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What do you wish Apple did differently with the MBA/MBP
- Thread starter maflynn
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no more glossy glass screens please…. It’s a portable device, you shouldn’t need to handle this like it’s the Mona Lisa because it will damage the screen 😂
I’ve been quite happy with my 16” MBP after an initial period of adjustment from my old imac. Two recurring inconveniences though: no USB A, for which I need to bring a dongle when going mobile, and the USB C ports are a bit too close together when “fully connected” and being used as a desktop. I regularly have to unplug one to use another.
I dont mind the SD card; I have yet to use it for its intended purpose, but will likely use it soon as a semi-permanent “internal” storage. But I can’t help but think that more users have a need for a USB A port then for an SD card slot. What % of users regularly use SD card equipped cameras as opposed - or even in addition to - to their phones?
I agree that a cellular option would make sense in a laptop, but Apple intentionally leaving it out to prop up iPad sales? 🤔 By that logic, including it as an option in iPads cannibalizes MacBook sales. iPads are primarily convenient content consumer devices, laptops are work devices and somewhat less convenient (than an iPad anyway) for content consumption. Personally I think Apple is a little too full of itself and believes it is their position to decide the direction of consumer needs/wants rather to follow/respond to it. While a certain degree of that certainly drives innovation, too much of it is just plain old hubris, much to the buyers’ dissatisfaction.
I dont mind the SD card; I have yet to use it for its intended purpose, but will likely use it soon as a semi-permanent “internal” storage. But I can’t help but think that more users have a need for a USB A port then for an SD card slot. What % of users regularly use SD card equipped cameras as opposed - or even in addition to - to their phones?
I agree that a cellular option would make sense in a laptop, but Apple intentionally leaving it out to prop up iPad sales? 🤔 By that logic, including it as an option in iPads cannibalizes MacBook sales. iPads are primarily convenient content consumer devices, laptops are work devices and somewhat less convenient (than an iPad anyway) for content consumption. Personally I think Apple is a little too full of itself and believes it is their position to decide the direction of consumer needs/wants rather to follow/respond to it. While a certain degree of that certainly drives innovation, too much of it is just plain old hubris, much to the buyers’ dissatisfaction.
I don't think the SD slot is intended for consumers or high-end professionals. The MBP is a device for people who want a computer that they can use as a general-purpose tool. All kinds of random hardware (such as 3d printers, drones, and action cameras) use SD cards as an unofficial storage standard, and the SD slot makes life a bit easier for people using such hardware.
Apple tends to be a bit more understated. I have some (not much RGB) in my desktop setup. I'm pretty happy with how little I have, less is more with regard to RGB, and for Apple's design, none is more, if you catch my drift
M.2 Slot.
I won't even think about upgrading Ram, Unified Memory has a very good technical reason for not beeing upgradeable. You'd need 4x DDR5 4800 or higher in Quad Channel to match M1 Pro Ram Bandwidth.
I even accept, that Apple wants to protect the System with soldered Storage Chips, that are encrypted by Apple Silicon.
Or that only the soldered SSD Chips can be used for Swap.
But give us an additional M.2 slot for a pure Data Drive. Like connecting an external SSD, that's just not external and not in the way.
I would even give up 10% of the batterylife. And even if they stick to PCIe 3.0 speeds, doesn't matter. 2-3gb/s is more than enough for more storage.
And maybe the Display bezels should be part of the metal body or even just cheap plastik. Much better than Glas stretching right to the edge and saving your Fingerprings everytime you open the lid or change the angle.
Cheaper Upgrade prices. Why do i still need to pay 250€ for every additional 8gb Ram, when 8gb Ram cost like 30-40 bucks?
it's time to cut those upgrade prices in half, then i'd be willing to upgrade even higher tbh. And many more also.
Maybe it's time for 2023, to make 512/16gb the minimum for the Air, and 32/1TB for the 2,5k Pro machines. Or at least double just the SSD sizes for the next devices.
Oh yea, and maybe help the Asahi Linux Team, since everybody would benefit from that outcome.
I won't even think about upgrading Ram, Unified Memory has a very good technical reason for not beeing upgradeable. You'd need 4x DDR5 4800 or higher in Quad Channel to match M1 Pro Ram Bandwidth.
I even accept, that Apple wants to protect the System with soldered Storage Chips, that are encrypted by Apple Silicon.
Or that only the soldered SSD Chips can be used for Swap.
But give us an additional M.2 slot for a pure Data Drive. Like connecting an external SSD, that's just not external and not in the way.
I would even give up 10% of the batterylife. And even if they stick to PCIe 3.0 speeds, doesn't matter. 2-3gb/s is more than enough for more storage.
And maybe the Display bezels should be part of the metal body or even just cheap plastik. Much better than Glas stretching right to the edge and saving your Fingerprings everytime you open the lid or change the angle.
Cheaper Upgrade prices. Why do i still need to pay 250€ for every additional 8gb Ram, when 8gb Ram cost like 30-40 bucks?
it's time to cut those upgrade prices in half, then i'd be willing to upgrade even higher tbh. And many more also.
Maybe it's time for 2023, to make 512/16gb the minimum for the Air, and 32/1TB for the 2,5k Pro machines. Or at least double just the SSD sizes for the next devices.
Oh yea, and maybe help the Asahi Linux Team, since everybody would benefit from that outcome.
I meant it as a joke—those have to be some of the most obnoxiously garish ram sticks I've ever seen. I can't imagine Apple doing something like that in a million years....Apple tends to be a bit more understated. I have some (not much RGB) in my desktop setup. I'm pretty happy with how little I have, less is more with regard to RGB, and for Apple's design, none is more, if you catch my drift
.Technology-wise, I think Apple hit a mis-step with the base M2 machines by only putting one SSD chip in which slowed them to less than the M1 base MBA. Ergonomics, I think the M1 MBA is possible a fantastic piece of technology in current designs. I don't really go for the additional color options myself.
The biggest mistake was to not make a small MacBook.
I would be willing to sacrifice all the MacBook Pro models + CPU performance + GPU performance + media encoding performance.
No fan, weight, small footprint and long battery life are the most important features for me.
I would be willing to sacrifice all the MacBook Pro models + CPU performance + GPU performance + media encoding performance.
No fan, weight, small footprint and long battery life are the most important features for me.
As an owner of an M1 Max MacBook Pro since day 1, my top 3 changes would be:
1. Hardware GPU rendering! I don't understand how Apple could let that feature slip on what is supposed to be a high end prosumer focused chip...
2. Do something to make the inner edge less start. Maybe bevel or small chamfer. Just something to make it feel less like the edges are digging into my wrist.
3. Add a coating to make the aluminum less smudge prone.
Other than that, after nearly a full year of owning this laptop, there's really not much to complain about. Especially for a 1st gen product. Hopefully we get a nice mid generation refresh for the M3 models. Until then, the M1 Max continues to surprise me.
1. Hardware GPU rendering! I don't understand how Apple could let that feature slip on what is supposed to be a high end prosumer focused chip...
2. Do something to make the inner edge less start. Maybe bevel or small chamfer. Just something to make it feel less like the edges are digging into my wrist.
3. Add a coating to make the aluminum less smudge prone.
Other than that, after nearly a full year of owning this laptop, there's really not much to complain about. Especially for a 1st gen product. Hopefully we get a nice mid generation refresh for the M3 models. Until then, the M1 Max continues to surprise me.
I second that. Even the M1/2 Air is really too heavy for what they are. Closer to 2Lbs is what's needed for the light market. (and with a fan too). I'm not even considering a laptop from Apple right now, nothing is anywhere close to fitting what I want.
Lenovo X1 or X13 fit the best...
Same I was hoping for a 12in MacBook style M2, and was also hoping for cellular. I decided to get a Thinkpad X1 nano (940 gr, cellular).
I also have a maxed out 2017 12in MacBook which is still pretty good as long as you don't do heavy stuff.
But I am still hoping in as M3 12.5in MacBook next year or in 2024, although I am skeptical about cellular....
Omg, yes, I hate when I am cleaning my Mac, and if I touch any key, my Mac will turn on! Yes, moving one of the USB-C ports to the other side would be very nice.
I haven't bought an Apple Silicon Mac yet as I just don't need a new computer so I'm kind of out of touch to comment in here. The 14/16 MBP are almost perfect for my use but in a perfect world I would make a few changes.
First of all, FaceID. Put it in the notch. Get rid of the Touch ID and make it a power button. I like the suggestion to not register other keys ie. when sleeping and make the power button exclusive to power/wake.
SD card and HDMI are great and I hope they stay until at least M3 when I buy one, but HDMI 2.1 would be good. They could implement the CFexpress type A/SD combo slot like Sony has done on their newer cameras but that might be more trouble than it's worth. I still primarily use SD cards in my cameras so I hope that stays.
TB/USB-C ports that enable charging on both sides of the device for all MBA and MBP.
Full size function keys could have been half size function keys plus a touch bar. My opinion only, but if the touch bar is out of favour why keep it in the 13" at all? Put it in everything. I think there is some utility there so why not.
Smaller MBA. I have a 13" MBP, 15" MBP and 11" MBA. If I want to replace my 11" there is no good option. Ideally something like a 12.5" MBP with all the ports but a smaller footprint. Or just do it ultralight with a smaller MBA.
m.2 expansion would be great but I don't expect that to happen.
The 14/16 were a bit of a throwback to the earlier unibody designs so I'll just say that I kind of miss the breathing sleep light and the hidden battery level LED's from my 2011. Light up Apple logo I'd be 50/50 on, that kind of feels like a thing of the past. Would be cool if a light up Apple logo matched the backlight brightness of the keyboard so it could be on/off at the user's discretion.
First of all, FaceID. Put it in the notch. Get rid of the Touch ID and make it a power button. I like the suggestion to not register other keys ie. when sleeping and make the power button exclusive to power/wake.
SD card and HDMI are great and I hope they stay until at least M3 when I buy one, but HDMI 2.1 would be good. They could implement the CFexpress type A/SD combo slot like Sony has done on their newer cameras but that might be more trouble than it's worth. I still primarily use SD cards in my cameras so I hope that stays.
TB/USB-C ports that enable charging on both sides of the device for all MBA and MBP.
Full size function keys could have been half size function keys plus a touch bar. My opinion only, but if the touch bar is out of favour why keep it in the 13" at all? Put it in everything. I think there is some utility there so why not.
Smaller MBA. I have a 13" MBP, 15" MBP and 11" MBA. If I want to replace my 11" there is no good option. Ideally something like a 12.5" MBP with all the ports but a smaller footprint. Or just do it ultralight with a smaller MBA.
m.2 expansion would be great but I don't expect that to happen.
The 14/16 were a bit of a throwback to the earlier unibody designs so I'll just say that I kind of miss the breathing sleep light and the hidden battery level LED's from my 2011. Light up Apple logo I'd be 50/50 on, that kind of feels like a thing of the past. Would be cool if a light up Apple logo matched the backlight brightness of the keyboard so it could be on/off at the user's discretion.
- Glowing Apple logo
- Fully rounded display (reclaim the extra ‘chin’ space at the bottom, round the bottom corners, add more vertical pixels. Full glass surround like the 2012 generation Retina MacBook Pros)
- Dynamic Island-like cutout instead of Notch with FaceID
- Thinner chassis (not really a big deal, I find the chonkiness sort of endearing)
- Additional colors, but unlike others, I want to see a LIGHTER color. Like a white anodized or something along those lines.
- 5G/LTE Networking Options
IMO the software has a lot more opportunities for improvement than the hardware right now.
- Fully rounded display (reclaim the extra ‘chin’ space at the bottom, round the bottom corners, add more vertical pixels. Full glass surround like the 2012 generation Retina MacBook Pros)
- Dynamic Island-like cutout instead of Notch with FaceID
- Thinner chassis (not really a big deal, I find the chonkiness sort of endearing)
- Additional colors, but unlike others, I want to see a LIGHTER color. Like a white anodized or something along those lines.
- 5G/LTE Networking Options
IMO the software has a lot more opportunities for improvement than the hardware right now.
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This will never happen, but I would pay extra for it! The way they used to do it was to allow the LCD backlight to do this, but apparently if there’s bright sunlight it effects the screen. I’m not using my Mac in bright sunlight, so I don’t care.
I think this is going to happen because once the regular iPhone ditches the notch I don’t see Apple keeping it on the Mac
Probably not going to happen unless they come up with some better cooling solution
I wouldn’t mind seeing this, but I think Apple feels the answer is tethering to your iPhone. The downside of having built in cellular is when technology changes your Mac is going to be behind. Right now 5G is evolving, so I’m not sure it would be a good time. Most people keep their Mac for at least 4 years. Maybe if they can make it upgradable but again, I don’t see that happening either.
I use Top Notch to have rounded corners on the bottom.
This sounds cool, but what I’m saying is reclaiming the current inactive hinge area that was reserved in the previous gen for the MacBook Pro text. I think the rMBP 2012-2015 style glass/hinge connect is much more elegant (photo attached) and would allow for additional vertical pixels and a truly rounded display. The round top, rectangular bottom display is fine in practice, but from a design purity perspective could be improved. Truly feels like the main carryover from the TouchBarBooks and I don’t love it when the rest of the machine feels so fresh and improved.
I understand why it was lost, but I don’t care
the mini-LED display lids are thicker than prior gen, make it even a mm thicker and gimme my glowing Apple back!I would say most are on a similar upgrade cycle for iPads Pro and they have offered cellular networking from the jump. I use 5G on my iPad Pro when traveling all the time and would absolutely love the same for my 14” MBP. The main thing stopping them is again the software. They would need a more optimized mode for data usage since a Mac can have so many more background processes and various syncs going compared to iOS.
