Apple is used to criticism from PC partisans, but with its first major redesign to the MacBook Pro line in years, it found itself unexpectedly taking fire from its own fan base. The new laptop was underpowered, Mac users complained, lacked ports that people actually use, had low-to-zero serviceability, and that “improved” butterfly keyboard still wasn’t that great.

The point that seems to uniformly burn pro users is the maximum amount of RAM: just 16GB of LPDD3/2133. The reason for the limit? Apple said it saves power, which lets them make the MacBook Pro thinner.

I won’t pass judgment on that decision (though I think PC makers are also too concerned with thin sometimes), but I will say there’s a pretty easy way Apple could satisfy its unhappy performance-minded customers: Bring back the MacBook Pro 17.

Yes, Apple once sold a giant 17-inch MacBook Pro, which it discontinued in 2012. Five years on, it's even easier to build a powerful laptop than it was back then. Bringing back an unapologetically big, beefy MacBook Pro 17 could be just what Apple needs to make its laptops great again. Here's what we'd put in it.

The most green policy Apple could adopt is to offer upgrade- and repair-friendly designs rather than pursue thin, disposable designs. That means following industry standards as much as possible.

The last feature Apple should put in the MacBook Pro 17 is a real Apple keyboard. You know, the kind of keyboard that let every MacBook user say with an air of superiority why Macs are so much better than PCs.

With the newest MacBook Pros, PC laptop users don’t hear that bragging anymore. Instead you hear, “well, you get used to it,” or “I know it’s hard to believe, but I actually like it. No seriously, I do.”

That’s quite a turnaround. For the MacBook Pro 17 to make Mac laptops great again, the company needs to return to the real Apple keyboard.

Source: pcworld