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I saw the New Mac Mini on display
(programming.dev)
I love the idea of it, and I love how tiny it is. Will probably get one when money isn’t so tight.
But I was curious if the power button was accessible without lifting it. And it genuinely isn’t. Why does Apple like shoving important IO and buttons underneath the device. Good thing it’s light?
Oh and a funny thing was the staff had to loosen its mount on the table so you could turn it on.
Yes, but what if the mouse could stop its charging cycle depending on its use, so it does not damage its battery. Or what if users could change the function of the power button to an short-press for sleep-button and long-press for power off.
There are better ways to change peoples habits while still maintaining basic functionallities.
Because they don’t want you to. It’s not just for those reasons, those are just primary ones. They also don’t like the look of having it connected to a charge cable all the time, and users don’t “change the function” of anything on average so a solution that involves user choice doesn’t really work for them either.
If you’re looking for choice for the sake of choice when there is an obvious solution they can enforce through design instead, you’re looking at the wrong company.
You identified the issue right there, using the power button regularly is “normal” for similar devices. So how do they make it clear that it’s not “normal” for this device? Simple, make it hard to do.
I’m not saying you have to like it or even appreciate it, this is one of the most divisive things about Apple. I completely understand why people don’t like it and choose another solution as a result. It is the reality of how they design things though.