this post was submitted on 30 Oct 2024
546 points (92.8% liked)

Technology

59605 readers
3458 users here now

This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.


Our Rules


  1. Follow the lemmy.world rules.
  2. Only tech related content.
  3. Be excellent to each another!
  4. Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
  5. Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
  6. Politics threads may be removed.
  7. No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
  8. Only approved bots from the list below, to ask if your bot can be added please contact us.
  9. Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed

Approved Bots


founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

This is ridiclous

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] carotte@lemmy.blahaj.zone 71 points 3 weeks ago (4 children)

okay, I was gonna say that it’s not that big of a deal because you can just slightly lift it when you want to turn it on (or just slide your finder under it, if they’re small enough) but judging by that photo, it seems like the power button is at the back of the computer? whyyyy??

anyways, im more impressed by the fact that their new shiny mouse who finally uses USB-C still has the charging port at the bottom. im starting to think they think it’s a good design???

[–] Mad_Punda@feddit.org 18 points 3 weeks ago (3 children)

I read someone else musing that they must have thought that keeping it plugged in all the time would be bad, so the made it impossible to use the mouse while plugged in. Seems plausible. I suppose it would degrade the battery? Or the cord drag would be bad?

[–] TonyTonyChopper@mander.xyz 50 points 3 weeks ago (4 children)

The design forces the user to use it wirelessly. Apple just wants their products to look better, meaning NO CORDS EVER. It's entirely about aesthetic.

[–] Duamerthrax@lemmy.world 20 points 3 weeks ago (4 children)

They should have just released a mouse pad that can charge the mouse wirelessly then.

[–] theangryseal@lemmy.world 12 points 3 weeks ago

If I worked at Apple, I’d hire you right here, right now.

[–] Valmond@lemmy.world 11 points 3 weeks ago
[–] carotte@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

im surprised they haven’t done this tbh

[–] Duamerthrax@lemmy.world 5 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Apparently Logitech does have this out now, so I wonder if they patented the "concept" and it will be another 20 years before anyone can do it. Assuming that someone else didn't already do it 20 years ago and that patented already ran out.

[–] TwanHE@lemmy.world 1 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Ive seen one at least 10 years ago already. But that didn't exactly charge the mouse, instead the mouse relied on always being on the pad to work.

[–] Anivia@feddit.org 0 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

That's not true. It charges very slowly, about 12 hours to charge a completely dead battery, but it does charge

The bigger problem is that it's expensive af, and since current gen Logitech mice have months of battery life and charge in an hour with the usb cord it's really pointless.

[–] rottingleaf@lemmy.world 1 points 3 weeks ago

I think Sun made mice that didn't work without their metallic mouse pad, that had some sort of grid on it.

Apple's problem is in following:

There are industrial designers, fashion designers, managers and engineers.

Apple doesn't have industrial designers. Only fashion designers pretending.

In a normal company managers consult designers and engineers back and forth, both figuring out some compromise and also asking the other group whether there is a better way.

Not in Apple. Their designers are clearly superior hierarchically to engineers.

And in the end their products are of inferior quality (for that price).

Apple's idea of how things should look and work, when expressed in words, is absolutely fine! It's actually wonderful. And perfectly possible, it's actually the same goal as with industrial ergonomics.

Except they don't have the process they need to fulfill that. They only have the PR to pretend.

[–] WolfLink@sh.itjust.works 7 points 3 weeks ago

Their trackpad can and does work via USB so ???

I have one of their trackpads and it works great with Ubuntu over USB but not over Bluetooth for some reason. (It connects, but Ubuntu doesn’t handle it well.)

[–] DJDarren@thelemmy.club 5 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

It’s literally just the same body as the OG Magic Mouse, which had a bay for a pair of AAs underneath. All they did was remove the bay, put a rechargeable battery in there, and a socket to charge it. It takes a couple of minutes to give it 9 hours of juice.

There’s no grand conspiracy.

[–] TonyTonyChopper@mander.xyz 3 points 3 weeks ago

I've said too much they're coming for me they know they know they know

[–] reddig33@lemmy.world 1 points 3 weeks ago

If that’s the case, then why does the wireless keyboard have the port on the back?

[–] deadcade@lemmy.deadca.de 21 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

"But it looks bad and could be bad for the battery!"

Every other wireless mouse has it in the front, Apple has no valid reason to leave it at the bottom.

[–] echodot@feddit.uk 17 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

The fact that everyone hasn't taken on this design trend just shows how stupid it is.

[–] Honytawk@lemmy.zip 17 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

They also take on stupid design trends, like removing the headphone jack.

This one is just several degrees more stupid.

[–] rottingleaf@lemmy.world 1 points 3 weeks ago

There's the unsolvable problem - to prevent companies doing stupid things.

And there's the solvable problem - have enough competition so that companies doing stupid things would become or remain small.

Which is why all the stupidity in computer industry in our days is a result of patent laws and protectionism.

[–] jj4211@lemmy.world 3 points 3 weeks ago

On the battery, they should have been able to do whatever they thought best in the battery management system, in that case.

Simple answer is easiest, that they are obsessed with the "clean" minimalist look and want to abolish every visible port and buttin they can.

Surprised though that the mouse didn't do the magsafe thing.

[–] olympicyes@lemmy.world 14 points 3 weeks ago (4 children)

I just think it’s weird that people are complaining about the power button and the mouse charging situation, but no one is complaining that this DESKTOP computer does not have any USB-A ports. If you want to use any wired keyboard or a Logitech mouse with the adapter you’ll need to attach a dongle. Crazy.

[–] Psythik@lemmy.world 17 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

I'm not an Apple fanboy, nor have I ever purchased one of their products (and I don't plan to), but I'm actually fine with this because there are lots of USB-C mice and keyboards on the market these days in every price range. At the very most, you might have to buy a different cable because the ones I've bought tend to come with USB-C to USB-A cables instead of C to C. But eventually that will change as USB-A is inevitably phased out.

[–] olympicyes@lemmy.world 5 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

I actually do buy Apple products and I can accept your logic for a laptop because I use a docking station. The point of the Mac Mini is to be the cheap Mac and adding extra cords or dongles just increases the cost and creates a mess behind the machine.

A hub costs $10 if you really need all those ports.

Most people buying these machines don't, which is why it lacks the ports.

[–] DJDarren@thelemmy.club 4 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

My MacBook has just two USB-C sockets. When I bought it I picked up a couple of A adapters on Amazon for a few quid each. It’s never been an issue. Even less so with a desktop, as you’re able to leave the adapters in all the time.

[–] olympicyes@lemmy.world 4 points 3 weeks ago

Yes but we are bitching about trivial things and the lack of USB-A is far worse than the location of the power button on a desktop. I don’t accept the mouse criticism because it’s not required to buy a Magic Mouse. I have a MacBook but I use a Thunderbolt dock so in my use case the usb-c port increases convenience.

[–] realharo@lemm.ee 2 points 3 weeks ago

It's a desktop, so you will obviously need an external monitor. Most of the new monitors these days also work as USB hubs - you just run a USB C cable from the computer to the monitor and you get both display and additional ports.

[–] moseschrute@lemmy.world 1 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

USB-C has been out for years. The only issue IMO is that since USB-C negotiates power delivery, it might not be as easy to split out a USB-C port into multiple USB-C ports. Spitting USB-A ports is easy since they only do 5V, and spitting USB-C into multiple USB-A ports should be fine. But if your peripherals all become USB-C, you might find yourself running out of ports fast.

I am not an expert. I probably got something wrong there, but that’s my understanding.

[–] olympicyes@lemmy.world 2 points 3 weeks ago

The things that I would plug into a computer are generally peripherals, webcam, printers, scanner, etc. They generally come with USB A plugs. Also nearly every useful USB-C hub is designed for a laptop and has a built in short cord. The new Mac Mini has three Thunderbolt 4 ports which is more than adequate for high speed applications and video. TB4 allows for hubs like the CalDigit Element Hub which has 4 USB-A and 4 Thunderbolt 4 ports but costs $180.

[–] sudo42@lemmy.world 6 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

My theory is: free publicity. Just like the fashion industry comes up with ridiculous clothes that no one would ever wear, attention whores will constantly do outrageous things so that people will talk about them. The number of electrons spilled over this stupid mouse port placement over the years is uncountable. But the repeated conversations keep Apple in the public consciousness as a fashionista.

[–] ifItWasUpToMe@lemmy.ca 1 points 3 weeks ago

I think it’s more just their minimal design combined with the fact that a normal user will never press the power button. Most people don’t shut down their computers, and if they do, a key on the keyboard turns it on.

The only argument I’ve seen to this being bad is in a server rack environment.

[–] SreudianFlip@sh.itjust.works 2 points 3 weeks ago

Apple doesn't want people using the mouse with the cable attached because it would cost them a fortune due to failed charging ports within the warranty period. It's a wireless mouse. Using it plugged in will fuck it up.

I fix computers and an apple mouse with a bad charge port is just a throwaway.