5 ms·

> Maybe it's just me It is. I don't care a lot about design either (although I care a lot about user experience), but many people /do/ care for design, and are

by azeirah 10y ago

> Maybe it's just me It is. I don't care a lot about design either (although I care a lot about user experience), but many people /do/ care for design, and are willing to pay a premium to get that design.

gnicholas 10y ago
Honest question: what percent of Pro Mac users care more about design than performance? I get that lots of creatives (who might care about design) use Macs, but in the Pro community the sense I get is that performance (and expandability) are relatively more important. That's why the trash can Mac Pro was not particularly popular, to say the least.
- potatolicious 10y ago
  The trash can Mac Pro is definitely too much form for too little function - but letting the pendulum swing back the other way is IMO also bad. The previous tower Mac Pros are massive machines - massive beyond the point of practicality for many purposes. They're also insanely heavy to the point of impracticality. Not all pros want/can live with something 3 feet tall that consumes several square feet of floor space. The "right" path forward for the pro-desktop Mac is IMO something in between - something that maximizes extensibility and versatility without completely embracing the gigantor-ATX-case-on-the-floor direction. I'm wondering about the practicality of something more like mini-ITX - small enough to be practical, but allowing access to all the core bits (RAM, CPU, GPU, HDDs).
  - tracker1 10y ago
    Having max settle on desktop-class ITX motherboards would be huge... having the MB themselves be user purchasable would be beyond awesome. Buy a known quantity board with wireless/btle and an apple boot system, throw in your own cpu, ram, ssd, either onboard or offboard video, and you've still got a decent DIY system. Apple could sell the full systems with a great looking case, and DIY enthusiasts could have a fast path to a hackintosh with a MB that's far less likely to blow up when updates happen.
- laythea 9y ago
  Yes I am always amazed at this because this should be a natural conclusion to any right minded person who reads the words "pro".
soylentcola 10y ago
I guess there is a space where it matters more and one where it matters less (at least for me). Something like a notebook or a smartphone? Thin, light, and pretty have a bit more bearing on these things because you carry them around and other people see them. The value you place on this sort of "form v. function" balance will vary but I can certainly see how "form" can have some legit worth. But with a high-end workstation I feel that there's much less of an argument to be made for the importance of "form" past a more basic level of build quality and form factor. It might matter a little bit more on a workstation than something like a server that lives in a rack 24/7 but when considering a high-powered workstation purchase, I care very little about it being thin, light, pretty, or unique in shape. Power, flexibility, and "upgradeability" matter vastly more.
alkonaut 10y ago
And don't forget that "design" doesn't just mean estethics. Design is also usability, maintainability etc. Good product design makes a product easy to use too, not just nice to look at.

by azeirah 10y ago

gnicholas 10y ago

Honest question: what percent of Pro Mac users care more about design than performance? I get that lots of creatives (who might care about design) use Macs, but in the Pro community the sense I get is that performance (and expandability) are relatively more important. That's why the trash can Mac Pro was not particularly popular, to say the least.

potatolicious 10y ago
The trash can Mac Pro is definitely too much form for too little function - but letting the pendulum swing back the other way is IMO also bad. The previous tower Mac Pros are massive machines - massive beyond the point of practicality for many purposes. They're also insanely heavy to the point of impracticality. Not all pros want/can live with something 3 feet tall that consumes several square feet of floor space. The "right" path forward for the pro-desktop Mac is IMO something in between - something that maximizes extensibility and versatility without completely embracing the gigantor-ATX-case-on-the-floor direction. I'm wondering about the practicality of something more like mini-ITX - small enough to be practical, but allowing access to all the core bits (RAM, CPU, GPU, HDDs).
- tracker1 10y ago
  Having max settle on desktop-class ITX motherboards would be huge... having the MB themselves be user purchasable would be beyond awesome. Buy a known quantity board with wireless/btle and an apple boot system, throw in your own cpu, ram, ssd, either onboard or offboard video, and you've still got a decent DIY system. Apple could sell the full systems with a great looking case, and DIY enthusiasts could have a fast path to a hackintosh with a MB that's far less likely to blow up when updates happen.
laythea 9y ago
Yes I am always amazed at this because this should be a natural conclusion to any right minded person who reads the words "pro".

soylentcola 10y ago

I guess there is a space where it matters more and one where it matters less (at least for me). Something like a notebook or a smartphone? Thin, light, and pretty have a bit more bearing on these things because you carry them around and other people see them. The value you place on this sort of "form v. function" balance will vary but I can certainly see how "form" can have some legit worth. But with a high-end workstation I feel that there's much less of an argument to be made for the importance of "form" past a more basic level of build quality and form factor. It might matter a little bit more on a workstation than something like a server that lives in a rack 24/7 but when considering a high-powered workstation purchase, I care very little about it being thin, light, pretty, or unique in shape. Power, flexibility, and "upgradeability" matter vastly more.

alkonaut 10y ago

And don't forget that "design" doesn't just mean estethics. Design is also usability, maintainability etc. Good product design makes a product easy to use too, not just nice to look at.