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Apple Executives Discuss MacBook Air Redesign and Reflect on 12-Inch MacBook
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You do know that we've had almost 20% inflation during that two-year period, right?
Any proper ergonomic keyboard has either a flat or negative tilt (higher close to you than away from you).
The Best Ergonomic Keyboard
Ergonomic keyboards can make typing more comfortable. The Logitech Wave Keys is the best one you can buy.
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Best Keyboard Tilt Risers
Keyboard tilt risers, like the pop-up tabs of yore, put the keyboard or laptop at a positive tilt angle, placing more strain on wrists and forearm muscles.
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So?
Why should I, as a consumer, be so concerned about inflation affecting Apple? They kept announcing record breaking revenues every quarter during those 2 years. In the end, all I see is a 2 year old laptop being sold at the same original price.
So shameless, she is just saying the Wedge as something to make look thin, though wedge design was one of the Steve's Favourites
Apple's industrial design chief Evans Hankey and VP of hardware engineering Kate Bergeron recently spoke about the redesigned MacBook Air, the former 12-inch MacBook, and more in an interview with British GQ, spotted by 9to5Mac.
Hankey has fully led Apple's hardware design since Apple's former design chief Jony Ive departed the company in 2019. Ive remained a consultant to Apple through his independent design firm LoveFrom, but on Tuesday it was reported that Apple and Ive mutually agreed not to renew their contract, marking the end of a 30-year partnership.
The new MacBook Air does away with the notebook's iconic wedge-shaped design in favor of a flatter design, which Hankey described as "quite honest and simple."
"We don't really have to play any kind of games with shape or form to make it look thin," said Hankey, regarding the new design. "And I think that's one of the most lovely and remarkable things: it's quite honest and simple."
Hankey said the new MacBook Air was designed alongside the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models that launched last year. "It was the first time we ever set out to do a family of products together," she remarked.
As for the 12-inch MacBook, which Apple discontinued in 2019, Bergeron admitted that the notebook had a "polarizing" design for some people
Also I hope we get the wedge design back, curved edges on iPhones back (hopefully)
Got to agree with everything you said, and I also hope we get the wedge and curves back
Macbook Airs should have 1TB SSDs as the base, and MBP should have 2TB SSDs as the base.
256GB with sub-par performance due to using single NAND for a $1200-$1500 laptop is definitely wack. 512GB should've been minimum, but we know Apple is all about upselling. Intentionally cripple the base model so people are nudged to buy a higher tier, or upgrade sooner.
Why not? The M-series line of CPUs can easily mean a smaller battery and more space for the scissor keyboard.
It's easy to be disappointed but keep in mind Apple has one (1) design team that has shrunk in employees since Jony Ive left (and took designers with him, allegedly). Since then, Apple's design team has designed a new Studio Display, a new Mac Studio, a new 14 & 16-inch MacBook Pro, the upcoming iPhone to be announced in September, the upcoming Mac Pro to be announced fall... not to mention all the other designs in the pipeline (eg. 15-inch MacBook Air and rumor says there's a new display that was supposed to be released in June but was postponed to 2023)...
They are clearly going through a redesign renaissance, and overworked—I think we can forgive them for putting in an M2 into an old design to buy another year for the M3 MacBook Pro redesign. As a Mac user, we have a lot of new toys to play with that have been announced just in the last 10 months.
You guys really want curved iPhones back?? The “straight edge” design ALWAYS looked and felt better. Curved designs never looked “Apple-like” for the iPhone. And they made for much less grip while holding them. Get an SE then.
Firstly, iPhones go through a Cycle of Flat and Curved Edges, nothing makes it look Apple Like or not Apple Like, also you get a better grip with curved edges as you have more area in contact with your hand, also first iPhones weren't flat edged
Not Apple-like? The original iPhone until the 3GS had curved design. 4 to 5s went flat. 6 to 11 were back to curved. Both designs are pretty much Apple as they went back and forth to recycle designs.
Having their design team being poached to dry is Apple’s management problem (the same with the ML guy). Sounded like Apple has a deeper problem in old management style. But that’s still not an excuse for a trillion dollar company making record breaking revenues every quarter for the past few years. Apple is not a startup who is starved for capital and cannot afford hiring people.
It’s way ahead of it’s time. Imagine the retina MacBook today, where having 1 USB-C port is acceptable (iPad Pro), and we have faster wireless tech and fanless Apple silicon. It would’ve been alright (minus the keyboard). It failed because the intel chip was not good enough at that edge case of portability.
Agree. 12” was horrible. I had one with the extremely slow m5 . the logic board failed at Year 3. I was happy I could get rid of it.
I’d - totally - buy a 12-inch as a backup MacBook.
My bigger MacBook is typically docked and too valuable for casual coffee shop use.
One of my friends (a tech founder) loves his MacBook 12-inch as a backup.
My bigger MacBook is typically docked and too valuable for casual coffee shop use.
One of my friends (a tech founder) loves his MacBook 12-inch as a backup.
IMO she was more referring the MBP tapered body and lid optical illusion than the wedge design; since the Air shares the same design as the Pros, her comments apply to those as well.
I think that two ports is a minimum requirement for most people when it comes to macOS laptops; there were a lot of complaints about the M1 13" laptops only having two. iPads aren't used the same way so one port there is largely fine (to be fair, the magic keyboard gives you a second port for charging).
Due to the the 12's body being no wider than the keyboard there was literally only space for a port on either side. So let's say that Apple releases an M1 12" MacBook, would it be more acceptable to have one USB and a headphone jack, or two USBs but no headphone jack? I would probably take two USB ports because for as infrequently as I use wired headphone with my MBPs I could just leave an adapter connected to my wired headphones and it wouldn't feel like #donglelife.
But if you look at some of the 12" MacBook complaints, they follow a long history of people buying Apple's smallest laptops and expecting to use them exactly like they would a 15" MBP. Like, you intentionally bought a computer with one USB-C port, why were you frustrated by needing a USB-C dock at your desk.
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One USB-C port plus one charging port would have been tolerable. The problem is the 12” MacBook did not have that. Even the iPad Pro has that if you get the Magic Keyboard.
Having one USB-C port and no additional charging port is really frustrating.
The 12" only had space for two ports, one of which was the headphone jack. They could have give it two by dropping the headphone jack but that would have added complexity because the ports are on opposite sides; but I feel like the premium price, compared to the Air, should have covered that.
In the context of additional ports, the magic keyboard is a keyboard dock with one USB-C port so you can accomplish the same on the MacBook with a USB-C splitter/dongle.
But this is my point, if you spend most of your time with a drive connected, don't buy the smallest laptop which is only able to be that small because it has one USB-C port. Get a computer which is appropriate to your needs.
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Vote with your wallet and send a strong message to Apple, purchasing a better competitor product. And find happiness.
A win-win. Will you do it and move on?
The wedge design was good. If a 12” MacBook makes a comeback, maybe Apple could offer it it multiple colours like the iMac.