Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
My turn to disagree :D

When it comes to design and function, these things must be thought of in cooperation with one another.

As a professional whose workflow is impacted by the functional realities of the computers I use, I was handicapped by the previous generation of MBPs due, in part, to the insistence on 'all things serve the thinness master'. My maxed out 2019 MBP would spin up its fans sometimes just idling, and hitting it with any kind of a workload would cause it to start throttling, hard, unless I took unusual steps to avoid it. Intel definitely bears part of the responsibility here, but so too does the thin body design of that MBP which, in my experience, was too thin to allow for proper heat mitigation given the blowtorch of a CPU that was inside.

As an example, I created a set of 1.5" stilts that my MBP would sit on on my desk, creating a large air gap underneath. I then had a small desk fan that I had sitting next to the laptop, angled such that when I turned it on, it would blow through that gap, keeping the air under the laptop as cool as possible. That was the only way I was able to keep that machine from throttling when engaging in tasks that were part of my daily workflow. So, I had an essentially non-portable MBP while engaging in those tasks and constantly had not only the loud fans of the MBP running, but an external fan also running ... just to allow me to work.

Now that the design language is actually taking professional workloads in mind, my M1 Max MBP is able to handle virtually anything I throw at it without the fans even coming on. The two times I've heard them come on I was doing things that were excessively punishing. Even still, no throttling, partly due to the slightly thicker body.

This has been such an improvement to my day to day work cycle, and it's due, in part, to allowing the design language to be informed (at least in part) by the work flows and use-cases of people that are actually working these machines.
That’s thanks to the push of having a slim laptop. Thanks to that push Apple had to develop their own chips since intel wasn’t cutting it.
 
It's quite possible they did but the design was locked in when they discovered there may be issues. Even so, it may not have been a clear fail as the iPhone functioned quite fine in most cases.

I could see where design and engineering discussed the issue and decided to move ahead to hit a schedule date rates than do a redesign.




Form over function does not equate to “what do I want to make.” Form over function is bad design when it reduces functionality or makes it more difficult for users to use as intended. If it doesn't impact usability then the design complements the function; but function must come first.

Designers like cool design, that's why they are designers; but they need to be brought back to reality when their design impedes functionality. A truly great product combines great design and great engineering to produce a great user experience.
Disagree. The products function as they were intended. I can’t remember anytime an Apple product didn’t function as intended. If you buy a MacBook with no ports then don’t complain about later because the product was designed to work that way.
 
I got what I wanted.

Jony without Steve is like what Butcher says about the Spice Girls in The Boys: individually, they suck.

I loved Jony's designs (the lamp iMac is the coolest PC EVER made), but Jony NEEDED Steve Jobs to guide him.

And as far as I'm concerned, the "new kids" are doing better than he did alone.

MagSafe is back. Ports are back. Real keyboards are back. A bit of thickness for cooling under heavy loads is back. The TouchBar is not back (well, kinda).
 
  • Like
Reactions: SalisburySam
Disagree. We would still have headphone jacks with that way of thinking and Bluetooth headphones that work as perfectly as AirPods would be years away.

IDK what the rest of the discussion I butted into was about, but I disagree with this particular take on headphones.

The jack disappeared SPECIFICALLY for the purpose of driving customers towards $200 headphones. Schiller was telling the truth with the whole "courage" thing. He knew only Apple could get away with this.

Admittedly, the headphones were worth it, but if the jack was still there there would have been a LOT less people that would've given AirPods a shot.

Apple's marketing team must not be underestimated. They are absolutely BRILLIANT (from a capitalist perspective).
 
None of the newest products are still influenced by him and you can tell they are not as polished.

I very much disagree. The iPhone line is very much a iPhone 4 with bigger display … Ive’s team design. Apple decided for the same formula on the iPad Pro design. The MacBook Pro is through back to the MacBooks in the 2000’s with modern hints taken again from the 4S. Again then new iMac. Mac Studio is just a taller Mac Mini … again a Ives team design just stretched.

Both iOS and MacOS lays on the foundation he set, disrupting the previous design, especially in iOS. I remember the out cry … look at it now all matured.

I do agree that Ive since the departure of SJ looks to have lost touch with the reality of the common man.

Still the question is … who is there to challenge engineering and operations from a design perspective? Is there a CEO that even would support it or would side with operations and engineering most of the time? You see, operations don’t change as long as there is profit … even then. Engineers … well they are there to be challenged … but like to avoid it as much as possible.

I don’t think will see major design changes to Apple devices in the next decade as it happened under Ives and Steve Jobs Helm. This is it for a decade to come or more.

I guess we have to see how it goes with new devices tackling new problems. Like mixed reality spectacles/shades and VR googles.

Will see.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Lioness~
Towards the end when he brought us computers that looked nice but which thermal throttled, had bad keyboards, virtually no ports and troublesome displays, I ended up wondering if Jonny actually ever used any of these products himself. As Apple's chief designer commanding presumably the salary to match, he should have been able to foresee all these problems that me as a complete nobody could see straight away.
 
Disagree. The products function as they were intended. I can’t remember anytime an Apple product didn’t function as intended.

There was the Cube's cracking issues. iPhones that bent from being carried. Antenna issues. Battery issues. Keyboard problems. Heat dissipation issues. All of which can be traced to design decisions.

If you buy a MacBook with no ports then don’t complain about later because the product was designed to work that way.

Just because the products function as intended doesn't mean it's good design; no does leaving out features to make the design cool make it a good product or good industrial design.

If a product fails in the marketplace or gains a bad rap due to its design, it is a poor design.
 
...but i’m a bit afraid for the futur product. i don’t like that Tim Cook is not a product focus guy , and I can feel it with the Apple strategy since 10 years.

Exactly. You can see it all over Apple's products for the past decade, and the further Jony's has moved away from Apple, the more noticeable it has become to me. The little compromises, the little minor downgrades compared to the market at large. It is so clearly a numbers game, all operational, nothing aspirational.

This is why we have notches, not just on phones, but on laptops too (seriously wtf), huge camera bumps, phones that are heavy enough to double as dumbbells, and latest gen macs that were released on DAY ONE with specs that were already below competitors.

Tell me why the brand new Mac Mini can't do 4k@120 yet a $200 mini pc puck from Amazon that I got two years ago can. Answer: it's because they ran the numbers, and it would cut their costs not to use the newer HDMI standard. They probably checked their supply chain and found that they had a surplus of cheaper hdmi 2.0 hardware available, so yeah, why not trim a little cost there, punch up the margins even more, no one will notice. And this is just one example out of SOOOOO many little compromises that Apple has made in the past decade.

I'll keep using the iPhone and iPad, because I'm too far into the eco system, but there is zero chance I'll willingly choose to downgrade on performance and specs by using one of their laptops or desktops.
 
  • Love
Reactions: turbineseaplane
Tell me why the brand new Mac Mini can't do 4k@120 yet a $200 mini pc puck from Amazon that I got two years ago can. Answer: it's because they ran the numbers, and it would cut their costs not to use the newer HDMI standard.

Same with $1200+ MBA’s not being able to drive 2 external monitors…

…something anything with bare bones Intel Xe graphics can do (three! 4K HDR screens in fact)

And yet we get folks endlessly and breathlessly making excuses for Apple, up and down the product lines.
 
  • Like
Reactions: adb1973
Disagree. The products function as they were intended. I can’t remember anytime an Apple product didn’t function as intended. If you buy a MacBook with no ports then don’t complain about later because the product was designed to work that way.
That múst be a trolling reaction :)
- Imac alu pre-2012 design flaw that created dust in lcd (staingate)
- Mac mini 2012 Bluetooth interference because of absent shielding
- iPhone 4 antenna needing a bumper/cover
- apple watch macbook pro gpu's cooked, heat dispensation
- series 2/3 battery pushing out screen (more bad manufacturing than design)
- butterfly keyboards

Still i love their products but NO quite a lot of the products do NOT function as intended. And they have a hard time admitting that. Until you prove it and then they replace under warranty and then after 2 years plus come with a replacement program.
 
I'll willingly choose to downgrade on performance and specs by using one of their laptops or desktops.

Funny, that is precisely the reason why I do not buy Windows laptops. I tried, but after a few days of testing returned them. I don’t want specs and performance as of potential … want realized performance every day.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: adb1973
Funny, that is precisely the reason why I do not buy Windows laptops. I tried, but after a few days of testing returned them. I don’t want specs and performance as of potential … want realized performance every day.
Asus X515JAB works fine for me....alongside my MBA2012 MBA 2020...its how I use them
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.