I can't believe I'm reading an article touting the design smarts of the Thinkpad designers... honestly I've always thought that the standard black Thinkpads were unspeakably ugly. And I'm not even a design snob. Usable yes, but aesthetic? No way.
Bringing chiclet-style keyboards back into vogue (to the point where even Lenovo now puts them on Thinkpads) shows a complete disregard for the functionality of the laptop as a computer. Try comparing the new apple-style chiclet keys, to "skateboard-ramp" shaped keys (an "innovation" introduced by IBM to save costs), to the spherical shaped keys (http://www.daskeyboard.com/blog/?page_id=1458#shapes) of high-end keyboards from the 1980s and you will see how far computer keyboards have actually degenerated. This isn't just my opinion - Kathleen Potosnak's review of literature (appears as chapter 21 in Helander's Handbook of Human-Computer Interaction) shows that shaped keys are better for typing.
There's a lot to be said about 3-button mice as well. One thing I do like about Macs is the touchpad on the newest ones (it took Apple a long time to make them really useful, though). Again, this is a sacrifice in terms of functionality. You can do things like https://github.com/vsedach/mouse-copy with the Thinkpad touchpoint and even the trackpad, but it's not convenient with most other trackpads (especially ones like the Mac's that don't have separate keys).
In terms of longetivity and visual design, I'm typing this on a 2004 Thinkpad T43. Nothing on this machine is broken, and despite 8 years of almost continuous use, even the keyboard labels only have a few nicks. This laptop looks as new or as old as the early 90s 386 Thinkpad we have at the hackerspace or the X230 my friend bought a few months ago. It wasn't until the PowerBook that Apple hit on a design with any sort of longetivity. Besides Apple and IBM/Lenovo, there's no one making laptops with a lasting design across many product generations.
As far as the actual mechanism of the keyboards, almost all laptops (including Macbooks and Thinkpads) have used the same scissor-switch mechanisms for about the last decade.
I don't know what you are talking about--you are WAY overstating your case. My 11-inch MacBook Air is by the far the most ergonomic and pleasant-to-use laptop computer I have ever owned. The keyboard on it is by far the best laptop keyboard I have ever used, and the trackpad is revolutionarily wonderful compared to any other trackpad I have ever used.
That being said, I do prefer Thinkpad-style nubs to trackpads. Also, I find Thinkpads to be beautiful, not ugly. Also, I would agree that Apple does at times make unfortunate ergonomic decisions, like the lamentable and fortunately short-lived round mouse of a decade ago, and Apple's current laptop-style keyboard for desktop computers is a bit questionable. This doesn't bother me, personally, as I use a Kinesis keyboard anyway. Also, since Apple's laptop keyboards are so good, I think they actually might be better than most desktop keyboards anyway.
I don't find Apple to be any worse in the regard of form-over-function than another other company. The ergonomic improvements that they've brought in recent years far offset any ergonomic harm that they have done. One thing that Apple did get right with it's desktop keyboard is a return to small keyboards rather than the monstrosities that the industry has been foisting on us for the last few decades. The current small Apple keyboards remind me of "Happy Hacking" keyboards, which are the way that keyboards should be.
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2471321
The Magic Mouse is even less comfortable. I don't know how they expect people to hold that for any significant period.
I have not used a pre-2011 Macbook, though I did have a 2006 or so PowerBook. It was fine. My only complaint was that it get too hot to use with bare legs. This is one of the reasons that Apple switched from the PowerPC to Intel.
I haven't used a Magic Mouse. The idea of mouse with a touch-sensitive top seems like a great idea. I don't know how it works out in reality. I use a Cyborg R.A.T. 9 mouse. I love it. I also sometimes use an Apple Magic Trackpad, and I think that it is fantastic.
After a bit of browsing on Wikipedia and Freescale product pages, it appears to me that the mobile G4 chips typically used under 20 watts and had TDPs around 30. That's in line with (or below) the standard-power Intel chips found in the Macbook Pro from its introduction to current Ivy Bridge models.
There was also a low-power G5 processor that could, in theory have powered a laptop. Apple didn't go that route because it wasn't substantially (if any) faster than the G4, there wasn't a suitable northbridge, and the G5's idle power consumption was too high.
It appears Apple switched to Intel because there wasn't a suitable upgrade path for its laptops, not because then-current models consumed too much power or generated too much heat.
I see "aesthetic" as a subjective concept, so I don't really understand how it can have an opposite. It's a matter of opinion, and for a lot of people, the ThinkPad design has what they're looking for.
More important in my opinion is the functional design, which Thinkpads really excel at.
"Ugly", is of course, subjective, but do keep in mind that the original thinkpad line is generally considered a design classic.
Also keep in mind that thinkpads in the last decade or so have shifted a great deal design-wise from the original, losing much of the aesthetic purity along the way.
The original thinkpad was yer basic stark black monolith (all right angles, no curves or wedges to speak of) with the barest minimum of accent (the bright red nub pointer and button markers), and a lovely silky surface texture that made you want to caress it. No tacky chrome-look plastic. No touchpad to bloat up the lower surface. Just quality of materials and purity of form.
While recent thinkpads share the color scheme with the original, they've lost many of the other iconic design cues, both obvious and subtle.
So I kinda see where you're coming from if you're talking about recent models, but the original thinkpads were absolutely beautiful.
Plus, if you ask me, sturdy case, functional keyboard, docking connector and myriad of ports is a very smart design that trumps macbooks.
http://www.eurotech.cz/image/file/361/x60_2.jpg
But when I see this, I get an urge to touch the keyboard, run the shell, fire up the editor... No other laptop makes me want to do this just with its looks.
And that's what I think good industrial design is about.
In my opinion there is nothing more beautiful on a laptop than the thinkpads hardened steel hinges.