Yesterday, Apple revealed its long-awaited Mac mini redesign to the world, and it’s fair to say that the M4 chip is the least exciting thing about it. The micro computer’s new look is so striking that it’s making me reconsider my previously skeptical stance toward the Mac mini.
But amid all the online chatter surrounding the Mac mini’s refreshed design, there’s been a current of criticism pointed at its power button. You see, Apple has moved it from the back of the device — where it previously lived — to the underside of the computer, meaning you’ll probably need to tip it over every time you want to switch on your Mac mini. It’s drawn scathing comparisons to the Magic Mouse’s upside-down charging port, and that’s never a good thing.
After all, it’s easier to hide a power button on a MacBook.
Yet in my view, all these armchair critics have misunderstood Apple’s thinking behind the Mac mini’s power button. I’m not saying Apple is absolutely right to put the button where it is, but if you look into how Apple might have arrived at this conclusion, it starts to make a bit more sense.
Form and function
Apple’s attractive-looking products have given it a reputation of seeking “form over function,” but really the goal for the company is “form and function.” Ultimately, the two are inseparable for Apple, and you can see that in Steve Jobs’ famous adage that “design is how it works.” Apple products should be beautiful, yes, but that beauty must have a purpose. Great designs look fantastic because they wouldn’t work as well if they were designed in a different way.
Apple’s decision to put the Mac mini’s power button on the underside isn’t just about making the device look prettier — there’s much more to it than that.
For Apple, the overall experience of a product is incredibly important. Look at how the iPhone’s packaging is deliberately engineered to open slowly, thereby building excitement. Or how Apple combines hardware and software to create features that its rivals can’t. The goal is to create devices that don’t just look amazing or work amazingly, but that feel amazing too. When it comes to the Mac mini, that means hiding the power button to, yes, create a smoother, more unified visual look, but also to craft a better experience.
Apple has often said that technology is best when it gets out of your way. With the Mac mini, Apple doesn’t want you to have to think about mundane things like the intricacies of how the hardware turns on; it wants you to focus on what you actually do with the hardware. In some cases, thinking about how the hardware works is unavoidable (such as when you plug something into the peripheral ports), but if Apple can hide a banal thing like the power button to create a more seamless experience, it will.
Design is how it works
I hear you say, “but turning on your Mac mini is essential!” And you’d be right, of course. But Apple’s thinking probably goes something like this: On the old Mac mini, you couldn’t see the power button from the front, and you can’t on the new one. Likewise, on the old Mac mini, you had to reach behind the machine to operate the power button, and now you have to reach underneath it. The differences in the actions you take are small, but the result is a more seamless-looking product. When you think about the actual practicalities, there’s not a world of difference.
That’s even more true when you consider that many people will only use the power button once per day. For many, it will be less if they use the Mac mini’s sleep mode. Is Apple willing to add a slight inconvenience that most people will barely experience day-to-day, and in exchange get a more seamless device experience that functions just as well as it always has done, if not better? You bet it is.
Incidentally, the same is true of the Magic Mouse’s upside-down charging port, which Apple has kept in the new version that comes with the M4 iMac. Apple knows that people don’t like the upside-down charging, but it keeps designing it into the mouse. Why? Because the smooth, unbroken look and feel of a mouse with no visible charging port is more important to Apple than the occasional inconvenience of charging the mouse the wrong way up. The experience of using the mouse matters every single day. The charging only matters once every few months.
In other words, Apple cares hugely about the experience you get when using its products. Sometimes that means facing a small inconvenience in order to get a better overall experience, and Apple will happily accept that. That’s true whether we’re talking about the Mac mini, the Magic Mouse, or any other Apple product.
So, while the Mac mini’s hidden power button and the Magic Mouse’s underside charging port may seem like odd design decisions, they’re not ones that will constantly get in your way. Apple is betting that the benefits they bring, though, will be felt every time you use them.
