Is Keysight changing colours? Beige to Black?

[kaz911]

I just noticed Keysight quietly launched the N6705C - apparently an updated model of the N6705 (a/b) series (my) dream power supply (http://www.keysight.com/en/pd-2747858-pn-N6705C/dc-power-analyzer-modular-600-w-4-slots?nid=-35714.1195294.00&cc=GB&lc=eng)

But it is BLACK?

And then I noticed the new N9020B MXA Signal analyzer - and that is black too? (http://www.keysight.com/en/pdx-2642774-pn-N9020B/mxa-signal-analyzer-multi-touch-10-hz-to-265-ghz?cc=US&lc=eng)

That is black too?

Whats up with all the black? It is a favorite colour to show off when you last dusted your lab and usually LeCroy does "Back in Black" - but Keysight? I do know the red Keysight colour stand out more on a black background but...

Or do they want to be unnoticed when they enter a LeCroy only facility? (Engineers smuggling in Keysight without management noticing?...)

Or is the future colour of Keysight all black...

hmmm

[Bud]

Yes the new corporate color is black. They told that at a seminar i attended.

[nctnico]

[EEVblog]

Yes, they are switching over to black.

[mikeselectricstuff]

Nooooooooooooo!

Whenever I see those black Lecroy scopes, they just look WRONG!

[mikeselectricstuff]

https://youtu.be/IIW9sL-Yf6Q?t=60

[Keysight DanielBogdanoff]

Can confirm the slow (but inevitable) shift to darker colors. It won't be straight black - there's some potential flexibility for the R&D teams.

[EEVblog]

Can confirm the slow (but inevitable) shift to darker colors. It won't be straight black - there's some potential flexibility for the R&D teams.

The term "potential flexibility" just caused the branding team to have seizures.

[TheSteve]

Great, now I gotta buy another scope (I love black test gear).

[EEVblog]

[TiN]

I like black

When is 3458Black coming? 

[edpalmer42]

Can confirm the slow (but inevitable) shift to darker colors. It won't be straight black - there's some potential flexibility for the R&D teams.

The term "potential flexibility" just caused the branding team to have seizures.

Excellent! 

[ManateeMafia]

I like black

When is 3458Black coming? 

I knew I forgot something. I will get that done this week.

[TheAmmoniacal]

Is it the same black color as the U1272A front? I like it 

[AlfBaz]

meh, black, it's reserved for sound gear. What's next dials that go to 11

[ElektroQuark]

I assume the quality of plastics is the same, but the clear one looks like a cheap device.

[VK5RC]

The background. colour is of interest but please get the text font size, style and contrast colour correct so it's easy to read. e.g. that power analyser the text over the SENSE and OUTPUT is too small IMHO. There is plenty of room on the front panel. Makes it a lot easier to make a silly mistake in use.

[PedroDaGr8]

Can confirm the slow (but inevitable) shift to darker colors. It won't be straight black - there's some potential flexibility for the R&D teams.

I like the black, A LOT! That being said, the font changes that you guys made are really bad. The font size is clearly much smaller making it harder to read. See the comparison that Dave posted below:

It is clear that much of the text is smaller (though I like the locations of some of the text better on the black one, the size is still an issue). While I still have perfect eyesight, I know many of our more esteemed members here do not.

[Bud]

Nooooooooooooo!

Whenever I see those black Lecroy scopes, they just look WRONG!

To me Lecroy look weird regardless of color... i wonder where they recruit their designers.

[TheAmmoniacal]

... Do this mean we can expect black rubber holsters on handhelds?

[nfmax]

The problem with black is it is black. If you have a whole shelf of test gear above your bench, with light coloured front panels, you get scattered ambient illumination off them onto your work surface. Now paint them all black, and that ambient illumination goes. Makes it harder to see what you are working on as you only get direct illumination from the overhead lights, with less fill-in for the dark shadows.

OK it's only a small difference - but it's a small difference in the wrong direction.

[pascal_sweden]

Companies that stop innovating and can't come up with new technical features, play around with other parameters to give the impression that they are actually doing meaningful stuff.
Their product department starts playing around with the color of the housing and the font set.
But they literally have no clue on what they are doing, select a depressive color, and use a font that is too small too read. But what do they care, they are not using the test equipment themselves, so don't mind that nobody can read the font, or that the equipment does not fit in existing test labs. As long as they give the impression to their managers that they are working and secure their monthly pay check, they feel happy. They don't even realize that they are doing the wrong things, because of lack of understanding.

[Bud]

Having worked for a big organization, my bets are this has nothing to do with search for better user experience but rather with some Executive who for some reason likes black color.

[TheAmmoniacal]

Maybe it's an attempt to further differentiate Keysight from Agilent? Just part of the Keysight rebranding?

An attempt to be more distinguishable from Fluke?

[lukier]

I'll wait for black 34465A then

BTW I wonder if changing to a black case would influence TC specs of precision equipment, as in theory it absorbs more radiation and gets warmer. I guess the effect is probably very minute, as there are other shields underneath the case.

[pascal_sweden]

Maybe it's an attempt to further differentiate Keysight from Agilent? Just part of the Keysight rebranding?

An attempt to be more distinguishable from Fluke?

An attempt to be stupid, nothing more to look after the strategy.

[TheAmmoniacal]

Maybe it's an attempt to further differentiate Keysight from Agilent? Just part of the Keysight rebranding?

An attempt to be more distinguishable from Fluke?

An attempt to be stupid, nothing more to look after the strategy.

I'm sure they have a rationale! Daniel?

[vk6zgo]

Maybe it's an attempt to further differentiate Keysight from Agilent? Just part of the Keysight rebranding?

An attempt to be more distinguishable from Fluke?

An attempt to be stupid, nothing more to look after the strategy.

I find it hard to imagine black test equipment that isn't painted in crackle finish,& with the General Radio logo attached.

[ManateeMafia]

The ESI 242D looks better in black than the 242B. I think someone at ESI was an Arthur C. Clarke fan.

[bookaboo]

The problem with black is it is black. If you have a whole shelf of test gear above your bench, with light coloured front panels, you get scattered ambient illumination off them onto your work surface. Now paint them all black, and that ambient illumination goes. Makes it harder to see what you are working on as you only get direct illumination from the overhead lights, with less fill-in for the dark shadows.

OK it's only a small difference - but it's a small difference in the wrong direction.

Very valid point.

[ralphrmartin]

Disaster. Unreadable for old duffers like me with poor eyesight. Stop this black nonsense before it is too late.

[madires]

Will it be pink to attract female EEs next month? Or what about getting rid of all the switches and knobs by replacing them with a touchscreen? 

[Fungus]

Disaster. Unreadable for old duffers like me with poor eyesight. Stop this black nonsense before it is too late.

Same goes for text editors (all busy changing to grey-on-black) and all those low-contrast websites.

[HighVoltage]

hopefully the N6705C in black will become a failed experiment and Keysight will stay with the very well established and working colors.

[Wuerstchenhund]

I just noticed Keysight quietly launched the N6705C - apparently an updated model of the N6705 (a/b) series (my) dream power supply (http://www.keysight.com/en/pd-2747858-pn-N6705C/dc-power-analyzer-modular-600-w-4-slots?nid=-35714.1195294.00&cc=GB&lc=eng)

But it is BLACK?

And then I noticed the new N9020B MXA Signal analyzer - and that is black too? (http://www.keysight.com/en/pdx-2642774-pn-N9020B/mxa-signal-analyzer-multi-touch-10-hz-to-265-ghz?cc=US&lc=eng)

That is black too?

Yes, it's black. And not exactly well done I have to say. The new MXA has been discussed here some while ago.

Whats up with all the black?

I guess someone in Keysight got bored and imagined that customers would like to see some new colors.

usually LeCroy does "Back in Black"

Yes, they do, however at least they do it right, with optical and haptic cues (like the silver rings on the knobs) that make operating their scopes even in an environment with insufficient lighting easy. Keysight however pretty much changed the color but clearly paid zero attention to any impact this has on usability/Human Factors 

LeCroy also didn't change to black just for the sake of it, the black housing marked the introduction of the X-Stream II architecture which was kinda big deal.

or do they want to be unnoticed when they enter a LeCroy only facility? (Engineers smuggling in Keysight without management noticing?...)

Hardly, since LeCroy has very few other devices than scopes, and most labs will need more gear than just a scope so you won't find many LeCroy-only facilities.

Or is the future colour of Keysight all black...

My contacts say that unfortunately, yes, that seems to be the new corporate course.

As someone who regularly purcases large amounts of Keysight gear I have to say I wish they would have focused on addressing some of the areas where Keysight should do better instead of this pointless color change, especially when it comes with so little consideration to usability. Because the housing color was one thing that didn't need any fixing.

I'd have rather seen some real product improvements, like a DSOX replacement with 10+Mpts of memory and larger screens. Oh well.

But hey, now that Keysight's future is dark maybe they should change their name accrdingly - KeyBlind? 

[XFDDesign]

It's not black, it's "Equipment of Color."

/PC Nonsense

[GlowingGhoul]

But hey, now that Keysight's future is dark maybe they should change their name accrdingly - KeyBlind? 

Considering Keysight's snack bar budget is larger than Lecroy's yearly sales, I don't think it's Keysight that is going to disappear anytime soon.

As far as the switch to black, it looks like Keysight copied the only "technological achievement" of Lecroy's worth imitating 

[LabSpokane]

Keysight will go back to beige once they see the huge scrap and tooling change costs needed to make black plastics pass QC inspection. Black shows every flaw. It's a production nightmare. I've worked extensively with HP plastics in the past, and black is just a bear with HP's instrumentation group's quality criteria.

As for the quality of the plastic, black is the physically strongest color in a resin besides uncolored natural resin. It takes an amazingingly small amount of pigment to create a deep, black color. Creating a lighter color, such as beige takes a lot of titanium dioxide, which results in a weaker plastic as compared to uncolored resin of the same grade.

The black trend will go on for a bit, then it will go back to beige as a cost reduction measure. The folks currently in charge are likely just too new to know why beige was used to begin with.

[carl_lab]

Changing name from HP to Agilent was a mistake. Getting used to it took years.
Changing the name again to Keysight was next mistake. Who knows Keysight?
Is changing color the last attempt before disappearing from market?

[LabSpokane]

The world is not ending. Keysight is not failing. The instrumentation group are the only hard-core engineering innovators left from HP's glory days. Keysight stock is doing well and hopefully Keysight will continue that trend as they learn to stand on their own. 

Font and type size changes on overlays and printing cliches are cheap and easy to implement. Maybe Daniel will see the comments and convince the graphic designer to bump the type size up a notch.

This branding change is not a big deal. Maybe KS will learn to stop worrying about nit picky cosmetic issues and be more pragmatic. It could happen.

I actually like the improved contrast of the black background.

[Jwalling]

As far as the switch to black, it looks like Keysight copied the only "technological achievement" of Lecroy's worth imitating 

You just couldn't help yourself, could you?

[tszaboo]

Well, that is ugly. I guess computers used to be beige. But not anymore.

[plesa]

Can confirm the slow (but inevitable) shift to darker colors. It won't be straight black - there's some potential flexibility for the R&D teams.

I'm looking forward for 3458A successor and next break thru scope in price range of 3kX series:)
 Does not matter if it will be beige/white/grey/black.
What is important for me : user interface-ergonomic, specification and quality of service.

[RGB255_0_0]

Will it be pink to attract female EEs next month? Or what about getting rid of all the switches and knobs by replacing them with a touchscreen? 

They've gone to voice control now. At least it's useful.

[Bud]

A Keysight voice controlled instrument enthusiast:
" OK Keysight Dee-Ess-O-Eks-Thirty-one-zero-four-zee, ten millivolts per division , AC coupling! "

Me with my dumb Tek scope:
click...click

[Keysight DanielBogdanoff]

A Keysight voice controlled instrument enthusiast:
" OK Keysight Dee-Ess-O-Eks-Thirty-one-zero-four-zee, ten millivolts per division , AC coupling! "

Me with my dumb Tek scope:
click...click

 

[bson]

That's gonna look great next to my LeCroy gear!

[Someone]

Considering Keysight's snack bar budget is larger than Lecroy's yearly sales, I don't think it's Keysight that is going to disappear anytime soon.

Do you know if any of their sites offer free food? The only mention I can think of is:

Cafeteria: From gourmet dishes to salads and sandwiches, all at subsidized prices.

While Lecroy promote:

Teledyne LeCroy is a strong, talented technical community known for its creative, energized sales meetings, family oriented picnics, lavish holiday parties, frequent barbecue & volleyball get-togethers, and pizza lunches.

I know where I would prefer working!

[tszaboo]

A Keysight voice controlled instrument enthusiast:
" OK Keysight Dee-Ess-O-Eks-Thirty-one-zero-four-zee, ten millivolts per division , AC coupling! "

Me with my dumb Tek scope:
click...click

My voip phone is plugged into ethernet, my multimeter is plugged into ethernet, I dont see a reason, why I cannot just call the multimeter to read the measurement value...

[MrWolf]

My voip phone is plugged into ethernet, my multimeter is plugged into ethernet, I dont see a reason, why I cannot just call the multimeter to read the measurement value...

In 10 years time multimeter might decide not to answer your call because humans are frankly... obsolete...

[madires]

My voip phone is plugged into ethernet, my multimeter is plugged into ethernet, I dont see a reason, why I cannot just call the multimeter to read the measurement value...

This is off-topic, but you could script that in asterisk, if you need that feature.

[tooki]

Can confirm the slow (but inevitable) shift to darker colors. It won't be straight black - there's some potential flexibility for the R&D teams.

The term "potential flexibility" just caused the branding team to have seizures.

Not only branding, but the UX guys, too... last thing you need is engineers deciding colors, ending up with a device neither anyone with poor vision or colorblindness can use!

That said, I think dark test gear looks way sexier. I'm kinda surprised that the test gear industry has stuck so doggedly with beige and pale gray, considering how most of the electronics and computer industry moved away from earth tones a decade ago or longer...

[R005T3r]

I like it white. It's just clearer and you can see the details better, and you can spot stains more easily, also rust. Not to mention that the instrument  is more evident if you are in a low light environment...

[vk6zgo]

Will it be pink to attract female EEs next month? Or what about getting rid of all the switches and knobs by replacing them with a touchscreen? 

Real Oscilloscopes are blue & silver!

[MrWolf]

Will it be pink to attract female EEs next month? Or what about getting rid of all the switches and knobs by replacing them with a touchscreen? 

Real Oscilloscopes are blue & silver!

We have a winner:


Actually Keysight will also have to do these as current generation of little maker-androids* will grow up.

*An android is a humanoid robot or synthetic organism designed to look and act like a human, especially one with a body having a flesh-like resemblance

[KE5FX]

Off-topic question: why doesn't anyone sell prototyping enclosures that look like that?  There are a lot of things I'd like to put in a small portable enclosure with a large transparent screen window, some BNC jacks, and plenty of room inside for components and batteries.  But the Hammonds and BUDs and Vellemans of the world still think everyone wants featureless aluminum boxes.

On-topic vote: make mine beige, thanks.  If all my test gear were black or charcoal-gray, it would literally suck all the light out of the room.

[Tomorokoshi]

I have HP equipment that spans about 6 or 7 different styles, and there are probably another dozen. They seem to appear about every 3 to 5 years.

This may also be displaced in the next few years. I wonder if their industrial designers ever use the old equipment? There are certain things that work and some that don't.

[CatalinaWOW]

Maybe it's an attempt to further differentiate Keysight from Agilent? Just part of the Keysight rebranding?

An attempt to be more distinguishable from Fluke?

These are plausible reasons for a change.  But no excuse for the horrible design.  Black designs that work are all over the place, it is not the fault of the color.   I kind of hope it was directed by a senior manager because that means there is only one incompetent to blame.  Maybe the bad design is some kind of passive rebellion against a top down direction.

[Faith]

So; since Keysight has been rather keen on pasting "Keysight" stickers on older test equipment and everywhere else...

...when can I start expecting my next piece of test equipment to pass through Keysight to come back in black vinyl wrap?

On a more serious note though: looking at my 34465A now I find that its colour scheme is extremely pleasant to look at. There is no one feature that's too contrasting or too distracting compared to the rest of the instrument. Also; those glaringly bright run/stop/zonetrg/wavegen buttons on the 3000T oscilloscopes are pretty much only tolerable (and even barely so) because the rest of the instrument is white. I can't imagine how much of an eyesore it would be if it were black.

Actually, come to think about it; maybe Keysight got their inspiration from EEVblog?



Damn it, Dave!~

Edit: Oh my lord my eyes are hurting just looking at the above picture with the zonetrg/wavegen buttons illuminated against the black. Argh!

[mikeselectricstuff]

Off-topic question: why doesn't anyone sell prototyping enclosures that look like that?  There are a lot of things I'd like to put in a small portable enclosure with a large transparent screen window, some BNC jacks, and plenty of room inside for components and batteries. 

https://www.okw.co.uk/en/Plastic-enclosures/Interface-Terminal.htm

[KE5FX]

I've seen those, but they're pretty cheesy.  No brass inserts for assembly with machine screws, and not much room inside for anything but the tablet itself, especially with the battery compartment option.  (And what exactly am I supposed to do with 5 'AA' cells?  C'mon, how about four or five 18650s?...)

[PointyOintment]

I'll wait for black 34465A then

BTW I wonder if changing to a black case would influence TC specs of precision equipment, as in theory it absorbs more radiation and gets warmer. I guess the effect is probably very minute, as there are other shields underneath the case.

It also emits more radiation and gets cooler.

[Bud]

Meh...

[wim.de.jong.59]

Here is the 3458A Black

[coromonadalix]

Here is the 3458A Black

Uh ?!   seriously ??  gonna scrap my eye to use something like this,   with pale blue writtings  pfffffffff

[TiN]

It's 0.01 ppm off! 

[tv84]

It's 0.01 ppm off! 

10x worse!!! 

[Tomorokoshi]

Things like this have been done before. I haven't found much else in this color scheme. The black one is older than the gray one.

[Tomorokoshi]

As for that 3458A, I can see it now:

"Dear, I couldn't get the cable TV box to work, so I had the cable company come out and replace it."

"Thanks honey. By the way, have you seen my Keysight 3458A?"

"Your what, dear?"

[james_s]

I've always preferred black for any kind of gear, especially audio and consumer electronics, it's timeless. Really though I don't care what color my test gear is as long as it doesn't interfere with functionality. Bright fluorescent colors would be distracting but anything subdued is fine.

[Wolfgang]

Here is the 3458A Black

Here you can clearly see why the choice of black color is a bad choice: The blue text is hardly legible.
Anyway: Now you can see the dust better so you know when the lab needs a cleanup 

[Cubdriver]

Things like this have been done before. I haven't found much else in this color scheme. The black one is older than the gray one.

I think that dark grey one is either a custom, made for a specific customer, or one that someone has refinished in the older, late 50s/1960-ish dark grey panel color, as they'd transitioned almost entirely to the light grey by 1961 (at least based on the instrument photos in the '61 catalog).  The 5216A makes its first appearance in the 1968 catalog, 7 years after the color switch.  It's certainly possible someone could have refinished it in the older color scheme - the panels are engraved, so it would be easy to get the lettering to look nice and factory.  If it is a refinish, it's very nicely done!

-Pat

[branadic]

Not sure where this pictures is coming from, but:

http://literature.cdn.keysight.com/litweb/pdf/5992-1058EN.pdf

-branadic-