To be more specific regarding my initial post.
The new design is kind of okay. These machines are made to be desktop replacements that you can travel around with.
My main concern was about my feeling that Apple seems to be shifting more and more from a company that had a very strict focus on the design of its products towards engineering and marketing. Also, the keynotes and presentations were standing out from the rest of the industry. That certainly was a huge part of the Steve Jobs / Jonathan Ives era.
Tim Cook and his team seem to focus more and more on shareholder value, introducing features and functions (useful or not), and Marketing numbers (pixels, performance, bla bla bla). There’s simply no goosebumps factor anymore. Even the most recent Microsoft Surface event was more emotional than all Apple events combined this year.
Last but not least: pricing is ridiculous. I bought a top of the line 13” MacBook (Pro) aluminum 12 years ago for 1300€ (MagSafe, and a plethora of ports included). Fast forward the machine in the same category has put on almost 1000 € / $
Then this crazy product portfolio and diversification.
Apple is focused on shareholder's value, yes. In fact, that's the main purpose of a publicly traded company. Who wanted to own part of a company that is decreasing in value? This is not new, it's just that Tim is pushing it a bit more (who would've thought someone could make record revenues with a $1000 phone in a middle of a pandemic?)
Jobs/Ives are not the panacea. They are more form over function, and that's not sustainable on a tool (a computer is a tool in the end). Form over function only works indefinitely on fashion (thus Ives with his $10000 gold Apple Watch).
There has to be a balance. I like thinner gadgets, but I don't want it to be so thin that it sacrifices other things like battery life and structural integrity, which are essential in a portable gadget. I'm glad that Apple is moving towards thicker iPhones and put more battery, as an example. If Jobs/Ives were still around, this won't happen, and all we would have would be an iPhone mini with poor battery life. "But it's so small and thin, and look you can put it inside your skinny jean pocket... /s" Who cares, battery life is more important for such a mobile device.
Pricing is ridiculous, but not that ridiculous. It seems ridiculous because Apple is playing on the high end. However, there are even Windows laptops with poorer battery life and efficiency are also priced that much on the high end. And Apple still sells the Macbook Air.
Your "top of the line" macbook pro would've been ~1500€ today (adjusting for inflation). The price of the 14" Macbook Pro seems reasonable, considering it has 120Hz screen and 512GB SSD, and even a gen11 i7 cannot match it (which is already high end from intel).