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Miscellaneous Ramblings

Taste, Style, and the Mac

Charles Moore - 2001.04.13 - Tip Jar

Style is a tricky thing to critique, because it is always to some degree in matter of taste, and there are few purposely styled objects that cannot claim a least a few aficionados, be it only the stylist and his or her mother.

However, I believe that there is such a thing as objectively good or bad taste, elitist as that may sound to some 21st century ears. For example, I would vigorously contend that Beethoven's Ninth Symphony is a much more tasteful work than Elvis Presley's "You Ain't Nothin' But A Hound Dog," both aesthetically and on the basis of its musical depth and complexity.

But it's still a tricky concept, and taste must also be inappropriate to context. Beethoven's Ninth would not be, for example, a sensible choice for the playlist at a bachelor party or beer bash, while Hound Dog or other popular ditties of the same genre would be entirely suitable.

In terms of style, and focusing in more closely on the central theme of this discussion, it would be bad taste to paint a new Bentley Arnage bright canary yellow, but that color suited a '69 Dodge Super Bee a friend of mine used to own perfectly. Context, as I said, is key.

Now this column really is about Macs, specifically my ongoing befuddlement as to how the same styling Department could turn that New iMacs something as understatedly elegant as the G4 Cube, and as overstatedly bizarre as the "Flower Power" and "Blue Dalmatian" iMacs inside of a six month period.

As I said, context is key. Right now, by happenstance, I am looking at one of our family's towels, which has a flowered print motif not unlike that of the Flower Power iMac. It is a very attractive towel, one of my favorites, in fact, but I would not want that print decorating my computer.

One of the things that makes the Mac orbit interesting, I guess, is that you really never know what Apple will do next, but personally, I would prefer a bit more adherence to a recognizable theme, styling wise - a sort of recognizable signature look across the line - so long as they slotted settled on the right one.

For instance, IBM computers have a particular look - desktop or ThinkPad - that gives an immediately recognizable sense of coherence.

By comparison, if you take Apple's current five computer model families, aside from colors shared by some models, there is really no thematic coherence at all. An iMac looks nothing like a PowerMac looks nothing like a Cube looks nothing like an iBook looks nothing like a PowerBook. Distinctiveness is one thing, but this is chaos.

This state of affairs is not new, but it has never been as extreme as it is now.

Historically, I would rate Apple Computer styling in four categories:

Attractive and/or elegant
Interesting, but not really pretty or elegant
Mediocre/boring - they can't really have been trying
Ugleee!

There have been too many Mac models over the past 17 years to do an exhaustive breakdown, but here are what I consider the most notable examples.

1. The Macintosh Attractive and/or elegant

The Cube (probably the best looking Mac ever)
The original compact Macs
The Titanium G4 PowerBook
The IIfx
The Centris/Quadra 610/Power Mac/Performa 61XX
The PowerBook 1400

2. Interesting, but not really pretty or elegant

Color Classic
iMac (except the Flower Power and Blue Dalmatian)
500 series PowerBooks
Blue and white G3/Power Mac G4
WallStreet, Lombard, Pismo PowerBooks
iBook
PowerBook 5300/190
Performa 6400/Power Mac 6500

3. Mediocre/boring - they can't really have been trying

Performa 600/Centris/Quadra 650/Power Mac 7100
Power Mac 7200-7600/Beige G3
The PowerMac 8000/9000 Series
PowerBook 3400/original G3
PowerBook 2400
Power Mac/Performa 6200 series

4. Twentieth Anniverary Mac Ugleee!

I don't doubt that there will be plenty of readers who will disagree with my choices here, but that's the way I see it, according to my sense of style and taste, if not my buying history. Of the four workhorse Macs I've owned since 1992, one was from category 1; two from category 2; and one from category 4.

Charles Moore has been a freelance journalist since 1987 and began writing for Mac websites in May 1998. His The Road Warrior column is a regular feature on MacOpinion, and he is a news editor and columnist at Applelinks.com. If you find his articles helpful, please consider making a donation to his tip jar.

Recent Miscellaneous Ramblings

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