My ARM MacBook Wishlist
With the recent announcement of Apple moving to their own silicon. I wanted to give my thoughts on what would make the “perfect” ARM based MacBook for me.
I wouldn’t consider myself much of a power user. A majority of what I do is watching content on YouTube and occasional web surfing. So this wishlist will be based on how I use my laptop today and what I think would help improve my experience.
Cooling System
Some people would probably prefer a passive noiseless design, but this is something where I’d much rather have a system that could keep the chassis as cool as possible.
A lot of people want to be able to perform many tasks and push their systems past their intended limits. Just watch any tech reviewers laptop benchmark tests. For Apple, the idea of video editing on a MacBook Air probably seems laughable, but that still doesn’t stop people from trying or wanting to. Can you blame anyone though? The fact that you can download Premiere Pro or Final Cut is an open invite to try.
But won’t the ARM chips make things much more efficient? Yes, I’m counting on the ARM chips to be much more energy efficient. I just want the peace of mind that my system will not thermal throttle at all. I like my devices to remain cool for lap use and chest use. I like to sit my laptop on my chest when I’m lying in bed. A fan design that allows a laptop to lay flat on the bottom is ideal for me. Unfortunately, most laptop fan designs pull air in from the bottom, and push it out the back or the side. So this may be wishful hoping, but a reengineered fan design would be preferred.
Wouldn’t you rather have a fan help push any chip to it’s peak performance rather than risk hitting some thermal limitation from a passive system?
Display and Keyboard
I would love to see a wider range of display and keyboard brightness/dimness. I find most laptops too bright to be comfortable in dark rooms even at their lowest factory settings. The MacBooks suffer from this at night with their all glass screens. They are not the worst, but they are just not comfortable to my eyes in dark room settings. I’m sure medical professionals will tell me that I shouldn’t be staring into phones, laptops and tablets that late at night, but we won’t get into that. Honestly, the best experience in dim backlighting I’ve had is from my Acer Chromebook with a 1080p matte IPS display. I would love someday to have a glassless matte display running at QHD resolution. (yes glassless, glass is just too reflective and isn’t really all that necessary unless you have a touch display.) Maybe the rumors of the mini LED technology will help with this, so we’ll wait and see. All display backlighting hopes are the same for keyboard lights. Most run too bright, so please make it dimmer. The best implementation of a backlit keyboard i have seen is from the Pixelbook Go. With little to no backlight bleeding, the lowest brightness setting is an absolute joy to use.
About that panel. A 90hz refresh rate screen would be nice. Honestly, 60hz is adequate, but when moving the mouse and scrolling through content, having that slight improvement would be luxury. Again, not necessary, but would be welcomed.
A quick note on the touchbar. Not really much to say about this. I know some people do like it, but I have no desire for it, and I’d absolutely rather have physical function buttons.
Battery
With the move to ARM and the potential for a more power efficient system, my guess is that Apple could try and cut corners here and give consumers a smaller battery that would be “competitive” with current laptops. Just like they’ve been doing in iPhones for many years. Here’s where I think Apple should flex their hardware/software integration muscles and really set themselves apart from the competition. Why not be the gold standard for battery life? They already dominate from a sound and trackpad perspective. Why do chromebooks have to be the “battery champs” for portable devices? It’s time for Apple to step up their battery game and put in more capable batteries in their laptops. This will only be better for the consumer and competition in the long run.
Size and Design
With the exception of the touchbar, I’ve never had an issue with the current state of Apples’ MacBook builds. They are some of the best built pieces of hardware on the market. While the design is great, They’ve also grown a bit stale. With the competition constantly increasing the build quality of their devices, many have shown just how beautiful hardware can really be. Take Dell’s latest XPS line for example. Here’s an opportunity for Apple to start experimenting with different materials other than Aluminum. Many device manufacturers have used Magnesium alloy as a way to maintain strength while at the same time, cutting ounces in their devices. Take for instance Googles Pixelbook Go. The device only weighs 2.3 pounds and 2.4 pounds with the bigger 56 whr battery.
I definitely want a version that has a 13 inch display. The 13 inch size is just about the perfect size for me for content consumption and portability. My preference would also be to keep the upward firing speakers, but I know what that means for the rest of the device, bigger bezels. Even though there is an undeniable elegance to Dell’s XPS 13, it’s really hard to compete with the clarity upward firing speakers provide. And since sound matters to me for media consumption, compromises can be made. With that extra bezel space, Apple should really do something with it. Perhaps putting in FaceID and a better webcam?
Final Thoughts
Honestly, most of these wishlist items are things I’d like to see in all upcoming ultraportable devices. I know all of these wishlist items probably come at a cost, so i’ll keep dreaming. Thanks for reading along and allowing me to indulge.
Tell me if you agree or disagree with my ARM MacBook wishlist. Also tell me what you would want in your ARM MacBook (if at all). If anyone knows if this type of device exists, let me know in the comments below.
