I genuinely wish Apple products still looked like this

[DD88]

I honestly wish tech looked like this still. There is a certain beauty and charm in simplicity to me. All everyone in this forum talks about are bezels, notches …that the screen isnt good enough. That the processor isn’t fast enough when all they do is use it to load Facebook. I think this was made before i was born, but it still looks infinitely better than anything Apple produces today and that’s a fact

 

[Alpha Centauri]

The Cubism Period.

 

[Blowback]

The Cubism Period.

Yes. Apples early Stalinist/Brutalist approach....

 

[ian87w]

I don't.
That beige color only reminds me of the IBM PC clones and the generic PC market back in the 80s and 90s. It's boring, unimaginative. There's a reason Jobs did the colorful iMac.

It's less prevalent nowadays since most people are using laptops, or the desktops are more like gray/black in color. But still a nope.

 

[WeatherWeasel]

I honestly wish tech looked like this still. There is a certain beauty and charm in simplicity to me. All everyone in this forum talks about are bezels, notches …that the screen isnt good enough. That the processor isn’t fast enough when all they do is use it to load Facebook. I think this was ,ade before it was born, but it still looks infinitely better than anything Apple produces today and that’s a fact
View attachment 2051527

Ever use one of those. The musical disks were not fun doing . I was teaching at Drake . omg

 

[BF1M]

I know it’ll never, ever, ever happen but I would love if they put out a Mac akin to the NES classic that Nintendo put out. They would fly off the shelves.

 

[ian87w]

I know it’ll never, ever, ever happen but I would love if they put out a Mac akin to the NES classic that Nintendo put out. They would fly off the shelves.

Imagine if the NES classic is priced at $700. That's how Apple operates, aka the mac mini.

 

[MajorFubar]

it still looks infinitely better than anything Apple produces today and that’s a fact

No it's an opinion, and while these were the computers of my youth and I have a rose-tinted nostalgic view of them, it won't be an opinion shared by most of Apple's intended demographic.

Now...if you want to see a Mac form-factor that IMO could survive a re-birth with a modern screen and internals, I give you this, with Mac Studio Max internals and a 24" display from the current iMac:

Shame however that the modern money-grabbing Apple would charge you an additional $400 for the adjustable hydraulic arm, with the base model at $2599 only coming with a fixed-height arm attached to a ±10° tilting head.

 

[Ruggy]

Yes. Apples early Stalinist/Brutalist approach....

I also thought it looked like it had been designed by a communist era architect.

 

[CooperBox]

I also thought it looked like it had been designed by a communist era architect.

I tend to agree with this comment. It was a functional design indeed but in my eyes not particularly exciting.
Also following on from the above comments of MajorFubar, the G4 iMac imho not only could survive a re-birth with a modern screen and internals but should, to bring back a sense of what Apple were really capable of when thinking 'outside of the box(y)' design.
Other iconic designs (some of which proved to be failures in terms of sales): The G4 Cube, TAM, PowerMac G3 AIO.
And other great designs which did prove successful: PowerBook 100 (1991-92), Macintosh PowerBook G3 Wallstreet thro' Pismo (1988-2001), iBook G3 (1999-2001), iPod, iPhone (2007-). And of course the aforementioned imac G4. Below is a photo of my 2004 20" model. Total refurb with a Crucial SSD, maxed-out RAM, and fresh 2022 Rev.2 copy of the exciting and today (6thSept2022) very usable Sorbet Leopard 10.5.9 also showing it's screenshot of todays MacRumors front page......

Now the devil in me just can't help wondering how many Mac Sudios there will be remaining in everyday use and surfing the internet relatively well in 2040!
I have another G4 iMac 20" which I would love to see retrofitted with an Apple Silicon M1/M2 - which a few have indeed succeeded in doing.

 

[Tozovac]

I honestly wish tech looked like this still. There is a certain beauty and charm in simplicity to me. All everyone in this forum talks about are bezels, notches …that the screen isnt good enough. That the processor isn’t fast enough when all they do is use it to load Facebook. I think this was ,ade before it was born, but it still looks infinitely better than anything Apple produces today and that’s a fact
View attachment 2051527

I miss when Apple products looked like Apple products. When Jony helped unnecessarily deviate away from a font that instantly made you think “Apple” towards thin Arial, and when he added all the unnecessary plastic surgery to iOS trying to “keep up” with the windows phone and googles material design, and when he unnecessarily reworked OS X to look like “Fisher-Price’s my first computer,” we lost that Apple Look.

Shame however that the modern money-grabbing Apple would charge you an additional $400 for the adjustable hydraulic arm, with the base model at $2599 only coming with a fixed-height arm attached to a ±10° tilting head.

Oh the elusive shareholder revenue growth curse of success!

Below is a photo of my 2004 20" model. Total refurb with a Crucial SSD, maxed-out RAM, and fresh 2022 Rev.2 copy of the exciting and today (6thSept2022) very usable Sorbet Leopard 10.5.9 also showing it's screenshot of todays MacRumors front page......

I so miss all of the obvious interface cues seen in the controls at the top of that window, which made working with Macs so much more fun and intuitive before. Those minor details helped almost think for you and add to the air of intuitive “it just works”_ness. Today’s flat design does not have that air anymore. At worst, flat design in iOS and OS X leave you confused and uncertain sometimes

 

[Xand&Roby]

That time is over. Ive and the historical design team going away from , and I think that was the right decision, until Cook and Apple management are interested only on sales while quality of sw and hw products going down. Goodbye Apple, your name was a guarantee of good choices and design while Jobs, Ive and the design team was here, now you are a Chinese/Korean company like everyone, only more pricey.

 

[CrapShack]

Do you honestly think Steve Jobs wouldn't have jumped at the chance to create this...



... if the technology to do so had existed in 1984?

 

[Tozovac]

I think you need to buy a dictionary and look up the word 'fact'.
If we've got the liberty to start redefining words as per our own specification, then I may as well say leopards are purple and have green stripes, based on my definition of what purple and stripes look like.

You expressed an opinion. Which you are entitled to do.
What it wasn't is a fact.

I think it's time to just play along, the OP is just trying to drum up "passionate responses." I think he started another "passionate" thread that got deleted by the MR staff.

Although I don't long for the Macintosh look (with 1970's telephone braided cable to boot), I do agree with some of the OP's sentiment, as I long for Apple hardware & software that looked like an Apple product. When Apple product fonts screamed "Apple original" instead of "me too."

Now Apple software and interface design looks like Windows/Google follower wannabes, and the hardware no longer stands out since the world has followed Apple's design cues.

How ironic is it that Microsoft & Google's interface/software design cribbed from Apple 10+ years ago, when Apple was the leader, but then slowly Apple started flattening things and copying from Google/Windows, flushing away all the Apple uniqueness?

Apple flat design software/interfaces remain a me-too follower, trying to keep up with others, but at least the hardware remains the leader, with the others trying to keep up.

 

[madeirabhoy]

I honestly wish tech looked like this still. There is a certain beauty and charm in simplicity to me. All everyone in this forum talks about are bezels, notches …that the screen isnt good enough. That the processor isn’t fast enough when all they do is use it to load Facebook. I think this was made before i was born, but it still looks infinitely better than anything Apple produces today and that’s a fact
View attachment 2051527

wouldnt it be great if Apple brought out a limited edition ipad powered unit. probably would be better to be the colour classic as it would be more useful. Next year will be the 30th anniversary of the Colour Classic, so bring out 3000 or 30000 limited edition models with a fully useable ipad in a casing with a mechanical keyboard and mouse.

 

[Tozovac]

wouldnt it be great if Apple brought out a limited edition ipad powered unit. probably would be better to be the colour classic as it would be more useful. Next year will be the 30th anniversary of the Colour Classic, so bring out 3000 or 30000 limited edition models with a fully useable ipad in a casing with a mechanical keyboard and mouse.

I'm shocked, frankly, that Apple has not yet brought out a limited edition high-$$$ retro design something or other, in its quest to keep up with shareholder revenue growth expectations.

I think it's only a matter of time before Apple grabs the Retro Design rock that the automotive industry has been squeezing for the past 20 years...

Today's sporty/muscle cars are rehashed 60's/70's designs (Mustang...Camaro...Nissan Z-coupe...Dodge Challenger....Ford GT...Cooper/BMW Mini...) that to me scream "we've run out of ideas," but for Apple, such an entry could be another option for revenue grabbing instead of $1000 wheels and stands, or $20 cleaning rags.

 

[velocityg4]

The classic style all-in-one form factor was alright. My preference is the early 90's desktops with external displays.



I would love to see these become reality though.

 

[tastesliketailpipe]

Hipsters’ wettest dream.

 

[theluggage]

There is a certain beauty and charm in simplicity to me.

Well, the original Mac is widely recognised as a classic design, so that shouldn't be contentious.

However, in terms of overall appearance I don't think there's much wrong with the looks of most of Apple's existing range - it's still minimalist with clean lines and (mostly) neutral colours. The devils are in the details.

That beige color only reminds me of the IBM PC clones and the generic PC market back in the 80s and 90s.

...and would have turned a lovely shade of nicotine yellow/brown by now. However, it was the size, shape and semi-portability that made it stand out at the time. Certainly the design of the 1984 Mac wouldn't make any sense with modern technology.

Anyway - if you're going to make computers for colour graphics work, they should be grey/black/neutral silver so that they don't distract from what is on the screen. The whole 2004-2010 iMac ethos is "we made the computer disappear" - in 2021 it became "We made the computer disappear, then we painted it bright metallic orange!".

Do you honestly think Steve Jobs wouldn't have jumped at the chance to create this...

He pretty much did, since conceptually it's clearly a descendent of the 2004 17"/20" iMac G5. Yet it's the predecessor to that - the "Luxo Jr" model - that everybody seems to get misty eyed about.

As for the details (the 24" iMac is the one current Mac design I really don't like, practical or not) - Maybe he'd have had Strong Opinions on making something so thin that it didn't have space for an internal power supply or proper Ethernet and power connectors. Maybe he'd have grabbed the iMac team (working on white bezels) and the MacBook team (working on notches which assume black bezels) and cracked their heads together. (Yes, I know the iMac doesn't have a notch, but kiss goodbye to having a common design language between iMac and MacBook Air).

Now...if you want to see a Mac form-factor that IMO could survive a re-birth with a modern screen and internals, I give you this, with Mac Studio Max internals and a 24" display from the current iMac:

...the main point of reviving that would be that it was fun (Luxo Jr and all that). Not something that has been seen in Mac designs (apart, maybe, from the Dalmatian/Flower Power iMacs which I'm not so sure about...).

My beef is that the Microsoft Surface Studio should have been made by Apple. Love the concept (but the actual tech specs make Macs look like a bargain).

 

[madeirabhoy]

I'm shocked, frankly, that Apple has not yet brought out a limited edition high-$$$ retro design something or other, in its quest to keep up with shareholder revenue growth expectations.

I think it's only a matter of time before Apple grabs the Retro Design rock that the automotive industry has been squeezing for the past 20 years...

Today's sporty/muscle cars are rehashed 60's/70's designs (Mustang...Camaro...Nissan Z-coupe...Dodge Challenger....Ford GT...Cooper/BMW Mini...) that to me scream "we've run out of ideas," but for Apple, such an entry could be another option for revenue grabbing instead of $1000 wheels and stands, or $20 cleaning rags.

hipsters would love a top of the range iphone in a newton case too.

 

[Tozovac]

hipsters would love a top of the range iphone in a newton case too.

You don't think they'd prefer a pencil and pad encased in a $175 meticulously artificially-aged leather cover?

 

[AxiomaticRubric]

Now...if you want to see a Mac form-factor that IMO could survive a re-birth with a modern screen and internals, I give you this, with Mac Studio Max internals and a 24" display from the current iMac:

View attachment 2051589

I would be quite happy with something like this, even if it had current M1 Mac Mini internals. 👍

 

[orionquest]

I honestly wish tech looked like this still. There is a certain beauty and charm in simplicity to me. All everyone in this forum talks about are bezels, notches …that the screen isnt good enough. That the processor isn’t fast enough when all they do is use it to load Facebook. I think this was made before i was born, but it still looks infinitely better than anything Apple produces today and that’s a fact
View attachment 2051527

Hey that is great for like people you mention who do little actual work with there brand spanking new M1's etc. And I do like the classic look of Apple's earliest Mac's. But I am quite attached to my triple monitor setup with main 30" monitor giving me lots of space to do stuff. That 9" or 7" screen isn't good enough for my photography business needs. Even my MBA 11" would be bigger and better then that.

 

[Spock]

I like the Snow White stuff that Apple released and the stuff that they didn't, like the Baby Mac. The keyboard looks like something that you could find today and this was 1985.

 

[NoelWalker]

It is indeed beautiful, but it would be outdated by today's standards. I admire and appreciate the different designs of apple products in different eras. You can really tell how much technology has advanced and their design philosophy has changed throughout these years.