Marco Arment:

It’s hard to tell when Apple is listening. They speak concisely, infrequently, and only when they’re ready, saying absolutely nothing in the meantime, even when we’re all screaming about a product line as if it’s on fire. They make great progress, but often with courageous losses that never get reversed, so an extended silence because we’re stuck with a change forever is indistinguishable from an extended silence because the fix isn’t ready yet.

But there has clearly been a major shift in direction for the better since early 2017, and they couldn’t be more clear now:

Apple is listening again, they’ve still got it, and the Mac is back.

I absolutely agree with Marco, my optimism for the Mac has grown exponentially over the past year or so. But my biggest concern is still a work in progress. Apple needs to build off of this momentum. In two or three years, the current iteration of the Mac Mini can’t still be the current iteration. Regular, predictable under-the-hood upgrades to existing products is an important piece of the puzzle and the jury is still out as to whether that will take place over the long term. Again, I’m optimistic, but if rumors start to spread that the momentum is slowing, that feeling can change on a dime.