Want a super-cool reading tip from the design field for this Saturday? Fear nothing, dear reader, for you have just come to the right place.
The designer and developer Arun Venkatesan published on his blog a very interesting article analyzing the design choices of Apple in the new Mac Pro (and Pro Display XDR ) and proving for A + Bhis argument: that the newest creations of Apple are a true collection of well thought-out design solutions presented by the company over the past two decades, both in successful products and in resounding failures.
For example, the structure of the new Mac Pro, based on the four stainless steel “legs” that extend at the top to turn into loops and bottom to turn feet, is not new: the beautiful but ill-fated Power Mac G4 Cube already adopted a similar solution at the beginning of the millennium, with an aluminum box that kept its internal architecture and feet that extended to the top as structural elements.
From the classic Power Mac G5 / Mac Pro (the eternal “cheese grater”), the new machine adopts the concept of separate thermal zones, which allows the internal components to be cooled more effectively.
The openings at the front and back of the computer (and the back of the XDR Pro Display) take the lessons learned from Apple in cutting the MacBook Air / Pro 2008 (and all subsequent portable Macs) to make aluminum without compromising its structural rigidity – with this, we have a process that removes more than 50% of the aluminum of the carcass, allowing the passage of air while maintaining the structure as solid as before.
The XDR Pro Display joint, in turn, seems to have direct inspiration in the arm of the gorgeous iMac G4 – which was so strong that Apple recommended using it as the handle of the machine when loading it. The cables that come with the Mac Pro, covered with a fabric fiber, are similar to the ones that Apple already dispatches in the box of each HomePod.
The peripherals (Magic Keyboard, Magic Trackpad and Magic Mouse) have a combination of the traditional silver design with space gray finish of the accessories that come with the iMac Pro.
At least one element of the new Mac Pro is unheard of for Apple, recalls Venkatesan: its casters. Okay, then – there’s the cheer for the “greatest hits” of the design applied here to be successful, is not it?
