MATT BOLTON...
There’s not a lot of thrill in computers these days. What
was the last technology that truly transformed laptops and
desktops? There’s an argument for the solid state drive,
which made computers so much faster and laptops thinner
and lighter. But the original MacBook Air didn’t have an
SSD (it had a 1.8-inch hard drive, borrowed from the iPod),
so the transformation had already happened, really.
I think the last technology that had a truly fundamental
impact on how Macs and PCs are made was the introduction
of the LCD display. Look at the jump from the iMac G3 to
iMac G4 – a totally different beast. Impossible before. And
laptops simply wouldn’t exist without that innovation.
Will there ever be anything that makes that kind
of difference to computers again? I don’t think so – these
days, what determines the size of laptops is ergonomics as
much as the tech inside: laptops have to be a certain
size to contain a full-on keyboard, or a screen you can actually
read from two feet away.
But that doesn’t mean there
aren’t still innovations that can be
really exciting to experience, and
where I think you’ll see these next
is the screen again – it just won’t
have quite as much impact as the
LCD display did, admittedly.
The screens on the whole Mac
line-up are lovely, but they’re ripe for an update, technologically.
An obvious option is OLED, like the iPhone X/XS/11 use.
OLED produces gorgeous colours and rich contrast, but
suffers from screen burn issues and viewing-angle
limitations – I suspect these put Apple off.
Much more likely is that Apple will move to a
miniLED display. This is actually the same LCD tech as
is used now, but with a new kind of backlight, where a
dense array of tinier-than-usual LEDs is placed right
behind the panel, and shines through much
brighter than current edge-lit panels
(bright enough for the highest
levels of HDR video). And each
of these LEDs can dim or turn off
when needed, so dark areas appear
truly black, just like OLED.
This tech is rolling out in some TVs
and in a MacBook Pro competitor laptop
from MSI (in 4K, no less) in 2020. I’veAPPLE CORE Opinion
The MSI Creator 17’s 4K miniLED display is
my new benchmark. Admittedly, printing it
here may not be doing it full justice...
What if the nicest telly you owned was your laptop?
(I think mine is already my iPhone 11, technically.)18 | MACFORMAT | APRIL 2020 macformat.com @macformat
ABOUT MATT BOLTON
Matt is the editor of Future’s flagship
technology magazine T3 and has been
charting changes at Apple since his
student days. He’s sceptical of tech
industry hyperbole, but still gets warm
and fuzzy on hearing “one more thing”.The screens on
the Mac line-up
are lovely, but
ripe for an update
SAYS THAT WHILE COMPUTER
DESIGN IS KINDA BORING,
THE NEXT BIG ADVANCE ON
MACS WILL BE THE SCREENS
seen it in action, and it looks utterly stunning- it’s like having a very high-end TV on your
computer. For pro use, it’s fantastic – you see
your video just how it would look on a TV,
and you could actually see what’s on your
laptop in bright sunlight! For entertainment,
it’s equally good – you could watch 4K HDR
movies from iTunes in the best possible
quality wherever you are.
Admittedly, this particular tech won’t
enable MacBooks to change form or to truly
reinvent themselves (perhaps Apple using its
own chips AT LAST will be the best chance of
that), but I genuinely can’t remember the last
time I was shown a laptop and felt a genuine
thrill at what I saw, as I did with the miniLED
screen. I think it’s a slam dunk that we’ll all
get the chance to experience this thrill in
future MacBooks, too.