Apple coolness...has it peaked?

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Comments

  • Reply 21 of 37
    satchmosatchmo Posts: 2,699member
    Could it also be that we've all grown up a bit and realized there is more to life than watching Apple's every move?It's still the most compelling and innovative computer maker today and help us if it should ever fall into the hands of others.



    I'm still excited to hear Steve's keynote addresses and Apple's new offerings. Not so interested in MHz and pipelines etc.. There's a reality that most new speed increases in Macs translate to a matter of few seconds in real life.

    And I'm not in that much of a hurry anymore. Perhaps I'm just getting old!

    I just get more joy in how technology like the iPod affects me on a day to day basis.
  • Reply 22 of 37
    jante99jante99 Posts: 539member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Defiant









    These are probably the best looking computers of all time.
  • Reply 23 of 37
    bartobarto Posts: 2,246member
    KEY LIME! KEY LIME!



    Barto
  • Reply 24 of 37
    aquaticaquatic Posts: 5,602member
    YES KEY LIME. And blueberry and tangerine and graphite. How sweet would a RUBY iBook have been? The cuve and all the iMacs are just plain art especially the SAGE iMac, and the 12" PB is also quite the looker.



    I too miss colors but I would say the new machines aren't worse, just different. You can't say they're cute anymore tho. There's just something cute about my Color Classic, the colorful iMacs and iBooks. And maaybe the 12" PB.
  • Reply 25 of 37
    jeffyboyjeffyboy Posts: 1,055member
    I've been having the same sort of ho-hum feelings other have described lately.



    I suspect it crosses over to all computers in general. The 'net exploded in the late 90's, file sharing in the early 00's...



    What's the next "big thing?"



    There was a time I thought it would be digital video and DVD authoring, but I'm beggining to doubt.



    Jeff
  • Reply 26 of 37
    Hmmm. I think the 970 will allow much of this excitement to return. Perhaps not in the way we expect.



    With extra cycles in a 970, I think the real excitement will come from Panther. Now that Jag' has given Apple a real solid base to work from, we may see new functionality and loads more candy. I love candy!!! Stuff that should really end comparisons between Apple and M$'s XP.



    Hardware wise, I'd mirror Amorph's (the 'Eric Clapton' of posters...) I do miss the colours. I miss the gems. I think Apple missed the boat when they didn't colour gem the Cube to give it more of a lift at its debut. A strawberry or ruby or saphire cube? Drool. (I'd contend that a 970 Cube would be the coolest workstation ever...)



    I would love to see the new iMac in colours. But alas, I think Apple's on there white consumer, grey professional tac right now. But what I'd give for some Aqua G5 towers or ibooks or iMacs.



    The colours really bought Apple some exposure.



    Are Apple losing their cool. No. Panther will give us cool in the way Jag' doesn't. I hope/think that Panther will give us the true spiritual successor to 9/classic. Sounds, gimmicks, useability, a much faster finder, enhanced and flexible dock etc. This is where the cool will come from.



    Personally, I don't think you can get much cooler than the current iMac. I lamment Apple's cpu problems but alas, that isn't the iMac or Apple's fault. The iMac 2 is about as cool as a computer will get. (However, howabout a 2 gig G3 + Simd unit Rio iMac2? Hmmmm. Now that would be cool with 19inch monitor...drool...and a Geforce 5200....)



    You see, when 'good' becomes 'average' (because Apple releases 'good' all the time you see...) then they have headier heights to reach, more jaded 'insiders to impress. That's why Apple have de-graded Mac shows, not as many, change of focus, less hype.



    And when they hit you with a sleek 970 tower, we'll be pole-axed by just how 'cool' it is.



    With out a colour in sight.



    Lemon Bon Bon
  • Reply 27 of 37
    eugeneeugene Posts: 8,254member
    /me clutches his Apple logo jammies and eWorld set-up diskette...



    NEVER.
  • Reply 28 of 37
    amorphamorph Posts: 7,112member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Lemon Bon Bon

    Amorph's (the 'Eric Clapton' of posters...)



    Dear Lord, what am I doing wrong?!



    (I can't stand Clapton, sorry. )
  • Reply 29 of 37
    Quote:

    (I can't stand Clapton, sorry. )



    Neither can I.



    But before you take it personally, Clapton has been noted for getting 'all his playing into one song'.



    Ergo: Amorph makes his case well, to the point and well reasoned and with a gilt edged succinctness.



    However, that doesn't mean that Amorph's always right no matter pervasive his 'right sounding' logic seems.



    You either had to be a programmer or a lawyer.



    I guess you're a programmer?



    Lemon Bon Bon (Somewhat playfully...)



    Oh yes, where are we? 'Cool'. Hmmm. I feel we have yet to see Apple's 'coolest' wares. Never underestimate them. Merely the calm before another revolution. But I'll maintain the coolest things to come this year, despite of the 970, will come from software...you'll see...
  • Reply 30 of 37
    amorphamorph Posts: 7,112member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Lemon Bon Bon



    However, that doesn't mean that Amorph's always right no matter pervasive his 'right sounding' logic seems.





    What?! How can you say that! I mean, you're talking to the guy who said Apple would never release the Cube!



    Quote:

    You either had to be a programmer or a lawyer.



    I guess you're a programmer?




    Yes.



    Quote:

    Oh yes, where are we? 'Cool'. Hmmm. I feel we have yet to see Apple's 'coolest' wares. Never underestimate them. Merely the calm before another revolution. But I'll maintain the coolest things to come this year, despite of the 970, will come from software...you'll see...



    Oh, I think they've done some exquisitely cool things over the past few years. But I agree that they're far from finished. By this time next year the landscape should be... different. Different enough that even the normally reserved MrNSX (an ATi engineer and sometime contributor to these boards) made a fairly wild post at Ars about how radically everything was going to change.
  • Reply 31 of 37
    mac voyermac voyer Posts: 1,294member
    I think LBB almost hit upon a great truth. I believe that part of the excitement I the Mac community was generated by the platform wars. G4 vs P4. OS X vs Win XP. iMac vs Profile. There was not just a sense of competition, but a sense that Apple might win. The Mac faithful were led to believe that their hardware was inherently better than PC hardware. It made some feel good about themselves to be a part of an elite few who knew something that the rest of the world didn't. Part of the problem is that the platform wars are over. Intel won. The PC is the winner and still champion. There will be no miracle come back for the underdog. In spite of the dramatic Switch campaign, there will be no great spike in market share.



    Against this backdrop of realizations, Apple has done quite a lot to dampen enthusiasm quite unintentionally. They have made several missteps that have shaken the faith of some. The eMac was released badly and much too late. On top of that, it had a fatal technical flaw. The iMac II was introduced well but was not brought to market in time. It beat all competition in style but not in substance. The Profile could outperform the powerful PM, not just the iMac. The PM line was left to languish for too long. The MHz problem was devastating. By the time the Mac hit 1 GHz, no body cared. In fact, it was a reminder of the pathetic state of the once proud Mac processor.



    Apple has shown itself to be a company just like any other company, just looking out for itself and its bottom line. More people started to question Apple policies. OS X was exciting, but it was released in a poor condition. In spite of its potential, developers did not quickly get behind it. To this day things such as printer and scanners do not always function with all their features. Excitement is tempered by caution and disappointment. The Ti was exciting but was fraught with little disappointments. OS X was exciting, but the price and DOT.Mac were disappointing. Apple seemed to go on a campaign to piss off as many of its loyal customers as possible.



    Now, even though Apple still produces nice products, the Mac faithful is more cautious. Instead of immediate excitement, they wait to see wants wrong with it. They do not want to look foolish by expressing too much initial excitement in a dud. We are somewhat disillusioned by our knight in shining armor because we see he is just as prone to rape pillage and plunder as any of the enemy soldiers. We still have excitement but it is tempered by experience. We have finally come to realize that no matter how cool the Mac is, we are still going to have trouble finding scanners that run in our beloved OS natively. We will forever be second class citizens when it comes to third party software and peripherals. The war is over and we lost. Cool can only take you so far.
  • Reply 32 of 37
    pscatespscates Posts: 5,847member
    After much thinking and all, I've actually hit upon the end-all/be-all solution: Apple needs to combine the best of both: superior design, screen size, I/O, etc. of the present LCD iMac and marry it with what made the old-school iMac so attractive and attention-getting.



    Yes, that's right: revive the colors. ALL of them.







    Bondi, blueberry, strawberry, lime, tangerine, grape, graphite, indigo, ruby, sage, snow, blue dalmation, flower power and key lime.



    Build the machines as they are, just redesign them a bit to accept colorized, snap-on "color kits" in the above colors. Apple can sell them online, through their retail stores and in mail order catalogs. People could buy several, depending on their mood, season, decor (the way we frequently change desktop patterns and all). Third party companies can come up with cool NEW colors and patterns too: chrome, gold, black, neon, pastels, flames, leopard spots, tiger stripes, etc.).



    I've seen the future...and it is good.







    The drive door, the Apple logo (both of them), the base of the iMac, the halo around the screen and perhaps a "swoosh" somewhere on the dome?



    I demand it NOW.



  • Reply 33 of 37
    bananabanana Posts: 61member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Mac Voyer



    ...Cool can only take you so far.




    I'd just like to add my .02 euro to this post. Mac Voyer has put at least one finger on the issues I have with Apple. Only the most myopic would deny Apple's central in the development of the PC, but the near theological attachments people have to a hardware & software manufacturer cannot persist.



    I work in advertising; Macs obviously and reasonably rule there. But I can't for the life of me shake the feeling that many of my colleagues would rather see their machines as pinups rather than moneymakers. The (what I call "vanity case") mac portables looked like just as I described them. I will switch when I find myself at a loss. Most all the Macs I've worked on have proved otherwise.
  • Reply 34 of 37
    mrmistermrmister Posts: 1,095member
    "We are somewhat disillusioned by our knight in shining armor because we see he is just as prone to rape pillage and plunder as any of the enemy soldiers."



    Whargh.
  • Reply 35 of 37
    aphelionaphelion Posts: 736member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by pscates

    Yes, that's right: revive the colors. ALL of them... I demand it NOW.



    Forget about "snap-on" panels, Apple has already applied for a patent on "mood lights" to reflect the work of the processor or the preferences of the user.



    The fact that the dome of the iMac is translucent white makes it the perfect screen to project the colors.



    If you want it now just mod your base with a color source.

    ...
  • Reply 36 of 37
    pscatespscates Posts: 5,847member
    That takes some sort of knowledge and skill...both of which I'm sorely lacking and in short supply
  • Reply 37 of 37
    bradbowerbradbower Posts: 1,068member
    I feel the same way, and I think a lot of people do. But I don't think it has much to do with what colors Apple is making their computers. I think it is a lot of little things. Like, AppleInsider making it big.. flocks of boring dummies inundating the good forums out there.. learning to live without AI for a couple of years there.. so many "mac rumor sites" getting all commercialized.. mac news on the web becoming far oversaturated with too many players..



    Apple products gradually gaining popularity (as opposed to the earlier jump into mainstream culture with the iMac and the like), no more gimmicky advertising or whizzbang features. Now it's all more mature in so many ways, more refined, more intelligent. It's interesting and all, and some days I do get sorta excited, but it's not like I go through my day constantly thinking about it, rushing to get home, glued to my computer refreshing all of the Mac sites all night long. Plus, now, some of the most exciting events for me are getting the shaft, like the MacWorlds. Truly sad.
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