Apple is known for its careful, usually clever design work, which is why it stands out more when the company fumbles. Last week, Apple began shipping its new M4 devices, and despite getting pretty stellar reviewsthe device lineup has Apple fans scratching their heads. the company’s latest bizarre design decisions: The Mac mini’s power button is located on the bottom of the computer.

To celebrate what at this point seems like nastiness, let’s review some of my favorite puzzling Apple design decisions.

The Mac mini power button is located on the bottom of the computer

Credit: Apple

It’s a good thing The Mac mini of 2024 is so smallbecause you will have to retrieve it every time you need to access the power button. In an unfortunate asterisk on what otherwise appears to be a nifty Apple TV-style redesign, the M4-powered Mac mini’s power button is on the bottom of the device.

Talk to Chinese website ITHomeApple Vice President Greg Joswiak justified the move by saying “you almost never use the power button on your Mac,” according to an automatic translation. That may be the case, but that hasn’t stopped the community from designing all kinds of fixes that make the power button more accessible.

Joswiak says, “I don’t remember the last time I turned on my Mac,” so I guess my man doesn’t live in a storm-prone area. I use sleep mode as much as anyone, but as someone who grew up in tornado alley, I also know that when a power outage happens, it’s nice not to have to rearrange your desk just to turn your computer back on.

You cannot charge the Magic Mouse and use it at the same time

Credit: PCMag

Here’s another Apple device that buries key features for no reason. Announced alongside the iMac M4Apple’s 2024 overhaul of its Magic Mouse accessory has left a key opportunity in the field, literally. The only change the update made was updating its charging port to USB-C, but unfortunately that charging port is still on the bottom of the mouse.

I’ve never been a big fan of the Magic Mouse, because I need my dedicated right-click button. But I recognize the versatility that comes with combining a touchpad with a mouse. Unfortunately, even my less Windows-poisoned colleagues hate this thing.

This is because it is impossible to use the Magic Mouse and charge it at the same time. Granted, Apple says the Magic Mouse only needs to be charged about once a monthbut if you have to invoice while rushing a deadline, that won’t be much consolation.

This is a problem that would have been easily avoided by placing the charging port on the front of the mouse, like every other wireless mouse I own. There are a dozen generic charging cases on Amazon all of which claim to fix this problem (and make the notoriously flat mouse more ergonomic while they’re at it), but it really shouldn’t be a problem in the first place.

The ‘brave’ decision to remove the iPhone’s headphone jack

Credit: Mashable

It’s the big one: the one that changed the way all other phones are made. In 2016, with the release of the iPhone 7Audiophiles and casual users noticed a missing port on their new phones: the headphone jack was gone.

It wasn’t really a surprise. Consumers knew it came from the phone’s announcement a week before, where then-marketing chief Phil Schiller said what it would take to get rid of the beloved audio standard.

“It comes down to one word,” Schiller said onstage in what has since become one of most memorable moments in the history of the company. “Courage. The courage to move forward and do something new that improves us all.

Yeah, OK, buddy.

In place of the headphone jack, Apple announced the first set of AirPods at the same conference, beginning the shift to wireless listening for many. There’s no doubt that AirPods were really convenient for anyone who could afford the premium price, but the rest of us had to use a bulky adapter (at least we couldn’t accidentally flush our earbuds down the toilet so easily). And while Samsung And Google They originally mocked Apple for this decision, but they were quick to follow suit.

In the years since, the loss of the plug has had some benefits, including allowing phones to be thinner and more waterproof. Apple’s (very) recent move to USB-C also made it a little easier to connect a wider range of accessories to one’s phones, but back in the lightning days, “passing the aux” suddenly meant wrangling a lot more cables than anyone behind a steering wheel should do this.

The MacBook Touch Bar

Credit: Amazon

Until last year, Apple was still selling at least one MacBook with a Touch Bara relic of a time when the company decided that a long, thin touchscreen would be better received than dedicated media keys or a proper escape key.

The idea was solid on paper: replacing the function row with a Touch Bar allowed users to see contextual controls for the app they were in, like emoji keys when messaging or different font options in a word processor.

In reality, however, the Touch Bar just wasn’t useful enough and relied on developer support that simply didn’t exist. It also made media control much less tactile, which can be a problem for buttons that most people aren’t actively looking at when pressing. Not to mention all the frustrating calls with less tech-savvy loved ones who suddenly couldn’t find their escape key. (Look above the keyboard, Grandma.)

Maybe Apple will refine the Touch Bar and bring it back in the future, but it’s a technology trend that the rest of the world (except Dell, for some reason) did not follow.

The butterfly keyboard was as fragile as its namesake

Credit: PCMag

Keyboard mechanics are usually only a concern for tech enthusiasts. I may have gone out of my way to write this article about discrete mechanical switches, but for my loved ones, they’ll just use the keyboard that came with their computer or in a $30 bundle at Best Buy. That’s why it’s very impressive how much of a disaster the butterfly keyboard ended up being for Apple.

The history of the butterfly keyboard began in 2015 with the 12-inch MacBook. The idea was that the keyboard’s switching mechanism, which resembled a butterfly’s wings, was thin enough to leave room for additional components or simply make the laptop thinner. Additionally, the keys would ideally be more stable as you type. The reality, however, was that it was so small and fragile that it had a tendency to break at the slightest hint of dust or debris.

Worse yet, Apple often didn’t repair the key that broke and frequently took the entire machine apart to repair it, which was much more expensive. And because of its unique construction, third-party repair shops were often unequipped to help, leaving customers with no choice but to rely on Apple itself.

Apple stopped using the butterfly keyboard in 2020, but not before extend the warranty on it and have to pay $50 Million Class Action Settlement First.

The iPod Shuffle without buttons

Credit: CNET

In 2009, Apple decided to really capitalize on the iPod’s similarities to hard drives by ditching the buttons. I’ve never been a big fan of an iPod shuffle, as I usually only listen to music when I want to hear a specific song or album, but the 2009 model was out of reach. The device featured no playback buttons and required users to listen through a specific pair of headphones that came with it.

The headphones featured a capacitive touchpad, which users would become accustomed to as smartphones became more common, with the now standard controls “click to pause, double-click to forward, triple-click to rewind “. Luckily, you can also tap specific areas next to the touchpad to adjust the volume, but if you want to do something more complex, you’ll either need to consult the manual or get help from a voice assistant called VoiceOver .

Also ahead of its time, I’m still not sure it would work even today. We’re now used to these click controls, but even then our phones have screens to help us with more complex navigation. Add in being limited on which headphones you can use, and the whole proposition was just too finicky to function as more than a fashion accessory.

The Mac Pro’s $700 wheels

Credit: Apple

In 2020, Apple began selling $700 wheels for the Mac Pro. The phrase seems ridiculous enough to feel like it doesn’t need elaboration, but the controversy ended up being a bit more nuanced.

The Mac Pro is generally not intended to be a consumer device. Starting at $6,999 for the tower it would be attached to, it’s aimed more at business customers than anyone else. If you opt for wheels at checkout, they’ll cost you $400. The wheels kind of match the price of everything else in the Pro.

So, were they worth it for businesses? Well, their all-metal and rubber construction makes them much more reliable than the plastic casters you might be more accustomed to on cheap computer chairs, meaning they better protect your investment. In other words, if you opt for cheaper wheels and they collapse while you’re moving your Mac Pro, you could lose well over $700 when it crashes to the ground.

Even then, these wheels do not have brakes and are intended to be attached to a computer that must be plugged into the wall. Being able to occasionally move this computer under a desk is nice, but it’s not $700, especially when you can just place the Mac Pro on a cart instead. An executive who is not only concerned about his image will have difficulty justifying this expense.

So, the jokes poured in, with more than one influencer use the wheels to make super expensive skateboards.

But maybe the joke is our fault. As a technical commentator Brownlee Brands claims that the Mac Pro’s wheels are so expensive and so specialized that they were never intended as a serious product, but rather to help Apple maintain its luxury image.

5D corporate failures aside, I feel bad for everyone who bought these things, only to see the Mac Pro get stuck on an M2 series chip for years.