It didn’t occur to me when Apple launched the MacBook Air that they ditched not only battery level indicator lights, but also the little glowing white light that pulses while your Mac is asleep.
I liked that little glowing white light.
What didn’t occur to me at the time was that there was a larger reason behind ditching these lights — larger than just needing to cut down on space. ((Though that reason is just as likely.)) Apple also ditched the white glowing light on Cinema Displays — something that had been there before.
Now with the retina MacBook Pro, Apple has again ditched these lights.
But why? It can’t just be a space consideration, can it? ((It probably is.))
I don’t think it is — I think this tells a larger story, something we should have seen coming from iOS.
I think removing lit indicators is Apple’s way of saying: stop worrying about the state the device is in and start using it.
Don’t worry if the Mac is asleep or awake — it will spring to life fast either way.
Don’t worry about your battery power either. These laptops go 30 days while asleep and the batteries last at over 5 hours.
Apple is telling users to stop using their Macs like computers and to start using them like iOS devices. When’s the last time you worried about your iPad battery, or whether it was on or off? It’s just: screen on, screen off.
With Mountain Lion gaining the ability, in newer laptops, to do tasks while the computer is “asleep” the distinction will matter even less.
To me the fact Apple has ditched these indicator lights says one thing: whether your Mac is charged, asleep, or awake, none of it matters anymore — now it’s just: lid open, or lid closed?
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