As a long time Apple fan, I've never truly understood Jobs' and Apple's inherent desire to keep customers out of their devices. Apple has, at times, had brilliant design helping aid accessibility to repairs in many of their products. I think back to the 7x00 series, 8x00 series and 9x00 series desktops starting with the 7200, 8600, and 9600 towers. You push a button or two, slide the case off or flip the door down, flip a switch and the drive bays flip up and out of the way. The desktop even had a kickstand for accessibility. Compared to every other desktop or tower PC, it was sheer brilliance even as it was coated in generic beige like the rest.
A step further... the blue and white G3's which gave way to the varying designs of G4. Again, pull a little ring lever, the side door pops open and you have full accessibility. This is what is truly brilliant design. Not just cosmetic prettiness, but actual sexiness with ACTUAL usability. The functionality was genius.
Instead we've moved forward to a time when less and less is serviceable and upgradable by the end users. Jobs was a big fan of Bauhaus level designs like what you'd see with a company like Braun, or even many of Sony's own product designs. Yet... more and more Apple products are a function follows form vs. the ACTUAL philosophy of Bauhaus design which was that form should always follow function. Sure, maybe he more desired the cosmetic elements of their design... but in reality, the mission of what they had is the mission that ALL good product designers should have.
The M1 Macs with the memory inaccessible and non-upgradable is yet another fly in the proverbial ointment. Sure, it might help some with the efficiency of the whole package. That said, there has to be a better way that would be both more innovative in design and more flexible and upgradable. I can see iMac's with memory hatches designed on both the 24" and whatever the larger size ends up being. Better accessibility for RAM and SSD upgrades on laptops and desktops (including the Mac Mini which is beyond silly with how it's designed vs. the easy access of something of a NUC). An easier way to open the phones to get access to the batteries would be preferable as well. I think back to the Mac Pros with the slide in pseudo socketed SATA hard drives. I can see Apple providing a genius way to seat standard M.2 drives that are totally toolless and elegant in their function. This is the kinds of things that a post-Jobs era Apple can and should get right. I'd love to see Tim Cook take Apple forward in this direction. To truly take the best of Jobs' vision and push it forward with the level of accessibility that Woz (who always has embraced function to the utmost) and any excellent product designer would truly appreciate.
Lead the design world Apple, not be contrarian dictators to ACTUAL good design and what it means. A sexy coat of paint on a product that is inflexible and inaccessible and defeatist in its design motives is NOT good design no matter how much you talk Jony into waxing fantastically about it in a video. I love how Apple products look, I often find that they do not follow great design principles. Proof? The rechargeable Apple mouse that is unusable while it's charging. Every other mouse company on the market can get this right so that it basically becomes a wired mouse when plugged in. Apple? It is a turtle on it's back unable to be used while it sits there pawing at the sky hoping someone unplugs it and flips it over so it can be used again.
Apple is FAR better than an expensive set of wheels for the Mac Pro. It's time their design teams truly show their moxie and build the best damn designed products on the market and TRULY raise the bar. Make every PC gaming tower builder envious of what we have despite many scorning Apple while building in truly garbage cases with more corners cut than a paper snowflake makers convention. But hey... at least it lights up? *facepalm* Don't just set the bar, raise it through the freakin' roof.
A step further... the blue and white G3's which gave way to the varying designs of G4. Again, pull a little ring lever, the side door pops open and you have full accessibility. This is what is truly brilliant design. Not just cosmetic prettiness, but actual sexiness with ACTUAL usability. The functionality was genius.
Instead we've moved forward to a time when less and less is serviceable and upgradable by the end users. Jobs was a big fan of Bauhaus level designs like what you'd see with a company like Braun, or even many of Sony's own product designs. Yet... more and more Apple products are a function follows form vs. the ACTUAL philosophy of Bauhaus design which was that form should always follow function. Sure, maybe he more desired the cosmetic elements of their design... but in reality, the mission of what they had is the mission that ALL good product designers should have.
The M1 Macs with the memory inaccessible and non-upgradable is yet another fly in the proverbial ointment. Sure, it might help some with the efficiency of the whole package. That said, there has to be a better way that would be both more innovative in design and more flexible and upgradable. I can see iMac's with memory hatches designed on both the 24" and whatever the larger size ends up being. Better accessibility for RAM and SSD upgrades on laptops and desktops (including the Mac Mini which is beyond silly with how it's designed vs. the easy access of something of a NUC). An easier way to open the phones to get access to the batteries would be preferable as well. I think back to the Mac Pros with the slide in pseudo socketed SATA hard drives. I can see Apple providing a genius way to seat standard M.2 drives that are totally toolless and elegant in their function. This is the kinds of things that a post-Jobs era Apple can and should get right. I'd love to see Tim Cook take Apple forward in this direction. To truly take the best of Jobs' vision and push it forward with the level of accessibility that Woz (who always has embraced function to the utmost) and any excellent product designer would truly appreciate.
Lead the design world Apple, not be contrarian dictators to ACTUAL good design and what it means. A sexy coat of paint on a product that is inflexible and inaccessible and defeatist in its design motives is NOT good design no matter how much you talk Jony into waxing fantastically about it in a video. I love how Apple products look, I often find that they do not follow great design principles. Proof? The rechargeable Apple mouse that is unusable while it's charging. Every other mouse company on the market can get this right so that it basically becomes a wired mouse when plugged in. Apple? It is a turtle on it's back unable to be used while it sits there pawing at the sky hoping someone unplugs it and flips it over so it can be used again.
Apple is FAR better than an expensive set of wheels for the Mac Pro. It's time their design teams truly show their moxie and build the best damn designed products on the market and TRULY raise the bar. Make every PC gaming tower builder envious of what we have despite many scorning Apple while building in truly garbage cases with more corners cut than a paper snowflake makers convention. But hey... at least it lights up? *facepalm* Don't just set the bar, raise it through the freakin' roof.
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