Gemma Cartwright writes...
My friend got a MacBook last week. When I asked her why she'd decided on it she said 'because it looks nice'. Now I'm not going to go into the dreaded Mac vs PC argument here (let's just say I prefer Mitchell to Webb and leave it at that), what I'm more interested in is the though processes of the everywoman. When I buy a laptop I choose it based on the specs. My friend picked it because it was white and shiny and had nice menus...
I'm not having a go at my mate. She likes pretty things. Her flat is like a museum of artsy kitsch, and the MacBook suits her. She doesn't use a computer for all kinds of complicated tasks. It's for writing assignments, saving photos and annoying people on Facebook, so it doesn't matter if she has a super-fast processor and extra USB ports (which are my specs of choice). MacBooks don't do too badly on the spec front, even if you pay extra for the good looks, and she's happy with her shiny new gadget.
My question is this: does my mate represents the key female consumer now? There are plenty of women out there who shop like geeks, spending a long time researching things before whipping out the plastic. But there are also loads of girls who couldn't tell you whether a gigabyte is bigger or smaller than a megabyte (neither do they care). Are these the women who buy the flower covered pay-as-you-go mobile phones and diamante encrusted headphones too? And just because we recognise the importance of what's inside a gadget, does that mean we have to sacrifice style as a result, just to look like we know what we're talking about?
Deep down, I think the everywoman is a little bit geek and a little bit chic. She won't be completely fooled by pretty packaging, but she's happy to admit sometimes it'll sway her into purchasing. I think there needs to be a happy medium. I can play Animal Crossing on my pink DS lite, but when it comes to work I need my custom-built (and thus slightly ugly looking) laptop. I can go into Dixons and get infuriated with someone who obviously knows less about digital video cameras than me, but I can also choose to use the LG chocolate phone simply because I like it (even if I can't get the browser to work and keep accidentally hanging up on my answerphone). It's all about compromise!
What about you? Geek, chic or a little bit of both?
At CES this year Gemma Cartwright used a pink laptop. All the men laughed, but it was the only one that could handle the video editing software she needed...
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I like to think of myself as more Geek than Chic, but I did get the smallest, thinnest possible laptop even though the spec is a bit rubbish. My rational argument was that I have a bad shoulder and I don't want to lug around any more weight than I have to, but if I'm honest I'm secretly pleased that it fits in its slipcase inside a normal large-ish handbag. It might take five minutes to start up, find a 3G signal and get to my email, but at least I don't have to carry some ugly black nylon monstrosity to keep it in.
In my defense though, I ruled out the Samsung Q40 straight away just because it was pink.
I would consider myself a little of both. I am geeky in I love to have the newest gaget, but then I find that I buy things for the way they look. I also recently bought a Macbook. I didnt just buy it for looks. I made sure to get a decent one. Granted I do love the clean lines of a Mac. I think that most of us women are a little of both!!!
Definitely both! I love my Strawberry Chocolate phone even though it's inconvenient (BUT CUTE AND PINK), but I'd rather have a slightly heavier and perhaps less attractive laptop for the sake of a dual processor and longer battery life.
I'm a little of both, lean a little heavier to geek. Specs are important. I want thin and light, but fast and lots of memory, that said it must look good. However with all of the various skins you can adorn yur phone, ipod and laptops wuth. i can make it pretty myself without sacrificing performance. Cases on the other hand must be quality leather and never black or brown
I do research online, ask around. If I see someone with a gadget that I'm thinking of getting, I'll ask them about it. I want the best value for my money. But if there's a choice between sparkly and plain, and the price is right, I'll go for sparkly.
I have to say that I'm a bit of both. I loove the Macbook because of its look, but I ended up buying a pretty HP laptop instead because of the specs. On the other hand, my old cellphone had more features than my new cell. Still I decided to buy a new one because it looked better and the colour screen had a better resolution. I did tons of research before deciding on buying it though :)
I would say that I value specs and looks 50/50. For instance, I could never buy a Lenovo despite how good they are because they look horrible!
I'm geek and chic, I have a very pretty Sony Vaio - I researched it loads to make sure I was getting exactly what I wanted (light, small, long battery life, lots of ram, and twice as much memory as I had before) and I chose to pay the extra to have a Vaio over ugly machines with similar specs. I could never stand to use a Mac all the time.
I'm more geek than chic when it comes to my electronics. Mind you before I got my MacBook, I did think it was pretty. But I also knew it was a Mac. So I researched and I have some kick ass stuff built into it too. So I got geek and chic in one.
I don't care what my cams look like either, as long as they're really good for the money. I'm a froogle/frugle geek.
I'm more about it working right and being a good deal than being cute. But if it's comparable I almost always go for the chic!
I am a life long PC user (duel boot winxp with linux suse 9) and I have just purchased a mac because it gives me the freedom of linux without the headaches when i buy new gadgets.
i notice that in the article both writers admit that windows is inferior (note the confession of recent crashes) but resist the move to a mac because its prettier - what kind of sense does that make? but the best product for you other the looks, and if it just happens to also look nice / match your ipod / your shoes why not get it?
and yes my mac/ipod/mobile are all the same colour. and its not pink.
I am also 50/50 geek/chic. I always research my gadgets and usually willing to pay more if it looks nicer (or eventually find like a girly skin to stick on after). My PC is not as pretty as a Mac or Vaio but it is small and slim with Hello Kitty stickers on it.My blackberry pearl is the white version and bought it cuz it looks girly...but don't be fooled, I have used every feature of this phone to the max...from tethering to constantly making sure I have a lot of free internal memory for more application downloading. I KNOW my gadgets...but they're for show too :)
I'd put myself in both camps too, although if forced to go over to one camp, I'd be found on the geek side of the fence; after all, I buy things with the intention of USING them.
I have an iBook I bought in 2001. While I'm ready to admit that I love the look and prefer its GUI to that of a PC, for me the deal-breaker was reliability. I was going abroad, and also taking a distance learning programme; I did not want something that was as unreliable as the version of Windows I'd been using.
I still don't regret my choice; I paid a good deal more than I would have for many PCs, but it's not let me down: it's crashed only twice in 6 years. It's handled everything I've thrown at it, including the occasional Photoshop job. I'd say the iBook's looks were responsible in part for the serene look on my face as I paid out ALL my carefully hoarded savings, but if my research had shown a PC to be more reliable than a Mac... that's what I would be typing on right now.
This is generally my attitude towards what I buy: I want the best quality available for my specific requirements, first and foremost; I'm also willing to pay a bit more on top of the cost of the best, if it means I'll also get something that makes me genuinely happy at an aesthetic level (which explains why the only electronic items I have are a cellphone and a laptop... this isn't an inexpensive approach).