Frog Design's Hartmut Esslinger Reveals Early Apple Designs in New Book - Page 2

La Porta · Dec 28, 2012, 02:41 PM

These pictures can all be found in the out-of-print book, AppleDesign.

calaverasgrande · Dec 28, 2012, 04:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by brianbobcat

I want to know what wireless technology they would've used for the mouse and keyboard all the way back then. It's not like wifi and Bluetooth were things yet, much less commonplace.

Well Tesla was doing wireless remote control of boats in the early 20th century. It's nothing new.
Though given the commodity hardware at the time of that design I would guess for IR over RF wireless.

ctdonath · Dec 28, 2012, 04:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Imac Sam

But are they thinner and lighter????

That's the obvious intention, throttled by practical limits of the technology at the time. Heck, the first model shown is an embryonic iPhone!

Yamcha · Dec 28, 2012, 05:05 PM

Those designs look very modern, especially for that time..

Saladinos · Dec 28, 2012, 05:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by La Porta

These pictures can all be found in the out-of-print book, AppleDesign.

EDIT: Nope, not it.

spb3 · Dec 28, 2012, 05:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by troop231

I think you may be on to something:

Image

bingo!!

La Porta · Dec 28, 2012, 05:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Saladinos

EDIT: Nope, not it.

Hm? The same machines are in there, I have the book myself.

Saladinos · Dec 28, 2012, 05:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by La Porta

Hm? The same machines are in there, I have the book myself.

Sorry - I thought I found a copy of the book but it turned out to be another one with the same name ("Apple Design"). This one.

That book isn't the one you're referring to according to one Amazon.com review (which is what I meant by "Nope, not it"):

Quote:

To be perfectly honest, I returned it the day I received it. I was thoroughly underwhelmed by this book.

What made an older book, AppleDesign, much better, was the numerous photographs of prototype products. This book lacked any insider access to prototypes, and therefore is composed of facts and images I am already familiar with. Why bother keeping this book? You can easily get the same information and images found in this book on Wikipedia.

MacDav · Dec 28, 2012, 08:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by spb3

this guy looks like Lincoln.

Well...He looks the way Lincoln would have looked if Lincoln had dodged Booths bullet. (Older Lincoln)

Eric E. Schmidt · Dec 28, 2012, 11:22 PM

i knew i saw it on here earlier:

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthre...3#post16514923

interesting story. i hope ive will give us a similar peek in the future.

saggsy · Dec 28, 2012, 11:40 PM

None of those devices would have been working prototypes. Frog Design would have purely been for concept output. Throw them at the apple engineers to see if they could actually build them (to a budget) and hence why we never actually saw them released at the time due to the lack of tech available - so, being that apple had contracted Frog to come up with concepts, apple therefore owned the concepts and sat on them until the tech was available in the late nineties, which also coincided with Jobs return where he decided to streamline the companies many models/options into the revolutionary line up that now resides.

saggsy

MacFly123 · Dec 29, 2012, 01:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bushido

the baby mac looks cute ^^

Ya I hadn't seen that before. Looks very modern and minimal, especially for the time! Nice design

macs4nw · Dec 29, 2012, 03:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MacRumors

Image

Image

Designboom has a full range of pictures of 10 different conceptual product designs available, along with a few excerpts of text from the book.

Design Forward, Esslinger's Book will be released on January 16, 2013.

Article Link: Frog Design's Hartmut Esslinger Reveals Early Apple Designs in New Book

In their day, these designs were so far ahead of their time! They still look functional as well as beautiful, by today's standards.

Mike MA · Dec 29, 2012, 06:33 AM

I don't see any preparation for VESA mounts

TC03 · Dec 29, 2012, 09:50 AM

The baby Mac looks a lot like the 1999 iMac. Despite the size, I think the prototype looks even better! Though, in a world dominated by grey boxes the iMac did look refreshing.

76ShovelHead · Dec 29, 2012, 05:50 PM

Wow how cool. An early iPhone (MacPhone) and that Baby Mac would've been an awesome evolution of the original Mac Plus.

jm001 · Dec 29, 2012, 08:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TC03

The baby Mac looks a lot like the 1999 iMac. Despite the size, I think the prototype looks even better! Though, in a world dominated by grey boxes the iMac did look refreshing.

Actually it really looks like the Apple //c's monitor with a slot loading media drive. Not even the first iMac had a slot loading drive (although it looks more like a 3.5" floppy drive). You could probably make one by getting a small LCD screen, mount it inside the case for the //c monitor and stick a mac mini inside it! The mini's bluetooth will take care of the wireless features.

calaverasgrande · Dec 30, 2012, 02:11 PM

I actually really like the Americana designs.
Whats up with the yellow disk drive?

somethingelsefl · Dec 30, 2012, 07:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by troop231

It probably would've used Infrared technology like that used in TV remotes.

Not IR...it would have been wireless tech similar to the frequencies cordless phones run on. It's easy to forget that the first "wireless" mice weren't infrared (which often requires line-of-sight), but were instead 'wireless banded radio'.

Apple had chose to abandon wireless radio on most of their developments and instead opted for the current "WiFi" technology we see today (which back then was rare).

Lancer · Dec 31, 2012, 02:33 AM

Love some of those designs!

KdParker · Dec 31, 2012, 05:31 PM

that mac phone looks so useless. Glad they moved on from it.

A Hebrew · Dec 31, 2012, 11:36 PM

I think the iPhone would get jealous of the Mac Phone

macuser1232 · Jan 1, 2013, 11:18 PM

I love the Macphone!

Macrolido · Jan 2, 2013, 11:48 AM

MacPhone looks really cool!

KdParker · Jan 3, 2013, 12:35 PM

Not sure I would call the Macintosh Studies a 'space age' design

Dec 28, 2012, 02:41 PM	#26
La Porta macrumors regular Join Date: Dec 2006	These pictures can all be found in the out-of-print book, AppleDesign. __________________ Proud owner of over 33 legacy Apple/Mac computers.
	0

Dec 28, 2012, 05:05 PM	#29
Yamcha macrumors 68000 Join Date: Mar 2008	Those designs look very modern, especially for that time.. __________________ 21.5" iMac \| Intel Core i5 2.7GHz SandyBridge \| 8GB DDR3 1333MHz Memory \| 1TB Hard Drive \| AMD Radeon 6770 512MB \| OS X 10.9 Mavericks \| Windows 7 64-Bit
	1

Dec 29, 2012, 06:33 AM	#39
Mike MA macrumors 6502 Join Date: Sep 2012 Location: Germany, Europe	I don't see any preparation for VESA mounts __________________ Macbook Air 13" SSD (late 2010) - Macbook Pro 15" (late 2008) - Apple TV2 - iPhone 4
	0

Dec 29, 2012, 05:50 PM	#41
76ShovelHead macrumors 6502 Join Date: May 2010 Location: Connecticut	Wow how cool. An early iPhone (MacPhone) and that Baby Mac would've been an awesome evolution of the original Mac Plus. __________________ iBook G4 14" 1.42 1.5GB
	0

Dec 31, 2012, 05:31 PM	#46
KdParker macrumors 68000 Join Date: Oct 2010	that mac phone looks so useless. Glad they moved on from it. __________________ 16g iPhone5 Black ; 16g iPhone5 White; 15" retina - MBP 2.6 GHZ 16 RAM; iPad4 retina
	1

Dec 28, 2012, 11:22 PM	#35
Eric E. Schmidt macrumors member Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: Calif	i knew i saw it on here earlier: http://forums.macrumors.com/showthre...3#post16514923 interesting story. i hope ive will give us a similar peek in the future.
	0

Dec 28, 2012, 11:40 PM	#36
saggsy macrumors newbie Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Australia	None of those devices would have been working prototypes. Frog Design would have purely been for concept output. Throw them at the apple engineers to see if they could actually build them (to a budget) and hence why we never actually saw them released at the time due to the lack of tech available - so, being that apple had contracted Frog to come up with concepts, apple therefore owned the concepts and sat on them until the tech was available in the late nineties, which also coincided with Jobs return where he decided to streamline the companies many models/options into the revolutionary line up that now resides. saggsy
	0

Dec 29, 2012, 09:50 AM	#40
TC03 macrumors 6502 Join Date: Aug 2008	The baby Mac looks a lot like the 1999 iMac. Despite the size, I think the prototype looks even better! Though, in a world dominated by grey boxes the iMac did look refreshing.
	0

Dec 30, 2012, 02:11 PM	#43
calaverasgrande macrumors 6502 Join Date: Oct 2010	I actually really like the Americana designs. Whats up with the yellow disk drive?
	0

Dec 31, 2012, 02:33 AM	#45
Lancer macrumors 65816 Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Australia	Love some of those designs!
	0

Dec 31, 2012, 11:36 PM	#47
A Hebrew macrumors 6502a Join Date: Jan 2012 Location: Minnesota	I think the iPhone would get jealous of the Mac Phone __________________ 2012 13" MacBook Air \| Third Generation iPad \| Fifth Generation iPod Touch \| Apple TV 3
	0

Jan 1, 2013, 11:18 PM	#48
macuser1232 macrumors 6502a Join Date: Jan 2012	I love the Macphone! __________________ Early 2011 13" MacBook Pro, i5 2.3 GHz, 8 GB RAM, 320 GB HD ; 2 Gen 8 GB iPod Touch
	0

Jan 2, 2013, 11:48 AM	#49
Macrolido macrumors regular Join Date: May 2012 Location: Monterrey, Mexico	MacPhone looks really cool!
	0

Jan 3, 2013, 12:35 PM	#50
KdParker macrumors 68000 Join Date: Oct 2010	Not sure I would call the Macintosh Studies a 'space age' design __________________ 16g iPhone5 Black ; 16g iPhone5 White; 15" retina - MBP 2.6 GHZ 16 RAM; iPad4 retina
	0

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