Being cool and hip in the computer industry is tough. Each company has their own following who, in turn consider their own brand to have these qualities. However, appealing to the high margin “influencers” is a different story.Despite their best efforts, Hewlett-Packard has not really been hip and cool to a key segment of this “influencer” group, nor has Acer/Gateway, or IBM/Lenovo. This is due to a combination of product design and brand image.
HPs first attempt to appeal to the industry influencers is the Blackbird 002 and it is a good note to start on. It is quite possibly
the most well-thought-out case design (Figure 1: The HP Blackbird 002) in computer history and gamers will respectit for this. Of course, the customization is important; as well as the hardcore operations like liquid cooling for all processors. It all comes back to the case itself which defines the product. The Blackbird’s
case looks like a heat sink and is made from a solid piece of forged aluminum manufactured by an automobile company. The internal areas have bulkheads to compartmentalize heat and allow it to be managed methodically (versus unmanageable swirling vortexes and hotspots found in most cases).
Ted Pollock – JPR Senior Game Analyst (Volume 7, Number 18, Jon Peddie’s TechWatch, September 10, 2007)