I'd have to go with the wood grain Atari 2600, I'm a sucker for 70's designed electronics.
Console: Sega Dreamcast
PC: Any IBM beige box from the 90s
this post was submitted on 01 Mar 2025
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Why does there have to be just one? So many consoles are awesomely designed and reflect their eras well. I’m partial to colecovision and the Intellivision II. The redesign of the intellivision had an entire suite of peripherals to match the new design, including a musical keyboard.
(I'm sad no one uses faux-marble anymore.)
How many consoles look like toilets?
Also, most useful as a toilet.
The Atari XL seriea computers cut a nice space between retro and futuristic.
They're much sleeker looking than their 400/800 predecessors, as well as the Apple II and the breadbin VIC 20/64/C16. Only the 64C and Plus/4 really look similarly minaturized and not-in-need-of-a-big-wristrest-for-comfortable-typing.
The use of metal and smoked plastic trim gives it a premium appearance. The 1200XL even hides the cartridge slot on the side to avoid anyone nistaking it for a mere console..
Might be biased, but the Commodore 64 is just iconic and good looking (what is not to love about a breadbox?)
Personally prefer sx-64, but breadbin is a close second.
Oh, that is cool.
I’m a fan of the Dreamcast and GameCube. Or the PS2 mini. I appreciate that early y2k aesthetic.
Oh and the Master System 1 was pretty cool with its 80s cyberpunk shape.
I've got to go with the 2600 as well. Mostly because of the wood grain!
I had this one many moons ago. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coleco_Telstar_Arcade#/media/File:Coleco-Telstar-Arcade-Pongside-L.jpg
Wood grain, triangular, and it had a gun.
PS2 slim deserves a mention, I feel.
PS2 slim is now retro
👵 ➡ 💀
It's now older than the NES was when it was brought back on the Wii via Virtual Console.
Stop it she already turned to dust!
I never understood the choice to put a flowchart on the front of this one. 😆
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Japan had some killer PC designs in the 80's and 90's. But I'd say my favorite is a toss up between the X68000 and the Sony MSX 2
For consoles, I still think the Sega Genesis Model 1 is a masterclass in visual design.
The MSX design space was such an exciting place.
For anyone curious about the above, it's like this:
Imagine Nintendo said "instead of manufacturing the Switch 2, we released the specs and invited everyone else to build their own. You're welcome to buy the Xbox Switch 2, the Sony PlaySwitch 2, the Philips Switch 2-i, the Sega Switch 2 & Knuckles, or the TRSwitch80 2. They're all guaranteed to be compatible with our software lineup." and then like, that actually happened.
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That MSX 2 is sick.
If we're talking strictly design, my personal favorite is a generic fat PS2, probably tied with my model 1(?) Sega Genesis (none of the things like 32x or CD, which I desperately want to get some day).
If we're talking like PC with OS, the 90s Amiga lineup because I think the Amiga Workbench 3 line and the icons they used look absolutely beautiful. Definitely would love to get my hands on a 1200, but they're expensive. So no getting into that hobby for me just yet.
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Hol'up.
Atari's only had 4, not 6, switches on them?
Nope, there were two different versions! The 6 switch is the original. (And in my opinion the better looking one!) The 4 switch came later, and still has 6 switches, they just moved the difficulty switches to the back. I believe it saved them some money and made production a little easier because everything was on one circuit board with that setup.