This is me, trying to explain aesthetics to PC users; hard work!.

There are various flaws in your justfication. Form factors don't simple "evolve", they are decided upon, such as ATX, ISA (wow that IS old!) and PCI-E. Some commitee someplace, design and refine these form factors.

* How did PCI-E replace (almost) AGP - not by chance, CHANGE was needed, so implemented.
* How did SATA and it's derivatives come about?. IDE and SCSI was getting too slow and old, and new transfer technology was designed.
* How do processor sockets arrive at their final design?. Necessity, and from this need, standards are formed by Intel and AMD etc.

The market leaders and innovators have choice, but they choose to stick, mainly, to the ancient standard MINI/MIDI/MAXI/SERVER ATX tower form factors. Just because these exist, doesn't mean that MUCH smaller and more efficient, yet EQUALLY as upgradable alternatives cannot be designed. It is just a fear of change, and, in a way, a laziness that says "if it is good enough, why improve it - we are selling millions, so why re-design them".

You can put whatever fancy decals or paintjobs you wish on a PC, but at the end of the day, all this is just lipstick on a pig. I am not insulting people's individual designs - hey, what exactly can the user do about the fact that the form factor is a space hog, and a wasteful one at that. There is only SO much you can do to ATX cases, but the silhouette still looks the same. Shuttle type cases were a start, but not really a revolution in design; all they do, is take the existing MOBO and coolers, and cram them tighter into a smaller space.

Why don't the people that control ATX form factors, invent a new and slimmer, more efficient profile. You tell ME!. This is why the greater percentage of PCs look basically alike; boring oversized tin boxes, desperately trying to differentiate themselves from one another, by depending on paint and neons alone, coupled with windowed side panels, which say:

"Look dude... look how much WASTED SPACE I have inside my glowing PC. I have so much air in there, that I decided to fill the void with flashing dooberies and glowing stuff"

This is the fault of the standard setters, not really the fault of the home modder or user. The ATX and variations are generally butt ugly, oversized behemoths, which are crying out for a long overdue rethink. This is overdue by many years. If just ONE major manufacturer comes up with an idea, and sets the standard, then WHO KNOWS what beautiful ideas could follow on from this?!

Slot loading DVD drives are only more expensive because less of them are made. If a new form factor dictates the MAJORITY of PCs use this drive, then the price will PLUMMET!!. Same goes for heatpipe assembleys and SODIMM ram. Bulk quantities by the billion, dictate massive price drops accordingly. The top-level boffs are lazy, and can't think - pardon the pun - "out of the box", so to speak.

Another idea is that different companies EACH make their own design of case, based upon a slimmer quieter base specification, but they ALL have a list of component and expansion card measurements and specs, which MUST fit inside ther creations, no matter which generic company made the card etc.
It could be a contest - whichever design proves most popular, will sell the most and hence will be the new, slimmer and more aesthetically appealling standard PC. Modular design is key, as always, but who SAYS that PC must be ugly forever?.

I rest my case - it CAN and could be done, but the complacency of corporate giants means, that for the meantime, Apple's designs are many eons ahead of the pack, sorry to say.

[FINAL NOTE]

This is not a criticism of ANY ONE of you, or a collective generalisation of PC users or owners. There is so much potential for PC design, but it is simply stuck in the dark ages, and seems unwilling to change too much. HP and SONY may have their own, PROPRIETORY (and often disfigured) take on the form factor, but at least their designs are TRYING to change the way we envisage computers to look, and not just sitting back and letting history dictate the future.

Innovation is the key - that is why you hear "OOOH" and "WOWWW" when they see a new Apple Mac. Not because we want appear superior (I speak SOLELY for myself - I am a decent chap) but because the designs are beautiful and different. You'd not drool over an ugly girlfriend, so why would you pretend that ATX is anything BUT dated and stale.

Thanks for taking the time to read my post/rant/call it whatever makes you happy.

I am proud to be a Mac user, and it is time PC users were allowed to experience TRUE "Wow factor", not just a new paintjob on an old clunky space-heater.

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glosswhite said:

Any thoughts?. Thanks folks!.

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spilio said:

Try not to forget that Apple, by appealing to a mainly niche market, is somewhat above the fray that's tearing the PC industry into pieces.

Dell, HP/Compaq, Gateway, et al are competing in a very tight space, doing their best to sell affordable computers (An Inspiron with a monitor and a gig of RAM is $549). At those prices, I wouldn't be dumping too much of my budget into things like case design.

As for the idea of your contest: Prices would skyrocket as component manufacturers needed to design different sizes of everything for all the competing standards. Even Apple would have a hard time keeping prices reasonable without standard sized components being built en masse and on the cheap. And what benefit is gained from an industry wide price hike? Aesthetics?

And speaking of asthetics... The only Mac system that's really aesthetically unique is the iMac. The notebooks still follow a traditional form, and the Mac Pro is just a big box on the outside. Oh, they're prettier, been dressed up quite nicely with nice plastic finishes or quality aluminum, but all that's lipstick, as you say.

There's no arguing about the internal engineering, in which Apple has excelled. But that's because the Mac customer really cares about things like that. The Mac customer cares about that distinction - the fine details that set them/us apart from everybody else. It's a big part of the reason why Apple is on our shopping lists.

J

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