> I have owned macbooks only since 2017 and found the older (2011 era) aesthetic design to be bulky and not too appealing. I own a 2020 model, which looks sharp and professional.

There used to be a time when what people considered “professional hardware” was versatility and durability over pure aesthetics. I’m not saying we can’t have both form and function with professional grade hardware but with the later iterations of the MBP Apple have put form ahead of function and then trained an entire generation of developers to look at hardware superficially. I honestly weep for the industry if this is the path we are destined to continue down.

I never get people who moan about people caring about aesthetics.

Computers are our workplace, we spend most of our lives in them.

Would you be just as productive if we put your desk in a reeking pig sty?

You’re conflating form and function with your example (“reeking” is not an adjective for form, and a pig sty is not even a functional office space to begin with).

I have no issue with people wanting their work environment to be pretty but aesthetics shouldn’t hamper the person’s ability to get their work done. (at least not unless you work in an industry where aesthetics is your job).

It’s about wanting your environment to be pleasant.

I see this is the time any company can do both ground breaking performance and a solid design let alone Apple. I don't want them to go back to the intel with discrete gpus and remove extra ports. I want a sharper design is all. It's not much to ask both, Apple after all cares a lot about design, I don't know how they came up with such a design while their all their iPads lineup (bar basic iPad) and iPhone lineup has a boxy design but this MBP is rounded.

“Rounded” is a common design element throughout the history of Apple — including iPhones and iPads. It also has zero baring on the function of the device so who cares if it’s a little more boxy or rounded? It’s supposed to be a “Pro” device not some piece of art.

I suppose I'm the only one who cares and at the same time I never claimed it affects the functioning of the device. Like I mentioned it in another comment, it is a very minor and a picky thing, but Apple takes such a great pride in the uniformity and design. With all of their current generation iPhones and iPads having a boxy design, it is strange they resorted to such a design choice that too in their top of the line macbook pros

I think there's a lot I agree with there.

But I will say, the aluminium body is genius in terms of form and function. That's not an aesthetic compromise, it's the right thing.

I think many owners of the old machines like them for how they worked.

Function over form.

I miss the 2012 model every time I use the 2018 model I own now. One was peak Apple design everything worked, was robust, and just genuinely pleasant to use. The other rock bottom form over function with a disastrous keyboard that I never got used to with it's crap layout, lack of essential keys, shitty cheap feel, etc. And that was before it started having the well publicized issues.

I like that they are going back to basics with the new models. Not crazy about the notch but otherwise it is all good. Decent screen, memory and ssd are super expensive but at least there's plenty of it now.

I'll wait a few months to see if their quality levels are back where they should be. Because I'm beyond taking their word for it after my last experience. I'm particularly curious to see if it delivers on the performance hype and thermal behavior when actually using it for doing work. If that's even close to what they are promising, it's going to be a bad year for Intel.

Does anyone know if those neural processors do anything useful or is that only for people that use specialist stuff like video editing tools? I run docker, intellij, vs code, etc.

>Function over form.

All the time. The Macbook pro is meant to be for pros, pros care about other things like having physical function keys over it having a "light blue color that matches my shirt :)".

I haven't bought a Macbook since 2016 bc of all the trash they've been doing. A laptop without magsafe would last ~2 weeks in my household, so just that thing makes it for me.

Also, best battery, best screen, best trackpad, ports. Assuming nothing weird comes out later (screen or thermal issues) this will be the best laptop on the market for the next 10 years.

Great decision to have fired Jony Ive back then.

Oh I totally get that, I like functionality and the 2017-2020 MBP barely qualified as Pro laptops. I have a huge windows desktop for my actual pro work, MBP was just a mobile device and for some freelance work. A sharp design would be nicer is all I'm saying

Well, perceptions change. In 2012, the aesthetic and design was state of the art. Felt I looked good every time I pull it out.

But I still use a 2012 MBP. Doesn't look sharp anymore, and its always been pretty heavy, but they keys work sooooo well, the touchpad is a miracle of engineering, 9 years of daily use and everything still works beautifully. And frankly, I mostly don't notice any lag still (though I might if I was doing video editing). And the port selection meant that I could hook up to just about anything with no hassle ... including ethernet. Wifi is still inferior to an ethernet port.

I understand the perceptions in fashion and design will keep changing. But it is only recently Apple adopted boxy design in all their iPads and iPhones except the basic iPad and iPhone SE II. Why not follow that, the trend is set across the board. This top of the line macbooks have a design similar to the basic $329 iPad, I can't wrap my head around such a decision.

I know it's a very minor and a picky thing, but Apple takes such a great pride in the uniformity and design, it's strange they resort to this.

I've owned Macbooks since 2003. Typing this on a 2020 Macbook Pro 13". It's just been a long evolution of getting thinner. IMO, and as others have stated, going all-in on thinness drove a series of design mistakes that seem to be reversed here. Rounding out the thinner leading edge gives a bit more space, and would guess makes it feel more solid. I don't like the thinner front end being a little suspended above the surface of the table, it makes me worry about it bending.

The 2003 12-inch Macbook with the aluminum keys was like a textbook made out of solid metal. That keyboard felt great.

This looks like a great machine to me and I am a little sad I bought in Feb!

The 2015 15" Macbook Pro was 1.8 cm thick. The 2019 16" Macbook Pro was 1.6 cm thick. The mew 2021 16" Macbook Pro is 1.68 cm thick. So the 16" got slightly thicker than the old one but not as thick as the old 15".

The 2020 13" Macbook Pro was 1.5 cm thick. The new 2021 14" Macbook pro is 1.55 cm thick. So that is only 0.5 mm difference.

Yeah, the design suck. But these are machine that are going to be used 8-10 hours a day. Better be functional than trendy.