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What is Apple's least ergonomic design?

Shake 'n' Bake

Shake 'n' Bake

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Mar 2, 2009
2,186
2
Albany
I was just moving a HDD to the Zip drive slot on my Power Mac G4 Digital Audio. The drive sled is a really great idea on paper, but not in practice.

So, I read the "Replacing Zip Drive" article from the KB.

Then I tried to take sled out, but the shiny guard on the back of the optical drive got stuck. So I ripped it out finally and the HDD slotted in easily enough. Then I found out that the slave bit of the power cable (P6) wouldn't work because it was too short, so I pulled up P5, and connected it. Finally, I found out that the IDE cable wouldn't work because my HDD's connecter was on the left, and the optical drive's was on the right. And all this in a space so cramped I could barley fit my hand in.

I pulled out the whole sled and removed the HDD, and put the sled back and put the HDD back. I reassembled everything, and it all works.

That's the least ergonomically designed computer I've ever worked on.

What do you think Apple's least ergonomic design is?

And what is the P5 cable for?
 
Shake 'n' Bake

Shake 'n' Bake

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Mar 2, 2009
2,186
2
Albany
dsnort said:
Have to second the Puck Mouse.

Never had many issues with the ergonomics of the Mighty Mouse. Functionality? Now, that's a different story!
Click to expand...

When ever I use my puck mouse, my fingers get sucked under it.

But what's wrong with the functionality of the MM?
 
macz1

macz1

macrumors 6502
Oct 28, 2007
315
5
I did't dislike the form of the puck mouse which came with my G4, I used it about five years then I began to miss a right button and the lack of optical sensor (damn ball)... The mighty mouse however was immediately replaced by a LX3 from Logitech. I really don't like it.
 
TheReef

TheReef

macrumors 68000
Sep 30, 2007
1,888
167
NSW, Australia.
I was just moving a HDD to the Zip drive slot on my Power Mac G4 Digital Audio. The drive sled is a really great idea on paper, but not in practice.
Click to expand...

Yes, I did the same thing, a very difficult job that one!

I find the mighty mouse pretty conformable - once I disabled right click that is, but it's scroll ball is absolutely useless once it gets clogged, with no easy way to clean it.

The puck mouse on the other hand just made computing terrible.


To upgrade anything in the iMac/eMac/laptops is pretty epic as well.
 
Shake 'n' Bake

Shake 'n' Bake

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Mar 2, 2009
2,186
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Albany
TheReef said:
Yes, I did the same thing, very difficult job that!

I find the mighty mouse pretty conformable - once I disabled right click that is, but it's scroll ball is absolutely useless once it gets clogged, with no easy way to clean it.

The puck mouse on the other hand just made computing terrible.
Click to expand...

To clean the mighty mouse:

1. Put a thick mouse pad on your desk.

2. Put a piece of paper on that.

3. Roll MM scroll ball on that paper.
 
TheReef

TheReef

macrumors 68000
Sep 30, 2007
1,888
167
NSW, Australia.
Shake 'n' Bake said:
To clean the mighty mouse:

1. Put a thick mouse pad on your desk.

2. Put a piece of paper on that.

3. Roll MM scroll ball on that paper.
Click to expand...

That does work but the ball never gets back to it's original traction. :(

It was a great time when ball mice were superseded by opticals, it's annoying how Apple the "innovative company" have decided to use balls again.
 
bozz2006

bozz2006

macrumors 68030
Aug 24, 2007
2,530
0
Minnesota
I hate that the nice rounded edges on the top of the 4th gen ipod were replaced by the razor sharp edges on the 5th gen. Yeah, I know they wanted a bigger screen for videos, but I still don't know how anyone can, or would want to, watch videos on a screen that small. gives me a tension headache even thinking about it (OK, not quite, but you know what I'm saying)
 
gugucom

gugucom

macrumors 68020
May 21, 2009
2,136
2
Munich, Germany
If you finally decide to shell out serious money you end up in the Mac Pro and Power Mac line. You would assume that form follows function and the Apple design would impress you from a service point to no end.

Far cry from reality. There are some very clever features but inevitably Apple screwed up every hig tech tower they ever launched from a servicebility point of view.

On the G5 Power Mac they had the hard disks designed like gobbledygook. The connectors would never fit and getting the bastards to slide into the slots was evil.

Every time you were fitting an expansion card to the PM you would loose a fixing screw in the guts of the machine where it could potentially shortcut the logic board.

on the Mac Pro they fixed those problems nicely but immediately created other problems worthy of the same cursing you heard from PM customers.

To lay cables from the ODD drive bays to PCIe is almost impossible although you frequently need to wire up between the two parts.

And to remove the front fan unit is a task close to dismanteling a nuclear reactor in complication.

Other than that the machines are fine. Just my 2 ct on ergonomy.
 
TheStrudel

TheStrudel

macrumors 65816
Jan 5, 2008
1,134
1
Puck mouse, without a doubt. Though at one of my workplaces, we did have an ancient imac still running. Computer was much better than the mouse, though of course primitive and impossible to upgrade by modern standards.
 
Genghis Khan

Genghis Khan

macrumors 65816
Jun 3, 2007
1,202
0
Melbourne, Australia
dsnort said:
Have to second the Puck Mouse.

Never had many issues with the ergonomics of the Mighty Mouse. Functionality? Now, that's a different story!
Click to expand...

+1

The Mighty Mouse is awesome, apart from the scroll-ball. I've had 3, and they all become useless beyond cleaning after a couple of weeks. My most recent one has lasted almost 2 months now because I'm afraid to use it...
 
TuffLuffJimmy

TuffLuffJimmy

macrumors G3
Apr 6, 2007
9,022
136
Portland, OR
Ergonomics have nothing to do with serviceability...

1. Safety - Medicine bottles: The print on them could be larger so that a sick person who may have bad vision (due to sinuses, etc.) can more easily see the dosages and label. Ergonomics could design the print style, color and size for optimal viewing.
2. Comfort - Alarm clock display: Some displays are harshly bright, drawing one’s eye to the light when surroundings are dark. Ergonomic principles could re-design this based on contrast principles.
3. Ease of use - Street Signs: In a strange area, many times it is difficult to spot street signs. This could be addressed with the principles of visual detection in ergonomics.
4. Productivity/performance - HD TV: The sound on HD TV is much lower than regular TV. So when you switch from HD to regular, the volume increases dramatically. Ergonomics recognizes that this difference in decibel level creates a difference in loudness and hurts human ears and this could be solved by evening out the decibel levels.
5. Aesthetics - the look and feel of the object, the user experience.
Click to expand...



I'll agree with Skil, I used a puck mouse in middle school. It was horrible. A close second is the mighty mouse. Followed by.... well any mouse Apple has made. WTF Apple! Apple practically (but not really) invented the mouse and they have yet to make a good one.
 
TinHead88

TinHead88

macrumors regular
Oct 30, 2008
214
39
The puck mouse gets my vote too. Absolutely silly design.
I have been using the mighty mouse for over a year now and only had to clean it once. I don't understand how you could get it so dirty in a matter of weeks. I cleaned mine at the first sign of trouble (i felt some slight bumps when using the scrollball). If you ignore this and let it get built up until the scrolling doesn't work anymore then it will be much harder to get the gunk out of there. I have managed to fix my sisters MM which she used until it wouldn't scroll anymore and it was quite difficult to get that dirt out. I had to thoroughly soak the ball in methylated spirits and rub it on a cloth for quite a while, but it works just fine again now.
Maybe it would help if the MM would come with instructions to regularly clean the scrollball.
 
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