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Black Is The New Beige

An anonymous submitter writes: "Spurred by Apple's innovations and the dangers of commoditization, computer makers are finally moving beyond beige. Rather than exploring diverse ideas, however, they have made a decision reminiscent of the fashionistas: black is the new beige (a NYTimes story)."

28 of 402 comments (clear)

  1. Black is beige... by Traser · · Score: 2, Funny

    And in the future, all RAM is going to come in a hypointelligent shade of the colour purple to complement the neon-red motherboard, the puke green power supply and the XP-ugly os on most computers. Now aren't you glad you didn't get a clear box?

    --
    Insanity is contagious. - Yossarian
  2. Re:good cases by codingOgre · · Score: 2, Funny

    Once you go black you never go back!

    --
    Space may be the final frontier, but it's made in a Hollywood basement. --Red Hot Chili Peppers, Californication
  3. Recurrent cycles by ghostlibrary · · Score: 4, Funny

    That's okay, for a while White was the new Beige. Briefly, it looked like Purple might be the new Beige, and if you consult my young daughter, green-bug-shaped is her idea of the new Beige. No doubt barbie-Pink will be the new Beige for some subset of computing.

    And, in about six months, there will be a retro trend, and Beige will be heralded as the new Beige!

    Ah, fashion, you have arrived in the techie world!

    --
    A.
  4. I'm confused... by tartanboy · · Score: 2, Funny

    Wait, so can I still wear white once the summer is over? I'm confused!

  5. IBM by larien · · Score: 4, Funny
    As some of you might know, new IBM Unix servers are in black cases (along with black racks, black disk drawers etc). This even raised a comment in a meeting yesterday discussing an optical disk library:
    "It's a new library; it's even black"
    "That means it's new, does it?"
    "Oh, yes!"

    To be honest, I find the black better; we have a ton of older IBM kit and it just looks... well, old. The black looks more modern.

    Of course, the problem many of us will have with our PCs is a Frankenstein system as we have a beige case with black CD/floppy drives (or vice versa) as we upgrade. We're already having issues like that with some Sun Ultra 80s having black DVD drives (to match the Sunblades and servers).

    1. Re:IBM by er0ck · · Score: 2, Funny

      Of course, the problem many of us will have with our PCs is a Frankenstein system as we have a beige case with black CD/floppy drives (or vice versa) as we upgrade. We're already having issues like that with some Sun Ultra 80s having black DVD drives (to match the Sunblades and servers).

      Kind of like the redneck pickup trucks with body panels from 3 other trucks? Maybe you should paint some of your stuff with grey automotive primer to finish off the look. :)

  6. Wait, wait, we meant "green is the new beige!" by Speare · · Score: 4, Funny

    PC Fashionistas exclaim, "Black is the new Beige!"

    I sure hope we're not going to read an article two weeks from now which explains some computing error, and how the new fashionable color is actually something one could describe as a dusty mint color.

    And please don't let them correct themselves again claiming that it's chic to use a sort of salmon/melon/peach color. I couldn't stand to boot up a computer of which the casing reminded me of tuna sashimi.

    --
    [ .sig file not found ]
  7. Stone cases? by ZaneMcAuley · · Score: 4, Funny

    I took an old PC case I had and used some stone spray (with the rough stone particles in it) on it. It looked like granite afterwards, pretty cool. The case was heavy anyway, so it was quite fitting :D

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    ----- Whats wrong with this picture? http://www.revoh.org:1234/whatswrong
  8. Cosmo says... by MosesJones · · Score: 5, Funny


    Yes folks its Cosmos "Desktop and Tower Outfits for the girl about town"

    Feb: Black is back, everything will be black for ever

    May: Beige is the new Black

    June: Curved monitors are the new Flat Screens

    July: Oooh look at the pretty iMac and "how to make your keyboard match your nail polish"

    Sept: Black is back

    November: The must have USB accessories of the season, can you use your USB security key as an earing.. ifs its the D&G one you can

    December: Your Colour Therapy Horoscope for the coming year, how the colour of your PC case can change your life.

    --
    An Eye for an Eye will make the whole world blind - Gandhi
  9. Black cases: They're all pink on the inside by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny


    Not too much I can say besides that.

  10. Re:good cases by Gary+Yngve · · Score: 5, Funny

    But don't the black ones have bigger disks? ;)

  11. What color do you want that database? by Decimal · · Score: 4, Funny

    "I think Beige has the most RAM..." -- Dilbert's Boss

    Sorry, couldn't resist. :)

    --

    Remember "Bring 'em on"? *sigh
    1. Re:What color do you want that database? by stepson · · Score: 2, Funny

      Can I get the icon in cornflower blue?

  12. Re:Alternatives by liquidsin · · Score: 4, Funny

    furry carpet covers like seat covers for your car to protect the case over time

    Yeah, that's what my athlon needs...a fur coat, just in case it gets a little cold.

    --
    do not read this line twice.
  13. Re: Black is the new Beige by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    "Beige shall be the colour of computers, and the colour of computers shall be beige. Black shalt they not be, neither shalt they be gray, excepting that thou then painteth them beige. Translucent is right out." (Saw this somewhere on the web one time. Forgot the original poster's name though...)

  14. I've seen this before... by Jugalator · · Score: 3, Funny

    Back to the days of the ZX Spectrum, eh? :)

    --
    Beware: In C++, your friends can see your privates!
  15. Black isn't any better. by archen · · Score: 2, Funny

    Who cares about black? I want computers that look like these. May also have the benifit of being theft proof without a forklift, and plenty of room for the tank of liquid nitrogen to cool that over-clocked Athlon

  16. Keeping computers "In Syle" by TheGreenLantern · · Score: 3, Funny

    Ugh. This reminds me of the horror stories I had back when I was home-delivering computers for CompUSSR...

    Horror Story 1: Delivered an HP something-or-other with 15" monitor to some 40 year old yuppie woman. She wants the thing setup on her roll-top desk. Only problem is that with the monitor setup, the roll-top wouldn't close. Rather than just leaving the roll-top open, though, or moving the computer to some other desk (of which she had plenty), we had to find her a monitor that would fit under that roll-top. We end up putting a floor model 15" that had a slightly different form, but was over a year older. All because the roll-top had to close.

    Horror Story 2: Another female yuppie comes in and drops 3 grand on the hottest piece of Compaq hardware in the place. Top of the line everything (at that time, forget the specs). She also gets a big-ass nice monitor, Laserjet, scanner, the whole nine yards. Home-Office setup to the max.

    I show up and start setting up this computer underneath the desk she wants her monitor/scanner/etc on, but no, it can't go under there. The tower has to be in that closet 8 feet away. And I want to be able to keep the door closed at all times too. Oh, and I want the speakers on these two little end-tables on opposite ends of the room. We end up drilling a fucking whole through the wall, running a big mass of extender cables underneath the carpet, and giving this ho a free pair of wireless speakers to accomodate her. And because we had to extend the video so far, a $500 monitor with hot-shit video card ends up looking like a color television from 1955. But that's OK, because the computer has to be in the closet out of site, instead of just underneath the computer desk which was designed to have a computer underneath it.

    --

    It hurts when I pee.
  17. Re:Apple "invented" the beige Personal Computer... by Sloppy · · Score: 2, Funny

    Weird coincidence(?), since he also introduced the first widely-known (afaik) black computer in 1988. Is Jobs the industry fashion leader or something?

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    As copyright owner of this comment, I authorize everyone to defeat any technological measure which limits access to it.
  18. Who cares about a case? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    It's sitting underneath your desk. I have more important things to do than say:

    "Hey, look at my fucking computer. Look at that shit right there. You see that, motherfucker? That's a sweet looking machine. It's sweet enough that I could fuck one of its ports in the back. And look at that fucking neon light in it! Bad ass! You see how I ran my cables right there? Fucking 'leet, ain't it? And look at this shit over here, that's a goddamn SCSI card, bitch. You see the little red light on the card? That shit actually came with it, those fuckers at Adaptec already slammed the card before I even got it! Hey, shitface, get back over here, I'm not done showing you my 'rig'. That right there is a fucking CD burner, ass-fucker. You see that? I can burn a CD so fucking fast it'd scare the fucking RIAA, man. And would you fucking look at this shit! Holy fucking shit! This is a fucking DVD-ROM drive. I can watch fucking *movies* and shit on this motherfucker. *MOVIES*! And look right here. This case has no fewer than fucking 10 fans! 10, motherfucker! It sounds like a goddamn freight train up in this motherfucker! Or a fucking plane taking off at the fucking airport! Hey, bitch, speaking of airport, let me show you my slammed fucking laptop, this damn this is choice..."

  19. Eww, it clashes with my blouse! by Chelloveck · · Score: 4, Funny

    Look, guys... It's a computer. It's a tool, not an objet d'art. Shove it under your desk and forget about it already! Who cares what flippin' color it is? In a couple months it'll have that "accumulated dust" veneer anyway.

    Now, quit messing with those case mods and get back to something important. Like desktop themes.

    --
    Chelloveck
    I give up on debugging. From now on, SIGSEGV is a feature.
  20. I thought. by SLot · · Score: 2, Funny

    that Pink was the new Black?!?!!

    *must turn in goth membership card*

  21. But... What Color was it before BlacK?? by dbretton · · Score: 4, Funny

    Originally, the new PC color was TURQUOISE.

    However, after an extensive study, researches at the Fashion Dept. at John Hopkins University discovered a slight color-wheel miscalculation in their assessment of the Spring 2002 PC line.
    It turns out now, that Beige is the new black.

  22. I doubt it by infinite9 · · Score: 3, Funny

    I doubt it. Once you go black, you'll never go back.

    --
    Disconnect your television. Do your own research. Draw your own conclusions. They're probably lying. Don't be a sheep.
  23. shades of black. by oyenstikker · · Score: 5, Funny

    If everyone used #000000 black, it would be fine. All black things would be black. But Dell's black is really dark grey, and someone else's black is really navy blue, and someone else's is a lighter dark grey. Looks almost as silly as having 4 drives that are 4 different shades of beige, none of which are the shade of the case.

    --
    The masses are the crack whores of religion.
  24. Big Blue by finny · · Score: 2, Funny

    This article has an interesting sidebar in the paper edition regarding the Altair which chose "a classy powder blue exterior" instead of beige as the color for it's pc's.

    Best quote: "..the company chose blue because of the blue mainframe computers used by IBM, as if to suggest that the inexpensive, general-purpose Altair microcomputer was also a real computer"

  25. Camo the new black by gelfling · · Score: 3, Funny

    Operation Infinite Loop!! paint yer server Camo. Let's see we have desert grey, desert blue, desert brown, brown, green, green brown, brown grey, granite, low contrast dusk, black grey, air superiority grey and sunday finest redneck gold

  26. Re:good cases by flagstone · · Score: 2, Funny

    Actually I heard if you put green around the outside edge of the case, the sound quality goes up.

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