MacBook Pro's Form Factor

PowerBook G4 Titanium (L), MacBook Pro with Retina (R)

Although I've been a die-hard desktop computer user up until last year with the purchase of my first MacBook Air, I still remember being impressed when Apple released the PowerBook G4 Titanium in 2001.

It offered a 400 or 500MHz G4 processor, ATI Rage Mobility 128 graphics processor, 15.2-inch "mega-widescreen" display and a slot-loading DVD drive, all wrapped in a gorgeous Titanium enclosure exactly one inch thick. Price? $2,599 for the 400MHz and $3,499 for the 500MHz version.

I thought this classic, rectangular, one-inch form factor remained virtually unmodified until Apple released the MacBook Pro with Retina display last week with a height of 0.71 inches and a tapered bottom. However, it was actually the MacBook Pro unibody released in 2008 that had the first true redesign. It too had a tapered bottom and redesigned hinge but with a reduced height of 0.95 inches.

At this rate, we'll be typing on electronic, luminesent sheets of transparent paper by the next decade.