If you could get a new desktop mac in a plain beige case and save $50, would you do it if everything else was equal? 25? 100? How much is that shiny plastic worth to you?
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How much are computer exteriors worth to you?
- Thread starter springscansing
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Me personally, it's worth about 10 bucks. Any more than that means I could've spend more money on the stuff inside. 
Thats sad...
10 bucks?
So you would rather have a beige tower instead of an 8x8 cube G4?
Or a beige tower instead of a compact iMac?
10 bucks?
So you would rather have a beige tower instead of an 8x8 cube G4?
Or a beige tower instead of a compact iMac?
I don't know about you but having a good looking computer case (hell, a good looking everything electronic) is very important to me.
Not as important as what's inside, but I'd go crazy if I could have but didn't pay the premium for a much better looking piece of equipment that would perform the same function.
Not as important as what's inside, but I'd go crazy if I could have but didn't pay the premium for a much better looking piece of equipment that would perform the same function.
i'd pay as much as i could possibly afford... i love Apple's asthetics and would never want to lose them... Especially since all the other companies are currently copying Apple...
pnw
pnw
It wasn't that long ago Apple's were beige boxes, I think the last one was the first G3 series, and they were more expensive then PC's then so we are actually getting a better deal now for the price.
well, it depends, cube, hell yea, pay the premium, quicksilver, yes, loved it, power books, no doubt, but the new mirror doors, nothing, i feel apple owes us to take that crap, the new powermacs are the ugliest thing i've ever seen, not even compaq or gateway is that bad, they are horrible, so for those, nothing, much rather a beige box, quicksliver and others, pay good money for that, it WAS worth it.
Originally posted by springscansing
Me personally, it's worth about 10 bucks. Any more than that means I could've spend more money on the stuff inside.
I agree--I wouldn't pay an extra $5 for the case. I just bought a 867 PowerMac, but I did it because I love the Mac OS, not because of the way the machine looks or the subpar performance you get relative to PCs. I think a lot of people buy Macs for the styling or the snob appeal, but I own a Mac because it's just more fun to use, and the OS (unlike Windows) doesn't get in the way.
ok lets get a few things straight here:
1) MacOS is the nicest os ever - XP pro is ok but, it always wants you to do something. MacOS doesnt need you to anything. And, if you want it to let you know of anything, then you can get it to.
2) External case appeal is what makes MacOS seem that little bit nicer. The macs apple design have been good looking for sometime.
3) The new PowerMac G4 cases look quite nice. They are neat and organised. Compare to a new pc. They also have nice looking fronts, with a standard set of drive slots, which look ugly unless you put a drive in them, and that nice looking face plate snaps off so you can access the iside (Dell excepted).
4) Anyone who calls my 867Mhz DP G4 ugly is going to get it!!! (only kidding)
anything i left out???
Ps. if you use a pc, and dont want/have a mac, leave this forum NOW.
1) MacOS is the nicest os ever - XP pro is ok but, it always wants you to do something. MacOS doesnt need you to anything. And, if you want it to let you know of anything, then you can get it to.
2) External case appeal is what makes MacOS seem that little bit nicer. The macs apple design have been good looking for sometime.
3) The new PowerMac G4 cases look quite nice. They are neat and organised. Compare to a new pc. They also have nice looking fronts, with a standard set of drive slots, which look ugly unless you put a drive in them, and that nice looking face plate snaps off so you can access the iside (Dell excepted).
4) Anyone who calls my 867Mhz DP G4 ugly is going to get it!!! (only kidding)
anything i left out???
Ps. if you use a pc, and dont want/have a mac, leave this forum NOW.
The whole look and make of the case plays a huge part in deciding whether you buy a Mac or not. Let me put it this way.. I would rather spend $2500 on a Apple-made-Mac than $1500 on a non-Apple-Mac. That's why I never looked into building a Mac.. I knew you could do it, but I thought it was absolutely pointless.
irmongoose
irmongoose
Maybe 10 years ago...
This is obviously a discussion about what people value. It's interesting how that changes as people age. When I was 14, I thought it mattered how my tools looked. Now, having had pretty tools that haven't worked, I just want them to work.
At 35, having been a Mac user since they were all beige boxes, I am not the slightest bit confused about why I buy and use Macs. It is because of the OS and overall user experience. My experience of the OS has nothing to do with the machine its running on. The package looks great, but if it didn't work better, I wouldn't use it. I can get a bit angry when PC users say about Macs, "Yeah, they look pretty, but PCs work better." This is false.
There is no question that the Mac's aesthetics (both the OS and the box) help its sales, but I sometimes worry that it makes "serious computer (read: long-time PC) users" question what they are spending their money on. Many have silly, rigid belief systems that say that computers that work well are spartan. Of course, these folks are also the ones who typically have strong opinions on Macs based on either no experience or 10 minutes 10 years ago. I suppose that's their funeral--stuck with an inferior OS. Rigid beliefs create their own punishments--whether its about innards or exteriors.
If Wintel boxes were prettier than Macs and the M$ OS was prettier, would it be more valuable to you? It wouldn't be worth one cent more to me if it doesn't work any better than the product they put out now.
Chris
p.s., If you're telling people where to go, how do you think you're ever going to enforce those silly demands? People will do what they want to.
This is obviously a discussion about what people value. It's interesting how that changes as people age. When I was 14, I thought it mattered how my tools looked. Now, having had pretty tools that haven't worked, I just want them to work.
At 35, having been a Mac user since they were all beige boxes, I am not the slightest bit confused about why I buy and use Macs. It is because of the OS and overall user experience. My experience of the OS has nothing to do with the machine its running on. The package looks great, but if it didn't work better, I wouldn't use it. I can get a bit angry when PC users say about Macs, "Yeah, they look pretty, but PCs work better." This is false.
There is no question that the Mac's aesthetics (both the OS and the box) help its sales, but I sometimes worry that it makes "serious computer (read: long-time PC) users" question what they are spending their money on. Many have silly, rigid belief systems that say that computers that work well are spartan. Of course, these folks are also the ones who typically have strong opinions on Macs based on either no experience or 10 minutes 10 years ago. I suppose that's their funeral--stuck with an inferior OS. Rigid beliefs create their own punishments--whether its about innards or exteriors.
If Wintel boxes were prettier than Macs and the M$ OS was prettier, would it be more valuable to you? It wouldn't be worth one cent more to me if it doesn't work any better than the product they put out now.
Chris
p.s., If you're telling people where to go, how do you think you're ever going to enforce those silly demands? People will do what they want to.
Re: How much are computer exteriors worth to you?
for a portable, tibook's design w/titanium serves a good purpose of strength and heat dissipation
for ibook, it does not look too different than some pc laptops out there right now...fujitsu had that look before apple did
i would pay fifty dollars more for a pleasant looking design and that prolly explains why i never went with ibm for my pc laptop...they look like something from ten years ago
if apple still made beige desktops right now, i don't think they would sell very well but some pc makers still employ that look and seem to survive
for a portable, tibook's design w/titanium serves a good purpose of strength and heat dissipation
for ibook, it does not look too different than some pc laptops out there right now...fujitsu had that look before apple did
i would pay fifty dollars more for a pleasant looking design and that prolly explains why i never went with ibm for my pc laptop...they look like something from ten years ago
if apple still made beige desktops right now, i don't think they would sell very well but some pc makers still employ that look and seem to survive
The case isn't important, in general terms, but I'm more than willing to pay the extra $50-$100 for one that is slick and nicely designed. I wouldn't take the option for a beige case for myself, but if it was a machine that wasn't visible, tucked away under a desk somewhere, then there would be no reason not to save the extra bit, or use it for some memory.
D
D
Can you explain why plastic is worth $1000? I could see 100, maybe even 200. But $1000? You must be rich.
My new dual 867 is in the mail. *glare*
I've never seen it in person... um...I thought it looked good on the website! *cries*
Tell me my mac isn't ugly!
there seem to be a lot of either rich mac users here or people who put macs in a high financial priority once they cash their paychecks or allowance/trust fund/etc
sometimes, i think one is paying for the plastic, but when i see how seamlessly the mac software interacts with the mac hardware, even several hundred dollars is worth it sometimes
but the case only??? that is never worth that much in day to day usage
and for mac desktops in messy offices, studios, and rooms: could you even locate your G4 under all that stuff?
Worth it, to me
I used to be one of those guys, but after using a Cube for a couple of years, and OS X for around a year, no more. I spend several hours a day looking at my computer screen; It's not unreasonable to want it to look *nice*. The aesthetic appeal of OS X actually means I'm in a better mood when I use it. And when it comes to hardware, well, I don't miss the drabness of the beige box at all. The beige boxes look obsolete even before you buy them; 2 years after I got it, the Cube still looks like something from the future.
So I'm willing be willing to tolerate a 5, maybe even 10 percent bump in the price for good industrial design.
I think this is partly because of the "fast enough" syndrome -- unless you're doing something really compute intensive like FPS gaming, 3D rendering, or a few other creative things that I don't know much about, computers are "fast enough". So manufacturers have to differentiate themselves through other means. It's a sign that the market is maturing. I doubt that Henry Ford paid nearly as much attention to the 'look' of his cars as the Ford Motor Company does today.
I used to be one of those guys, but after using a Cube for a couple of years, and OS X for around a year, no more. I spend several hours a day looking at my computer screen; It's not unreasonable to want it to look *nice*. The aesthetic appeal of OS X actually means I'm in a better mood when I use it. And when it comes to hardware, well, I don't miss the drabness of the beige box at all. The beige boxes look obsolete even before you buy them; 2 years after I got it, the Cube still looks like something from the future.
So I'm willing be willing to tolerate a 5, maybe even 10 percent bump in the price for good industrial design.
I think this is partly because of the "fast enough" syndrome -- unless you're doing something really compute intensive like FPS gaming, 3D rendering, or a few other creative things that I don't know much about, computers are "fast enough". So manufacturers have to differentiate themselves through other means. It's a sign that the market is maturing. I doubt that Henry Ford paid nearly as much attention to the 'look' of his cars as the Ford Motor Company does today.