That cute sleep mode indicator...

[apostolosdt]

When Silicon M1 came to exist in our Macs, it brought along some non-prime changes, too. I adapted myself rather quickly---except for one "tiny" change the purpose of which I never understood. I'm talking about that little light on the front (except with the MP 6,1) that pulsated when the Mac was in sleep mode.

Not only was it practical, it was also a great sign of Apple's superior focus on the details. People seen it for the first time reacted rather amazed: "It's like breathing!"; "It's so soothing to stare at it!"; "Very clever detail!". And I guess it cost nothing.

Why Apple decided to kill it is a mystery to me. What about you?

 

[cateye]

Hot Take, with no offense intended:

The pulsing sleep indicator, like the light-up Apple logo, like the stickers, were twee, silly vestiges of a different Apple, a different marketing aesthetic, and a different set of design priorities. They could only be charming at discovery ("look, it pulses! eeeeee"), then instantly became unnecessary and forgotten.

Apple is now all about performance and the pace-setting quality of the products it creates. The need for little parlor tricks to create viral marketing through anthropomorphisms is long gone. We've all grown up in our relationship to technology, and thankfully so has Apple.

And I guess it cost nothing

In manufacturing, at Apple's level of enforced perfection and efficiency, everything always costs something.

 

[kitKAC]

Didn't the sleep light go when MacBooks stopped using spinning disks? No need to know when your machine is fully asleep before moving it when it doesn't have any moving parts anymore.

 

[EugW]

I really miss it too. I believe the last Mac mini model that had it was the 2014, which I owned up until 2022. I lost that feature with the M1 I bought then, but the M1 was too wide for my space under the monitor and thus I had placed it off in the corner partially hidden away, so I would not usually see that indicator light. Now that I have the M4 Mac mini right in plain view under the monitor, the lack of that pulsing sleep mode indicator is really jarring.

 

[Pakaku]

I also miss having those battery LEDs on the side, and just pressing that button to see how much charge it has without having to actually open the laptop.

 

[Basic75]

Why Apple decided to kill it is a mystery to me. What about you?

I think it's for cost cutting and also because newer Macs wake up all the time to do stuff and this is one of the places where Apple treats its customers like idiots and wants to hide details. My USB mouse lights up when the Mac wakes up making for a good replacement indicator.