The sad fact of the matter is PC Cases or design haven't evolved since 1981.
Posted this link on a previous thread, so apologies if I'm boring you, but it does show the potential that is being ignored:
Bling Method

they have the internet on computers now?

I want a sandbender version of this laptop. in aluminium...according to apple's new aesthetic. with the water-bottle symbol, stamped out.

but I also want a 17" TiG4.

macayahtolla, welcome aboard.

deny everything

quote:

---

Originally posted by chatsubo:
The sad fact of the matter is PC Cases or design haven't evolved since 1981.
Posted this link on a previous thread, so apologies if I'm boring you, but it does show the potential that is being ignored:
]http://www.blingmethod.com

---

That's the fun part about the PC. If you don't like the beige box the major companies are putting out, modify it or make your own. Case mods have gotten fairly popular lately, to the point where factory cases are starting to have a modded look, but they usually just look like ass.

I went to a computer swap meet the other day, and every second PC had perspex side panels and internal Xmas lights.

All rather naff.

As Naff as this?

If you spend any time over at gromblog you'll amass quite a collection of these custom mod ideas.

Do you all think it may be possible that we cannot actually conceive of the ideal platonic shape of a computer because our brains have been so thoroughly colonised by science fiction?
I'm extrapolating from my own experience here, but for instance due to my pre-teen Star Trek damage I cannot hear those sfx from the Enterprise bridge without thinking that's what a real computer sounds like. My mac didn't feel right enough till I added those sound files to it. I was predisposed to like Macs because they fit my sf-shaped ideas about how futuretech ought to look and function. A blueberry iBook is a 'gizmo' in so many ways that a dell laptop isn't.

It would make sense for computers to be completely invisible and just an unremarkable part of the furniture, but that wouldn't satisfy the toy collecting/playing bit of my head at all.
Any ideas?

I'd say so. Those Nokia 7850 or whatever they are looks so like a missing tricorder from Voyager it's not funny. I basically bought a laptop so I can pretend to be Spider Jerusalem from Transmetropolitan.

After reading Iain M.Banks Culture series I thought the ship's computer in ST are completely stupid. And Starfleet intelligence just doesn't compare in deviousness to The Culture's Special Circumstances.

I am Otaku Lite™

quote:

---

It would make sense for computers to be completely invisible and just an unremarkable part of the furniture, but that wouldn't satisfy the toy collecting/playing bit of my head at all.
Any ideas?

---

You know, you're not alone in that. There are some shoebox sized PCs on the market now with all the functionality of a regular sized PC. I mentioned using these to the product development guy at the company I work for (we build corporate PCs), and he said that there have been studies that show that companies don't want copmuters that small, even with the advantages of taking up less desk space. He said companies think they're getting less when they buy a tiny computer like that. They want some big tower so they feel like they're getting their money's worth.

Cayce's comfort around the logos for Starbucks, Apple, and all the Asian brands was due to the way they are simplistic and non-confrontational in their marketing schemes. Where the Tommy logo the Michelin Man are bold statements of brand awareness (and heavily marketed as such), these neutral-feeling designs are displayed as afterthoughts or details to devices that rely more on functionality (Caffene, a user interface designed by Playskool) or are just too alien for her mind to compute them as advertising (Hello Kitty).

This concept is expanded upon in Chapter 13 ("Little Boat") when it's explained the differences in her feelings for British Airways and Virgin. Note the mention that what might be a cause of her discomfort isn't the logo itself, but the "endless claustrophobic repetition" of the carrier's logo.

[This message was edited by duskheart on August 10, 2003 at 01:50 PM.]

Cayce has a sence of design. the logos that freak her out have nothing to do with the destruction of the world through marketing. It's mostly bad taste that affect her. While red and yellow have been done to dealth, they arn't inheritly bad.

Duskheart, that's good enough for me. gracias.

--------------------