Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

New Colored Macs anyone?

D

doberman211

macrumors regular
Original poster
Apr 10, 2010
148
7
Canada
I just can't get over how all the macs are the dull grey/silver color when as proven with the iPods, they can in fact make aluminum in multiple colors very easily. So why not haul in a new black Macbook pro? Or other colors? I would just like to know why they wouldn't as it would be a great marketing tactic to release the "New Macbook Air Black" just after the new release about a month ago. And there's supposedly new releases approaching for January (strictly a rumor), and this would be very cool to everybody else and would bring in a lot more potential people over to macs, because as i know from experience, those with no knowledge of what a processor is want to go for the "shiny" one. And now its the "shiny" one in more than one color.

So anybody can post here their opinions on the "why?" or "why not?" sides of the discussion. I still think in my personal opinion that it would be awesome and i would totally get one when it releases.
 
I would like to see at least a black model, as the old black MacBooks looked pretty sweet, and black aluminum is also pretty cool, however it's not likely to happen with apple and their uniformity nonsense.
 
I personally like the unibodies as they are now, since I prefer more neutral tones than the flashy colorful ones, but I think a black and a Product RED will be good also, since black is classic and Product RED is for charity :.

P.S. Somehow I don't imagine myself using a yellow MBP :D.
 
If they had one in carbon fiber finish, I would buy it and be willing to pay a bit more for it.

With that said, I don't think they will do colors simply because it would present logistical problems. The simplicity is part of the attraction to this computer. Obviously, Apple has the Apple Store and also sell their computers in a few major retailers (ex: Best Buy). If they started offering 5 different colors, that would mean that you would have to stock at least 5 different color varieties for each computer offered in color (5 computer models so minimal of 25 different items to stock), and that isn't accounting for the fact that each computer is available in multiple configurations. Yes, it could be an online-only gig, but the Apple store sells a lot of computers and caters to the buyers who want it immediately; many high end laptops are not as well stocked as lesser priced models for obvious reasons; part of the appeal of the MBP is we know if something happened and we needed one ASAP, we can do to the Apple Store and they will most likely have it. Having the color feature could possibly hurt in-store sales and probably more so, it would really piss off (as it could financially hurt) the major retailers that stock Apple laptops. Finally, Apple updates their computers pretty often. If you have many different colors, that means more computers that aren't popular have to be sold when a certain model is about to be updated and in order to sell the really unpopular colors, you may have to give them some deep discounts (which would upset the people who bought the same computer for substantially more just a month prior).
 
^^^ everyone has already explained the main reason "the cost" ... plus IMO silver is probably the most popular color of iPod sold ... the multi color novelty would become boring very fast with many people buying orange and blue MBPs thinking ... hmm ... wish I had bought the silver as it just looks better. Finally I think the people that want multi colored MBPs is probably like @5% :cool:
 
i love mine just the way it is - but i also wouldnt mind seeing a RED one for charity :D

or some other colours that relate to a charity orginisation...

green for NSPCC in the UK :D


Vinda
 
Like Henry Ford. Steve Jobs lets you have any color for your Mac as long as its silver ;)
 
tjb1 said:
Color anodizing is fairly expensive and it would require them to keep much more inventory in order to fufill all the orders.
Click to expand...

They could do like they did for the black macbook and just charge extra for the color. Inventory could be more of a problem, but they did it with the G3 iMacs, so they could do it again. However I do think its highly unlikely for Apple to add colors to their computers anytime soon.
 
mrkramer said:
They could do like they did for the black macbook and just charge extra for the color. Inventory could be more of a problem, but they did it with the G3 iMacs, so they could do it again. However I do think its highly unlikely for Apple to add colors to their computers anytime soon.
Click to expand...

The black macbook was plastic, they just inject a different color and that was only one color. Im pretty sure the coating on current MBP is a hard anodizing to give the aluminum more strength and resistance to scratches/dents, straight aluminum is very soft and you can almost put scratches on a polished piece with a paper towel. Color anodizing is not the same as Hard anodizing, hard anodizing produces a much harder surface than ordinary color anodizing and im not sure if you can color hard anodize so it may not be strong enough to protech such a heavy object as compared to shuffles/nanos.
 
mrkramer said:
They could do like they did for the black macbook
Click to expand...

tjb1 said:
The black macbook was plastic, they just inject a different color and that was only one color..
Click to expand...
There was a coating, and the black MB and that suffered from chipping/peeling over time.

I think apple does not want to deal with flaking/chipping/peeling on their laptops anymore.

Does anyone remember what happened the Ti Powerbooks? they looked awful when the coating started to fail.
 
Also seen with iPods is how the coloured metal can scratch off after so much usage.

Apple's forst iMac had different colours and was popular for that very reason, however their is a reason why Apple never kept up with the idea. I'm not sure what the main reason is, but their is a reason out there.
 
making the mbp colored would take the sleekness out of it and how pro it looks.

that being said, apple should make the macbook colored with sparkles or whatever they want too :) maybe some custom paint job?
 
i thought that mac going all out and mass producing aluminum unibody models was good enough. yeah its dull and grey but it is aluminum, how many other companies make a computer that is as sleek as the macbook line, not many... i like it, black could be cool but who knows.
 
From a decor standpoint, I like to color of my iMac. The black/silver looks great sitting on my antique mission desk and is neutral enough that it would work with any color paint on the walls. I know there are companies out there that will paint your iMac, so you could always go that route if you so desired.

FWIW, I dislike colored interiors of cars too. Black or grey for me.
 
I think they are going to use "professional" colors, so you won't see any pink, red, yellow, blue, etc.

I hope they make a Black Macbook again, but I don't see where they can fit that in if they want to make it more expensive than the base MacBook like they have done in the past.
 
tjb1 said:
The black macbook was plastic, they just inject a different color and that was only one color. Im pretty sure the coating on current MBP is a hard anodizing to give the aluminum more strength and resistance to scratches/dents, straight aluminum is very soft and you can almost put scratches on a polished piece with a paper towel. Color anodizing is not the same as Hard anodizing, hard anodizing produces a much harder surface than ordinary color anodizing and im not sure if you can color hard anodize so it may not be strong enough to protech such a heavy object as compared to shuffles/nanos.
Click to expand...
Anodizing is anodizing. By adding dye you get color, so you can have a durable colored surface on aluminum.
 
miata said:
Anodizing is anodizing. By adding dye you get color, so you can have a durable colored surface on aluminum.
Click to expand...

Anodizing is not anodizing, there are many types and the colors are fairly limited. Because Hard Anodizing(Type 3) produces a much thicker layer than Type 1 or Type 2, it is much harder/next to impossible to die to a light color such as a true red, yellow, pink, light blue. The Type 3 process makes the coating so dark that only darker colors become visible and not just a "tint" on the part.

Im not sure if even the light colors are possible on a Type 3 anodize job but if they are, they are MUCH more expensive then just a black/blue/maroon color. And before you go off about all the colors of the iPods, consider that they dont weight enough to scratch themself, let alone scratch a standard Type 1 or Type 2 anodize coating....which can both be colored to almost anything.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back