Apple's laptop redesigns have failed me for eight years

It's an annual thing for me now - I wander into the Apple Store in Reading, UK, poke away at the various Macbooks, and sigh. Not, as you might expect, from the sky-high prices, but from the ever-decreasing functionality.

One of the sales reps came over to me yesterday and we chatted. "The problem is", I started, "that none of your laptops can do a fraction of what my old 2010 Macbook can do. Nine years old and it still does more for me, day after day, than these new units can, at least not without more expense and more complexity."

He was confused. "These will be a lot faster", he said. I reminded him of the white polycarbonate Macbook of the era, hugely popular. "Mine has been (self) upgraded with 6GB RAM, a 256GB SSD, a new battery, and a new optical drive, and it's pretty fast. Not as quick as these, but still speedy," I said.

You see, the 2010 Macbook had:

• Ethernet port (used by me once a week)
• Mag-safe power connector (used every day and often saves the Macbook from damage - the modern Macbooks have a fixed USB Type C charging connector that's a trip accident waiting to happen)
• 256GB as standard (it's an expensive option on modern Macbooks)
• CD/DVD optical drive (used by me once a month, but handy)
• Twin USB-A ports (used every day, no dongles needed)
• Full travel keyboard (the last two years of Macbooks have had what I consider a terrible 'limited' keyboard that's noisy and uncomfortable)

"So", I said, "any of your shiny new Macbooks would be a downgrade for me". He was somewhat abashed, but didn't disagree. The sales rep said "I wish I was at the design meetings in Cupertino where they decided to keep getting rid of features. Less really isn't more!"

We did settle on some common ground though. If my white Macbook ever went up in smoke, then Apple still sell the 2016 Macbook Air, which still had Magsafe, USB-A, and a full travel keyboard. OK, I'd need to plump for the higher SSD capacity and a dongle for Ethernet, but this would be closest to my needs.

At £1349 at current prices though, which is insane for a three year old laptop. So I'd buy second hand. "Good plan" said the rep!

It's a little crazy though, don't you think, how Apple keeps reducing the capability of its laptops each year. Isn't that going in the wrong direction? In what other tech world would a nine year old product do more than a current design??