Humans are sometimes captured by new designs, colors and lights more than what a product can actually do. How much does exterior design matter for your next hardware purchase?
TAIWAN PC MAKERS WOO CONSUMERS WITH NEW DESIGNS
TAIPEI: Taiwan producers of computers and peripherals are retooling their factories to launch new, gadget-filled laptops and PDAs to satisfy a growing consumer lust for stylish computing devices.
Ref. https://www.stuff.co.nz/hlc/1,,93498~3300655a28~,00.html
What a computer looks like is of no importance to me, and does not factor in to my purchase of it. I would rather buy a piece of hardware that has no exterior design but good processing power, etc than a flashy system that has no substance to it.
I don't care what my pc looks like, it is what it can do that matters. However, to many this will be a selling point. In fact, I almost bought am MP3 player because of it's color. In the end, logic and sense won out and I bought the one that made the most sense, but it was a real inner battle for a good 5 minutes.
I have never entered my computer in a beauty contest and do not plan to any time in the future. Most of the time my computer is not even put all the way together. (Half of the case lying in the floor, hard drive dangling, ect.) If it gets my work done as I expect it to then I could honestly care less about looks. This is said yet I have am aluminum case with all sorts of pretty color changing lights on the front of it.