4 short words is the answer of Tom Boger, Apple's Vice President of Mac and iPad product marketing, when asked about the return of the glowing apple logo on MacBook Pro. Apple CEO John Ternus then explained the technical changes that allowed the company to bring this feature back.

During the discussion about the MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR touch screen, a question was posed to Apple leaders: Why did the company bring back the glowing apple logo after many years, and what made the company change its decision?

“Because it was cool”, Mr. Tom Boger replied - “Because it was cool”.

The short answer was lighthearted, but his subsequent explanation with Apple CEO John Ternus showed that Apple has reworked this familiar detail in a different way.

“If we bring something back, we want to do it in a more refined way,” said Boger, Apple's vice president of Mac and iPad product marketing. That is immediately evident in the logo's appearance when it is not glowing.

In previous generations of MacBooks with glowing logos, the apple when the lights were turned off looked like "a piece of translucent plastic", as described by Mr. Ternus. On the new version, the logo has a glossy, mirror-like surface, looking similar to the non-luminous logo on current Macs. If you don't know about this feature, users may think this is still a familiar logo style.

When lit up, the apple appears with clear lines, which Boger describes as a more refined expression of the detail loved by many customers.

To do that, Apple equips the logo with its own lighting system.

The Apple CEO explained that on previous MacBooks using LCD screens, the logo took advantage of light from the screen backlight.

“Basically, we cut a hole in the back and let the light escape, while that part of the light can be directed towards the front of the screen,” Mr. Ternus said.

According to the Apple CEO, that light can be directed forward to serve the screen. In its pursuit of better energy efficiency, Apple decided it should dedicate all of its backlighting to that purpose and eliminated the glowing logo.

After a decade, the new tandem OLED technology on the MacBook Pro creates different design conditions. Each pixel emits its own light, so the screen no longer needs a backlight system like LCD.

“This is OLED. Each pixel emits its own light,” Ternus explains.

The thin screen structure also opens up opportunities for engineers to arrange a separate lighting system for the logo in the limited space on the lid. “A logo has its own light source,” CEO John Ternus describes. Instead of taking advantage of light from the LCD backlight as before, the apple now glows with its own system, which he considers to be highly energy efficient and consume very little electricity.

An interesting detail is that the brightness of the Apple logo on the back of the lid is linked to the screen brightness on the new touch MacBook Pro, which is adjusted according to the screen.

Mr. Boger happily mentioned the reactions of viewers: "This morning, everyone cheered when they saw the logo light up again". That cry partly shows the anticipation for a seemingly small detail, but has become a mark in the affection of many MacBook users.

He explained that users have a lot of love for their devices. Their work and life are tied to the product, they love it and are proud of it. The glowing logo is one of the details that customers love.

Mr. Boger puts that into the way Apple takes care of the product, from a small detail on the lid to the entire front screen. When he said the company's goal was to make the best products possible, Mr. Ternus added: “And make people happy.”

Tuan Nguyen