September 1, 2004

The new iMac design.

Sorry, I prefer the old iMac design to this new one with the processing unit fattening the screen. The old one (which I have at work) has that hemispheric base and, at the end of a manipulable steel arm, a very thin screen. The new design is touted as making the "box" disappear, but what kind of wonder is that? On every laptop, the box "disappears" into the keyboard. What's the charm of having the box disappear into the screen? We found a new place to hide the box? But the screen is an unsatisfying place to hide the box because it makes the design top heavy. It gives it that tipping-over feel. On the older iMac (my iMac), the screen floats elegantly, and the processing unit provides weight and stability--a base--in a form that is not at all boxy. The new iMac has an unstable-looking foot under the top-heavy, clunky screen, which is, of course, rectangular: a box. The new design might appeal to businesses that think the old hemispheric base is too toy-like and unserious. I can picture this new iMac on an airline counter or some such place where playful cuteness is the wrong message--not that playful cuteness is really the right message for a law professor's office.

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