The Joy of Opening an Apple PackageListThumbs
The Joy of Opening an Apple Package
If the small pleasures are really the ones that count, there's a special one that I had the opportunity to try in its full power last month. After being a PC user for over 15 years, I've bought my first Mac.
I gotta confess that I got pretty anxious waiting for the delivery. But after 3 days, it finally arrived at my home, my dream came true. I had heard the things people say about unpacking a Mac, of how much of a powerful experience it might be, and I can say, they were right. First, the distributor box was nothing special, just a cardboard regular one, not fancy or anything. But, as I started to open it, I felt like I was in some sort of Pirate/treasure hunt movie, when they open the treasure chest and that golden glow shines upon their face, and this simply makes you think that all the hard work you had to buy it was really, really worth it. I'm totally serious when I say that the Macbook box is probably one of the most beautiful things that exist. It doesn't have any exotic shape, there's not much details, but its finishing is absolutely stunning.
Minimalist, there are only the necessary elements, like a few pictures, some information, and of course, the apple logo. I really felt like I had won the lottery. Actually, the box is such a great piece of design that is almost like you had bought the box, and not what comes inside.
In the podcast they discuss the packaging of an iPod (the 1st generation Nano as it happens) which I also own. Where this resonates with me is the fact that I didn’t purchase this product, it was a Christmas gift and as such I didn’t have the purchase experience; my first interaction with the product was to unwrap the box. At this point I’ll skip to the end; the box for my Nano sits proudly on my shelf. I haven’t retained the box for some perfunctory purpose to store the Nano again when I come to move house. I don’t keep it so that I can put the Nano away every night either. I keep it because, in itself, it’s a beautiful little piece of design that is worthy of display. - John Gibbard from Smorgasbord Design
During the school year, the boxes for his third-generation iPod, PowerBook G4, Mighty Mouse and OS X Tiger sit at home with his parents. For the time being, he contents himself with a rear-lit Apple Pro Keyboard box dangling from the loft of his dorm room. 'I can't imagine throwing them away," he said. "It's more than a record of a serial number; it's a record of a good event that happened in my life.' - Wired
Yet, opening the box it's another great pleasure... getting to see that fantastic piece inside, all yours. And I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one who had this kind of experience. There gotta be much more people who enjoy opening their wish list itens, whether it's a mac or not. Like when we were a child, and we would open our presents under the Christmas tree, just to see that we got what we'd asked for or when you finally got that Pokemon game card you were looking for. Total madness. Wait... madness? THIS, IS, SPARTAAAA!
But we would really love to hear from you guys, what packages really made you happy, these days, or when you were kids, like the Nintendo 64 kids. I do remember the joy of getting my Sega Gensis and my Super Nintendo. Happy, happy, joy, joy! Tell us!! We want to know! Cheers! ;)
34 Comments
I was very, very, very happy when I opened my iPod Touch's Box.
Amazing!
I'm in almost the exact same boat as you.. after using PCs at home for 11+ years, I moved over to Mac by the way of an aluminum macbook, while my wife picked up the white macbook you've got :)
Was a lovely experience to open them up and I hope it doesn't dampen your experience if I tell you that the aluminum packaging is even more refined than the white macbook packaging.. slightly slimmer and a little less packaging materials in general (cardboard holding it in place for example)..
While opening them up, we realised how different it was from opening a toshiba laptop about a year and a half ago -- brown cardboard covered in stickers, an absurd amount of plastic bags and piles of manuals..
and didn't you just love the first time you opening up the laptop its self? those white keyboards make me swoon
I have to agree, I used PC's till I was 25. I have been teaching on them for the last 4 years. My parents told me they had got me a laptop last year for Xmas, it turned out to be a MacBook, they had no idea. I was a little dissapointed at first, then they gave it to me and I was blown away from seeing the box to getting it out and turning it on. I have since saved up and bought an iMac and an iPhone, both giving me the same feeling. I donthink it is just a mac thing, when you get a product that has been so carefully thought of from the bags inside to the free stickers, you feel you have quality. I have a friend who owns a TT and says when he first sat in it, it felt like he had never really sat in a real car before. Some hinge just have the extra detail, some people love the extra detail. Others tear the box open and get the product out. I think the latter products end up loosing thier apeal quicker for some reason.
I know exactly what you mean! I was saving up for over 1.5 years and I finally bought my beautiful new macbook pro this october! Opening it up and pressing the power button. Hearing the BAH!!! that it sends out to greet me... Oh it was pure bliss i tell you! Pure bliss.
Congratulations!
But how come you didn't get the new unibody Macbooks?
I totally agree. One of the most exciting unboxings i have had was probably when i got my PS3, that was awesome! Also, having used PCs all my life, I'm very tempted by macs, probably the next notebook i buy...
Welcome to the Bright Side!
I sooo agree. When I bought my Macbook Pro a little over a month ago, I couldn't help but feel like I was 5 again, opening a christmas present that I waited for all year long. I've been a PC user for about 12 years and I can't say I've ever felt the same when opening a Dell/Gateway/etc. box. I've also gone as far as displaying my iPod and MBP boxes in my room. When I buy the iPod Touch and AppleTV, those boxes will join the others on the shelf.
Now that I've switched to an Apple, I'll never go back.
I have the same opinion, When I was about eleven, I already loved macs due to some computer class at school. For years and years, I saved my money and just this summer, I bought myself a beautiful iMac (wich came with a free iPod touch!). When I was shure to have the right settings for my beast, i asked my mom's card to buy my iMac. It had cost a little 2500 bucks xD... But I knew it was the RIGHT thing for me. Then I recieved my box with some delays (by my fault) And then, I started running through my house screaming like these kids. I just couldn't stand still! I looked at my huge box containing my beast and i remember the perfectness of it. I openned the box slowly, very slowly, to make sure that I was not going to forget this day. Slowly I removed the little foamy papers and the screen protector. It had even a little stcker on the back side logo to make sure it had no scratch... And then the famous ogreeting sound and the stunning leopard welcome video.... great memories......
@ilias Since all Mac products here in Brazil come from abroad, it got REALLY expensive to get a unibody one (like R$ 5.800,00), when the white ones didn't have any price change... so I just went for the white. Anyways, I loved it. :)
I'm getting my MacBook Pro in two days, i'll tell you about it then. ;)
Oh I have to agree. I was a Windows user for all my life. I was web designing on windows for 6 years.
In summer of 2008 my company bought me a MacBook pro. It was like a whole new wonderful world!
I recently left that job and now am contractor. I could never go back to windows so I bought the new Macbook Pro. OH MY GOD!
Opening that box..the smell.....the welcome screen. Amazing. They do a fantastic job of packaging their equipment.
The only better thing than opening up the new macbook pro is using it every day.
Sometimes I find myself just stroking the aluminum unibody. God I love this laptop.
Welcome to a world of wonderful computing where things just work...well.
eeii i just have onw thing to say...........Once you go Mac you never go back!!!!!
the first time i had such an experience was with 5 or 6 i think, with opening my very first lego train ever!
years later it happened 2 times that i felt something similar, it was once when i opened the box of my vaio laptop, and the last time in summer last year - ive bought me a bamboo. and the design of the box is outstaning and sexy black.
im still pc user but sometimes i wished i would be a part of this family too, especially when it comes to coda, hell of a tool btw
I had a very similar sensation when i opened my ipod touch's box too, my first apple thing :P is wonderful ^^
Man, it's just amazing. I had this feeling when I unboxed my first MacBook Black. It makes you feel even happier and prouder of your purchase. Unboxing Apple products is certainly the best way to welcome an user.
Cara realmente é uma emoção enorme!!! ^^
Ainda lembro da primeira vez que tive uma sensação assim...(tinha 5 anos e ganhei meu 1° video game um TurboGame) foi incrivel!!!
Ei Paulo sou seu fã... manda um abraço pra galera da Paraiba(sempre indico seu site para meus amigos =D)
ah que tal fazer um concurso inspirador para o carnaval que está chegando??
Abraçosss
Jr - Pb
Once you go Mac, you neeeeeeeeeever go back!
Cool movies. Haha
My Graphic Life
I used mac for two years at my graphic design school. its ok, but way too overraated. im back to an exelent pc and i love it.
When I bought my new Ipod nano I paid €140,- for a 20 by 7 cm box.
I walked home with the thing in my pocket, threw my bag on the couch, put my box on the table and stared at it for like 15 minutes before I opened it.
It was an experience of heavenly bliss to open this beautiful box, click out my beautiful Ipod, open one of the beautiful paper doors and read the text "made by Apple in california". Wow! Everything was white.
Do you know those irritating packages that put there little manual-books on the bottom and you never get them out because they're the exact same size as the box itself? Apple found the answer! Just make the bottom ROUND on the sides. Dear lord, as simple as that.
Nice post! No-one can disagree;)
When I bought my new Ipod nano I paid €140,- for a 20 by 7 cm box.
I walked home with the thing in my pocket, threw my bag on the couch, put my box on the table and stared at it for like 15 minutes before I opened it.
It was an experience of heavenly bliss to open this beautiful box, click out my beautiful Ipod, open one of the beautiful paper doors and read the text "made by Apple in california". Wow! Everything was white.
Using the Ipod is no anticlimax btw, it is just as good as the way it was packed.
Do you know those irritating packages that put there little manual-books on the bottom and you never get them out because they're the exact same size as the box itself? Apple found the answer! Just make the bottom ROUND on the sides. Dear lord, as simple as that.
Nice post! No-one can disagree;)
I have actually seen the Mac Pro boxes for sale on Ebay. The clearly say it is just the box too...
amazing.
I think that nothing it's comparable with an Apple package opening. Only if you felt it, you can understand it. And once you felt, you can't turn back. Ok, I'm pleased.
I got a MacBook for Christmas.. I was sooo happy. So, i've been using it for 2 weeks now.. I hate my Windows-box now :)
Hmm...
tried a mac
never really liked it i have to confess
i just upgraded the pc
and i love it
:P
but yeh they do have excellent packaging :D
The unpacking magic doesn't come with the Mac Pro. It's just a very large box stuffed with foam to protect it. But I had a similar experiences when I bought a Asus EEE 900. It's so small and toylike :D
BTW: Mac Pro box for sale. Only used once ;)
Just wanted to add that I felt exactly the same when I got my Macbook Pro, about 18 months ago (it really doesn't feel like that long!)
Everything about the packaging and the design and entire unboxing experience is thought through, like no other company I know. Around six months ago I bought a Dell laptop, paid about the same as I did for the MBP, and it was such a disappointment when it arrived!
I just couldn't get excited over the plain brown box, and hundreds of plastic bags and manuals and discs and cables and god damn little twisty plastic tie things. And then opening it up, a brand new bit of high tech kit, was just another let down. It just didn't have that feel the MBP did, I can't even quite put my finger on what exactly it was, it was just missing that certain something that makes Macs what they are... which is the best to be honest, the very best.
I'm only disappointed I'll never get to attend a real Macworld :-(
It appears you bought an 'old' white MacBook.
I also bought my first Apple product a few weeks ago. I'm now the proud owner of an aluminum 13.3" MacBook.
It really works great.
I too, have had the "MacBox Experience".
I had purchased my Aluminium iMac from the internet, and was super (SUPER) excited when the delivery van came to my house about a week later. I threw open the door and rushed downstairs to the front gate. The delivery man handed me the largest parcel I had ever received (a little over 24 inches to be precise).
It was quite heavy, but I didnt care, I knew what was inside.
I took it upstairs and stood it up on the living room table, scared to open the brown wrapping. Im glad I did.
I too kept my box, it sits in my room, reminding me of that day everytime I look at it, occasionally I take the box that the keyboard comes in out of it, just to take it out.
My iMac has defiantly served me well, I dont think ill ever go back to Windows!
Congratulations man. I was a pc user for about 15 years too, then i switch to the Mac side about 2 and half years and never look back.
I opened my 4th Mac box last week (MacBookPro), the feeling is still as sweet as when I opened my first box 10 years ago!
And then you got like "NINTENDO SIXTY FOOOOOOUUUUUUURRRR!!!!! OH MY GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD!!!!!!!"
Well last year around this time I purchased my iMac, and I must say.. I spent a good 20 minutes meticulously opening the box and keeping it in shape.. I still have everything it came with, and I wash the screen like an idiot.. To me, touching my iMac is a sin. :)
Gotta say, it truly is a magical experience, opening that iMac.
I still remember then I ordered my iPod nano for six month ago. Those 3 days with waiting, it almost killed me! And then that little cute box was in my hands, good only knows how happy I was! I kept the box for a long time, but my mother threw it away and said that is was silly to keep stuff like that.
My dad got 2 iMacs and both boxes has he kept. Every time I go in to the storage room, there he has putted them, I stop for some minutes and just look at them.
The boxes are really a design work. I love the simple way everything looks. Not some fancy colours an shapes. Just clean and white with the apple logo on.
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