Sumocat

Even without Face ID, the notch houses more than just the camera. “David Pogue posted an image on Twitter, which seems to be the new MacBook Pro’s camera module. In that, we see a 1080p camera, TrueTone sensor, ambient light sensor, and a camera status LED.” https://www.notebookcheck.net/Apple-MacBook-Pro-s-notch-houses-more-than-just-a-1080p-camera.574456.0.html

Given that, I don’t see how they lose the notch without losing everything but the camera. Tone and light sensors need some distance from the illuminated display, and the status LED is wired to the camera power to show you definitively when the camera is powered on. That LED has to stand out at any time.

The real flaw of the M4 Mac Mini power button is that it still needs a power button. There’s no battery or built-in display to merit shutdown, yet it can’t operate like an Apple TV.

Which days are “these days”? If it’s the past couple of years, the number is 13. That’s not most. Going back a decade, 74 out of 1,654 is also not most. Many? Sure. But most phones with USB-C are USB 2.0, and no one cares except people who don’t use iPhones but love to complain about them.

Most people are not going backwards to plug in their phones to backup data. Even those who do backup locally do so over Wi-Fi, which is now faster than USB 3. Fast, wired transfer is absolutely a necessity for professionals moving A/V data. The iPhone Pro is for them. For the rest of us, it’s not something I’d need, even if I was still doing regular local backup these days.

It’s not like it’s the flagship model. The Pro is the flagship with ProMotion and USB 3.2. The non-Pro and SE are lesser ships in the fleet with lesser features. Same situation as the iPad Pro vs. Air and other models. I am squarely mid-range with my iPhone 13 mini and iPad Air 4, and the only Pro feature tempting me is Face ID on iPad because work authentication through Touch ID feels tedious compared to Face ID on iPhone.

No, it is only data. USB 2.0, 3, 4 refer to data speed. USB A/B/C refer to connector shape. There are min/max wattages associated with both of those, but USB Power Delivery is yet another USB spec that supersedes those limits, and it only requires USB on the power supply. That’s why USB-PD works on iPhones with Lightning ports, and why 140W power on MacBooks works through MagSafe (and not USB-C). Apple associates USB-C with charging speed to differentiate their charging cables, but the spec is about the connector, not speed. Though it never caught on, even a USB-A charger could deliver up to 100W via USB-PD 1.0. The first few Galaxy Z Flip models only supported USB 2.0, didn’t affect fast charging, and no one noticed.

I remember when Al Gore was the climate VP.