Speculation as to why there is no HDD accessing indicator

[lucifiel]

So I was sitting around with my MBA and it froze, I admit I was a bit ambitious in trying to launch several things at once none of which were "nice" per se, but nevertheless, I didn't want to restart it just in case it'd start responding again.

Now at this point, if I had an ugly as hell laptop from some cheap company (or even the more expensive non-apple branded laptops), there would be a light which flickers to tell me whether things are still happening or not, and when it stops I'd know, "damn windows has let me down again" or whatever it is that caused me to crash my laptop. But with the mac laptops, this indication does not exist and it is a minor annoyance, but nevertheless, it begs the qusetion, why doesn't it exist?

Why is there no "activity" light on a laptop? Or the iMac for that matter? Or any mac? Is it a sign of "oh we're so responsive that you'll never need indication that we're not responding"? Because well that's just crap.

 

[Pixellated]

After a while, you learn that there is absolutely no need for a HDD light. The same thing bothered me when I switched, but now having the light bothers me on PCs.

Read the linky

 

[ayeying]

I have one, not a physical one but an disk activity indicator on my menu bar. I find it useful.

 

[lucifiel]

I have iStat doing a similar job, however my guess is, if the System hangs, then iStat will not be doing it's job...though I suppose that's an indication too...

The article posted does provide some interesting insights as to why HDD indicators are no longer useful, but nevertheless I think there are instances where it may be useful, maybe at boot up? I'm not sure. It's not a huge grievance, and I do love the sleek designs of the MBA/MBP range, just something which bugs me.

 

[seb-opp]

but nevertheless I think there are instances where it may be useful, maybe at boot up?

But why? The user has no control over what happens when the computer is booting. And you know when somethings not working when the Apple logo doesn't appear

 

[lucifiel]

But why? The user has no control over what happens when the computer is booting. And you know when somethings not working when the Apple logo doesn't appear

it's about knowing...and what if it gets stuck at the wheel?

I dunno, it's a matter of, "what disbenefits are there?

 

[yamabushi]

OS X does a lot of disk activity at strange times for reasons unrelated to what the user is currently working on. This is maintenance and performance related stuff that might confuse or worry the average user if they weren't aware of it. The user might get the impression that the application they are using might be causing this disk activity when this might not be the case. So there is not much useful information to be gained by having this indicator. Not having it saves a tiny amount in cost and power requirements.

 

[nj-mac-user]

After a while, you learn that there is absolutely no need for a HDD light. The same thing bothered me when I switched, but now having the light bothers me on PCs.

Read the linky

Agreed. We all have the little things that we'd prefer Apple included, but style plays the biggest part over at Apple sometimes. I personally prefer a constant power light (not just the blinking sleep indicator) just to let me know the machine is on or off.

 

[coast1ja]

The sudden motion sensor makes the HDD indication superfluous. Simple as that.

 

[aussie.damo]

I don't miss the indicator light at all. I also don't miss the bluetooth, wi-fi, wi-fi connected, battery or constant power lights. These are all present on my work provided Dell and don't improve my day to day productivity even slightly.

 

[Scottsdale]

I don't miss the indicator light at all. I also don't miss the bluetooth, wi-fi, wi-fi connected, battery or constant power lights. These are all present on my work provided Dell and don't improve my day to day productivity even slightly.

At first I was confused and thought your bluetooth, wifi, and battery were all not used or broken from your Mac... as you didn't miss them.

I am like you, I have never even noticed that my MBA doesn't have them... it is probably because I never used them or counted on them in the first place.

I didn't think the article made a real strong case for anything though.