4 ms·

In addition to what others have said here and elsewhere, I think some of it is also internal competition gone too far among mechanical designers to make the thi

In addition to what others have said here and elsewhere, I think some of it is also internal competition gone too far among mechanical designers to make the thinnest edge or the most subtle bezel. When I worked with product designers in the past, there was always a lot of oohing and ahhing whenever they'd come across a competing product with tighter tolerances than they'd seen before. Its like the product design version of needing to use the latest pre-alpha NodeJS framework or transpiled front-end language; it doesn't necessarily have a direct effect on the end user experience, but it satiates its creators own need for new and shiny.

6nf 10y ago
This is like what Philippe Starck calls 'narcissistic design' - design to impress other designers.
- digi_owl 10y ago
  And I get the impression that Apple has been doing a shit ton of that over the years...
  - Fnoord 10y ago
    I agree, but I just bought a 15" MBP 2015 and 15,4-inch (2880 x 1800), ~2 kg, plus the battery life feels just right to me (YMMV). Its ~2/3 of my previous 15" MBP 2010, the battery life is ~25% better, and the screen is noticeably brighter and crispier (partly due to the old screen being matte and 6 years old). I didn't have to go to extremely low weight device. I didn't have to go to small battery. I didn't have to go to low or high resolution extremes. Sure, the GPU isn't great, but I decided to not play games on it from the get go. I wouldn't have my gaming equipment for it anyway (mechanical keyboard with binds, Naga mouse, headset, etc).
- m_t 10y ago
  Well, he would know about it!
elFarto 10y ago
There's a video[1] that has some history of the calculator in Japan that kind of mirrors this. There's a race to get the smallest and thinnest, but it ultimately ends with the calculator not being particularly good to use. [1] https://youtu.be/1_GVkR0SITo?t=17m25s https://youtu.be/1_GVkR0SITo?t=17m25s

6nf 10y ago

This is like what Philippe Starck calls 'narcissistic design' - design to impress other designers.

digi_owl 10y ago
And I get the impression that Apple has been doing a shit ton of that over the years...
- Fnoord 10y ago
  I agree, but I just bought a 15" MBP 2015 and 15,4-inch (2880 x 1800), ~2 kg, plus the battery life feels just right to me (YMMV). Its ~2/3 of my previous 15" MBP 2010, the battery life is ~25% better, and the screen is noticeably brighter and crispier (partly due to the old screen being matte and 6 years old). I didn't have to go to extremely low weight device. I didn't have to go to small battery. I didn't have to go to low or high resolution extremes. Sure, the GPU isn't great, but I decided to not play games on it from the get go. I wouldn't have my gaming equipment for it anyway (mechanical keyboard with binds, Naga mouse, headset, etc).
m_t 10y ago
Well, he would know about it!

elFarto 10y ago

There's a video[1] that has some history of the calculator in Japan that kind of mirrors this. There's a race to get the smallest and thinnest, but it ultimately ends with the calculator not being particularly good to use. [1] https://youtu.be/1_GVkR0SITo?t=17m25s https://youtu.be/1_GVkR0SITo?t=17m25s