Apple does seem to be a big trendsetter in this regard, so I hope that at some point they will come up with designs that are a little more imaginative. You know, the way they did around 1998-2001, with the colorful and curvy iMacs and iBooks, that stood out from the square/beige box crowd. (Same CEO and same designer that are responsible for today's colorless rectangular products, by the way.)
I actually preferred the square, beige boxes, compared to a lot of the boxes they sell nowadays. It was very sturdy, harder to scratch, didn't look dusty after a couple days, and because of the shape easy to clean, store or transport. Downside: sharp metal ends.
Take the interior of a modern case, with the airy wires, no screws drive bays, air filter, put it in a square beige metal box and you'd get a great utilitarian box for office or general geek use.
