"Milk Jug" Intel eMac - Need Mockup Gurus Please!
Hi All,
Here's my idea for a design for the rumored new education Mac. I've codenamed it the "Milk Jug".
It's actually a long post I made in another forum, so please read the whole thing and maybe someone can do a mockup from my description:
One of the best features of the original iMac as an EDU machine was the built in handle that doubled as a security mechanism. You could just loop a cable through the handle and tie the machines down far more effectively than you ever could with a Kensington lock. We secured a lab full of CRT iMacs that way with off the shelf bicycle locks.
Which got me thinking about a potential design for this new eMac. Assuming the machine will be an LCD based AIO, Apple has several design challenges:
? Make it durable, yet small(ish).
? Make it easy to move around/deploy, yet hard to steal.
? Keep the cost down.
? Give it some sense of Apple style.
That's a lot to accomplish all at the same time, as some of those goals are seemingly at odds with some of the others.
The first thing that pops to mind is just a smaller, plainer version of the current iMac: all the guts mounted behind the screen in a simple slab. But that design is really dependent on the iMac's expensive and relatively delicate hinged metal stand. The EDU version would need a more durable (and cheaper) way of keeping itself propped up.
But that's the problem with the iMac slab design, it has a crazy high center of gravity and requires a sophisticated stand to keep its footprint small. You could stick some big feet or a long kickstand on it, but that defeats the purpose of it being a thin, vertical slab. Even if you were willing to clumsily increase the footprint, you still have no robust method to secure the machine.
So here's my design proposal, affectionately dubbed "The Milk Jug". (Hopefully someone can make sense of my rambling and do a quick mockup. I'm strictly a 2D guy. )
Imagine a new 13" MacBook but with a hinge that lets the screen fold back on itself, all the way to 270°. Now imagine placing this folded back MacBook keyboard side down on a table so that the display points towards the user. This is the basic shape for the machine, a slightly angled back LCD in a 1" thick squared off housing mated to a matching 1" thick squared off base slab that holds the drives and ports. They join along a fixed leading edge looking like an upside down "7" when viewed from the side.
That's pretty simple, but now imagine a single thick round shaft (no giggling!) that joins the center of the top of the screen to the center of the back of the base slab: just like the molded handle of a plastic one gallon milk jug. You now have a hollow triangle when viewed from the side.
This integrated beefy handle would give the machine some much needed rigidity, allow it to be easily picked up and moved around, all while providing the same simple cable looping security of the original iMac. You'd have to take a hacksaw to the thing to steal it. The classic, low center of gravity wedge shape is preserved, but with a ton of "hollowed out" negative space for light weight and an eye-catching design.
Put a desktop hard drive and an internal power supply in the wide base and you have an inexpensive, luggable, bottom heavy yet slim, I-Dare-You-To-Steal-Me EDU desktop with style.
Here's my idea for a design for the rumored new education Mac. I've codenamed it the "Milk Jug".
It's actually a long post I made in another forum, so please read the whole thing and maybe someone can do a mockup from my description:
One of the best features of the original iMac as an EDU machine was the built in handle that doubled as a security mechanism. You could just loop a cable through the handle and tie the machines down far more effectively than you ever could with a Kensington lock. We secured a lab full of CRT iMacs that way with off the shelf bicycle locks.
Which got me thinking about a potential design for this new eMac. Assuming the machine will be an LCD based AIO, Apple has several design challenges:
? Make it durable, yet small(ish).
? Make it easy to move around/deploy, yet hard to steal.
? Keep the cost down.
? Give it some sense of Apple style.
That's a lot to accomplish all at the same time, as some of those goals are seemingly at odds with some of the others.
The first thing that pops to mind is just a smaller, plainer version of the current iMac: all the guts mounted behind the screen in a simple slab. But that design is really dependent on the iMac's expensive and relatively delicate hinged metal stand. The EDU version would need a more durable (and cheaper) way of keeping itself propped up.
But that's the problem with the iMac slab design, it has a crazy high center of gravity and requires a sophisticated stand to keep its footprint small. You could stick some big feet or a long kickstand on it, but that defeats the purpose of it being a thin, vertical slab. Even if you were willing to clumsily increase the footprint, you still have no robust method to secure the machine.
So here's my design proposal, affectionately dubbed "The Milk Jug". (Hopefully someone can make sense of my rambling and do a quick mockup. I'm strictly a 2D guy. )
Imagine a new 13" MacBook but with a hinge that lets the screen fold back on itself, all the way to 270°. Now imagine placing this folded back MacBook keyboard side down on a table so that the display points towards the user. This is the basic shape for the machine, a slightly angled back LCD in a 1" thick squared off housing mated to a matching 1" thick squared off base slab that holds the drives and ports. They join along a fixed leading edge looking like an upside down "7" when viewed from the side.
That's pretty simple, but now imagine a single thick round shaft (no giggling!) that joins the center of the top of the screen to the center of the back of the base slab: just like the molded handle of a plastic one gallon milk jug. You now have a hollow triangle when viewed from the side.
This integrated beefy handle would give the machine some much needed rigidity, allow it to be easily picked up and moved around, all while providing the same simple cable looping security of the original iMac. You'd have to take a hacksaw to the thing to steal it. The classic, low center of gravity wedge shape is preserved, but with a ton of "hollowed out" negative space for light weight and an eye-catching design.
Put a desktop hard drive and an internal power supply in the wide base and you have an inexpensive, luggable, bottom heavy yet slim, I-Dare-You-To-Steal-Me EDU desktop with style.
Comments
done in paint
very retro
Remove the keyboard. It is not integrated. The face of the display is the front edge.
Extend the base as far back as the screen goes up. The machine's depth is equal to its height.
Make the handle slightly less curved and place its connection points in the exact middle of the back of the display and the the exact middle of the top of the base. Again, symmetrical.
Anyone care to take a 3D stab?
Take a 17" imac off the stand, increase the chin length another 3-4 inches and then where the chin ends extend the bottom of the back 4-5 inches long and have it be 4 inches high in what would house the power brick.
Then take your idea and ad a loop to connect the longer power brick area to the back of the computer so it looks like it's leaning back.
I think that'd be pretty cool, I suck at photoshop but I'm gonna give it a shot and post my results here.
Again, like a laptop bent back on itself, sitting keyboard down. We want a low center of gravity and a wide base.
*note: I don't know shit about photoshop, so my mockup is crap*
Like I said before for my design:
-based on 17" imac
-extended chind
-plastic base to house power brick and maybe tray-loading drive on the right side
-no sight
-plastic but aluminum coloured stand/brace/chain loop
All the guts go in the flat base slab which is the same size as the display slab. They are mirror images of each other set at a 90° angle. The center aligned, gently curved handle connects the two slabs, providing rigidity to the whole design while doubling as a security cable loop.
Originally posted by Ensign Pulver
Thanks furious, but could you incorporate the following changes:
Remove the keyboard. It is not integrated. The face of the display is the front edge.
Extend the base as far back as the screen goes up. The machine's depth is equal to its height.
Make the handle slightly less curved and place its connection points in the exact middle of the back of the display and the the exact middle of the top of the base. Again, symmetrical.
Anyone care to take a 3D stab?
if you use windows at work just use paint, i am lost, you seen how bad mine was, no egos here
stu
Remember this machine has got to hit a $600 price point max. HP is selling complete systems to EDU for $400.
Besides, the G4 eMac had a fixed viewing angle, my design can have the same limitation.
stu
I might be able to do a quick 3d mockup tommorrow but i need to go to bed now.
What did you envisage happening at the front edge, just being rounded off?
stu
The bezel around the screen would be a little thicker, but it would have approximately the same footprint as a MacBook Pro. Not too big at all.
Besides, using a 15" display will keep it positioned under the iMac if the machine is also sold at retail.
Again, the screen slab and the base slab are mirrors of each other, just like the two halves of a laptop. Of course with the milk jug handle joining the two giving rigidity and a "desktop" feel.
Yes, all edges would have aggressive rounding, even more than a laptop. From a distance it would look fairly squared off, but up close the corners and edges would be rounded.
Oh, and I'm imagining the ends of the handle gently flaring as they meet the slabs. It should have a slightly organic feel with no sharp edges, Just like a milk jug.
If you could do 3D mockup that would be great, stu.
And yes, an number of third party stands, shims or raisers could produce different viewing angles. You could even just put a book or magazine under the leading edge.
such as:
Besides, the standing up, easel design is too fragile and subject to theft. Though it had its flaws, the G4 eMac was a tank. Apple needs a similar EDU friendly design built around an LCD.
I'd do it myself, but it would come out worse than ecking's.