Is Apple design becoming boring?

[drnebulous]

I have been a Mac user since 2007. My first computer was the white macbook (2007 model). After that I've had macbook pro, macbook pro retina, mac pro, powermac G5, powermac G4, powermac G3, iBook G4, eMac G4, iMac G3 as well as ipods, iphones, and ipads. With all the new designs that apple have been aiming towards in the last 4 years, I have noticed that they are now ditching their iconic white/gray look for a black look such as the new mac pro. Even if you look at their iPods this is noticeable, especially with the iPod shuffle. The idea of apple was clean cut minimalistic design, and now they are looking as depressing as ever. Everything is clashing with white leads, black leads etc.. From 2002 - 2007 all the products made sense design wise with each other, but now it looks like a different company design each product. Everything doesn't seem as tight as it used to. I just feel that apple is losing its identity, what it stood for and its philosophy.
Is it just me or is this what's happening?

 

[maflynn]

Is it just me or is this what's happening?

Its you.

The nMP is a gorgeous machine, likewise the rMBP - I love the design and performance of my rMPB.

The current Mac Mini's are also wonderfully crafted.

 

[sviato]

It's all in your head, I love my 5s and MacBook Air design (though they're slight tweaks away from being perfectly designed imo )

 

[NT1440]

They're in transition to finalizing their new design language across the product line. You'll see an iPhone this year that finally incorporates the language of the iPad mini, iPad Air, and iPod Touch (which actually started the current design).

 

[Astroboy907]

The only thing I dislike about Apples design choices is the complete obsession with "thin and light". Apple hit "thin and light" enough for most people with the unibody Macbook Pros. Now they obsess over thin and light at the cost of serviceability, lifetime, and upgradability. Which are three things I look for first in a laptop. Thin and light comes after all those. If they put a retina display on a cMBP, with user replaceable battery, ram, and hard drive I would be all over it. I might be able to live with it if the nMBPs had user replaceable RAM (even if Apple decided to work on a new standard, like the blade style SSD's will probably soon be), but at the moment, I'm not sure it would be the best fit for me.

 

[TechGod]

My late 2013 13" MBP is the best laptop I've owned. Compared to the 2011 13" model....this is night and day.

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The only thing I dislike about Apples design choices is the complete obsession with "thin and light". Apple hit "thin and light" enough for most people with the unibody Macbook Pros. Now they obsess over thin and light at the cost of serviceability, lifetime, and upgradability. Which are three things I look for first in a laptop. Thin and light comes after all those. If they put a retina display on a cMBP, with user replaceable battery, ram, and hard drive I would be all over it. I might be able to live with it if the nMBPs had user replaceable RAM (even if Apple decided to work on a new standard, like the blade style SSD's will probably soon be), but at the moment, I'm not sure it would be the best fit for me.

Sorry but for a student like me, I would really like power in a small package. The late 2013" is just amazing for that, 8GB RAM is absolutely fine and the 256GB SSD isn't an issue since I have a 500GB pocket drive and it does have an upgradable SSD anyways...I can understand battery concerns for sure though. If you use 16GB of Ram, then I can understand that as well.

 

[Technarchy]

I think if you stare at Apple products all day and night, you're going to get tired of them on some level and what other people are doing becomes more exciting.

Is the iPad Air boring? iPad Mini?

How about the new Retina MBP

MBA is still the de facto standard bearer for $1000 notebooks

Though I do like what MSFT has done with the Surface Pro 3. It's probably the most interesting product intro'ed this year for me.

 

[Astroboy907]

Sorry but for a student like me, I would really like power in a small package. The late 2013" is just amazing for that, 8GB RAM is absolutely fine and the 256GB SSD isn't an issue since I have a 500GB pocket drive and it does have an upgradable SSD anyways...I can understand battery concerns for sure though. If you use 16GB of Ram, then I can understand that as well.

I totally understand - my sister has the same model and it's quite easy to tote around everywhere. Me on the other hand, I just feel I need more screen real-estate.
My point is however, is that Apple can't keep playing the thin and light card forever. For the past 6 years or so, that is what they have really been pushing (high power, small space) - but where can they go from here? I was already afraid with the iPod nano 4g that I would snap it in half. That's what has bored me about Apple's design - there are all these features that they can support, that the industry is pushing (USB3! Come on, Apple, that was too long), that they let slide by. And every new model they push out they boast about how thin it is....

However I think that within the last year there have been a few changes and Apple has realized that their products really won't benefit from being oh-so-more-impossibly-thiner and lighter-than-air and instead focus on features and power (nMP, A7 processor, TouchID, slo-mo camera, multitasking).

The loss of upgrade ability unfortunately is not just Apple, the market is slowly heading that way as well. This part is hard to see for someone like me who loves to be able to take things apart and repair them. Darn consumerism. Even the Razer Blade (my backup "Powerrr" laptop [Jeremy Clarkson there]) has opted for a thin design (thinner than the retina), SSD, and soldered memory banks.