Why the 15" Unibody MacBook Pro is Still the Best

If it wasn’t broken, then why did they fix it?

In November 2019, Apple launched their current flagship laptop. The 16" MacBook Pro broke away from the long tradition of 15" MBPs, mainly due to smaller bezels on the screen.

However, and more significantly, the latest model also broke away from the long tradition of MacBook Pros getting thinner. Apple saw sense and stopped squeezing the form factor, a practice which had led to flawed designs resulting in issues with thermal throttling and most famously, faulty keyboards.

This change in direction, abandoning thinness in favour of quality and performance, is something I for one was glad to see. For too long, Apple has been crippling a once great laptop by eliminating size and functionality.

MacBook Pros are tools for professionals and creators. But somehow Apple had started treating them as fashion accessories. Like their catwalk counterparts, being forced to squeeze themselves into more slender dimensions.

People who use MBPs as tools, value reliability, power, battery life and functionality above all else. They use it to produce real work and they want it to be seamless, reliable and effortless at doing that one thing, without sacrifice. For too many generations now has the MacBook Pro been hindered by issue after issue.

Like me, many users look back to the pre-retina, Unibody series of MacBook Pros with fondness. The Unibody design offered a unique set of properties and characteristics that are sadly missing on the current MBP series and would be a welcome return. Let’s look a bit closer and see.

Usability

While it is a fairly obvious statement, a laptop needs to be usable. However, it is not always the obvious things that make it work well. The Unibody MBP had a few subtle elements that set it apart.

• The sheer amount of I/O options built-in and readily available without the need for a dongle made it a much easier job for owners to attach accessories. Sure, it is nice to be thin and light, but it defeats the purpose if you have to carry around dongles to make up the difference. While interface technology has clearly moved on, many MBP owners would eagerly like to see a full range of modern I/O options built into the chassis. Even something a simple as an SD card slot would be a welcome return.

• Compared to current models, the extra depth of the base section gives a nice feel of elevation and separation from the surface you are working on. I know thin is all the rage, but there was just something special about having such a solid resting place for anchoring your hands while typing.

• Big laptops have big batteries, but big batteries don’t always equal big battery life. Thankfully this wasn’t the case with the 15" MBP. The deeper chassis allowed for a fantastic battery life back in 2012. Just imagine what battery life could be included in 2020, if the same depth of chassis was filled with 2020 CPU, GPU and battery technology? Twenty or Thirty hours maybe. Furthermore, in 2012 the battery could be easily replaced in less than five minutes.

• The keyboard on the Unibody MBPs is still the best version, bar none. The disaster that was the butterfly switch keyboard and its replacement scissor switch version just don’t match up to the typing experience on the *chiclet switch *that featured on the 2012 MBP. The 16" MBP saw Apple abandon the butterfly switch, but the low profile scissor switch that replaced it still isn’t as good as the Unibody keyboard was.

• The deeper chassis on the Unibody increased the ability to cool internal components. The extra space and ventilation allowed for high-performance active cooling. CPUs have moved on by upping their power while reducing their wattage. So, if you could make use of the extra volume of the Unibody chassis to effectively cool one or even two modern CPUs, imagine the performance.

• Disc based media is rapidly being surpassed by streaming services and USB storage. However, there does remain times when a CD/DVD drive remains useful. Especially for professionals that work with smaller clients and individuals who may still have source material on disc. The Unibody design was the last to include a built-in disc drive. While I am certainly finding the need to use it less frequently on my Unibody MBP, it has rescued me on a couple of occasions when a speaker has turned up to an event with a DVD in hand containing their slides or a corporate video.

• Mid 2012 introduced the first of the retina displays to the 15" MBP, but it also signalled the end of the true anti-glare screen. An upgrade option on the 15" Unibody, the silver bezel adorned screen had a higher resolution (1680 x 1050) than the standard Unibody screen (1440 x 900). The retina screens blasted passed this in terms of resolution, but with it lost the true anti-glare properties and introduced screen laminations issues, at least for some users. If the true anti-glare screen could be combined with a retina display, that would be a winning formula for many, even if there was a premium or upgrade fee to pay.

Upgradability

The Unibody MacBook Pro lineup was the last version that was open to the full gamut of user upgrade options. Back in 2012, all you had to do was remove the ten screws from the bottom, remove the cover and work away. Upgrading hard drive and RAM were simple for even an inexperienced user. But beyond that, more advanced upgraders could tackle screen upgrades from standard to anti-glare or replace the DVD drive with an extra hard drive. It was even possible to upgrade the CPU if you were handy with a soldering iron!

While the mix of components and interfaces has moved on and somewhat changed the options for upgrades, it was one of the most attractive characteristics for MBP buyers. The physical dimensions and socket (not soldered) based components offered a great opportunity for professionals and hackers to extend the life of their machine or boost performance. These options don’t exist in the latest generation MBPs, mostly as the race to thinness has made space a premium. But I can guarantee for the sake of a few extra millimetres and grams there would be a lot of users who would love to see them return.

Durability

The Unibody MBPs were a great big chunk of metal. I still remember the Apple Keynote at which the first Unibody was launched. The video images of a CNC milling machine, carving out the bottom section of the MBP from a single block of aluminium was revolutionary, especially for people still using plastic-based laptops. I have owned two Unibody MBPs over the last eleven years, one 13" and one 15". Both of them have seen extensive use at home and travelled around the world, used on flights, in hotels and conferences. They have been tossed in a backpack thousand of times, shoved in cupboards, on shelves and in drawers. They have even endured several drops and tumbles onto the floor.

To say they are built like tanks is an understatement. The aluminium, while being strong and stiff, is also soft enough to take more than a few bumps and bruises. But even after all that, both my 2009 13" and 2012 15" would still easily pass for something that was less than a year old.

As I highlighted in another recent article, Macbook Pros are an investment, not just a purchase.

Fixability

Laptops like any other piece of electronics can go wrong. While MacBook Pros tend to be more reliable than most other laptops, there are always things that can go wrong.

The good news with the Unibody was how accessible it was to do DIY repairs. In the same vein as the upgradability, the average user with the right screwdrivers and a few YouTube videos could crack open the bottom and remove or replace almost any component. The generous dimensions and construction of the Unibody MBP meant that all the major components including the logic board, screen, speakers, trackpad and battery could all be removed and replaced if the need required.

Even in 2020, nearly eight years since the Unibody left service, there is still a healthy supply of spares available across eBay and re-sellers.

Apple has cited many reasons for and benefits of the thinner versions of the MacBook Pro that they have produced over the last eight years. Unfortunately, many of those reasons have gone on to cause problems and unforeseen issues for Apple and their MacBook Pro customers.

The Unibody MBP design was and is still a true great. With the Mid 2012 15" Unibody being king of them all. The overall design package offered so many benefits to users who wanted a true workhorse and not just a fashion accessory. Apple has reversed their ways somewhat with the 16" MBP by forsaking thinness in pursuit of better.

I hope to see them continue that trend and re-introduce some of the amazing features and characteristics of the Unibody design once again.

Thanks for reading!