I do think it's the better way to put it, just interesting to note that this is where it flipped.

Couldn't say what the original intent was, I guess if you leave the laptop closed on your desk when you aren't using it that would be nicer to look at? But realistically I'd see it that way for about half a second between closing the laptop and sticking it in a bag.

Iirc it had to do with product designers finding that users would try to open the laptop from the wrong end

lol no, Macintosh was always a status symbol.

In the days of those early G3, every non-stationary computer was a status symbol.

$2500 laptop in 2000 is equivalent to $4,457 in 2023 dollars