- Article below touches on the aesthetics and stylishness of new computers in 2000. Whether this info. proves to be useful to our team or not, we will have to see.
STATE OF THE ART; Computers: Workhorses, Show Horses
By J.D. BIERSDORFER
New York Times
Published: November 16, 2000
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For aesthetes who prefer a computer with a more elegant look, there are a couple of nice choices. Of course, Apple is the king of computer couture. The company's distinctive eight-inch Power Mac G4 Cube, which starts at $1,799, has been turning heads all fall with its petite size and glossy acrylic. (I have been thinking about getting a Cube since they came out, even if it means finding new homes for the trinkets cluttered on top of my current computer, which include a raven figurine from the Tower of London gift shop and my collection of vintage gum wrappers.)
The Cube runs the Macintosh operating system, which will become a lot more interesting when Mac OS X, which can handle everything from digital-video editing to word processing, comes out next year.
The stylish, 15-inch flat-panel Apple monitor will set you back another $1,000, but it would be a shame to use any other monitor with the distinctive G4 Cube. It would be like pulling a battered U-Haul trailer behind a Rolls-Royce. To make it more enticing, Apple is offering a $300 mail-in rebate for users who order a Cube and a monitor before the end of the year.
The Cube has a 450- or 500-megahertz chip and comes with 64 megabytes of RAM, but can also be configured with more RAM and other goodies.
PC makers have never been able to touch Apple on the design front, even with bulky, ugly, iMac lookalikes. But I.B.M. has taken an original stab at the all-in-one configuration with its NetVista X40i model. The compact system comes with a sleek 15-inch flat-panel monitor and integrated speakers, all in black, making the system one that Darth Vader and New Yorkers will love. The basic model starts at $1,800.
While the Apple G4 Cube is a functional objet d'art with serious computing power, the NetVista X40i is more of an unobtrusive desktop machine. It stands out because of its black finish, condensed design and flat-panel screen, but it is not the thing of beauty that the Cube is. You can, however, run Windows on it.
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- Attractive qualities are described in this article using words like:
- I gather that computer companies are trying to meet consumer demands by providing machines which save space (are compact) and are just as visually attractive as they are powerful. I am curious to see if our team will find a consumer desire for space efficiency in our other topics or see consumers placing just as much value on aesthetics as they do functionality elsewhere in our research.
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