescreen display. All of this I got, and in technical terms it is the best Apple I've ever owned. I rate it thus, for the simple reason of a rank amateur, that its the only Mac that I've NEVER (touch wood) had the need to do a clean install on. The thing just works, keeps working and I use it for everything. I love the fact that I can adjust the display so much - something that was never really a selling point when I bought the system. I will have to be strongly convinced to get rid of it ...
... but I do want to get rid of it. Why? Because from the day it came out I disliked the way the new iMac looked - I think it looks like a dumpling with a cocktail stick sticking out of it. I'd be more than happy to return to the colours of the old iMac, even a similar, thinner, LCD form factor - frankly - because, as so many of you have said, it looked like a cool, trendy piece of kit - not something that a geek would umm and ahh over, but everyone. I'm also a big fan of the 12" Powerbook - the best looking portable, in my opinion. I particulalry love the metal keyboard. However, I don't know how Apple can carry that over to the iMac and still make it trendy - warm, like the gumdrop - as opposed to cold and austere.
Its a big challenge, made greater by Sony's increasing competence with design. I know some good and bad things have been said about their AIO W1, but I saw one the other day In Waitrose, along with their new displays and it all looks pretty good. I'm not saying Apple can't beat it (and the current iMac display beats it hands down on manouverability, obviously) but at least it doesn't look like a desk lamp or comedy dumpling.
I hope I'm impressed in January, if/when the new iMac is unveiled. I want to love it like the old one.
I dug my G4 iMac and loved the whole "screen on an arm" thing, but it was just a hunk of plastic to me, where my tangerine iMac DV was - hands down - the coolest computer I ever owned! Something about it, I guess. Partly sentimental (my first "good", modern Mac?), the color (ha!), the chick-magnet coolness and "wow" factor it had, etc.
(...and I get it back next week)
People saying it looks ridiculous are being a bunch of silly bandwagon jumpers. It looks damn good. Its price doesn't, nor its expansion, but it's a beautiful design that speaks to anyone with aesthetic sense. Maybe that's why it's so wrong, then, most people don't have any aesthetic sense. Better to sell them kitschy gumdrops, which, while not ugly, were far less challenging to the average person's limited design vocabulary.
My favorite gumdrops were "Snow" "Tangerine" and "Graphite" -- not sure about the order of tangerine and graphite in that mix, it would all depend on my mood. Some, were just plain ugly -- hello "Lime" -- and others didn't really stand out either way, the subdued Sage for example, not offensive, but not particularly interesting either.
Now if you wanna talk color, lets talk color. Polished magnesium would look amazing, but perhaps not as the backing for the display. That lovely automotive orange, slighly burnt and metallic, would look wonderful both on the base and the screen backing -- it also contrasts nicely with steel surfaces, like the arm.
Some candy colors like those seen on high end espresso machines would also work nicely: a deep red or blue, but not metallic, the same for a black.
The current iMac recalls some truly great shapes, not just lamps, but stand mixers, tanker desks, and jukeboxes to name but a few.
What the fvck is wrong with you people when I'm here defending the iMac?
Originally posted by pscates
my tangerine iMac DV was - hands down - the coolest computer I ever owned! Something about it, I guess. Partly sentimental (my first "good", modern Mac?), the color (ha!) (...and I get it back next week)
I just replaced my tangerine iMac DV with a used PowerMac and I'll be passing the iMac on to my mother-in-law at Christmas (her first computer). I'm going to miss it. Something about the things just makes you grow attached to them.
I had a G4 iMac on my desk at work for a year and loved the machine. But when I upgraded to a new 1.25 GHz PowerMac a few months back, the sentimental attachment just wasn't there.
And yes, color was a huge factor in buying the first iMac and liking it as much as I did. I even bought one of those mini-me tangerine iMac clocks to sit next to it on my desk, although that's probably more than anyone here wanted to know.
Originally posted by Matsu
The new iMac is superior to the old one in every design sense. It looks better; it works better. I don't prefer any gumdrops to the luxo-lamp. I guess I'm just too cool.
People saying it looks ridiculous are being a bunch of silly bandwagon jumpers. It looks damn good. Its price doesn't, nor its expansion, but it's a beautiful design that speaks to anyone with aesthetic sense. Maybe that's why it's so wrong, then, most people don't have any aesthetic sense. Better to sell them kitschy gumdrops, which, while not ugly, were far less challenging to the average person's limited design vocabulary.
Amen!
A design something as radical as the iMac naturally leads to a discussion of aesthetics. And because aesthetics are so subjective, you'll get those who love it and those who hate it.
I must admit that I was completely floored by the design of the current iMac when it was unveiled at MacWorld. But I didn't fall in love with the design right away. Only after studying and seeing it in person that I understood it's brillant design.
What many don't realize is that it's often more difficult to design something simple than something complex. With simplicity, you have to be perfect.
g
ps...1799 for the dual G5 might be the edu price after jan...
pss...if the iMac gets a G5 in jan i will get a new toy...if not, i might have to check out a tower for the first time in my life....or i could just wait...
My Mom came to visit me a couple of years ago when I was in SoCal and she saw my iMac and the FIRST thing out of her mouth: "where is it?"
She thought the dome was just something for the LCD to attach to.
She was looking under my desk for a tower.
She promptly freaked out when I explained to her - by popping open the SuperDrive tray and spinning the dome around to show the ports in the back - that what she saw WAS "it".
"How do they fit all that in there? The hard drive is in that? The guts? The whole thing? I don't get it..."
"It's Apple, Mom. They do this crap in their sleep."
wait wait does this mean..
new displays as well?