Does the hype creep out anybody else?

I feel like we are that point where laptop functionality and design really can't get much better than this,

Does anyone else feel this way?

No.

now imagine it running iOS/Mac OS.
land that’s nothing compared to what will be out in 10, 20 years+
 
Hearing all these reviewers describe how absolutely amazing the new MacBook Air design is freaks me out.


Yes, the bezels are smaller. Yes, it has magsafe. Yes, it comes in colors.


But is it objectively BETTER design? The build quality is the same, it already couldn't have gotten better than the previous Air. The aesthetics, does it actually look BETTER? I'm not talking does it look different, but BETTER? I really can't say, nor do I care. They both look fantastic. But all these reviewers are like," Oh my gosh my mind is blown. I'm so amazed. It looks so *sleek* and *modern*".

(PSA Industrial Designers absolutely laughs at the use of describing a product as sleek and modern because they don't mean anything in the trade. They are equivalent to calling something "good").



I feel like we are that point where laptop functionality and design really can't get much better than this, and we are at a point where Apple is just going to take laptop designs and make them "different" and tell their marketing Youtube team to say how gamechanging their designs are when they really aren't.

Does anyone else feel this way?
Those YouTube reviewers are saying similar things because they have to. When Apple sent you a review units, they will also send you a “guide” on how to “review” the unit, to talk about the main marketing points. That’s why most reviewers are almost talking about the same things the same way. Basically they’re not reviews, they’re just guided marketing walkthroughs.

Real reviews will only come months after where real users start buying and using the laptops in the real world. You cannot do a real review on a free loaner review unit since you are always risking that you won’t get free review units again the future. You will always be self censoring on what you’re going to say about it. Also remember that many of these YouTubers aren’t really techies. They’re just good at talking and being a content creator, thus most of them are simply following the review guide, talking about the same marketing points.

For us here who knows a bit more about specifications and tech, we should only watch those reviews with a grain of salt, just to observe someone else’s perspective. Hen we should form out own opinion, maybe play with one at a store, decide what we need and make our own decision.
 
Okie my honest opinion here. The MBA M2 is almost the same as the MBA M1 in terms of normal use performance, basically an awesome thin and light laptop for everyday use. Mainly the difference is in design. Whether is it an upgrade or not it's personal preference.

If you have an M1, there is no need to "upgrade" to the M2. it will only be meaningful if you value the new design.

If you were to go for an M1 MBA today, you will be perfectly happy knowing that the M2 MBA just the same device.
 
For what it's worth, I do think the new M2 MBA form factor is going to stick around for the next 8-10 years.

I got to play around with it at the Apple Store yesterday. It looks and feels like a thinner MBP, and is nice to hold in the hand when closed. From the top, feels virtually indistinguishable from the M1 MBA. I guess the addition of MagSafe is always welcome, especially if it can help free up one USB-C port. I probably won't see any appreciable improvement in performance compared to my M1 MBA for the work I do.

I do agree that when you already have a device as thin as the MBA, it will get increasingly challenging to come up with a new design that is both different and better. Hence my initial point - expect this form factor for a good long time. And I don't think that is necessarily a bad thing.

It's just a very nice piece of hardware overall, and it's hard to find any real fault with it when you look at the state of the competition.
 
Who is this absolute authority who defines what "sleek and modern" means? May I speak to him/her/other?
I'm an ID, and I can attest to people skirting around the word "Modern", since it has a specific meaning in the arts (modern art & design: 1860-1960, then we fade into post-modernism) versus in the common vernacular (where it means "current"). I do regularly hear other designers & engineers use "sleek" all the time, however. The more verbose among us use all manner of words to describe all manner of things. Some favorites: "Needs to be more object, less material." or "if that thing gets any more process I'll make a fruit smoothie out of it", or my perennial favorite: "Ugh, looks like it was designed by an engineer."

Designers are human too, for better or worse.
 
Hearing all these reviewers describe how absolutely amazing the new MacBook Air design is freaks me out.


Yes, the bezels are smaller. Yes, it has magsafe. Yes, it comes in colors.


But is it objectively BETTER design? The build quality is the same, it already couldn't have gotten better than the previous Air. The aesthetics, does it actually look BETTER? I'm not talking does it look different, but BETTER? I really can't say, nor do I care. They both look fantastic. But all these reviewers are like," Oh my gosh my mind is blown. I'm so amazed. It looks so *sleek* and *modern*".

(PSA Industrial Designers absolutely laughs at the use of describing a product as sleek and modern because they don't mean anything in the trade. They are equivalent to calling something "good").



I feel like we are that point where laptop functionality and design really can't get much better than this, and we are at a point where Apple is just going to take laptop designs and make them "different" and tell their marketing Youtube team to say how gamechanging their designs are when they really aren't.

Does anyone else feel this way?
I thought that photo of Craig Federighi two years ago gazing into screen of the laptop like he was witnessing the Big Bang was over the top. Constant navel-gazing.
 
I thought that photo of Craig Federighi two years ago gazing into screen of the laptop like he was witnessing the Big Bang was over the top. Constant navel-gazing.
Yeah, but don't you remember how long it used to take to wake a laptop from sleep? How often the process could stall and take even longer? That sucked.

It actually was cool and noteworthy to finally get laptops that woke so fast, they'd be done before you even got the lid all the way open. That was worth a bit of hoopla.
 
The MBA M2 is almost the same as the MBA M1 in terms of normal use performance, basically an awesome thin and light laptop for everyday use.

So what then of these sorts of reviews:


Now compare with a recent video:


So we've gone from "ploughing through 8k videos like it's no one's business" on an M1 to "don't expect to be editing in 4k all day" on an M2. So what changed?


Just to be clear, I'm not singling you out!
 
I feel like we are that point where laptop functionality and design really can't get much better than this,

I remember people were saying things like that during iPhone 3G/3GS. "What can you change in a design which is mostly screen? It's gonna be a black plastic rectangle anyway".

And then iPhone 4 was released which was completely different, iPhone 6 etc. In the end, all revolutionary products come down to the collaboration of design and management teams.

By the way, the same opinion was popular in mid 00s. At that time, most phone manufactures were simply adding more megapixels to the phone cameras. And many were saying "what else can you do to the mobile phone? It's perfect, that's why manufactures are mostly improving cameras". And then iPhone was released and everything has changed (many reviews complained that it had less megapixels than other phones and didn't have a video camera. They failed to see what it was really about). So, there's always opportunity for innovation.
 
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Does anyone else feel this way?
There are potentially billions that feel that way. Fortunately for Apple, they only have to sell somewhere around 20 million of them to make it worth continuing to make them. Considering that some that feel that way may STILL buy them, I’d guess that their chances of hitting their goals are pretty good.
 
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No, it’s not creepy. It’s exciting. Apple is about the only company doing anything exciting in this space right now. Not only is 2nd gen ASi exciting, but a design built fully around it as well. MagSafe is back, MBP design language present, magic keyboard, larger screen, and more. Apples most popular Mac just became phenomenal. The hype warranted.
 
I'm just glad that all of these issues are uncovered quite early thanks to the M2 13" MacBook pro. Now I am more comfortable waiting out for the M3. 3nm means cooler running, and hopefully by that time Apple has a 16/512 config available as preconfigured.

It's fun to observe the hype train, entertaining. But since I'm buying these things with my own money and with 30% Apple markup where I live, I have to be more cautious when buying an Apple product.
 
There are potentially billions that feel that way. Fortunately for Apple, they only have to sell somewhere around 20 million of them to make it worth continuing to make them. Considering that some that feel that way may STILL buy them, I’d guess that their chances of hitting their goals are pretty good.
how about some context? your quote from 'TSE' doesn't tell us what 'feel this way' is about (and am not going to search thru 60 posts to find the original...)
 
how about some context? your quote from 'TSE' doesn't tell us what 'feel this way' is about (and am not going to search thru 60 posts to find the original...)
The thing is, it doesn’t even matter what “feel this way” is about. There are, at this time, “potentially” billions that could possibly feel “that way” about absolutely any “way” someone can “feel” about absolutely anything.

If measured, of course, there may not be billions, but the potential is certainly there. However, there are NOT potentially hundreds of billions that feel that way, mainly because on this planet which is were most of us reside, there’s not even 10’s of billions yet, much less hundreds.
 
So what then of these sorts of reviews:


Now compare with a recent video:


So we've gone from "ploughing through 8k videos like it's no one's business" on an M1 to "don't expect to be editing in 4k all day" on an M2. So what changed?


Just to be clear, I'm not singling you out!
hilarious.
 
I stopped watching reviews and YouTube about two years ago. Everything is attention driven and with attention you cannot have objectivity. To counteract the attention, you have to have hype and it turns into a vicious circle of detrimental garbage.

Stop watching it for a few months. Don't watch the WWDC and events and just occasionally check up on new products.

Spend the time you watched crap on YouTube doing creative things, learning stuff or spending time with your friends.

Life is better this side of the fence.
 
I stopped watching reviews and YouTube about two years ago. Everything is attention driven and with attention you cannot have objectivity. To counteract the attention, you have to have hype and it turns into a vicious circle of detrimental garbage.

Stop watching it for a few months. Don't watch the WWDC and events and just occasionally check up on new products.

Spend the time you watched crap on YouTube doing creative things, learning stuff or spending time with your friends.

Life is better this side of the fence.
i hear you, but i find the apple events, at least, a great introduction to what's new. i want to know. then i can research on my own, ignore the over-caffeinated youtube videos... and reach my own conclusions.

i don't think you have to completely withdraw from the world to figure things out.
 
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