How does the 2015 MacBook single USB-C port not make the list?
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Apple's Most Questionable Design Decisions in Recent Memory
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I think the trash can Mac Pro was just a bit ahead of its time - today it could actually be an incredibly versatile machine with a quad M1 Max setup, keeping expandable ram (Keep a baseline amount on die but have a second tier of RAM), allowing for multiple M2 slots and a ton of Thunderbolt 4 ports. Would be smoking fast, last a long while and be expandable enough (Thunderbolt 2 at the time didn't cut it.) Also - most importantly - Apple could actually upgrade it every year or two to keep it up to date since they control all the designs...
I’ve used the Magic Mouse for years and I don’t think it’s as bad as people say it is. You have to charge it what, 2, maybe 3 times a year? And something like 10 min of charging get you enough juice to finish the day before letting it charge for a couple hours.
Of course, I’d prefer the port to me moved in a more convenient place (and to be USB-C). I just don’t think it’s that bad, the mouse is still very usable in day to day
If only the (then) new iPad Pro had had some sort of new magnetic docking system with electrical contacts for charging (not inductive charging)... oh, wait, it did but somehow the Pencil wasn't designed to use it.
Tell that to the 2011 Galaxy Note and various Samsung tablets (or the old Wacom tablet from the early 90s somewhere in a cupboard) where the stylus was inductively powered from the screen/tablet and didn't need a battery... and those were proper, high-resolution, pressure-sensitive stylii, not plastic fingers.
If the Pencil had been designed to work with existing iPads and Phones - meaning that it had to rely on capacitive sensing for position and use bluetooth for pressure sensitivity etc. - then Apple would have had an excuse... but it only worked with new iPads which (like the Samsung devices) could have been fitted with proper inductive digitisers alongside the capacitive sensor.
The the pencil came with an adapter cable in the box, IIRC.
Without Steve Jobs guarding the gate, Johny Ive would go too wild and eventually drag down the company.
Flattend ugly UI was the start
Flattend ugly UI was the start
Ok thank you for the searing logic of reminding complainers about the pencil. Yes the initial intent was a bit...odd.. to make the pencil into a dagger, but it still had the the alternative readily available. Apple isn't stupid, just sometimes myopic.
At least the pencil had a self-charging/connection option you were out for a 15sec == 30min quick charge. If it didn't, people would've exploded.
Maybe it's the people who are permanently myopic and are offended when Apple challenges them on it thus causing them to publicly announce ones own embarrassment. Strange times we live in...
Magic Mouse -
I'm sorry but the angst over the mouse charging is so overblown, I still can't understand it.
A single charge last for a long time, and there is a quick charge feature to get a full days power in a few minutes.
Are people really that clueless that can't charge the thing when they take a lunch, go to the bathroom, or overnight when they are sleeping? Where's the complaints about the crappy ergonomics? Where is a vertical version for those that need it?
MacPro -
For the home user, the Mac Pro is great but I can completely understand pro users having major issues.
Aipods Max -
I never noticed the case before, that is awful, it looks like a bra.
Butterfly Keyboard -
I know I'm in the minority, but having arthritis in my hands, I find the butterfly mechanism so much easier and comfortable for my hands.
Apple Pencil -
Again, way overblown, it came with an adapter to plug in a lightning cable. You really only ever needed to to plug it into the iPad to sync. Was the adapter a great solution, no. It's tiny and easy to lose, but charging via iPad was never necessary except for an emergency.
I'm sorry but the angst over the mouse charging is so overblown, I still can't understand it.
A single charge last for a long time, and there is a quick charge feature to get a full days power in a few minutes.
Are people really that clueless that can't charge the thing when they take a lunch, go to the bathroom, or overnight when they are sleeping? Where's the complaints about the crappy ergonomics? Where is a vertical version for those that need it?
MacPro -
For the home user, the Mac Pro is great but I can completely understand pro users having major issues.
Aipods Max -
I never noticed the case before, that is awful, it looks like a bra.
Butterfly Keyboard -
I know I'm in the minority, but having arthritis in my hands, I find the butterfly mechanism so much easier and comfortable for my hands.
Apple Pencil -
Again, way overblown, it came with an adapter to plug in a lightning cable. You really only ever needed to to plug it into the iPad to sync. Was the adapter a great solution, no. It's tiny and easy to lose, but charging via iPad was never necessary except for an emergency.
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With recent macOS versions I get a single "low battery" alert for my Magic Mouse and it's usually right around 3% charge remaining. Unless I manually check it I frequently wind up with a dead battery in the middle of working.
5-10 minutes of charging will get me through the day until I can lay it on its side or back for a few hours to fully charge.
....maybe because this isn't "Dell rumours".
I think you'll find plenty of threads here critiquing Logitech products (particularly their driver software, and not including the unified receiver in the Mac edition of the MX Master) - their mice are better than Apple's but that doesn't mean that they are perfect. And, of course, when an arch competitor like Samsung messes up (the exploding Note, the flakey foldable phone) it is trumpeted here.
OTOH I don't recall Dell ever selling a $300 coffee table book full of artistically lit monochrome shots of Lattitude laptops.
Apple sell premium-priced products and brag endlessly about all the design awards on their (probably award-winning) mantlepiece. They're asking to be held to a higher standard.
Also, most of the examples here aren't Apple pushing the envelope: Mice have been around since the 1980s, decent optical mice that had one job to do and did it well since the 90s and wireless, rechargeable mice that you could charge on-the-go have been available for years. The problem with the Tragic Mouse II isn't that it pushes any envelopes - it's that Apple took the years-old Magic Mouse and expended minimum effort when they switched it from AA cells to fixed rechargeables. As for the Pencil - battery-free stylii - with all the pressure/angle sensitivity trimmings - have been around since the 90s and in Samsung phones and tablets since 2011. There's no technical genius required to look at an early sketch of a headphone carrying case and say "God, no - that looks like a bra!"
The Magic Mouse is so bad for me, not just in terms of charging, but daily usage that I started buying Logitech master mice.
The pencil thing is also quite obnoxious. We have kids. The cover for the pencil disappeared within weeks. I have an iPad Pro, and the pencil solution there is so much better.
I liked the Mac Pro design, but for a top of the line machine, with no expansion? Ridiculous. Pair that with no upgrades for the internal Radeon video cards, which often die due to heat damage, especially the R700s, it’s laughable. My work computer was a bottom of the line, so the heat issue wasn’t so dire, but the thing did a great job of heating my office.
The headphone cover was silly, and for the amount of money those headphones cost? Also, the top of the line headphones can’t do lossless or analog? Wow.
The keyboard was a serious misstep. My wife’s computer needed 2 new keyboards. It’s in my closet now with another broken keyboard. And a charging problem. And the stage light issue had to be repaired. I skipped that whole generation after seeing her experience.
Siri Remote? I haven’t used the new one, but we lose the last gen one all the time.
The pencil thing is also quite obnoxious. We have kids. The cover for the pencil disappeared within weeks. I have an iPad Pro, and the pencil solution there is so much better.
I liked the Mac Pro design, but for a top of the line machine, with no expansion? Ridiculous. Pair that with no upgrades for the internal Radeon video cards, which often die due to heat damage, especially the R700s, it’s laughable. My work computer was a bottom of the line, so the heat issue wasn’t so dire, but the thing did a great job of heating my office.
The headphone cover was silly, and for the amount of money those headphones cost? Also, the top of the line headphones can’t do lossless or analog? Wow.
The keyboard was a serious misstep. My wife’s computer needed 2 new keyboards. It’s in my closet now with another broken keyboard. And a charging problem. And the stage light issue had to be repaired. I skipped that whole generation after seeing her experience.
Siri Remote? I haven’t used the new one, but we lose the last gen one all the time.
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I think you may have misinterpreted my first paragraph. It wasn't to say "why aren't you bashing Dell and others", it was to say Apple gets compared against companies that make only those devices in that genre. I actually wrote just that.
To be honest, the position of the Magic Mouse charging port never really bothered me that much. You only have to charge it once o month or so anyway. And when I receive the notification that the battery is running low, I still easily make it through the work and just plug it in afterwards.
However, the old Siri Remote really was an absolut nightmare. I never really figured out how to fast forward or how to rewind. The touchpad was just terrible. And I don't how many times I accidentally closed the app because I held the remote upside down.
However, the old Siri Remote really was an absolut nightmare. I never really figured out how to fast forward or how to rewind. The touchpad was just terrible. And I don't how many times I accidentally closed the app because I held the remote upside down.
This. I have had the same mouse and set of recargable Eneloop batteries (thousands of cycles each) for as long as I can remember (likely since month one of the MM1 intro). The real downside of the new mouse is it becomes landfill after a few hundred cycles. Apple could have kept MM1 around and included some high-life cycle batteries (higher sales price vs. MM2) as part of Tim's "optional" "real environment saving" product line, but there is just so much profit in the pure disposable culture, and a dual line would have made PR/Mktg a bit more difficult because Tim/Lisa/Apple would have to acknowledge some environmental downside to the new/shiny/profitable. Apple really is reprehensible for creating so much e-waste, yet no one really seems to care.
Can we talk about why isn't the general 2 pencilmag not on the fold side of the magic keyboard case? It wouldn't pop off every time I put it in my bag
The AirPods max “case” is fine for having somewhere to stick the AirPods when they’re on your desk so they don’t get desk junk on em.
I think the problem is calling it a “case” when it’s more like a sleeve. if it was $500 for AirPods + smart sleeve, I think people would be more accepting.
As a “case” it’s the chintziest case you could include.
I think the problem is calling it a “case” when it’s more like a sleeve. if it was $500 for AirPods + smart sleeve, I think people would be more accepting.
As a “case” it’s the chintziest case you could include.
Mac Pro 2013 was fine and quite innovative for many point of view.
AppleTV remote for me was fine, I have both old and new and for some things I like the old design better.
Butterfly keyboard issue was exaggerated for clicks and made even bigger by whiners. It was real, but I loved it feel, how it was clicky but low, anyway everyone seems happy now.
AppleTV remote for me was fine, I have both old and new and for some things I like the old design better.
Butterfly keyboard issue was exaggerated for clicks and made even bigger by whiners. It was real, but I loved it feel, how it was clicky but low, anyway everyone seems happy now.
Definitely the butterfly keyboard was an unforced error that effected people. Everything else on this list is is a case of “don’t like it don’t buy it” or “didn’t like it returned it.” If you needed a MacBook, that keyboard was your only bad option, barring having a second keyboard with you. I didn’t have any issues with my butterfly keyboards. Owned a 2015 12”, 2016 12” which I still have, and the 2016 15”. Guess I got lucky.