I agree that the current designs are guided by practicality. However I disagree that the Ive era was guided by ideology.
I think a better characterization of the Ive era is “design-led”. In this era, design challenged engineering to deliver on an ideal experience defined by functional, emotional and social factors (not ideology). Sadly, Engineering was constrained largely, but not entirely by “Intel Inside” which limited their ability to achieve that ideal.
In the current era, design is defined by practicality as you’ve stated. But ironically, this era of constrained design ambition coincides with the availability of the revolutionary Apple Silicon M series platform — which is better suited to the unconstrained design ambition of the Ive era.
I am personally looking forward to a revival of the design-led strategy and the breakthroughs that Apple can deliver when Engineering is challenged by idealistic design and properly resourced.
I don't think that this has ever changed. Apple's design for the MBP is still making the most compact laptop within a given performance target. The fine details of course vary from model to model, and other manufacturers have caught up in the meantime, but the basic principles are still the same.
Reading this thread I again became painfully aware how popular misconceptions and makeshift beliefs have formed a very stubborn public opinion. For example, we have hard empirical evidence that the "thin" 2016+ chassis can dissipate more heat than the previous 2012+ chassis. The "heat and performance issue" commonly associated with 2017-2018 15" MBPs are primarily because of the increased power consumption of the Intel CPUs. But the "internet wisdom" has decided that "thin is bad for performance" and here we are. Just read what people are arguing that it's the bigger chassis that allows M1 Max to be "fast", completely ignoring the fact that M1 Max CPU uses half the power (or less) for the same level performance as an Intel chip. We didn't get better performance because of the bigger chassis, we got better performance because of better silicon. And of course it "runs hot"! That's how Apple configures it to run! They always matched the fan curve and power management so that the chip runs at maximal safe temperature (100C) at maximal performance level, they've been doing it since 2014! But now I'm just ranting.
No, I think the reason why the new Pro got a bit of "bulk" has everything to do with user psychology. Users have been complaining about thin laptops being bad for performance and the "lack of ports", so Apple decided to capitalise on these (often irrational) emotions. They wanted to create the impression that they care about the "Pros" and that they take the feedback seriously. So they integrated some visual cues from early MBPs and Powerbooks, made the chassis styling more aggressive and "industrial" and made the cooling system stand out more. It was a brilliant move really, especially their "here is your MagSafe/HDMI/card reader back" — allows them to save tons of money on the actually expensive fourth thunderbolt port by giving you a cheap integrated USB hub, AND make more money out of MagSafe cable sales. Just genius. And the consumer loved it. Indeed, Apple marketing is second to none.
Anyway, let's get some perspective in here. This is the picture of three generations of the large MBP. Bottom-to-top: 16" M1 Max, 2015 15", 2017 15". I am very bad at photography, so the perspective is probably not the best, but the point is that the surface size of these laptops is almost identical, with very small variations. Not pictured is the 2019 Intel 16" (which I also have here) — that one is slightly wider funnily enough.
Here is the M1 Max vs the 2015 15" chassis side by side. Looks much thicker, right? Well, most of it is an optical illusion, notice how the bottom of the silver chassis is almost invisible thanks to the slightly tapered shape. And the M1 Max has these very large rubber feet that easily add another 2mm to it. Don't get me wrong, the new one is thicker. But only barely so.
And lastly, here is the old-school 2009 MBP (from the internet, as I don't have one). Notice something? Exactly!
