Abstract
Apple's designs are, well, elegant. There is no better word for it. Sony and Toshiba can come close at times, but, on average, Apple has the best designed hardware from an aesthetic's point of view of any vendor. It is amazing that, after several years, no one has been able to design a better hard-drive-based MP3 player than Apple did with iPod. Even Toshiba's design, which used many of the same components, failed. Sometimes, it's the little things. For instance, I went to the Apple store in New York and I look at the laptop hinges on the new PowerBooks and iBooks, you'll see the way screens should be attached to laptops. The screen opens out and down, minimizing the height of the open laptop and making it much more practical for airplane use. The hinge itself is not only robust, but also protected, so it would be difficult to break it. The end result is like a Porsche design in a good year, clean, understated and elegant.
