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The basic design of modern laptops can be traced back to 1991, when Apple debuted its first PowerBook notebooks: the entry-level PowerBook 100, the beefier PowerBook 140 and the high-end PowerBook 170.
They’re dinosaurs by today’s standards, with chunky bodies, terrible battery life and low-res screens. But they established the basic design rules that laptops have followed ever since: a recessed keyboard, palm rests at the front, and a centralized pointing device.
Earlier notebooks had keyboards all the way at the front, so there was nowhere to rest your wrists. And most ran command-line interfaces, so there was no need for a pointing device that, by definition, only works on GUIs.
“It’s interesting, in retrospect, that from the PowerBook to today’s MacBooks, it turned out to be almost the perfect design,” designer Robert Brunner told me for my book about Jony Ive. “No one’s been able to improve on it.”
The same could be said for the new M5 MacBook Pro, which, from the outside, looks unchanged from the previous three generations. And that’s because it is — the case, the batteries and the camera are all the same.
But the chip decidedly is not.
The M5 represents one of the biggest intergenerational leaps so far in Apple silicon, thanks to a redesigned GPU architecture.
If you’re using an older MacBook Pro, the decision to upgrade is a no-brainer. This new model is streets ahead of older models. But what about more recent iterations? It’s a complex question, but our enthusiastic, hands-on review of the new machine might help you decide.
Also in today’s newsletter:
Sam Altman’s OpenAI has acquired a startup behind a very promising AI-powered assistant that can perform actions across any app on your Mac. This functionality will now be built into ChatGPT — a move some say allows OpenAI to perform a heist on Cupertino.
Talking of machines that haven’t changed much, basic design-wise, this isn’t a bad discount on the fab iMac.
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One of the world’s only Vision Pro fans, D. Griffin Jones (who also happens to be a Cult of Mac writer) has been playing around with the new M5-powered headset while he works on an in-depth review. See his first impressions from this week’s CultCast.
There are good reasons to hide apps on your iPhone and iPad beyond the obvious “adult” ones. Here are some suggestions, and how to actually do it.
Looking for something to watch this weekend? Ben Stiller’s Apple TV documentary about his famous comedian parents is getting good reviews.
— Leander Kahney, EIC.
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A message from the Cult of Mac Deals team
The CultCast: M5 Vision Pro first impressions!
A message from the Cult of Mac Deals team
Cult of Mac’s buyback program
Tweets of the day
Completely insane. They’re literally robbing Apple in daylight. They’ll be completely integrated with macOS in a much better way that Apple will ever do. And will probably give them a good head start for building their own OS.
— #Thomas Ricouard (#@Dimillian)
5:24 PM • Oct 23, 2025
Should have been a helmet at this point
— #Ilya · イリア (#@ilyamiskov)
11:01 AM • Oct 24, 2025
Folks trying the M5 Vision Pro at Grand Central yesterday. My appointment started almost 30 minutes late and once the docent heard I use my M2 Vision Pro all the time he didn’t really know what to do with me.
— #Alex Coulombe (#@iBrews)
2:35 AM • Oct 24, 2025
34% of Apple Silicon users are still on M1.
So Apple comparing performance to M1 Macs is both obvious and necessary— #INIYSA (#@lafaiel)
4:08 AM • Oct 24, 2025
This is a lot cheaper than moving factories to the United States.
— #Quinn Nelson (#@SnazzyLabs)
1:46 AM • Oct 24, 2025
>microsoft allowing openai to exist
>oai acquires macOS integration company
>launches mac-only browser
>partners with ex-apple designer jony ive
>ignores Windows OS entirelythis should be studied
— #NIK (#@ns123abc)
5:53 PM • Oct 23, 2025
Wallpaper of the day
One more thing ...
The best way to predict the future is to invent it.
Today’s poll
What should Apple concentrate on right now?
Results from yesterday’s poll: Is the Mac mini really the best deal in computing?
Best reader comments
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