I like how they threw a 2DS into the pile of late 90s, early 2000s tech.

Well if you don’t like black rectangle, you can have silver rectangle.

Wrong, you can get colored and transparent shells for the Steam Deck. Design technology is still peaking.

)

That translucent blue plastic becomes about the most absolute brittle shit over time. When they say plastic lasts hundreds if not thousands of years, translucent blue plastic missed that memo.

I guess it's very much a matter of taste.

Ten years or so earlier, you could still get a TV where the sides of the case were made of wood. Wood, metal and black plastic throughout. Physical buttons that went 'clunk', a physical slider to adjust the volume, a metal dial for tuning.

To me, that was peak design.

Eventually all of these products found a place in our hearts.

And our brains, our kidneys and for some of us, our balls.

RGB, plastic edition.

The original iMac being the device that kicked off the colored, translucent plastic craze of the late 1990s and early 2000s.

There was a translucent George Foreman grill!

Never forget what they took from us

That blue ps2 looks dope af

One of these is not like the others

It just looks so... technological

Hot take... This trend was just a modern (at its time) reimagining of the TRUE peak of tech design: 80s era clear cases with brightly colored interior components.

For example: https://www.thisiswhyimbroke.com/retro-transparent-neon-phone/

Technology design peaked here:

Wii would like to chat

I don't know why, but translucent colored plastic gives me "cheap garbage" vibes. Probably because knock off memory cards and controllers for the PS1/PS2 used exactly that design.

There is one thing In here not like the others...

Honestly, I am really happy we passed that transparent bubblegum-toy style. My hope is that we move towards physical buttons again, at least where they make sense (cars for example).

Later: We all have 8 different flavors of cancer from these

Yes, from roughly 1997-2013 according to that image. In that one brief 16 year moment, it peaked.

Imo the old Macintosh design is the 1969 VW Beetle/ bus of computers. ✌️☮️🌼

@Stamets I'll admit it looks cool, but leaving your clear Gameboy out in the sun was a bad idea.

Give me translucent Game Boy Color any day :)

I always go for the clear plastic replacement shells for my electronics. I got a Dreamcast with a chewed up shell that is now clear blue, did my GBA SP in a clear green a couple of years ago, and I'm looking into reshelling my Wii too now.