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Yes, macOS/iOS aesthetics reached their peak around 2013-14. Hardware-wise, the story is similar; the 2012 MacBook Pro was the most marvelous piece of hardware

Yes, macOS/iOS aesthetics reached their peak around 2013-14. Hardware-wise, the story is similar; the 2012 MacBook Pro was the most marvelous piece of hardware I've ever bought. I miss that feeling. No part of me would agree that Apple is a more impressive company today than it was 13 years ago, despite its market cap.

rekenaut 1y ago
Perhaps it’s just nostalgia on my part, but I really don’t understand imposing the constraint of making every Mac app look like the rounded iPhone app buttons. To me, it makes it harder at a glance to distinguish one app from another compared to the older designs.
microtonal 1y ago
I started using MacBooks in 2007. The generations from around that time until 2012 or so we're marvelous. - With some models you could open the battery with a simple handle. - Some models had a small LED bar that you could check the battery status with, without opening the lid. - Replaceable RAM and disk. In one Pro I replaced the hard drive with an SSD (almost nobody had an SSD yet) and it would fly. I could open all Creative Suite apps (which were still optimized for spinning rust) in three seconds. After that started the dark ages. Soldered RAM, soldered SSD, no more MagSafe, only USB-C ports, keyboards that could be destroyed with specs of dust. And the overheating Intel CPUs. In 2019-2021 there was a rebound. First the scissor keyboard returned, then Apple Silicon, and good amounts of ports again. It was really hard to be a Mac user ~2016-2020.
- mikestew 1y ago
  Some models had a small LED bar that you could check the battery status with, without opening the lid. On older Mac’s (2009-10?), the LEDs were built into the battery. Very handy to quickly check if your spare has more charge than the one you’re using.
  - p_ing 1y ago
    PowerBook G4 (and iBook, I think) has LED-in-battery.
JoRyGu 1y ago
Hardware-wise the peak is obviously the M-series. Ditching x86 while simultaneously nearly flawlessly emulating x86 apps via Rosetta - making the transition to ARM64 completely painless - was a landmark achievement.
- ezst 1y ago
  As a non Apple user, yeah, M series are neat in the sense that the premium you pay goes into barring the competition from accessing the current nodes at TSMC, making Apple look good on benchmarks for 12-18 months or so. Apple used to have something else to offer, a sense of novelty, excitement, taste, and couldn't care less about performance. Apple of today is just Samsung/Gates' Microsoft "look at how big mine is!", with more bucks and even more user-hostile practices.
  - bapak 1y ago
    Easy to disagree on this one. MacBooks are easily the best-manufactured computers money can buy. The entry level MacBook is just unbeatable for value, which is very unusual for Apple.
    - ezst 1y ago
      Depends on what you value. To me, MB Pro's keyboard is terrible, and MacOS is abysmal. On an ideological level, I defend right to repair, right to upgrade and oppose vendor lock-in. What does that leave me with? An admittedly decent CPU, a good display and speakers? That's pretty weak to entertain Apple's consumer-hostile charade with my own money.
      - dijit 1y ago
        You can go and buy a framework laptop. In fact, now is the best time in the last 20 years for either: fully integrated SoC’s inside laptops (with all the pros and cons of better battery life, lower heat, smaller size - but irrepairability) and almost entirely modular laptops. I understand that most people want socketed CPU’s in machines, but speaking genuinely storage used to be upgraded more than ram, and ram more than a CPU; CPU’s limit how much ram we can have so having soldered RAM isn’t that big of a deal in reality to most people. I feel like a heathen saying it, because emotionally I don’t want it to be true, but it’s definitely the truth.
BeFlatXIII 1y ago
What do you dislike about modern Macbooks compared to 2012?
- JZerf 1y ago
  I'm actually typing this reply on a 2012 MacBook Pro which is still working pretty well. I've also used several recent MacBook models at work so am familiar with those. Things that I like better about the 2012 MacBook Pro compared to newer models is that it's easier to replace/upgrade items. On my 2012 MacBook Pro I've replaced the original hard drive with a SSD, upgraded the memory, and replaced the failed battery (which shouldn't be unexpected for such an old laptop) which were all fairly simple to do. I also do not like that Apple has completely removed all USB type A ports on the newer MacBooks. USB type A plugs are still very common and I wish Apple left one or two on the newer MacBooks in addition to the USB-C ports. Yes, you can use USB-C to USB type A adapters but it is annoying. I also do not like that Apple has removed the Ethernet and microphone jacks. Both jacks are still useful to have on modern computers. I'll make an exception for removing the Ethernet jack on the MacBook Air to accommodate a thinner chassis but wish the MacBook Pro chassis was kept thick enough to accommodate the Ethernet jack.
  - djaychela 1y ago
    > I also do not like that Apple has removed the Ethernet and microphone jacks. Both jacks are still useful to have on modern computers Ethernet is available over the ports via fairly cheap adapters if you need it. There's so much bandwidth on a thunderbolt port that it can do that and a display or two at the same time.
  - BeFlatXIII 1y ago
    Ah, so 2012 was the year they brought retina displays to the MacBook Pro. The port reductions didn't bother me much because when I'm docked, I've got so many peripherals that I'd need the edges of the laptop to be nothing but USB-A ports to fit them all. So, all I ended up needing to do was replace my hub with one that uses USB-C and has ports for Ethernet and displays. The biggest upside of this arrangement is that I only need to plug in one cable at my desk instead of six.
mrcwinn 1y ago
If you think right now is not the peak of the MacBook Pro, you should consider buying a MacBook Pro. (Typing this from a 14" MacBook Pro M4 Pro with Nano-texture.)

rekenaut 1y ago

Perhaps it’s just nostalgia on my part, but I really don’t understand imposing the constraint of making every Mac app look like the rounded iPhone app buttons. To me, it makes it harder at a glance to distinguish one app from another compared to the older designs.

microtonal 1y ago

I started using MacBooks in 2007. The generations from around that time until 2012 or so we're marvelous. - With some models you could open the battery with a simple handle. - Some models had a small LED bar that you could check the battery status with, without opening the lid. - Replaceable RAM and disk. In one Pro I replaced the hard drive with an SSD (almost nobody had an SSD yet) and it would fly. I could open all Creative Suite apps (which were still optimized for spinning rust) in three seconds. After that started the dark ages. Soldered RAM, soldered SSD, no more MagSafe, only USB-C ports, keyboards that could be destroyed with specs of dust. And the overheating Intel CPUs. In 2019-2021 there was a rebound. First the scissor keyboard returned, then Apple Silicon, and good amounts of ports again. It was really hard to be a Mac user ~2016-2020.

mikestew 1y ago
Some models had a small LED bar that you could check the battery status with, without opening the lid. On older Mac’s (2009-10?), the LEDs were built into the battery. Very handy to quickly check if your spare has more charge than the one you’re using.
- p_ing 1y ago
  PowerBook G4 (and iBook, I think) has LED-in-battery.

JoRyGu 1y ago

Hardware-wise the peak is obviously the M-series. Ditching x86 while simultaneously nearly flawlessly emulating x86 apps via Rosetta - making the transition to ARM64 completely painless - was a landmark achievement.

ezst 1y ago
As a non Apple user, yeah, M series are neat in the sense that the premium you pay goes into barring the competition from accessing the current nodes at TSMC, making Apple look good on benchmarks for 12-18 months or so. Apple used to have something else to offer, a sense of novelty, excitement, taste, and couldn't care less about performance. Apple of today is just Samsung/Gates' Microsoft "look at how big mine is!", with more bucks and even more user-hostile practices.
- bapak 1y ago
  Easy to disagree on this one. MacBooks are easily the best-manufactured computers money can buy. The entry level MacBook is just unbeatable for value, which is very unusual for Apple.
  - ezst 1y ago
    Depends on what you value. To me, MB Pro's keyboard is terrible, and MacOS is abysmal. On an ideological level, I defend right to repair, right to upgrade and oppose vendor lock-in. What does that leave me with? An admittedly decent CPU, a good display and speakers? That's pretty weak to entertain Apple's consumer-hostile charade with my own money.
    - dijit 1y ago
      You can go and buy a framework laptop. In fact, now is the best time in the last 20 years for either: fully integrated SoC’s inside laptops (with all the pros and cons of better battery life, lower heat, smaller size - but irrepairability) and almost entirely modular laptops. I understand that most people want socketed CPU’s in machines, but speaking genuinely storage used to be upgraded more than ram, and ram more than a CPU; CPU’s limit how much ram we can have so having soldered RAM isn’t that big of a deal in reality to most people. I feel like a heathen saying it, because emotionally I don’t want it to be true, but it’s definitely the truth.

BeFlatXIII 1y ago

What do you dislike about modern Macbooks compared to 2012?

JZerf 1y ago
I'm actually typing this reply on a 2012 MacBook Pro which is still working pretty well. I've also used several recent MacBook models at work so am familiar with those. Things that I like better about the 2012 MacBook Pro compared to newer models is that it's easier to replace/upgrade items. On my 2012 MacBook Pro I've replaced the original hard drive with a SSD, upgraded the memory, and replaced the failed battery (which shouldn't be unexpected for such an old laptop) which were all fairly simple to do. I also do not like that Apple has completely removed all USB type A ports on the newer MacBooks. USB type A plugs are still very common and I wish Apple left one or two on the newer MacBooks in addition to the USB-C ports. Yes, you can use USB-C to USB type A adapters but it is annoying. I also do not like that Apple has removed the Ethernet and microphone jacks. Both jacks are still useful to have on modern computers. I'll make an exception for removing the Ethernet jack on the MacBook Air to accommodate a thinner chassis but wish the MacBook Pro chassis was kept thick enough to accommodate the Ethernet jack.
- djaychela 1y ago
  > I also do not like that Apple has removed the Ethernet and microphone jacks. Both jacks are still useful to have on modern computers Ethernet is available over the ports via fairly cheap adapters if you need it. There's so much bandwidth on a thunderbolt port that it can do that and a display or two at the same time.
- BeFlatXIII 1y ago
  Ah, so 2012 was the year they brought retina displays to the MacBook Pro. The port reductions didn't bother me much because when I'm docked, I've got so many peripherals that I'd need the edges of the laptop to be nothing but USB-A ports to fit them all. So, all I ended up needing to do was replace my hub with one that uses USB-C and has ports for Ethernet and displays. The biggest upside of this arrangement is that I only need to plug in one cable at my desk instead of six.

mrcwinn 1y ago

If you think right now is not the peak of the MacBook Pro, you should consider buying a MacBook Pro. (Typing this from a 14" MacBook Pro M4 Pro with Nano-texture.)