What the fuck? Is there a shortage of black plastic all of a sudden?

Oh, man, I could not agree with the OP more. This silver color just looks like shit. I’m not sure why, but it makes the electronics look cheap and flimsy. Hate it, hate it, hate it.

You can even turn it off!

http://www.virtual-laser-keyboard.com/
:smiley:

Myself, what I’m peeved more at is not the grey finish, but plastic faux-metallic finish. We know it’s plastic, don’t pretent to have fooled us…

OTOH don’t get me started on “stainless” kitchen appliances. They’re not faking out anyone, I KNOW what I put in my kitchen is NOT professional restaurant gear. And not being with CSI I am not really interested in a large fingerprint collection. Besides I fear a future date where it will be looked upon in the same manner as that old 1972 avocado-green fridge.

Still, I guess I should count my blessings that more lines of consumer gear did not go i-Mac-crazy and start coming out with lime/sky/strawberry translucent-plastic cases (heck, Apple itself did not run with that scheme for that long). THAT could have led to violence.

Apple makes black iPods now. Of course, the nice shiny black finish shows fingerprints like you wouldn’t believe, or at least mine (old U2 edition w/monochrome display) does, and I doubt that’s something they’ve changed in the past 18 months. They do look better in black though, and I’m particularly fond of the nice red click wheel on the U2 version.

Actually, they ARE using a different material for the iPods. I have a black Video iPod and it doesn’t show fingerprints at all.

Very clever marketing by Apple. I’m told that there is no technical difference between a white MacBook and a black MacBook other than the $150 premium to have it in black. Naturally, they’re selling quite nicely. Right now, the white one is Amazon’s #2 most popular computer, and the black one is #3.

I fuckin’ hate the silver. I can’t stand it, it looks cheap and shitty, it disgusts me, and I strongly wish to smash it to smotherines every time I see it. Here’s the reason: it is a cheap attempt to make the product look like it’s made of steel. Only actual metal should have a metallic finish. Putting a metallic finish on PLASTIC looks cheap and shoddy and horrible.

I hate the fact that all high-end TVs seem only to come in the cheap-silver color.

Hey guys, at least we are out of the 70’s and 80’s when everything had to have a faux wood finish. blech

Yes, but it briefly went to silver after that, before black. My olds still have a circa 1981 silver hi-fi system that has always looked cool.

Actually, it was the tail fins that were the last straw! :wink:

Grey does hide the dust better.

All black appliances must die. It would be one thing if the makers would put the lettering on them in white, but often it’s red, which makes it invisible to someone who is partially colorblind (like me). Unless I memorize which buttons are which, I need a fuckin’ Klieg light in order to see what the hell I’m doing.

I curse your black plastic and welcome our silvertone overlords.

Here’s one for rent. And look! It’s available in black!

Don’t take this wrong, but…

Black electronics are inferior to their lighter skinned alternatives.

I have both under my roof. But the silver ones are on top. :stuck_out_tongue:

A see-through refrigerator… what a novel idea.

Faux wood, tacky. But I wish everything came with a real wood veneer. I fuckin’ hate how all my electronics clash with my furniture. Why can’t I get a TV and stereogram and a DVD player with cherry veneer? It would go so buch better with the rest of the damn room.

'Cuz no one’s going to pay for real wood, unfortunately. From a manufacturer’s perspective, real wood is a complete bitch to work with and costs far too much.

You could always talk to some of these people:

Wooden laptop
Wooden iPod

The Ebay auction for the computer portabile has been shut down, apparently.

Cambridge Soundworks sells some of their speakers in a choice of either blonde maple or mahogany veneer. Not cheap, but they are nice looking.