[DirtyDog]

On a recent trip to LA, I rented a Ford Fusion. Not a bad car, drove pretty nice but WTF with the climate control and stereo controls? It had satellite radio which I love but I couldn't even figure out how to turn it on. Sure, a few minutes with the owners manual would have cleared up a few things, but I had a tight schedule and ****ing with an owners manual is not what I wanted to be doing. In a well-designed car, this **** would be second nature.

Seriously, user interfaces are what Apple is good at. Companies that are floundering and can't seem to get anything right like Ford - I have a simple solution for you. Fire your current industrial design group and hire someone like Apple or Ideo.

 

[jimmydean]

Apple does a good job with hardware layout as well. I remember the first time I opened an older G4 (1999?) desktop because it required no tools. There was a pull ring on the side. Once opened, there were no sharp edges and everything was laid out.

My mid ATX chassis has crap everywhere. I have to remove drives to get to the 24pin, floppy, and IDE cables.

 

[Mike B.]

Engadget link

 

[narlus]

i think sometimes Apple is too clever for it's own good. examples:

pushing 'play' to turn off the iPod
putting the on/off button on an iMac (i forget the model, it was at a friend's house) recessed and on the back of the monitor...was nearly impossible to find w/o knowing what to look for.

 

[syadasti]

Apple does a good job with hardware layout as well. I remember the first time I opened an older G4 (1999?) desktop because it required no tools. There was a pull ring on the side. Once opened, there were no sharp edges and everything was laid out.

My mid ATX chassis has crap everywhere. I have to remove drives to get to the 24pin, floppy, and IDE cables.

Dell has the same clamshell opening cases for a long time too on various desktop models.

Your ATX case sounds pretty easy compared to doing simple things like upgrading the RAM or HDD in a mac mini. Least user friendly hardware layout I've ever worked on.

You need two paint scrapers, a jeweler's screwdriver, and a steady hand.

You have to removing both the wifi and bluetooth antennae, remove the optical drive, a fan, and tons of jeweler sized screws before you can change the HDD and then put it all back together again.

The RAM just involves prying the case open with two paintscrapers which is still a PITA compared to most USFF computers I've seen.

iMac and Macbook Pros are PITA to work on too. Macbooks aren't too bad but not as easy as most notebooks.

 

[goofy]

Ford has went to a new interface this year on all of their cars as an option which most of us have seen the ads for called Sync by Microsoft they have some real good ideas but they fail at making them useful for the avg. user.
An older couple that I know of bought a fusion and have had to get someone from the dealer to come to their house a couple of times because the husband would go out and start the car for his wife (using the keyless ignition) and when his wife would get in using her fob and put the car into gear it would shutoff thinking it was being stolen. Their reason for this is sound , if you lose a key you don't have to reprogram the car and the remaining fob, but poorly thought out.

 

[jimmydean]

Dell has the same clamshell opening cases for a long time too on various desktop models.

Your ATX case sounds pretty easy compared to doing simple things like upgrading the RAM or HDD in a mac mini. Least user friendly hardware layout I've ever worked on.

You need two paint scrapers, a jeweler's screwdriver, and a steady hand.

You have to removing both the wifi and bluetooth antennae, remove the optical drive, a fan, and tons of jeweler sized screws before you can change the HDD and then put it all back together again.

The RAM just involves prying the case open with two paintscrapers which is still a PITA compared to most USFF computers I've seen.

iMac and Macbook Pros are PITA to work on too. Macbooks aren't too bad but not as easy as most notebooks.

What would you expect from a form factor the size of a pack of smokes?

Any laptop I've worked on sucked. My IBM Thinkpad was the lowest level of suck, but was still a bitch.

 

[syadasti]

What would you expect from a form factor the size of a pack of smokes?

Any laptop I've worked on sucked. My IBM Thinkpad was the lowest level of suck, but was still a bitch.

I've worked on other USFF PC that had a button, thumbscrews, or just simple screws on the bottom instead of paint scrappers and iffy mechanical fit and you didn't have to take the whole damn thing apart with jeweler's screwdriver.

You haven't had PITA notebook until you've upgraded the HDD in the MacBook Pro - 6 page tutorial to make it "easy" for you, voids the warranty BTW:

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,2119528,00.asp

Most notebook you undo a screw or two, pull the HDD out of the side, take the old HDD out of the tray, put an new one in and your are good - 10 minute job...