4 ms·

Wow! Impressed that he was able to get away with 4 layers. I wonder why apple needed 6 layers? More grounding?

• Someone 6y ago
  My 100% guess would be 30 years of improvements in automatic PCB layout software and CPU power to run it (it wouldn’t surprise me if the original was partly/largely/fully laid out by hand, but that’s a guess, too. It wouldn’t surprise me because I know very little about this)
  • repiret 6y ago
    Auto layout is still pretty terrible and used sparingly. I would guess it’s more 30 years improvement in CAD - it’s easier to keep fiddling with the layout until you make it work than it used to be.
    • azalemeth 6y ago
      Don't forget the improvement in the design rules in the fabs as well -- the minimum distance between traces can be dramatically reduced safely compared to the past, as (presumably) can be the digital resolution of the gerbers (i.e. curved traces, however horrible to the eyes of some EEs, are allowed!). Also, yuckies such as via-under-pad and the like are all now commonly accepted (but I didn't see any on his layout).