Who else thinks beige looks awesome?

[Pylon]

For some reason, I'm really starting to like beige colored computing gear lately. As long as it isn't yellowed and is the fairly light kind, it has a nice...clean look to it IMO, and it kind of looks fresh to me now that pretty much everything is black.

[jpc]

You're right.

Beige hides dirt better than black, and it matches (most) Model Ms.

I also like vanilla ice cream.

[TexasFlood]

For some reason, I'm really starting to like beige colored computing gear lately. As long as it isn't yellowed and is the fairly light kind, it has a nice...clean look to it IMO, and it kind of looks fresh to me now that pretty much everything is black.

I kinda like it is well.  Looks nice if not yellowed.  Also with used boards, it's much easier to see the grunge so you can clean it without having to use a forensic light.  Am I paranoid? Maybe. But filth from parts unknown is nasty.

[TexasFlood]

For some reason, I'm really starting to like beige colored computing gear lately. As long as it isn't yellowed and is the fairly light kind, it has a nice...clean look to it IMO, and it kind of looks fresh to me now that pretty much everything is black.

I kinda like it as well.  Looks nice if not yellowed.  Also with used boards, it's much easier to see the grunge so you can clean it without having to use a forensic light.  Am I paranoid? Maybe. But filth from parts unknown is nasty.

[EverythingIBM]

I absolutely love beige: especially since it's what I grew up with. When you have a nice clean non-yellowed beige computer rig, with two-tone beige too, it looks really nice.

My 300PL rig looks awesome. Creamy beige, white, lavender, and dark grey. Wonderful colours. It's easier to see beige: and I do find it refreshing after awhile considering all my other computers are black (or the dark IBM grey).

And yeah, I like colours to match. Either all beige, or all black.

[NewbieOneKenobi]

I have a beige desktop in Windows. I'd show you but some of the clutter on it is confidential. I'll have to do some cleaning.

[keyb_gr]

Light beige may be a relic from the early '80s design wise, but it's hard to deny that it's quite practical. It doesn't give away a bit of yellowing, key shine or fingerprints so easily (glossy black 'boards, anyone?) and is easy on the eyes. It also allows for dye sublimated lettering, which strikes a pretty good compromise between contrast, longevity and layout flexibility IMO ('boards with lasered lettering and good contrast are few and far between).

The two-tone keys found on many beige boards are an additional bonus. Gives the whole board a more structured feel, guess it triggers pattern recognition.

I do have one black board, but apart from dirt being revealed mercilessly, even double-shot lettering is much harder to see under adverse lighting conditions, so this one always goes back into storage rather quickly (it's also got white Alps, which are better than blacks but still not quite my cup of tea). Pity, it's not bad-looking otherwise.

[NewbieOneKenobi]

BTW, my old XT was kinda beige. It certainly is now, wherever it is. I kinda like the way they turn ivory or beige from white after a lot of time. Just like human teeth. Speaking of...

[muchadoaboutnothing]

I'm gonna have to disagree. I have a soft spot for old computer gear but I would NEVER buy beige computing gear nowadays (non-vintage).

It isn't that attractive of a color to me and it yellows like crazy.

[Rajagra]

I agree with the opinion of Mr. Beige himself:

[mr_a500]

I wanted computers to be black before the first time I even saw a black computer.

No beige, no grey. Just black with silver trim. Same goes for cars.

You mean like this:



That's a 1981 computer. Many computers were black before the beige trend. It's that damn IBM PC that caused everybody to go beige for most of the mid-80's to late-90's. (Apple computers were boring beige too, but very few others were before 1984)

[8_INCH_FLOPPY]

As long as metal is an option, I'd like case made completely of aluminum with lots of vents for better looks and performance!

Yea, I know they're available, but they're waaay over my budget.

[EverythingIBM]

As long as metal is an option, I'd like case made completely of aluminum with lots of vents for better looks and performance!

Yea, I know they're available, but they're waaay over my budget.

Hello Mr. Jobs.

[Hak Foo]

It really depends;
I used to have a nice aluminium case from Skyhawk which cost like $30.  A while back, Best Buy bought a crapload of aluminium boxes and eventually cleared the remanants at like $50 for $200-value full-towers.  I have one.  But I use a big heavy steel box with a mesh and plastic front panel.  The aluminium cases rattle badly.

[Lanx]

beige and ipod white are dirt ass ugly these colors belong in the kitchen, even then it should be replaced w/ stainless steel color.

[8_INCH_FLOPPY]

Hello Mr. Jobs.

I don't know anyone with a last name of Jobs, other than that guy who works for Apple, and if past products he's helped design are any indication, it's safe to say he's not a big fan of aluminum.

[Daniel Beaver]

Beige is da bomb, if only because it hides dirt better. The small amount of dust that collects on my Otaku Filco bugs the hell out of me. At least it isn't shiny like a DAS.

(Not a retro guy, either, jut think shiny black is a design cop-out)

[itlnstln]

Feather duster.  Keeps black 'boards looking like new.

[quadibloc]

Yea, I know they're available, but they're waaay over my budget.

I put together a system so that I could use an AGP video card, and I saw that kind of case, so I know what you mean... say the Lian Li PC-60FNW, for example. (Made in Taiwan, incidentally.)

[microsoft windows]

I really don't care what my computers look like as long as they work.

[roaduck]

For some reason, I'm really starting to like beige colored computing gear lately. As long as it isn't yellowed and is the fairly light kind, it has a nice...clean look to it IMO, and it kind of looks fresh to me now that pretty much everything is black.

  I love beige keyboards because - it hides dirt, isn't too glaring for your overworked eyes ( like brilliant white ) and you can use the 'board in virtual dark or very low light conditions unlike black without resorting to distracting secondary desktop lighting.

I also know how to get rid of yellowing on old beige stuff because I used to repair and refurbish old cream electronics from the 1950's to the 1980's from when I was a wee boy in the early seventies onwards.

[jpc]

The Unicomp label is fabulous in beige.



1993 called. It wants its retro fabulous back.

[keyboardlover]

Does anyone know if the beige/white Realforce keyboards yellow over time? If you don't know, would you expect them to?

[Daniel Beaver]

Yuck, the unicomp logo...

If I ever buy a Customizer, I'll probably replace the top shell with a 1391401 shell. Loves the IBM logo.

[EverythingIBM]

I love beige keyboards because - it hides dirt, isn't too glaring for your overworked eyes ( like brilliant white ) and you can use the 'board in virtual dark or very low light conditions unlike black without resorting to distracting secondary desktop lighting.

I also know how to get rid of yellowing on old beige stuff because I used to repair and refurbish old cream electronics from the 1950's to the 1980's from when I was a wee boy in the early seventies onwards.

Yeah creamy beige is like the best colour for keyboards. I think IBM may have had that in mind when choosing a colour.
*doesn't become shiny.
*not too bright, but not too dark.
*doesn't look dirty.
*easy to see.
*not "tacky", very general and plain: perfect for formality.
*easier to distinguish with two-tone beige colours.

Re ripster: I think everything on planet earth deteriorates. Plastic's lifespan is very long though.

[mr_a500]

Yeah creamy beige is like the best colour for keyboards. I think IBM may have had that in mind when choosing a colour.
*doesn't become shiny.
*not too bright, but not too dark.
*doesn't look dirty.
*easy to see.
*not "tacky", very general and plain: perfect for formality.
*easier to distinguish with two-tone beige colours.

Every one of those points could be refuted.

*doesn't become shiny.
I have a few beige keyboards that are pretty damn shiny. I also have 25-year-old black keyboards that aren't shiny.

*not too bright, but not too dark.
That's the problem - not enough contrast.

*doesn't look dirty.
Some of the dirtiest keyboards I've ever seen were beige.

*easy to see.
Get some glasses.

*not "tacky", very general and plain: perfect for formality.
OK... maybe you have something there. They are verry plain.

*easier to distinguish with two-tone beige colours.
Two-tone beige just looks like dirtier keys... or two shades of vomit. I'd prefer different high-contrast colours like:

[Findecanor]

I don't know how long but all white plastic eventually will yellow if exposed to sun.  I'll take a pic of my Boston Acoustics radio on my bathroom sill sometime.  It's only like 5 years old.

I once sandpapered off the UV-protective acrylic layer from a costume piece made of ABS plastic. The ABS plastic underneath did not have any UV-protection ... and yellowed in less than a year after sitting in a display cabinet in a spot that was out of direct sunlight.

Personally, I like grey and blue ...or light bluish grey.
Btw, I dislike "metallic" grey sparkly plastic. If it is supposed to be metallic, then it should be real metal!

Edit (since we had posted at the same time, I missed it):

Show Image

Beautiful!

[microsoft windows]

As long as my computers work. that's good enough for me. Some of my keyboards are so dirty they'd make you all puke.

[keyb_gr]

Every one of those points could be refuted.

*doesn't become shiny.
I have a few beige keyboards that are pretty damn shiny. I also have 25-year-old black keyboards that aren't shiny.

I'd guess what he meant was: IF the surface already is shiny, where are you more likely to see it?

*not too bright, but not too dark.
That's the problem - not enough contrast.

NACK. With the right kind of lettering, you can get plenty enough contrast, though I do prefer the slightly lighter-colored keys on Cherry boards. (I have yet to find anything with better low-light visibility than old Cherry dye-sub and two-shot or Model M keys.) One of my boards with definitely insufficient contrast (lettering and spaces between keys) is a very light grey - with weak lasered lettering.

Speaking of low contrast, picking colors can go wrong with two rather different forum themes around.

*doesn't look dirty.
Some of the dirtiest keyboards I've ever seen were beige.

Again, for the same amount of dirt, black is far worse. Very fussy. I had some fun cleaning that black FK-3002.

*easier to distinguish with two-tone beige colours.
Two-tone beige just looks like dirtier keys... or two shades of vomit. I'd prefer different high-contrast colours like:

Show Image

Ugh, '70s. Always makes you wonder where people mislaid their taste. That being said, it's not like cheap-looking silver-painted plastic, aggressive blue LEDs or PC game space ship control panels pretending to be gaming keyboards would be any better. I guess there's plenty of "WTF were they thinking?" design to be had for any era, more that's unobtrusive and gets the job done (<-- insert beige 'boards here) and finally some that really stands the test of time.

If I want '70s, I'll rather take this:


But going back to our 'boards, I think we can conclude:
1. Light-colored boards do have a few advantages when it comes to hiding shiny spots, a bit of dirt and optimum low-light visibility (with adequate lettering).
2. Two-tone setups are actually useful. They are merely unpopular because they are more expensive to produce.
3. Beige boards are unlikely to win any design prizes but they are the most common ones to implement points 1 and 2. It now is up to keyboard designers to do better.

[chongyixiong]

What about the best of both worlds?



I personally like Beige or off-white more.
Still looking for the elusive Filco White Tenkeyless in Cherry blues.

[Keymonger]

I also like beige. I've started to hate black computer cases, monitors and keyboards, because every product is black these days... there's no choice. It's a disaster. I associate black shiny products with wanting to look cool and advanced. Black stuff just doesn't look as friendly and simple as beige. But the worst part is not the color, it's the shiny stuff that is absolutely everywhere. What a disaster!

[Keymonger]

If I want '70s, I'll rather take this:

Show Image

That does look very nice, but it doesn't try to look advanced and awesome, it just is for some reason. That's the problem with designs these days. Even Apple is slowly going there... white looks simple, silver looks advanced, and black just looks cheap and desperate. But black in the above image doesn't look desperate at all.

[jpc]

If I want '70s, I'll rather take this:

Show Image

Sansweet!

That thing says, "damn I'm smooth."  Do want