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Who of you misses the old design?:o

R

raymondu999

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Feb 11, 2008
1,009
1
Hey all.. You know, as I was sitting in the library at my university earlier on today, with someone using the non-unibody MBPs sitting beside me... it made me look at my own MacBook Pro, and a thought hit me: Although the non-unibody looks older, I actually prefer its design. Anyone having similar aesthetic regrets on upgrading?:eek:
 
raymondu999 said:
Hey all.. You know, as I was sitting in the library at my university earlier on today, with someone using the non-unibody MBPs sitting beside me... it made me look at my own MacBook Pro, and a thought hit me: Although the non-unibody looks older, I actually prefer its design. Anyone having similar aesthetic regrets on upgrading?:eek:
Click to expand...

They pack a tremendous amount of power into a tiny space, but I do prefer the "classic" looking MacBook Pros. I own a late 2007 15" MBP and prefer the consistent appearance it offers to the new ones. I really am not a fan of that enormous black bezel around the screen!

However, I do have latch-envy :)
 
Haha. I like the industrial design of the old one, and I actually liked the button mechanism to open the laptop. My 2.6GHz unit is my dad's machine now... just beckoning to me... hmmm....
 
I like the new unibody enclosure. The old design had that gasket going around the edge which I didn't like. The new monitor with it being all black looks really nice however the bezel could perhaps be a little thinner.

I like the Keyboard of the old design but I like the overall form of the new design.

If it was me I would have probably created something between the two machines, keeping the latch-less design of the unibody casing with the unibody base but the old style keyboard with a thinner bezel. I would have also offered a Glossy version (With Glass pane) and a non-glossy version without the Glass but keeping the Black bezel.

I currently have a 2006 17" MacBook Pro which I'll be replacing with a new Unibody 17" MacBook Pro and I don't feel any loss by going to the new design although I am feeling a little worried about the Glossy display. I've seen them in person and they don't work very well in office buildings with many overhead light fixtures in the ceiling.
 
Overall I prefer the new Unibody design but would have preferred it to have silver keys, a smaller, silver display bezel and a better design on the power button. I do love the new mag latch, recessed keyboard, thin display and cleaner seamless design.
 
I actually miss the titanium. Mine just got retired, but I still love it. Worked great for years. Great typer. Fan rarely came on. I'm still going to use it as a backup drive. But that was my fav of the metal powerbooks. The version just prior to unibody, not so great. Overheating, pieces breaking, etc. The new MBP looks and feels great to me.
 
On an aesthetic level, definitely prefer the older design. I think it's just a classic design that will age gracefully (like the TiBook) whereas the unibody is a bit too trendy and will probably just look dated after a few years. But then, what do I know... I still think the iMac G4 (aka "Sunflower") is the best looking iMac ever and yearn for the polycarbonate graphite Power Mac as best looking tower.

With the old MacBook Pro, I love the alternating speaker grill pattern, that beautiful polished power button (I remember somewhere reading a review saying that when you pressed it, you knew something magical was going to happen.), I like the industrial design with the exposed screws... the old one's got a lot of character. There's something sterile and banal about the unibody that just doesn't sync well with me.
 
I prefer the classic design as well. I love how the design is consistent and simple at the same time. The classic mbp will always be remembered as the laptop design that many other laptop brands struggle to keep up with even tho it's a pretty old design that dates back to the g4 powerbook. Only things I am not too fond of with the classic mbp is the annoying grey plastic gasket on the edges... :mad:
 
procreative said:
Overall I prefer the new Unibody design but would have preferred it to have silver keys, a smaller, silver display bezel and a better design on the power button. I do love the new mag latch, recessed keyboard, thin display and cleaner seamless design.
Click to expand...

so you prefer the old design? :p i think after using the new Macbook Pro Unibody for a few months the old design looks dated and rather shabby, a bit like a cold war communist tank.
 
I have only played around with a unibody MB in an Apple store, and the one thing I didn't like was the lack of a mouse button. Sure I spend a good 30 minutes on the computer, and I could use the mouse fine without a specific button.. I just miss my button!

Otherwise, there was nothing that really stood out for me. I guess that's the difference, the old MBP's and PB's always stand out. Sleek, elegant, not some HP knockoff.

Having said that, my next laptop will be a MacBook or a Dell.
 
I think the old ones look old, ugly and unpolished. They creak and bend when you pick them up. The keys look messy and get dirty. The gray-beige plastic joints are messy, unsightly and ruin the look of the aluminum. The fuzzy material guarding the CD-ROM slot is not well-protected and gets scuzzed up after a while.

The new ones look amazing - crisp, clean, neat, precise. They feel like a solid block of aluminum when you pick them up. They're thinner.

They're the best-looking laptop ever made. The old laptops are the ones that look like HP knockoffs at this point. They're still the second-best-looking laptop available, but there's a large gap to the #1 spot.

Apple has a unique talent for releasing a new model that immediately makes the old one look like crap.
 
A computer is a computer and I would not be one to get totally caught up on aesthetics. However for me the unibodies are more about usability issues, like those horrible keys. For sure I think the prev gen looked 10 times better, but my disgust with the unibodies goes far beyond looks.
 
<3 the new design. I plan on getting the 15" MBP and although i have thought about getting one before, the new design has really tempted me.
The black bezel is great and the fact that it only comes in glossy is a great feature because it means i don't have to make a further decision - glossy or matte. I guess liking the bezel is because my last 2 laptops both had black screens and silver bodies and i guess i am used to it staring at it so much.

I think that the new keyboard on the pro looks amazing. The old silver keys seems a bit dated. I wouldn't have minded if they were white or silver as long as they didn't look like the standard keyboards provided with most PCs.

But it is all about opinions in the end. If i am happy with it then it is good enough for me.
 
avalys said:
I think the old ones look old, ugly and unpolished. They creak and bend when you pick them up. The keys look messy and get dirty. The gray-beige plastic joints are messy, unsightly and ruin the look of the aluminum. The fuzzy material guarding the CD-ROM slot is not well-protected and gets scuzzed up after a while.

The new ones look amazing - crisp, clean, neat, precise. They feel like a solid block of aluminum when you pick them up. They're thinner.

They're the best-looking laptop ever made. The old laptops are the ones that look like HP knockoffs at this point. They're still the second-best-looking laptop available, but there's a large gap to the #1 spot.

Apple has a unique talent for releasing a new model that immediately makes the old one look like crap.
Click to expand...

Are you saying that the old design is a cheap knockoff of HP laptops but at the same time you're saying that it is the second best looking laptop available besides the unibody? :eek:
 
This is what has made me decide on a Imac as my new computer. I need mobility and more power but not more power on the move. So as nice as it would be to have a new 2.9 MBP, I'll just keep my old timeless looking 2.0 MBP as my travel buddy and a Imac as my work horse.
 
The classic all silver powerbook is still the best looking laptop ever produced. The new unibody powerbook is meh.
 
WinMacLin said:
I like the new unibody enclosure. The old design had that gasket going around the edge which I didn't like. The new monitor with it being all black looks really nice however the bezel could perhaps be a little thinner.

I like the Keyboard of the old design but I like the overall form of the new design.

If it was me I would have probably created something between the two machines, keeping the latch-less design of the unibody casing with the unibody base but the old style keyboard with a thinner bezel. I would have also offered a Glossy version (With Glass pane) and a non-glossy version without the Glass but keeping the Black bezel.

I currently have a 2006 17" MacBook Pro which I'll be replacing with a new Unibody 17" MacBook Pro and I don't feel any loss by going to the new design although I am feeling a little worried about the Glossy display. I've seen them in person and they don't work very well in office buildings with many overhead light fixtures in the ceiling.
Click to expand...

An option with the 17" is a matte screen. It looks awesome.
 
avalys said:
They're the best-looking laptop ever made. The old laptops are the ones that look like HP knockoffs at this point.
Click to expand...

It's funny that you say that. Because I see the exact opposite.

2005 HP vs 2009 Macbook
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Outside of the trackpad goatee then they look pretty similar. So it's hard to feel the new design is anything close to original or fresh.

And that's what was so amazing about the old Powerbook design. It was so simple yet it managed to be iconic and easily distinguishable among every other notebook. I've seen some pretty old Powerbooks and despite all the battle scars then they still maintain their classy look. I just got a MBP and I highly doubt that in 5 years this thing is going to have the same eye-catching appeal.
 
There are certain elements of both that I like. I don't think the new unibodies are perfect, but they are very good. The new track bad is the best feature. Glossy display and no other option, not so much.
 
aresinferno said:
<3 the new design. I plan on getting the 15" MBP and although i have thought about getting one before, the new design has really tempted me.
The black bezel is great and the fact that it only comes in glossy is a great feature because it means i don't have to make a further decision - glossy or matte. I guess liking the bezel is because my last 2 laptops both had black screens and silver bodies and i guess i am used to it staring at it so much.

I think that the new keyboard on the pro looks amazing. The old silver keys seems a bit dated. I wouldn't have minded if they were white or silver as long as they didn't look like the standard keyboards provided with most PCs.

But it is all about opinions in the end. If i am happy with it then it is good enough for me.
Click to expand...

So, you like not having a choice? Interesting.
 
Didn't the Macbook Pro or Powerbook win design awards? I doubt that'll happen again (jk).

Everywhere you look, especially on TV and even print ads, are unbraded (aka without the :apple:) macbook pros and powerbooks. I've seen the Tranformers movie which used the Cinema Displays, a local comcast commercial that utilized the design of the old G4 Powerbook 12" (even with the antenna plastics at the top), and a magazine that used the PB design as a little marker for websites.

IMO I think this way around they went for futuristic minimalist which isn't my cup of tea. The slit like LED on the front, the subtle curves..eh..I don't know. It looks alot like the iphone which does work.

I liked the contemporary minimalist design of the cinema displays , powerbooks, macbook pros and g5/mac pro. Oh , the iMac too.
 
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