The thinness and smallness of the computer was genuinely a very nice thing about it. You could hold it open in one hand easily, fit into any bag, didn't add any weight. Computers don't have all that much differentiating them anyway, so these things are actually a very good goal to shoot for. I'm guessing that they will probably end up bringing the form factor back with the M1 at some point.
So dust kills a keyboard that is an expensive replacement and was such a fail Apple had to replace who knows how many keyboards for free. Epic fail. That's kind of my point.
> Biggest downside is that it got very hot during video calls
Exactly. It was too underpowered. Compare that to the Macbook Air (2010 onwards, not the earlier 2008 model). This was such an awesome machine. Relatively cheap and a good compromise of power and portability. It was actually amazing how good this machine was. For years no Windows hardware could compete with that price and set of features.
But it languished for years when all it needed was more memory and a retina display and instead we got the one-port 12" Macbook abomination. All for the holy grail of thinness.
Design is the art of compromise. The 12" Macbook shows you exactly what happens when you don't compromise.
> I'm guessing that they will probably end up bringing the form factor back with the M1 at some point.
While waiting for a Macbook Air refresh my heart sank as soon as they announced the 12" Macbook. Why? Because I knew there was no room for the (then) 11" and 13" Airs with a 12" SKU. And I was right. That mistake was corrected so I don't see the 12" model coming back anytime soon with the 13" Air here and on M1.
if anything, I think that niche has been filled with the iPad (poorly). I mean there's lots of things I like my iPad for but it's no laptop replacement.
The thinness trade offs with the butterfly keyboard and USB C actually make sense for an ultraportable (as opposed to a desktop replacement like the pro).
> I had some issues with dust in the keyboard I use a keyboard cover to get around this.
> Biggest downside is that it got very hot during video calls, which wasn't as big of an issue in 2016 as it is now. Agreed, it's not great for video, esp. since the camera also kind of sucks.
I'd totally buy an updated version.
This is verifiable nonsense, given the iPhone increased in thickness between generations several times with Ive at the helm.
It's crazy to think about, Intel 10nm was supposed to be available for the entire butterfly/touchbar era.
I can't find the link, but I heard when they launched the new Mac Pro, Ives tried to show Tim Cook what it looked like, but Tim responded with "I get it... its a computer", and didn't see the design until the public launch event.
Right-clicking became so ubiquitous and even consistent on Windows. You needed the same behaviour on Macs but had no second mouse button so got that by using modifier keys. Some apps it was Option, others control and so on.
The problem was that those modified clicks had no discoverability and less consistency than right-clicking. Windows users on the other hand learned that nothing bad could happen with a right click.
Force Touch as a similar kind of UX fail with no discoverability. There was (and is) no consistency with what a Force Touch means or should mean or even if it's an option at all.
But yes, Force Touch did make the iPhone thicker and heavier.
The 12” MacBook was the poster child for the search for ultimate thinness. As was the disastrous butterfly keyboard (it was suggested this only shaved off 0.5mm).
Look at the iPad Pro refresh just announced. It’s actually slightly thicker because that’s needed for a better display. This would never have happened with Ive at the helm of design.