ConceptPC @ Intel
December 16, 2000 3:24 PM   Subscribe

ConceptPC @ Intel - pretty much interesting...response from PCs to iMac-mania?....gimme a MagicBean!! (flash required)
posted by candida (7 comments total)
 
Some are actually pretty cool ... but I still want a Cube more. As soon as the prices drop (either in two weeks or in spring), I'm nabbing one.
posted by jragon at 5:46 PM on December 16, 2000


Disappointing for the most part--random jumbles of plastic (Koi, oy). Why are we worrying about the box, anyway? That's the part you hide under your desk, or in some other room someplace, or in the walls or in your desktop. My dream computer looks like the scarf in Bruce Sterling's Holy Fire--a display/interface of cheap, flexible fabric, customizable for just about anything, and you can wad it up and stick it in your pocket when you're done. If you need a keyboard or a tablet somewhere, you just find one, tell it who you are and get to work. I'm glad computers are getting less ugly, but in the long run, that's a side issue.
posted by rodii at 6:55 PM on December 16, 2000


I'd rather buy processing power, not a pretty box.
posted by grank at 9:42 PM on December 16, 2000


I'll take both if I can get them. I have no problem with something being functional and cool-looking. I'm sick to death of beige.
posted by frykitty at 9:49 PM on December 16, 2000


Most of those are pretty fucking ugly, but there are a couple which are really really really interesting.

And to rodii: just because computers usually do sit on the floor, why should they? It gets in the way of your legs, it makes putting in disks, turning your computer on and off, etc, all very inconvenient. Why should someone have to bend over every time they want to touch the computer? Or for that matter, why should it be a pain to open up the computer? These are all important issues that go beyond the simple look of computers, that even the really ugly concepts address to some degree.

But I'm still of the opinion that a certain degree of good looks can go a long way. Think of it as ergonomics of the eye. While the Intel ConceptPCs generally don't fit the "eye ergonomics" description very well, at the very least it's a step in the right direction. We can't start tackling the larger design problems that computers have if we don't start addressing them.
posted by ookamaka at 12:08 PM on December 17, 2000


I'd rather my beige box for which I can buy components that match almost everywhere and I can stack stuff on top of very easily. A box is pretty good use of space when you think of it.
posted by bytecode at 6:38 PM on December 17, 2000


Are these joke designs? Most of them are dodge-ass and the few which aren't, aren't anything innovative or spectacular.

But c'mon, seriously, "The G.R.A.N.N.Y" isn't a joke? It stands for "Generationally Relevant Appliance for the Non-technical New user and Yardstick for the future" for fucks sake :)
posted by aki at 7:04 PM on December 17, 2000


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