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Apple hardware design coincidence?
- astrange 16y agoStrangely random, as opposed to ordinarily random?
- mdcarter 16y agoI noticed it too recently and reddit it : http://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/g6gho/iphone_4_and_macbook_air_a_perfect_match_is_there/ http://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/g6gho/iphone_4_and_mac... Really weird, but soo apple like ;)
- ubermoe 16y agoThat's true. Apple is one of a few companies who care about design too. The Mac OS X, iMac, MacBook/Pro and all devices are designed to fit us the best way.
- cicloid 16y agoOhh, the future! Hmm... Has somebody checked if the size has some sort of golden ratio in it?
- notyourwork 16y agoDoes not apply for macbook pro 13 and iphone 3g. So I am guessing it depends on which macbook air you get be it 11 or 13 inch.
- nhoss2 16y agomaybe they just like using a specific radius for the corners of their products
- tnorthcutt 16y agoIt could have the same radius and not fit. It has the same radius and the same width.
- andyn 16y agoOr perhaps there's a relationship between a border length and its radius* - some sort of eye-pleasing ratio? In which case, only the width would have to be the same. *Someone more interested than me could perhaps see if any relationship exists.
- tesseract 16y agoOn a more historical note: http://www.landsnail.com/apple/local/design/design2.html http://www.landsnail.com/apple/local/design/design2.html describes a design system for early Apple products that specified corner radii for various situations.
- StudyAnimal 16y agoThat is a great site, thanks for the link!
- modernerd 16y agoSomething to do with multiple Apple products being cut from the same sheet of aluminium to reduce waste, perhaps? From Ive's comments in the Objectified documentary: 'This is the bezel for the iMac. When we remove the aluminium from the display in the centre here, we actually take that material, and then we can make two keyboard frames from it.' [2min30 into this clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdVG4LcoY4Y http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdVG4LcoY4Y ]
- tesseract 16y agoI thought the iPhone frame was steel. Besides, even if the materials were the same there'd be a kerf.
- ubermoe 16y agoThis explains that coincidence.
- nchlswu 16y agoI think it is directly tied to this process; but it's definitely something deliberate (and I assume thought out for a while) as well.
- blackguardx 16y agoMachining doesn't work that way. The groove in the laptop is done with a round nosed end-mill. It makes the rounded profile and creates lots of chips. Those chips are then melted down and made into something else by some other company.
- tesseract 16y agoMachining still doesn't work that way, but on the Air the cutout goes all the way through so there is no need for a round nose mill specifically.
- blackguardx 15y agoSorry I haven't seen one. I only have an aluminum macbook
- betageek 16y agoIf this was deliberate it would fit perfectly, which it doesn't - the radii on the corners are very different. Apple aren't that sloppy.
- sudont 16y agoI would have to agree with this. More likely, the same design team was on both projects and they used a set of proportions to create a visual harmony across the entire product line. Phi doesn't change, why should your proportion change if it's nailed?
- tesseract 16y agoIt could of course just be a coincidence... however I am reminded of the story about how the (new) Mini Cooper exhaust tip was modeled on the bottom of an aluminum beverage can, because the designer happened to find one lying around when building a mockup, and afterwards no one saw any reason to change it. Maybe a designer traced their iPhone while working on an early sketch of the laptop, and then the detail just stuck?
- mitjak 16y agoBut, the unibody MacBook design came well before iPhone 4?
- tesseract 16y agoThe MacBook in question is the October 2010 redesign of the Air. It's conceivable that there were iPhone 4s (or prototypes of such) in the Apple design office at the time it was being designed.
- jbrennan 16y agoThen maybe the contour of the iPhone 4 was designed after the groove on the MacBook.
- marknutter 16y agoReminds me of a story I heard from one of the package guys from Apple when I worked there: The iPod classic package at one point, if you recall, had a recess that the iPod sat in so you'd see the iPod sitting there waiting to be popped out when you opened the package. That recess was white, but the package engineers didn't like the lack of contrast where the recess walls met the recess base, so they tooled out a small sub-millimeter section of material so it would cast a subtle drop shadow on the base. That kind of attention to detail, on packaging no less, is one of the big reasons I'm a big Apple fan.
- rphlx 16y agoDAE think the Apple form-over-function worshipping here is a bit excessive? Scary, even?
- samlevine 16y agoThe parent post isn't describing form over function (there is no loss of functionality by adding a dropshadow to a box). You need the design to hurt the actual functionality of the device in some way before you have that. When your computer overheats because it absolutely must have no fans and be very small, you have form over function (G4 Cube). When your mouse is difficult for some to use because it is shaped "interestingly" (Apple USB Mouse from 1998), you have form over function. What people love about Apple isn't design for it's own sake, but rather that they care about how individual parts of a design fit together to make something. That they take most of the sharp edges of a system and remove them so that the experience is great. Details are important. The packaging of a product is part of the experience and shouldn't be ignored just because it doesn't help you calculate digits of pi faster.
- Slackwise 16y agoYes. When I first saw the change from the PowerBook keyboard to the MBP, I couldn't fathom why they would make such a decision. The new keyboard, while not as bad as it looks, is still nowhere near as comfortable. Then came the iPod shuffle: switching from a tiny device with few buttons, to one with no buttons at all. "Tap 3 times to...." I don't know anyone who would jog with earbuds, let alone reach for a thin cable while running. What was the target audience for the shuffle? The Mighty Mouse? No buttons at all? Inability to rest your fingers on the mouse. Inability to click both "buttons". Glossy screens? Which people defended to the death. Only until Apple finally released an "Anti-Glare" screen on the higher end models. I don't know. Apple, when the aluminum PowerBooks just came out, was melding form with function. Removing the latch that snapped off on laptops, hiding it in the bezel with a magnet. MagSafe plugs. Not having all the worthless little switches and buttons on the laptop like that oh-so-useful "Wireless" switch. Now I don't get it.
- djtumolo 16y agoanybody else hearing Also Sprach Zarathustra?
- olalonde 16y agoIs there really a submission with 47 up votes because 2 Apple products seem to fit together?
- marknutter 16y agoFile under "misses the point."
- olalonde 16y agoWhat's the point? Please enlighten me.
- dunk010 16y agoI noticed this too. It's not a perfect fit, but it's close.
- tomkarlo 16y agoI'm wondering it it's connected to some kind of conclusion apple has about what constitutes the typical "width" of an adult's hand, since that groove is designed to fit your four fingers for opening and the iphone is probably also sized relative to some data how what is easy to hold.