I agree it is iconic, and I would also like to see it, but I’m not so sure it costs them nothing. In the past, when panels were lit using CFL tubes and LEDs on the display edges, this would simply be a matter of making that part of the case transparent, maybe adding a light pipe.
With more modern displays, where LEDs are embedded in the middle of the panel (and even more so as mini- and micro-LED displays start to become available), that’s not really an option anymore because the LED are lit/dimmed in order to provide zone-based brightness control. So you would need at least one extra LED to drive the lit logo.
Even more so if/when OLED displays are used, since they have no backlight at all.
But I agree, it would be worth it. It shouldn’t raise the price of the computer more than a few cents to put an LED and a light pipe in the display’s enclosure. Maybe even combine it with a power/sleep indicator on the front of the display, which would only involve a little more light-pipe.
I noticed. Even the mini only has two TB ports (in addition to two type-A USB ports). I suspect the M1 only supports two TB interfaces. This might be fine for the Air, but it’s a step backwards for the MacBook Pro and Mac mini.
Hopefully the next version of the chip (M2? M1X?) will have support for 4 or more TB ports. It will be needed on the larger MacBook Pro, iMac and Mac Pro platforms.
Agreed, depending on the purpose. It will probably still perform better than the Intel-based Air, but losing the fan will restrict its capabilities. On the other hand, if you primarily use it for web surfing and Microsoft Office (using a different computer for heavy lifting activities), then it might be just fine.