Bye-bye, beige boxes

[MacBytes]

Category: 3rd Party Hardware
Link: Bye-bye, beige boxes
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Posted on MacBytes.com
Approved by Mudbug

[spillproof]

I remember when I got my first computer back in 2002. It was a huge Dell black box that weighed more than 20 pounds. There is tons of empty space in there. Back then designers really failed to see that.

[wfoster]

Well it's about bloody time.

[notjustjay]

Yep, I remember the first "beige box" PC that I ever bought. It was really advanced in that it had sound and video built into the motherboard -- wow! Still, it was not long before I ended up adding my own video card (it could do three-D graphics!!), which occupied one of the slots. I also had a modem, a 10BaseT network card, and a SCSI interface card for my scanner.

And this wasn't that long ago in the grand scheme of things -- about 10 years ago (1999).

Also, the ISA/PCI buses were industry-standard and allowed pretty much anyone to build any kind of interface. PC manufacturers kept case designs big and flexible enough that you could add anything you needed -- interfaces to scientific instruments, for example.

Now that most computers come with pretty much everything you need, right out of the box -- USB, ethernet, sound, video, firewire -- and a lot of external interfaces can happen through USB-connected boxes -- everything can finally become much smaller.

[Michael CM1]

My last PC desktop was like a 10-foot tower case with about 800 drive bays ...

OK, it wasn't that big. But it was a silver case with some logo on the front with a blue LED behind it. I really didn't see much wrong with a beige case if you could hide it and it was worth the cost tradeoff. But Apple has done a great job at making the whole package (sans Blu-ray, boo) attractive and affordable once you consider ALL the costs.

I sit at a fugly cubicle with almost zero color in the room, and I swear it's soul-crushing -- and we use Power Mac G5's. I'd love to see Apple offer more exterior customization that doesn't break the bank, like some faceplates for the iMacs and maybe something for the front of Mac Pro cases. I saw a PC case once that could be replaced with a faux aquarium with fake fish in it.

[Shunnabunich]

Originally Posted by Michael CM1

I sit at a fugly cubicle with almost zero color in the room, and I swear it's soul-crushing -- and we use Power Mac G5's. I'd love to see Apple offer more exterior customization that doesn't break the bank, like some faceplates for the iMacs and maybe something for the front of Mac Pro cases. I saw a PC case once that could be replaced with a faux aquarium with fake fish in it.

I like this idea. I've wished for a while that the aluminum portion of the Mac mini's case could be swapped out for different-coloured shells reminiscent of the iPod mini and nano. On a lower-end, consumer-friendly machine like that, I think it'd be even more popular.

[n8mac]

My first comp was a G3 iMac (strawberry). Beautiful machine that I was proud to display. I in fact still use it on occasion for classic gaming on my LAN. The upgrade path is terrible but it won't stop working and won't stop looking good

Edit: Oh yes Apple, bring back the color please. The nanos look good and you can still keep white/balck in the lineup.