I think depending on the circumstances, form can be just as important as function
Obviously you want the thing to work first, but the depending on the circumstances and the application, form is becoming more important. As PCs become more popular and their uses increase, people are starting to shift these things into their living rooms to use as HTPCs.
As PCs become more 'integrated' into people's lives, the need increases for PCs to blend in - so out go the noisy PCs with 10 x6000rpm Delta fans, and in come the fanless PSUs, fanless CPU heatsinks etc. PCs are starting to become lifestyle accessories and gradually moving out of the realm of technophiles.
So instead of a beige box, people want a few bells and whistles. Whether its people who are into cold cathodes (I never understood what purpose they served, although to each man his own!) or others, like me, who want their PCs to match and look sort of elegant and understated. For example, it's one of the major selling points of Macs - people buy them because the majority of PCs look like crap!
I bought an aluminium LCD recently:-
But then my black keyboard, black case and beige mouse looked out of place. So I just
had to order a silver keyboard and aluminium case
And a Philip Stark designer mouse as well
Sure, some of the stuff - the mouse is the prime culprit - is an example of form over function and something which doesn't actually work as well as the MX700 - in fact, the Phillip Stark mouse is absolute rubbish (and I'm regretting my purchase).
But we're never going to get to the stage where a swanky looking mouse is as good as mouse where function is the main production criteria unlesss people continue to innovate and try something different. That's why I think we need companies like Dell or Sony churning out equipment thats different.
Of course, there's always going to be the hardcore overclocking crowd where performance is everything, but I think its good that there's more variety of PCs, peripherals and even users nowadays
