Aluminum: Fine for Power Macs, but Not So Hot for PowerBooks

Silver electronics are just another fad.

My rather basic KDS 19" monitor is plastic - nothing fancy - but it's painted to make it seem like it's an aluminum enclosure.

Same with the TV set I've got in my apartment, one of those newer Apex digital models with built-in VHS and DVD players. To make you feel good about buying it, even though it cost half of what a comparable Sony or even Panasonic would cost (and will probably last a quarter as long), they paint the front of it silver.

As everyone knows: silver + blue LEDs = expensive product

The stereo system in my apartment seems to combine the best of both worlds. My receiver, an old Pioneer dating from the early 70s, has a wooden cabinet and chrome faceplate. It has one of those "blackout" dials that appears to be solid black when the unit is off, but it lights up a greenish-blue with an orange pointer when it's on. While it may not look up-to-date, it certainly appears respectable, because the materials are good quality and the design is not overly complex.

In the 80s and 90s, black replaced silver for most electronics. Black with green LEDs. My CD player is black, and while it's a pretty basic unit, it still manages to look decent.

And then you get into the painted, fake silver. My cassette deck, while supposedly a good unit (a JVC), is somewhat cheap looking due to the dark silver-painted front.

Silver is starting to find it's way into cars now, too. The top-end Audis and Acuras have real metal interior trim, but even the basic Toyota Echo and Honda Civic are gaining fake silver painted trim. Along with the blue interior lights, that has come directly from home electronics.

But what about user experience? Do people have any criticism of these products?

I certainly find that it just looks poorly made if it's not real metal, but I've obviously bought some of these products simply because there's no real alternative.

And those blue lights? I won't buy any electronics with them (when I purchased my monitor I made sure that it had a green light instead of blue), never mind a car. The bright blue gives me a headache - imagine driving at night with blue shining at you from every imaginable corner!

Apple seems to have done a better job with the whole "silver" electronics fad. They've used real metal - imagine how the G5 would look if it were plastic! Sure, it's a heavy computer, but that only helps to enforce on the consumer the perception that they are getting a very solid product for their money. Even the plastic separator inside the G5 is thick and fits into place nicely after upgrading RAM or adding a PCI card.

Apple's other designs including the white plastic iMacs, eMacs, and iBooks still manage to look solid, without being as expensive to manufacture as metal casings.

The PowerBooks, however, show the weakness of using metal in a portable computer. It looks fantastic when it's new, and the current design feels well built. It is for the most part - until you bump it into the corner of a table or put the power adapter next to it in your computer bag. Then suddenly it doesn't look so good anymore.

Mine has a bit of wear at the corners, and the shiny coating on the right wrist-rest is starting to wear away. It's not noticeable from a distance, but when you get within a foot or two of it, it doesn't look so nice.

There's also the fact that metal tends to dent - there's a small dent on the lower right corner of my machine (it's actually on the battery).

Aluminum also tends to warp. When I first got the machine, it was unstable on a flat surface. It would occasionally rock from side to side, but over the past two years heat buildup seems to have rectified that. That also means that the top doesn't close perfectly!

Many companies (like Dell and Toshiba) have stayed with plastic. They've gone the "let's spray-paint it silver!" route, and it doesn't look anywhere near as nice as Apple's counterparts.

On the other hand, it may be more functional. You drop a plastic computer, and the most it'll do is scuff it or develop a small crack if it's thick enough.

Take the PowerBook G3, for example. Many have argued this was Apple's best design (I'd say in terms of durability the G3s and the current iBooks are a tie). It's a very solid plastic, so little bumps from the corner of a table or being stored in a computer bag - or even a backpack - with the AC adapter doesn't phase it.

Apple's now has the black iPod and iPod nano. Is a black PowerBook next? A shiny, black PowerBook made of the same material as the current iBooks would not only look fantastic but also be highly durable. After all, people generally buy laptops so that they can have a machine to use while they're not at their desk.

I bought my 12" PowerBook so that I could have a small, fast machine available to me at all times in school (there was no iBook G4 at the time). This involves it being thrown into a backpack or computer bag, being dragged around school all day, and then hauled back home in the evening. It's often taken out and put away 5 or 6 times in a day, and that means there is always the risk of bumping into things - the back of other seats in lecture theater, the corner of a table at the library, etc.

Don't get me wrong - it's a great computer, and it's holding up very well for what it is. But there's always room for improvement.