Ugliest PowerPC Mac?

[Phil A.]

Only Kidding the PowerBook G4 12" was a stunning machine and was the machine that really converted me to Apple

To be honest, I wouldn't describe any of the PowerPC Macs as ugly but in retrospect the G5 iMac was probably the most boring. Having said that. I do remember thinking how good it looked when I first opened mine so maybe there's an element of judging past machines by current design standards at play

 

[bunnspecial]

Why did you have to post that? Now I really want one. I think that's beautiful. All lovely. swooping curved edges. Gorgeous.

Unfortunately, I'm not sure if many of them(if any) made it outside the US.

Also, given that they were mostly sold to schools, I suspect a lot of them have been scrapped. I remember my high school having a few floating around, and the one in my collection came out of a school district somewhere in Indiana.

 

[weckart]

Unfortunately, I'm not sure if many of them(if any) made it outside the US.

Also, given that they were mostly sold to schools, I suspect a lot of them have been scrapped. I remember my high school having a few floating around, and the one in my collection came out of a school district somewhere in Indiana.

Yes. I can see two for sale only, both from the US (at $50 and $1000 resp. ) and only one sold recently for $140. Clearly some love for this ugly duckling.

 

[timidpimpin]

???? I quoted your post about the G3 AIO. I think the iMac G5 was smart looking and having recapped an SE as well as repairing its seized floppy drive am not in the least fazed about getting my hands dirty. No pain, no gain.

Sorry... I thought you were talking about the iMac G5 for some reason. I think the AIO G3 is a bit better looking than the iMac G5. The AIO at least has character... ugly as it may be.
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Unfortunately, I'm not sure if many of them(if any) made it outside the US.

Also, given that they were mostly sold to schools, I suspect a lot of them have been scrapped. I remember my high school having a few floating around, and the one in my collection came out of a school district somewhere in Indiana.

I can guarantee that a few collectors around the globe have an AIO. I personally know a teacher here in Seattle who sold her AIO to a guy in Germany.
[doublepost=1546536330][/doublepost]I would say the PowerMac 6500 is the ugliest PowerPC tower. It's actually the same case also used for the Performa 6400.

 

[weckart]

I would say the PowerMac 6500 is the ugliest PowerPC tower. It's actually the same case also used for the Performa 6400.

Strike two. Again the curves all around make this one of the prettier and more distinctive of the myriad beige boxes.

 

[timidpimpin]

Strike two. Again the curves all around make this one of the prettier and more distinctive of the myriad beige boxes.

I like the front panel, but for me the tapered feet ruin the whole thing.

 

[AphoticD]

I may be flamed for putting this one out there.. but I'm going to vote for, and also place some of the blame of sins against industrial design, on the original iMac. In my opinion, the iMac was both jaw dropping "lickable" gorgeous and an absolutely ugly piece of tech. It actually feels blasphemous to admit that it IS ugly because of what it stood for in a time of bland beige coupled with Apple's lowest point in sales history... But, there it is.

The iMac was just .... kitsch. Which is totally fine if that's your thing and it sure is fun now, for nostalgia's sake.

When it was new, I loved using the iMac, but part of me secretly hated it at the same time. It looked like a toy. The Mac OS 8.5+ user interface made squeaking and popping noises while I clicked on things (by default!?). It was playful in such a clever way. The iMac brought the fun back into computing... BUT... I can only shake my head now. Quite often design, just like fashion, just doesn't date gracefully.

I was totally sipping on the holy wine of saint Steve (R.I.P)

 

[weckart]

I didn't mind the kitsch look of the iMac G3. It was the desktop counterpart to the iBook Clamshell and clearly neither pandered to professionals. I cannot overlook nor forgive the awful, awful, fuzzy and excessively curved screen. There was no need for that, even to cut costs. My bargain basement curved screen Escom monitor from 1995 was flatter and gave a clearer and sharper picture. Four years on, the iMac was already a dinosaur out of the gate.

 

[1042686]

G3 iMacs remind me of cute little gumdrops. That & my wife had one when We first met. I have fond memories of typing out papers in os9 msword, bubbly sounds & curved screen n’ all. The G4 iMacs remind me of some fugly industrial mash up between a Hershey’s kiss, car bumper & ET.

 

[MagicBoy]

I would say the PowerMac 6500 is the ugliest PowerPC tower. It's actually the same case also used for the Performa 6400.

Heresy. You're judging a 20 year old design by current standards. That machine got more attention on the shop floor of the computer superstore I worked in than any other beige box. Then the iMac turned the business upside down.

Lovely external design, but a pain in the arse to work on. Plus it's got a subwoofer in the bottom of the case.

 

[mduser63]

Leaving aside the beige era, I’ve always thought the PowerBook G3s were really ugly. They look like cheesy faux-luxury 90s crap. I particularly think the bronze keyboard on the Lombard, while unique, just doesn’t look good.

 

[AphoticD]

Leaving aside the beige era, I’ve always though the PowerBook G3s were really ugly. They look like cheesy faux-luxury 90s crap. I particularly think the bronze keyboard on the Lombard, while unique, just doesn’t look good.

I agree that the Bronze keyboard design of the Lombard and Pismo does look dated and out of place now. In comparison, the Wallstreet/PDQ design aged better, despite being as heavy as a house brick. The bronze 'highlights' would have been considered a sign of affluence coming out of the 90s and the PowerBook G3 would have sat perfectly atop over-priced, all black leather, corporate office furniture.

What's more interesting was the major visual distinction between the pro-level PowerBook G3 when put side by side with the consumer-market, round and friendly clamshell iBook (in the same era). Kudos to Apple for having the guts to put out a real striking difference across the product lines - what we have now is just a series of products that are all equally as generic and glossy looking across the board with margins of thinness and shades of grey to separate them.

I think it could be said that most PowerBooks before the Titanium G4 would have fallen into the 90's faux-luxury category. And considering the price tag of some of these beasts when new, corporate 90's business types were likely the target market - The price of the original PowerBook G3 "Kanga" (according to AppleInsider) was US$6,999.00 in 1997. This topped the PowerBook 5300ce/117 which was US$6,400.00 in 1995 !!

Not much has changed from Apple in this department - A top-tier fully spec'd 2018 MacBook Pro 15" (2.9GHz 6-core, 32GB RAM, 4TB SSD, Vega 20/4GB) has them all beat at US$7,049.00 (ouch...)

 

[Raging Dufus]

I particularly think the bronze keyboard on the Lombard, while unique, just doesn’t look good.

Couldn't agree more. I loved my Pismo, but never understood why Apple slapped a brown (call it "bronze" all you like, Apple - it's just brown) keyboard onto such an otherwise dapper and distinctive machine. I read that you could swap it out with the white keyboards from G3 Icebooks, and considered it, but didn't really like the idea of giving my PowerBook a tuxedo-ish look.

What I really, really wanted to do was something like this. I looked for years for one of the keyboards described there, but the only one I ever found was green, so...yuck. Alas, I sold the Pismo without ever customizing it. I wonder what it's doing today
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I think it could be said that most PowerBooks before the Titanium G4 would have fallen into the 90's faux-luxury category.

I agree, though many had a certain distinctive charm about them, particularly from the Kanga forward.

For me, the TiBooks represent the pinnacle of PowerBook aesthetic design, and I also enjoy working inside them more than perhaps any other portable Mac. The only thing keeping me from bumping my 1 GHz TiBook up into more of the daily driver category is the lack of a scrolling trackpad - if I could have that, my TiBook would easily supplant any of my aluminum PowerBooks.

 

[AphoticD]

What I really, really wanted to do was something like this. I looked for years for one of the keyboards described there, but the only one I ever found was green, so...yuck.

Very cool. I love the idea of the blank key caps. Very retro future-tech.

 

[YYsMD]

I agree with TimidPimpin, those 6400/6500 towers looked awful. Curves are nice but that one sort of bulges, like it needs a diet and exercise plan.
The 4400 was somewhat uglier than the others of it's era but time has made it wose, with its very yellowed plastic front looking very silly on the painted metal body.

In regards to the newer ones, I don't think I would call any of them ugly. The eMac is a bit odd but I rather like it, particularly from the back. If I had to pick one, it would probably be the Clamshell/Toilet Seat.

Shoutout to the PowerBook 2400 as well for it's mustache shaped clicker button.

 

[guzhogi]

My runner up to the iMac G5 would have to be the G3 All In One. It was an all in one version of the PowerMac G3 (beige) that was geared to the education market. It's a great concept... but with horrible aesthetic execution. Often called the "molar" Mac due to its similarity to a molar tooth.

It kind of reminds me of the Power Mac 5400/5500 series.

 

[EnriqueG]

Twentieth Anniversary Macintosh

The ugliest.

 

[timidpimpin]

The eMate isn't a PowerPC system but is still RISC, and was kinda the first netbook. It is also from the PowerPC era being released in 97 and discontinued in 98. This has a 25MHz ARM CPU.

It looks like something out of a scifi film. I both love and hate the look.

 

[amagichnich]

The eMate isn't a PowerPC system but is still RISC, and was kinda the first netbook. It is also from the PowerPC era being released in 97 and discontinued in 98. This has a 25MHz ARM CPU.

It looks like something out of a scifi film. I both love and hate the look.

Love on first sight I have never seen this before but I really like the design
Funny how one hates it and the next one loves it... Truly Apple

 

[zen]

I would have to vote for the mirrored drive doors G4 towers. The G4 started as a nice update of the G3 tower - a bit more "pro" in grey shades. And then they started adding bits to it, culminating in the mirrored drive doors which just look like someone took out the standard drives and replaced them with some whacky third-party drives. They are so bizarre and out of place, and then it has the weird air intakes underneath.

Quicksilver? Great. Sleek.
MDD? Yikes

 

[Dronecatcher]

They are so bizarre and out of place, and then it has the weird air intakes underneath.

Wow! Never seen a MDD with a Zip drive

 

[zen]

Wow! Never seen a MDD with a Zip drive

Oh yeah! Huh. Now I'm wondering if Apple offered it as a BTO option? I can't remember but it rings a bell.

The standard MDD doesn't look any better

 

[micahgartman]

Twentieth Anniversary Macintosh

Lies! Lies, I say!!!

 

[zen]

Lies! Lies, I say!!!

That's only part of it though

(Also it cost $9,000. Wow.)

 

[micahgartman]

That's only part of it though

BLAHBLAHBLAHBLAH I can't hear you BLAHBLAHBLAHBLAH