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Apple and the color black.

gekko513

gekko513

macrumors 603
Original poster
Oct 16, 2003
6,301
1
With Tiger Apple uses black a lot. It makes me wonder if we will see more use of black in the time to come. Maybe the new PowerMacs will use black?

I'm thinking that the silver, white and clear plastic theme can't last forever for a company like Apple that needs to constantly renew its image to be viewed as trendy and stylish.

Could Apple make cool black products or would it just put them in line with Dell and IBM?

Or is this black theme just a one time gimmick to make people notice Tiger more?
 
Well, Apple used black less than five years ago in its Powerbook G3s, so I suppose anything is possible. That said, I think the U2 iPod is incredibly ugly, so hopefully they'll do better than that!
 
Ah, I forgot about the U2 iPod. I know some like it, too. I'm not sure what I think about it. I have never held one myself.
 
The way I see it, at least with the PowerMacs and displays, Apple went from the see-through plastic style to an aluminum style. I don't think the new PowerMacs coming up "soon" will be black but rather the same silver/aluminum style. But who really knows for sure....

For the U2 iPod style. I've seen it in person and I guess if your into that color combo it's good, but red/black probably not the best combo for me, IMO.
 
wordmunger said:
Well, Apple used black less than five years ago in its Powerbook G3s, so I suppose anything is possible. That said, I think the U2 iPod is incredibly ugly, so hopefully they'll do better than that!
Click to expand...

In its defense, it dosent seem quite so ugly in person. I hated it when I saw it online, but when I saw it in the Apple store and played with it a bit, it kinda grew on me. I think the coolest thing would be that I have never actually seen someone in public with one, so it would be pretty rare to own one. Maybe they are more popular else where, but not where I live, so I'd take one just for that reason.

As for other uses of black... I dont know. Apple has set themselves up as the anti-pc type computer, and that may be drifting too close to what they have so diligently steered clear of. If anybody can do it well, though, its Apple.
 
You have a point, tech4all. It's really not that long since the PowerMac and displays got a consistent aluminium look. I'm planning to get a PowerMac within a year and when I think about it I would probably prefer it to be aluminium rather than some design with black.
 
Out of Apple's current products I think only the iMac and iBook would transfer to black well. I doubt Apple would change their whole line to one colour, generally Apple like to distinguish the Pro line from the consumer line and the only obvious way to do that is through colour.
 
I also like the look of the apple.com website, it looks really cool. It would seem that they will continue the black shipping boxes. Can't imagine that they will change the look of the Power Mac. The Tiger box that I've scene looks really cool also. it would be nice if they update the keyboard and mouse though.
 
Maybe i'm reading too much into it, but if you look at colour theory and what the widely regarded emotional ties are you can come to the following conclusion:
  • White - clinical, angelic, heavenly
  • Black - mostly associated with death, disease and general unpleasantries...

Besides, i think a black mac would look crap.. i've seen a black mac laptop and it was nowhere near as nice looking as the new ibooks/powerbooks.
 
pulsewidth947 said:
Maybe i'm reading too much into it, but if you look at colour theory and what the widely regarded emotional ties are you can come to the following conclusion:
  • White - clinical, angelic, heavenly
  • Black - mostly associated with death, disease and general unpleasantries...

Besides, i think a black mac would look crap.. i've seen a black mac laptop and it was nowhere near as nice looking as the new ibooks/powerbooks.
Click to expand...
The "white good, black bad" motif is more of a Western thing... perhaps someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but in many Asian cultures, I believe that white is symbolic of death.

It really comes down to a question of establishing a consistent style and going with it. An all-black iPod (every surface black, except for the screen) would be pretty cool. The U2 iPod is jarringly red-and-black, which works for sports cars but not (IMHO) on a small piece of consumer electronics.
 
I cannot see apple adopting black as their new color... though i was thinking the same thing when I saw the homepage. Any form of black for computers is ugly... matte/bumpy plastic looks cheap, shiny shows too many flaws... it just can't happen. poopy.
 
I'm in the minority here apparently, but I like the U2 iPod. My brother has one, and it is better in person than just pictures I think. That said, I hope Apple doesn't go back to black for computers, because to be honest, I think the pre-TiBook Powerbooks (G3 Powerbooks) are downright ugly.
 
gekko513 said:
With Tiger Apple uses black a lot. It makes me wonder if we will see more use of black in the time to come. Maybe the new PowerMacs will use black?

I'm thinking that the silver, white and clear plastic theme can't last forever for a company like Apple that needs to constantly renew its image to be viewed as trendy and stylish.

Could Apple make cool black products or would it just put them in line with Dell and IBM?

Or is this black theme just a one time gimmick to make people notice Tiger more?
Click to expand...

I'm sure apple could make very cool black products... But I think it's important to them to stand out from their competitors. The color white has become quite a big part of their brand (and aluminium too).
In line with this it would make more sense to work more with form and materials, which would also be more innovative than just changing color.

Or perhaps they could take up their old rainbow-theme. How about a soft rubber rainbow colored iBook :rolleyes:

A
 
I think they could go black with the powerbook line, the G3 powerbook's looked good, and I'm sure they could design a more modern look. I also think if they come out with a new chip, they will redesign. I don't like the albook's, but owning a lovely tibook myself I have a bias.
 
clayjohanson said:
The "white good, black bad" motif is more of a Western thing... perhaps someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but in many Asian cultures, I believe that white is symbolic of death.
Click to expand...

Well you have Taoism and its symbol is the Yin Yang, whith White being good and black being evil.
 
Patriotsv4 said:
Well you have Taoism and its symbol is the Yin Yang, whith White being good and black being evil.
Click to expand...

No. No. No.... that's not what it means. At all.

Anyway, black has also been used for luxury goods for ages. It used to be a no-no for food packaging but when you do see it on a food items' packaging it usually denotes exclusivity...
 
Besides all the points listed above, Apple usually has their hardware match their software..ALOT, so I really can't see this happening unless they start makign their OS with darker colors...that said, black is my favorite color :rolleyes:
 
I guess it's always a possibility, for say, one or two of their product lines to go black; given that now competitors are coming our with their own white/grey colour schemes for their products. Silver has become all too common in electronics; mobile phones, tv's, dvd players, you name it... it's now more eye-opening to see a black dvd player (for example).

It could be done very well, or not so well, but as someone previously said, if anyone can do it well, it's Apple.
 
Blue Velvet said:
No. No. No.... that's not what it means. At all.

Anyway, black has also been used for luxury goods for ages. It used to be a no-no for food packaging but when you do see it on a food items' packaging it usually denotes exclusivity...
Click to expand...

Blue Velvet has it correct, black is considered very fashionable. Black never goes out of style. It has a very sheik look, that expensive look like a diamond.
 
pulsewidth947 said:
Besides, i think a black mac would look crap.. i've seen a black mac laptop and it was nowhere near as nice looking as the new ibooks/powerbooks.
Click to expand...

I disagree. I actually preferred the looks of the Pismo to the looks of the TiBooks (and subsequent aluminum books), and still do. The iBook, on the other hand, I do like. Everybody has copied the metallic silver look by now, but it seems like white is still basically just used on Mac/iPod accessories.
 
The problem with black plastic is that it usually looks grey, and thus craptacular. If Apple can somehow pull off a real black case I bet it would look fantastic. Picture an original style iBook (clear acrylic with coloured plastic underneath) where the inner layer is totally black. Very cool.
 
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