9to5Mac reports that Apple appears to have had a change of heart—or at least of style guide—when referring to its lineup of portable Macs. Years ago, the company standardized on referring to its portable Macs as “notebooks” or “notebook computers” and deprecated the more common “laptop” term. (Google shows 24.4 million search results for “laptop computer” but only 4.1 million for “notebook computer.”)
The July 2022 version of the Apple Style Guide is quite clear about Apple’s previous preference.
Now, however, 9to5Mac has documented numerous instances of “notebook” being replaced with “laptop” in Apple Support articles. We have long resisted the “notebook” term because you don’t use a portable Mac like a physical notebook in any way—if anything, an iPad in a case is far more notebook-like. Plus, the entire point of a portable Mac is that you can use it on your lap!
Count us as fans of this change, and we’ll continue to use “laptop” in favor of “notebook” or even “portable,” which the Apple Style Guide grudgingly allowed.
