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Backlit Apple Logo Could Make a Comeback on Future MacBooks
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If you think that's bad, go to Google Earth and type in your address.
2020s: Apple re-adding everything it removed from their laptops in the 2010s (HDMI, SD card, function keys, MagSafe, keyboard that works, backlit logo). Then probably calling it "new".
Often I feel the current apple logo looks lost on the midnight colour.
But you're right, the glowing Apple logo on the midnight colour would really pop!
I suppose they could use a separate light source, but in that case they wouldn't need a one-way mirror; instead, they'd just put an opaque backing on the light source to shield it from the display. Besides, I don't think Apple would add a separate light source, since that adds thickness and complexity, and consumes additional power, for a purely cosmetic effect. So I thought this was supposed to be a clever way to make use of existing display illumination to illuminate the logo (as they did before), while eliminating the problem that previously forced them to get rid of it.
Don't know about the opacity of mini-LED.
Glad it's gone as I found it tacky, plus having a big hole cut into the back panel for the light just reduces structural rigidity as screens these days are so thin.
And I thought they got rid of it because as screens ended up getting so thin using it outdoors would cause color inaccuracies as the sunlight could bleed through the logo. If they get around it by having it powered as a separate light source by the battery instead of the normal LCD backlight that's a hell no.
And I thought they got rid of it because as screens ended up getting so thin using it outdoors would cause color inaccuracies as the sunlight could bleed through the logo. If they get around it by having it powered as a separate light source by the battery instead of the normal LCD backlight that's a hell no.
I think the idea is that they get around the bleed problem by using a one-way mirror. That's what the patent seems to say. That lets light out but not in (not 100%, but enough to reduce the bleed sufficiently). So it would make use of the existing display illumination just like last time, rather than adding an additional light source (that gives them the illumination "for free").
All I want is for 16GB of RAM to be baseline. The 8GB just doesn’t cut it.
OH WAIT!! I was thinking the one way mirror would be on the surface where it is now. I need to read that again.
I think the mirror layer could either be where it is now, except on top of a clear or translucent plastic window—or underneath that window. Either way they'd still get the asymmetric light transmission they're looking for.OH WAIT!! I was thinking the one way mirror would be on the surface where it is now. I need to read that again.
Here's the picture I had in mind (please forgive the quick-and-dirty artwork):
Can't say I care one bit. I don't see it when I'm sitting here working on my laptop so it makes absolutely zero difference to me. But I'm sure for some they love it, because they feel it's a status symbol (which is funny as even elementary school and college kids have these laptops).
I’ve been trying to find pictures of the mini-LED’s and it looks like they’re designed to only shine in one direction. Where other backlights light from the edge, mini-LED’s appear to be mounted on an opaque surface behind the display such that the light only shines in one direction.
So, for mini-LED devices, it looks like they’d have to have a separate device to shine backwards. The regular LED screens could still work the same from the light bleed back.
I was using my MBP 15 until a year ago. I upgraded to M1 and it’s cool, but I really miss the glowing logo.
Even if I couldn’t see it that often back there, every time I was going back to my MacBook and I could see it, it just felt great!
Eye candy? Aesthetically pleasing? Character? I really don’t know. But I do know that it was a great little touch and I miss it!
Even if I couldn’t see it that often back there, every time I was going back to my MacBook and I could see it, it just felt great!
Eye candy? Aesthetically pleasing? Character? I really don’t know. But I do know that it was a great little touch and I miss it!
This is a good example of a company that changed something just for the sake of changing it. Don't fix something when it's not broken to begin with.
I don’t think the first Apple laptops had glowing logos. SO, adding the glowing logo was the change that they shouldn’t have made, right?
That is about the only reason I would upgrade My MacBook Pro M1 🤞
Apple could be considering a return of the iconic backlit Apple logo on future MacBook models, if a newly published patent is anything to go by.
Once a common sight in coffee shops everywhere, the glowing emblem of an Apple logo featured on the lids of many Mac laptops launched in the early 2000s, but its demise in 2015 could turn out to be relatively short-lived.
Filed by Apple in May 2022 and published last week by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, a new patent summarizes various implementations of "Electronic Devices With Backlit Partial Mirror Structures," but the illustrated example leaves readers in little doubt about the specific use case Apple has in mind.
Patently Apple, which first highlighted the document, notes that three of the engineers listed on the patent only joined Apple in 2018, long after the backlit logo was dropped from Mac laptops, indicating that a different methodology is being described.
The first Mac laptop with a lit-up Apple logo was the third-generation PowerBook G3 launched in 1999, and the glowing symbol proved a mainstay through consecutive Apple notebooks for the next 16 years. The only change in that period was that the logo got flipped upright, so that it no longer appeared upside down to onlookers when someone was sat in public with the lid open.
In 2015, Apple began nixing the illuminated insignia from its laptops, starting with the ultra-thin 12-inch MacBook, which had a polished metal logo instead, like those seen on iPads. In 2016, a new generation of MacBook Pro models continued the unlit trend, and Apple hasn't launched a Mac laptop with a glowing logo since.
Article Link: Backlit Apple Logo Could Make a Comeback on Future MacBooks
The most creative thing Apple can do right now is do what they've already done...very telling of this Tim Cook era.