Hardware design

hellomrkearns

Was reminded via twitter yesterday about just how nice red-black plastic electronics look.

I could almost start a whole thread just on that specific topic, but let’s leave it open for people to post/discuss some top-tier hardware aesthetic design choices.

Starting from the start

treefroggy

hellomrkearns *points at the tv *
National! That’s Panasonic!
Here’s my contribution:

hellomrkearns

kory

Gonna stick with the red and black theme before we move on to more general hardware adulation

The personal-pan-pizza box Wii mini was top tier sleek red/black hardware design imo:

fridgeboy

kory this is what every console should like, IMO

tomjonjon

kory I like this design, but the actual unit feels kinda cheap. I also think the original Wii design is pretty slick.

kory

tomjonjon Yeah, I’ve never held one myself, but it does have that hollow, budget look to it. I like the minimalism, both in terms of design and actual size. But yeah, at the end of the day so much of hardware excellence is how it actually feels in your hand–the heft, the materials. This is the reason I still like my original PSP-1000 (from a purely physical hardware perspective) over either my rev 1 or rev 2 vitas. It feels like such a solid little chunk of plastic/metal with no wasted space, whereas the vitas can almost feel like a semi-empty shell in comparison.

tombo

good ol Casio is still making em! this (CT-S1) was released last month and i want one (excellently showcased here)

treefroggy

The Retro Red & Black, Silver / Gold boom box designs are all good. But anything newer than the year 2000 that is red and black just reminds me of the Gamestop disease, where anything marketed to gamers is Red, Black, Aggressive, and Phalic.

milo

Man, I never knew I needed more red electronics in my life.

Speaking of which, I’ve always really liked the design of the Master System.

It’s sleek with nice angles, and I love the little schematic type design for the labels and indicators. And I know it doesn’t really make a whole lot of functional since, but I just love the pause button being right there on the console. I dunno why, it just feels neat to have activating a game function be somewhere other than on the controller.

And a runner up is the Sega Mk III.

treefroggy

milo without a doubt Master System’s design was inspired by Walkman, as was the Mega Drive!

tapevulture

i really like the look of the ps4 slim but have never owned one. really do not prefer the look of the ps5. the wing things look superfluous and like they were glued on to me

/rant!!

still love the ps2’s look

kory

Some sharp lookin’ Famicom hardware to join the red party

kory

hellomrkearns

kory Yeahh came here to post that.

kory

hellomrkearns peak hardware design, might as well close out the thread

treefroggy

hellomrkearns

billy

The first-gen DS isn’t as comfortable to play as any of the later revisions and its screens aren’t particularly good by modern standards, but man it looks cool. Especially in red.

treefroggy

billy
I hella disagree Billy
The shoulder buttons are comfy and the general thiccness makes it the most comfy. And for playing GBA games the screen is wonderful. It’s just… kinda ugly. I like playing Metroid Fusion on it.