Mac Spotting

[mectojic]

I think there's no debate about what this is:

From So Graham Norton, Series 3 in late 1999. We have a blueberry Apple Studio Display LCD, and a matching blue Apple USB keyboard. The mouse however, is not Apple (Intellimouse?), and the operating system is clearly not MacOS. Experts in that field can go check out the old episodes to determine what version of Windows it was.
And yes, that's Carrie Fisher (who doesn't seem confident using a mouse). As for what they're looking at, I'll leave that to the imagination...
In the 1998 series, Graham is seen using a beige CRT monitor. So I think while he wasn't a Mac switcher, he just wanted a monitor that was more colourful to brighten up his show's crazy aesthetic. And a thin LCD looked much less nerdy compared to the beige CRT.

 

[B S Magnet]

On a panned-out shot, slyly hidden from what it is, on a TV series which aired between 2016 and 2018, is a Titanium PowerBook G4’s rear end facing the camera in the series Colony:

The The instant tell, beyond the greyness of the metal, is the oblong infrared sensor on the right end of the rear panel.

This cap from from nearly a season in, and it’s not only the only shot with a Mac which I’ve seen, but one of the few shots of any computer in use. The story is set in a dystopia which, incidentally, also has no working cell phones (only sat phones).

 

[Royksöpp]

The Devil Wears Prada

 

[ww2_1943]

The Devil Wears Prada

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Back during this time I could never have imagined owning an Apple. Scenes like this show Macs as tools for creative people and chic devices. The metallic look was so premium and modern. It still looks good, but it is getting dated. Apple doesn't seem to take chances with design anymore. In all fairness, maybe there really isn't anywhere else to go with existing devices?

 

[mectojic]

Back during this time I could never have imagined owning an Apple. Scenes like this show Macs as tools for creative people and chic devices. The metallic look was so premium and modern. It still looks good, but it is getting dated. Apple doesn't seem to take chances with design anymore. In all fairness, maybe there really isn't anywhere else to go with existing devices?

I don't think so. When you get to the core of the Apple design evolution since Jony Ive, it has mostly been about improving durability and streamlining the machining process. We went from beige plastic to moulded translucent plastic, then thick acrylic, to titanium and finally aluminium, glass and stainless steel. There really aren't any other cost-effective, durable materials that exist.
So, I think Apple is a bit stuck now. There's nowhere to go from here; that's why minor design changes like the MacBook notch get so much media attention. And sadly, they seem to refuse to take a more playful approach to design once more.

 

[ww2_1943]

I don't think so. When you get to the core of the Apple design evolution since Jony Ive, it has mostly been about improving durability and streamlining the machining process. We went from beige plastic to moulded translucent plastic, then thick acrylic, to titanium and finally aluminium, glass and stainless steel. There really aren't any other cost-effective, durable materials that exist.
So, I think Apple is a bit stuck now. There's nowhere to go from here; that's why minor design changes like the MacBook notch get so much media attention. And sadly, they seem to refuse to take a more playful approach to design once more.

That makes sense and great points!

That is why I said "In all fairness, maybe there really isn't anywhere else to go with existing devices?" I didn't necessarily mean from a design perspective. Though, looking back, I did imply that from the rest of my comments.

 

[mectojic]

That makes sense and great points!

That is why I said "In all fairness, maybe there really isn't anywhere else to go with existing devices?" I didn't necessarily mean from a design perspective. Though, looking back, I did imply that from the rest of my comments.

Oh yeah, I also forgot about environmental concerns too. Apple really tries to avoid plastic in their products now, for environmental reasons. That is probably also part of their thinness ambition. It would be wasteful to make curvy shapes and thick chassis. Hence we now have an M1 iMac which is far thinner and lighter than a desktop iMac ever really needed to be.

 

[TheShortTimer]

From Courage Under Fire:

A PowerBook Duo 250 is featured during scenes in which the central protagonist repeatedly attempts to draft a letter. Its presence is an anachronism given that the film is set during 1991 and the machine wasn't released till 1993. Even so, the chronology is still fairly close and marks a good attempt at accuracy by whoever dealt with props because the film was made in 1996 and a more recent machine could very easily have been shown instead.

Anyone recognise the program that's being used to draft the letter? Its beyond my knowledge of 90s Mac software.

 

[B S Magnet]

From Courage Under Fire:

A PowerBook Duo 250 is featured during scenes in which the central protagonist repeatedly attempts to draft a letter. Its presence is an anachronism given that the film is set during 1991 and the machine wasn't released till 1993.

Haha, whoops! Sloppy dramaturgical research went into that prop choice. Frankly, a PowerBook 100 would have done a more precise job here, but seeing a PowerBook Duo in any filmic form is a rare sight.

Even so, the chronology is still fairly close and marks a good attempt at accuracy by whoever dealt with props because the film was made in 1996 and a more recent machine could very easily have been shown instead.

Anyone recognise the program that's being used to draft the letter? Its beyond my knowledge of 90s Mac software.

That looks like a garden variety MacWrite doing the work, and the application icon in the top-right of the menubar seems to support that.

 

[TheShortTimer]

Thanks @B S Magnet - I had a feeling that you'd be the guru who could answer that question and you didn't disappoint.

 

[TheShortTimer]

From the documentary Risk:

WikiLeaks editor Sarah Harrison uses what appears to be a 2010 15" MacBook Pro.

Harrison again with a MBP - this time alongside Julian Assange who is using a Mac of some sort. Any guesses?

WikiLeaks editor Joseph Farrell also with a Mac that judging by the third image down appears to be a 2010 13" Air.

Beside him is Renata Avila who is using what looks like a MacBook 2010 with a customised lid...

Speaking of Avila, here's another one of her posing very happily with yet another Mac which I can't identify due to the angle.

 

[TheShortTimer]

Margaret Atwood using a MacBook Air - can the more knowledgable identify the model? It looks like a 13" type.

 

[B S Magnet]

Margaret Atwood using a MacBook Air - can the more knowledgable identify the model? It looks like a 13" type.

No idea which MBA that is, but I can say Margaret Atwood has come up to me, whilst I was sitting at a coffee bar and using a MacBook Pro (can’t recall which one, but I think it was when my rMBP 13-inch was still working), asking if the coffee barista would be long (which I happened to know: they were in the back getting a fresh bag of coffee beans and said to me, specifically, they’d be back in a moment).

Also, if that’s her home’s writing room, I am going to be sassy and say that room looks like a hotel room with early ’90s décor.

Not much of a big deal for me, since this was within walking distance of where Atwood lives (something you sort of, just, know when you’ve lived here for years), but the barista later mouthed silently to me, after serving her, “IS THAT MARGARET ATWOOD”, and me, verbally saying, “Yah, pretty sure.” Also, I’m not generally prone to thinking of what other folks call “celebrities” as celebrities so much as folks who happened to do a thing or five which other folks spend money and/or time to enjoy.

That said, were someone like, say, Claudia Brücken or Ryuichi Sakamoto to walk into a café where I was already sitting and sipping a coffee, whatever I was doing just before their entry would be segued by a blank gap, followed by the sight of strangers looming over me, possibly even them, trying to fan me back to consciousness, only for me to pass out a second time…

 

[Needleroozer]

Margaret Atwood using a MacBook Air - can the more knowledgable identify the model? It looks like a 13" type.

You can tell by the tapering edge profile and the “trapdoor” on the right side (last couple pictures) that it’s a 2008 or 2009 13” Air (A1237 or A1304 respectively). The third picture also sort of shows the gray antenna/clutch cover at the bottom of the display; the 2010 models redesigned the Air to have the vertical sides and black clutch cover that persisted through 2017.

Unfortunately, since the IO “trapdoor” is closed, I don’t think we can tell which model it is - the keyboards are identical...
The A1237 has a mini-DVI while the A1304 has a mini-DisplayPort.

 

[Dronecatcher]

Episode 6 of The Last Of Us...

 

[TheShortTimer]

From the Smithsonian Channel documentary Planes, Cranes and Rockets.

A PowerBook G4 is used by staff at the Paul E. Gerber Facility in the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum to store digital photographs of the site's countless artefacts.

The documentary was shot in 2014 so it's interesting to see that the institute was content to stick with a PPC Mac as the MacBook Pro had been available for several years by that point. I'd speculate that they were happy with its performance for their day-to-day tasks and decided why replace what works just fine? Which is good to see.

Sticking with the Smithsonian Channel but this time an episode of Seriously Amazing Objects, a couple of visitors to the eponymous museum are shown the PowerBook G3 which was used as a prop in the HBO drama Sex & the City for the character of Carrie Bradshaw:

 

[fooyork]

Bridget Jones' Diary (2001) featuring an Apple Studio Display, multiple Power Mac G4's and a couple of iMacs.

 

[DocteurQui]

I watched Unbreakable a few days ago and noticed a few PowerMacs Graphite and Apple Studio Displays.

 

[StellarVixen]

The Devil Wears Prada

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Nice, especially the first photo, I would love to find that wallpaper. I am also using the Dock on the left side these days.

 

[Amethyst1]

Nice, especially the first photo, I would love to find that wallpaper.

It's part of OS X (just checked 10.6) and called "Lotus". Here's a direct link: https://ia902201.us.archive.org/5/items/mac_osx_wallpapers_202203/Desktop Pictures /Plants/Lotus.jpg

 

[StellarVixen]

It's part of OS X (just checked 10.6) and called "Lotus". Here's a direct link: https://ia902201.us.archive.org/5/items/mac_osx_wallpapers_202203/Desktop Pictures /Plants/Lotus.jpg

Amazing. Absolutely amazing. That is definitely my next desktop background. Thank you ❤️

 

[B S Magnet]

Now that I finished the series once more (courtesy of weekend binge-watching), it’s time for that Fringe recap!

(Stuff I’ve already posted is omitted.)

Starting with season one, the rare appearance of a unibody MacBook in s01e12:
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In this scene from s02e01, we see the first chronological appearance of a 17-inch MacBook Pro:
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In s02e03, in one scene alone, we see at least two 15-inch MacBook Pros and at least one white MacBook:
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In s02e06, we also see a pair of white MacBooks going on the fritz:
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In s02e15, we see not one but three aluminium Cinema Displays (of at least two sizes) and one iMac (very likely a late 2009 model):
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In what I believe was s02e17, we see the ever-brief appearance of a 4th-gen iPod nano:
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Meanwhile, back at the lab (as seen in s02e15), we see the same late-2009 iMac (background, behind the right arm of the lab coat), two of the aluminium Cinema Displays, a 17-inch MacBook Pro on the table, and probably a mid-2009 iMac in the foreground, in s02e19:
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Also in s02e19, we see another 17-inch 2008 MacBook Pro being used to stop a gateway:
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In s03e01, we see the brief first appearance of a 17-inch unibody MacBook Pro:
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In s03e04, we get an excellent view of a late-2009 or mid-2010 27-inch iMac:
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Then, in s03e06, the first appearance of a 13-inch unibody MacBook Pro, with just enough seen to reveal the SD slot:
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In s03e12, we also see the brief cameo of a silver 3rd-gen iPod nano, off to the left in the background, docked to a speaker:
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In s03e17, we see a pair of 17-inch unibody MacBook Pros being used in a staging area:
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But the real coup, and one I completely missed all the times before, happens with one of my favourite episodes, s03e19, in which a dual-processor Power Mac G5, on its side, filthy, and opened up, appears in an effort to save someone:
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And here, you can see the two heat sink assemblies and one of the internal fans from that G5:
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And here, in one more view of this quietly pivotal G5, the heavily jury-rigged rear fans and mysterious black cable drilled into the case:
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Inexplicably, that heavily modified G5 was connected, somehow, to an Apple IIc display, whose case is painted black (similar to the Bell & Howell Apple ][+ and probably a wink-nod to that particular model, given the very particular context of the plot):View attachment 1924889

In s04e09, we see the prop appearance of a Magic Keyboard (which also appeared once before in another episode, not pictured, alongside a Mighty Mouse):
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A unibody 15-inch MacBook Pro makes a brief appearance in s04e20. It took a couple of minutes to parse whether this was a 15- or 17-inch model, with the speaker grille proportions (and the proportions of the display frame relative to the top case) being the final arbiter:
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And finally, in s05e10, we see the brief appearance of an iPad (but since I know so little about iPads, I don’t know which model this is):
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And that’s Apple and Mac spotting in Fringe.

Posted this one above, but pouring one out for a legend tonight:

Lance Reddick, dead at 60.

 

[TheShortTimer]

Lance Reddick, dead at 60.

Oh wow!

I loved him in the HBO dramas Oz, The Wire and The Corner.

#RIP

 

[Dronecatcher]

Lance Reddick, dead at 60

"Agent Dunham..." What terrible news

 

[B S Magnet]

Oh wow!

I loved him in the HBO dramas Oz, The Wire and The Corner.

#RIP

This sucks and it’s really brought down the day.

And atop the dramas you listed, add Bosch, “One Night in Miami…”, and a brief appearance in The Blacklist as The Cowboy. A lot of people also celebrate him in John Wick, but for me, he will always be the buttoned down Agent Broyles in Fringe who dropped acid by mistake during that one episode in season 3 (and clearly had fun acting those scenes) and the Broyles who stared down Windmark in a slow-burn, seething-hatred duel which was the total show-stealer throughout season 5.