Apple makes the best/coolest looking notebooks

Who agrees apple makes the best and or coolest looking laptops, IMO leveno's are the ugliest.

 

No way. I say it's just depending on what you go for. In my opinion, nothing beats that indigo [enter] button.
Or maybe it's just because I own a ThinkPad and everyone says they're too bland.
But Apple's design is preetty sophisticated. I love that Macbook keyboard.

 

At what cost though? I am really starting to hate my MBP keyboard.

Looks nice on TV shows and in TV commercials and in movies, but, I'd rather have an ugly ass Thinkpad keyboard.

In general though, this question make no real sense. It's no secret that Apple places a pretty high premium on their industrial design prowess.

 

I think Rugged Notebooks makes the coolest looking notebooks.
http://www.ruggednotebooks.com/

 

I think Apple is more modern than anyone else. and btw those rugged notebooks are ugly as can be

 

Well it depends. I wouldn't say Apple was the best, but it no doubt produces great looking notebooks. But so does ASUS (look at the W3J and the V1, they're so nice!), which also makes the MacBooks. Sony laptops are nice too.

So I wouldn't say Apple was absolutely the best looking notebooks, but I can say their notebooks are in absolutely no way ugly.

 

I think Rugged Notebooks are beautiful.

 

Personally, I took a look at those and I think they look really bulky.
And now that I'm not defending Lenovo, I'm really rooting for either Acer's upcoming gemstone notebooks, or the Toshiba Portege R400.
That is, if I'm throwing usability to the wind.

 

those rugged notebooks would be good only if your in the army maybe or on some hard core construction site..but other than that..I would never buy one for my house

 

It's 2007 though, I would like to be able to spill a drink on my laptop. It's so common, that it's a something that should have been addressed a long time ago.

How do people use their laptop and how can we enhance that experience? People use their laptop next to a can of coke or a cup of coffee.

 

Well, some companies do make laptops with spillproof or at least spillresistant keyboards, so it's not like no-one does this.

Personally I've never had a desire to spill coffee/coke/etc. on my laptop or any other equipment.

-Zadillo

 

I'm surprised no one mentioned the HP notebooks. After the refresh last year, their notebooks have been looking very sexy.

 

Regarding the question; first, posting this poll in an Apple/Mac OS X forum makes it kind of loaded, don't you think? Although I guess it doesn't matter too much, clearly non-Apple people are seeing this thread too.

But anyway, this question is so based on personal aesthetics/etc..... best looking/cooling looking completely depends on personal tastes, etc. I've seen plenty of people who find the MacBook and MacBook Pro designs to be boring or unattractive, and some of these people also find commonly regarded "ugly" laptops as looking very good.

I think one of the big things though is that Apple, since the introduction of the original PowerBook, has had a pretty big impact on the way companies approach notebook design.

What I would personally say is that Apple has led the way in a lot of important innovations, some seemingly obvious, but which were still big deals at the time...... for example, something as simple as moving the keyboard to the back and having a wrist rest area in the front of a laptop......... trackpads as an alternate pointing device, etc. Widescreen as a standard screen size, not to mention 15.4" screens. A focus on thinness without sacrificing power, with the original 1" thick PowerBook G4.

And again, an overall emphasis on the important of design. I think some companies have taken this to heart more than others. Asus and HP in particular. Heck, comparing the notebooks HP makes now to what they used to make a few years ago, you can see that they've seen the important of design and style in a notebook.

Personally I think there's something to be said for minimalism, which is why I do like the MB and MBP designs. I also really like the Sony Vaio designs (at least some of them).

And personally, I also appreciate the design of the ThinkPad line; yes, people call them utilitarian and business-like, but there is something very iconic about the look of an all-black sleek ThinkPad that can't be denied.

 

See the post just below yours; as you were entering that I was including HP as an example of a notebook manufacturer that has taken the importance of design and style to heart and done a great job of making very distinctive designs that are much more appealing than what they used to do.

 

I agree here, HP really changed their look, their laptops are very sleek looking, I also like their looks almost as much as Apple's

 

It's quite possible that with a company as big as HP having success after putting resources into the laptop design, many notebook manufacturers may follow suit (Acer is one already). Hopefully this can spell the end to ugly computers!!!!

 

I know, but it just seems like one of those things that would become standard.

Me either, and, I never have, but, it's still a big deal if it does happen.

 

There's ways to protect your Apple laptop keyboards. I purchased an iSkin keyboard protector for my eMac keyboard and it works great and I think they also make them for both the MB and MBP keyboards.

 

my friend once said to me MAC's are like just plain ole toast while other notebooks are toast with lots of toppings like jam, peanut butter, marmalade, etc etc. While some notebooks may even resemble the sweetness of french croissants the MAC is still plain ole toast. plain!

 

I say yes. They make the most aesthetically pleasing laptops out there.

However, with that said, I would much rather have a laptop that is more practical and looks a bit worse, like the Asus W3J or Sony FZ. ThinkPads are awesome, them and Apple have the classic design thats pretty much timeless. Plus, they have the best damn keyboards ever made.

 

Politically speaking, designs


But the MB's are quite slick looking, though I'm not much of a MBP fan.

 

The MB/MBP are the two most elegant looking laptops on the market by far.

 

I'd say apple's designs are the most extreme in favoring form over function (e.g. slot-loading drives, low-profile displays), and lenovo's are the most extreme favoring function over form (e.g. off-center screen to make room for WWAN antenna). Everyone else is somewhere on the spectrum somewhere between those two.

 

I'd say Macbooks and THinkpads are designed with different consumers in mind. The ThinkPad is made for business people who need a reliable machine that just simply works no matter how they treat it, which is why they probably did not out do themselves on the design. Macbooks are made the general public, or non business types for the most part, so they juiced their design a bit, made it good looking which is completely understandable.

Both designs however, are very easy on the eyes and as mentioned before, both have achieved the "Iconic Look" that is recognizable anywhere you go.

 

One of my friends made the comment that Apple laptops were the "Fisher Price" of the notebook world. I didn't see it at first, but have now converted to that line of thinking. They might look sleek, but I don't believe they look interesting at all.

But then again, this is coming from someone who likes the Dell Inspiron design, so my prespective must be completely warped.

 

So far it looks like from the poll, apple's designs are the best in peoples opinions. Though from reading all of these posts, that's really hard to believe

 

You're on the Apple forum, I think that's to be expected.

I own a Mac and I feel there are just as stylish looking computers from other companies than what Apple puts out but in no way does Apple computers take a back seat in the industry. It's just they have a little competition now. Some of Sony's products look great as well as the HP and even the Dell Latitudes have a real stylish look.

Apple for years has raised the bar in what computers should look like and they've been copied by others. I do feel eventually Apple will come out with something very cool and fresh like the rumored iMac that will make us say WOW.

 

I'm not totally sure I understand why something like "slot loading drives" is necessary an example of form over function. Arguably there is something to be said for the "functional" aspect of that as well, as it does prevent one from having to worry about an optical drive tray, etc. But you're not necessarily sacrificing function.

I think I'd argue that Apple does care a lot about form AND function. They aren't mutually exclusive. Like, for example, the magnetic power adaptor connector, or even the power adaptor itself. Certainly these are both examples of form, in and of itself, but they also take function into play as well (the magnetic connector, taking into account the problem of someone tripping over the power chord and pulling your whole laptop onto the floor....... the power adaptor itself being designed to be very small, but also so that the power chord is designed to wrap around two little holders that swing out, so it is easy to keep it organized when not in use).

I think this is something they've cared about for a long time, especially on the portable side, which is why you have seen them looking at both form and function going back to the introduction of the original PowerBook in 91....... things we take for granted today, like the keyboard shifted to the rear of the laptop, were pretty big changes at the time.

-Zadillo

 

so that's what those hooks are for! I thought maybe it was a stand for it or something cause it got so hot.

 

2 words......... Brand recognition

Thou i personally dont think the macs have any appeal whatsoever one thing that theyve done well is establish brand/product recognition.

If you take a person who is not up in todays laptop makes and designs and bring them to BestBuy and take off all the logos and tags off of all the laptops that person most likely wont be able to tell you if one laptop is a HP or a Sony or a Dell.

Like the automatically recogizable grill on the MercededBenzs and BMWs. A prime example is Dodge and Cadillac. You would think they build the huge grills first then build the rest of the car/truck around it.

Mac laptops whether its 12" 14", 15.4" or 17 all look the same and they did it that way for a purpose. Remove the apple logo and most everyone will know what it is.
So kudos to Mac for continuity but id still perfer the sleeker looks of exotic metals and carbon fibers.

 

ill agree that they are very svelte pieces of kit, they definately got that whole contempary style down to a fine art

do they make the best laptops/comptuers? no.

they can be bested in quality, and you can get much better specifications for less outlay.

from what i have read, alot of apples products, especially the first generations are not very well engineered.

the white macbook is a good example, now i know this is a display unit that people can play with, but out of all the laptops on display the white macbook looks the most tatty (its even afforded the most protection by being mostly hiden behind perspex panels)

i believe the 1st gen MBP's had poor wifi signal strenght and build quality issues as wel as heat issues.

ipods have the same story.

they do seem to get it right in the end though

 

I think the cables should go out the back, but they go off the sides instead which just makes a mess of my table.

2 USB ports? lol, that's um, straight lame, I had to buy a hub. So elegant.

They have just never offered hi-res screens due to some internal philosophical reasons that I don't fully agree with.

They do some nice things though too. Firewire is pretty much an Apple staple. DVI is as well. The ability to run windows was briliant. The move to Intel was good, although it got me out of macs as soon as they announced the move until Adobe released CS3, which got me back into a Mac.

Wi-fi reception is not as great as it could be, but, Draft n wireless is nice.

They do a crappy job of customizing. I really wanted the 256MB X1600, but it was not worth the price premium over the 128MB model. In fact, it was nowhere even close to worth it.

Overall, they do a good job. though. I have had a G3 500MHz Pismo, a 1GHz G4 and now a 2.16GHZ Core2Duo and I tend to <3 them.

 

Designers really dont care about 100 or 200 extra lines of vertical screen resolution. The most important aspect to designers is not screen workspace but rather physical screen size.
If a designer who has a 17" screen wanted more screen real estate he/she wouldnt go buy a screen with 1920×1200 res. He'd go out and buy a 22"incher.

id like to hear the reasons youve heard that you dont agree with... that'll be interesting forsure

 

As a designer, I do care about the extra res. Using Flash or Photoshop for is more relaxing on my higher res PC laptop screen than on my lower res MBP screen.

My 15" Dell has the same screen res as a 17" MBP. As far as external screens, yeah, obviously, I can buy whatever I want. My last 15" Dell had a 1600x1200 res screen, and I bought that thing years ago.

As for the second part, Apple should give me the choice of what screen I want. With the 15" MBP it's 1440x900, or nothing. Apple has some notion about what an "ideal" screen res for readability and it does not jive with what I think is ideal for me.

I'm sure that was interesting, thanks for making me jump those hoops.

 

Well thou no one can really debate what you feel comfortable with i will say that the design world in general doesnt care about screen res. Thats why mac screens have never really bothered to keep up with the res weenie wars.
Zooming in and editing an image thats say 3" wide from monitor edge to edge will be the same result whether the screen is 800 line verticle or 1200 lines verticle.
Thats just the way i see it

 

I love the Macbook Pro design, but I don't like Macbooks Beauty-wise, the MBP is near perfection in my world. Functionality-wise it could still improve - the number of USB ports being the main thing really. Though I use my computer at my desk most of the time, and a hub isn't that much to carry around anyway, so no big deal for me.

The current HP lines look good too, until I found a nice used Dell for my wife I was thinking to myself that I would get her one of the HPs.

 

Apple is dominating the polls!

 

Well, again, Apple's whole philosophy on the use of high res screens will fundamentally change once Leopard is out, and resolution independence is a part of Mac OS X.

So it's only a matter of time at this point.

-Zadillo

 

Well the design of macbook pro is superb but why they did not match the color of remote power adapter etc so all will be the same

 

Well, the remote was designed more to look sort of like a miniature white iPod shuffle or something..... as for the power adapter, I'm thinking that it is better for it to be made out of plastic than aluminum, and it would look kind of chintzy if they painted it silver to match.

 

I disagree. Having the ports on the side makes them much more usable than in back. I don't have to stand up, pull the screen down and search for the port. Instead they are easily reachable and viewable.

As for your other arguments, I agree, 2 USB ports is lame, and the customization could be better.

 

I think Dell's and Toshiba's are the ugliest.

 

Well if you compare Apple laptops to everyone else, there are a lot of others out there. You surely can find others with better design. However, Apple tries to be innovative and does have some nice design features. I love the glowing white apple on my black Macbook, the magsafe is real neat, and when I put it to sleep, the "breathing" white LED is freakin' cool! I chose the MB over the MBP since I liked it better.

Now people...come on! We did not choose to buy our Macs because it was best looking, we chose it because of OS-X! (Why has nobody mentioned this in 6 pages?) That makes all the difference in the world. If the MacBooks were the ugliest designs on the planet, OS-X would still rule.

Show me a 13" portable that has 802.11n (which I run at home and is VERY sensitive for connecting to WiFi), Bluetooth wireless connectivity to KB and mouse (which I run at home), DVI connection to 22" widescreen monitor (which I run at home), AND OS-X running on MacBook screen with Windows XP running on Monitor! Show me another laptop that can run both OS-X and Windows at the same time!

I can boot up as a Windows machine and make my laptop like everyone else's (under Boot Camp). Or I can run Windows as a virtual machine in OS-X under Parallels!

Apple may or may not have the best industrial design, but OS-X is simply the best OS on the planet! That is the real issue!

 

the only thing that compares on the pc side would be the m1210 as far as size and specs go but it does not run os-x. just got a new macbook and this is my first time on a mac and I love it already in just 2 days.

 

Actually, when I was trying to decide on a PC or Mac, I looked at a Sony VAIO SZ model. It was very similar in specs to the MacBook. It even had BT and webcam, plus a built-in modem (which the MB does not have). The quality was outstanding—reminded me of a Swiss watch with precision parts. Noticeably lighter than MacBook too. The hardware is outstanding—better than MB. Loved it. Only three problems (two are software).

1. It was $500 more than MacBook with 2G RAM (cost as much as 15" MacBook Pro).
2. Reviews on Web said it came with tons of bloatware! (Ever see the Mac/PC commercial?).
3. It comes with Vista.

So I chose a MacBook! OS-X was the deal killer. Happy it did. Delight to use. Luv it. Enjoy yours!

 

Yeah, having briefly owned both a MacBook and an SZ, I can definitely say you're right. But yeah, the hardware is very different. The SZ is a premium ultralight machine, although I think the only SZ's that are really worth it are the high-end premium models with the LED-backlit screens, which are amazing compared to the lower end SZ models.

But the SZ is very nice for what it is. Just in a completely different class though from the MacBook really. Hell, the SZ is really kind of in its own class I think, especially with the switchable GPU's.