History of computer design: Macintosh II
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			The "corporate" Snow White of the SE is shared by the Macintosh II, which departs even more from Jobs' vision of friendly design to embrace instead the standard set by IBM. It is a large rectangular box, even bigger and offering more expandability than the PCs it resembles. It has six expansion slots indicated by a row of removable plastic pieces on its back, as well as having room for two floppy drives and an internal hard drive (see technical specifications). Its case has the same base of vertical lines that is found on the SE, and it is similarly recessed from the front to provide a small space for the keyboard and to provide its only visual link to the original Macintosh. A thick line stretches over the front bezel just over an inch from its top, a recession like those on the SE which hides the floppy disk slots. Below this line, there is a deep break in the plastic wrapping around to the back of the machine in order to emphasize the removable top of the case into which the user has easy access. Snow White lines run over the top of the case, breaking into the plastic for venting, though a large rectangular vent is found undisguised over the ports on the back. The design of the Macintosh II is authoritative and very formal. Though elegant and simple, it generates a sense of power with its almost monumental width and length. "If the original Mac was a canoe and a paddle," Stephen Peart said, "the Mac II was a nuclear-powered battleship" (Kunkel, 53). It is a very successful design, suggesting the performance and corporate identity that Apple strived for in following the design of IBM's PC, while still expressing the simplicity and elegance of the original Macintosh. Apple's advertising reflects this image, comparing their computers to cars - other high performance and high value items (many of which were not much more expensive) (e.g. Apple ad in MacWorld, May 1989, 2 pages inserted between p. 82 and 83). The case continued to be used for two later machines, the IIx in September 1988 (see technical specifications) and the IIfx in March 1990 (see technical specifications). To the Corporate Snow White To the Macintosh IIcx   Home || Introduction || Historiography || 1-Cottage industry || 2-Emerging standards || 3-Macintosh 4-frogdesign || 5-Corporate focus || Conclusion || Bibliography & links