I don't disagree with much of what you're saying. However, you're mired in the "that's how things are right now" thinking that has never been the way Apple approached anything.
Well, no - the situation
has changed since the "xMac" argument started, but the change is that the market for desktops has declined (especially if you rule out the corporate sector, where Apple has never really had a presence - except with 'Bring Your Own Device' which is mainly iPhones & laptops).
I'm asking for a decent Mac without a built-in display that isn't a high-end Mac Pro. It's a no-brainer and has been for ages.
Well, we had that -
http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/mac_mini/specs/mac-mini-core-i7-2.3-late-2012-specs.html - and Apple's excuse for killing it off was the lack of a drop-in processor upgrade from Intel, but one suspects that if it had been a big money spinner for Apple they'd have found a way to keep it alive.
The components of an ($1000) iMac put into a box can't be that expensive to make.
You can get that - its called a 2014 Mac Mini. What you're asking for is more like the contents of something like a $2000 5k iMac, without the display, in a box (probably slightly bigger than a Mac Mini). That is going to have exactly the problem I suggested: there's no guarantee that it will bring in new customers, but it will definitely hit sales of iMacs and Mac Pros. The 5k iMac is a stunning machine that will part punters from their money - a silver pizza box, not so impressive.
Anyway, the reality is that Mac sales are down YOY. If the state of the Mac is so great, why is that happening?
Multiple reasons:
1. The state of the Mac isn't so great. OK, a lot of critics don't seem to get that Apple can't build machines using Intel processors that are still vapourware, but not updating your flagship MacBook Pro for 18 months is never going to be a marketing win, whoever's fault it is. Ditto the state of the Mac Mini & the Mac Pro . Then the CEO stands up and announces that the only computer you need is an iPad... They teased us with USB-C in 2015, but haven't followed through, while USB-C/TB3 is becoming common in the PC world; their only display product (potentially a great way of using a laptop as a desktop) has withered on the vine for years and now been discontinued, with no sign of a replacement. Now, there are reasons and rationalisations for all of these things (I've argued a few in my time) but, bottom line, whoever is to blame, they're all open goals for competitors and Apple should be big enough and ugly enough to defend them.
2. PC sales, generally, have been tanking for a few years: Apple & Lenovo have been bucking the trend probably
because of their focus on high-end laptops & ultrabooks - but that won't last for ever because of the underlying reason:
3. The PC has matured - unless you're working at the bleeding edge of 3D graphics or editing video for Imax, your 5 year old computer is probably good enough. You don't actually need to upgrade every 2 years any more, so there's far more pressure on manufacturers to give you a reason to upgrade. That's why Apple needs to show us something new in the Mac world - but so far their answer has been "get an iPad Pro instead!". I don't buy that: I look around and don't see people using tablets for anything more taxing than email, social media and note-taking - for which they are fantastic - the real work is still done on real computers.
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You would face the same problem regardless of whether the charging port was at the back or underneath the mouse. Either way, you will not be using your mouse (or at least, not using it comfortably) while it is charging.
No, you put the charging port on the front of the mouse (where the wire would go on a wired mouse) so while it is charging it is no more inconvenient to use than a regular wired mouse. Logitech have done this for years on their MX Performance and MX Master mice. Apple make a wired mouse that shows its not impossible to combine a plug on the front with their uni-button design... unless, of course, you decide to just kludge a charging socket onto the Mighty Mouse 1 design. Anyhow, the whole unibutton/touch-sensitive concept is an overcomplicated form-over-function mess anyway - like every Apple mouse from the hockey puck onwards. Pretty, though.