Yeah, the O2 and Octane looked great, but their cases felt like cheap plastic up close. I remember being very unimpressed with my first exposure to an SGI workstation because of this. Actually working on it was great... it was just that the cheap plastic of the case ruined the entire effect.
The previous generation (Indy/Indigo2) felt rock solid. The cheap feel of the O2 was a real let down. But they probably couldn't justify the cost of making really nice keyboards and cases once Linux became serious competition in every other way.