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Rumored new manufacturing process would be a breakthrough in notebook design

Every time a new Apple press event is announced, the speculation runs rampant. This time the press event isn’t even announced and speculation is brewing quickly.

According to 9to5mac, Apple will unveil new MacBook's at a press event to be held on October 14. The fact that new MacBook's are supposed to be coming is only half the rumor. What's making some of the biggest waves is the report that the new MacBook cases will be machined out of one solid chunk of aluminum.

The system is already being called the MacBook Brick as an ode to the solid brick-like metal chunk the new and revolutionary process is said to start with. The Brick is cut out with lasers and jets of water to produce a one piece, seamless case for the new MacBook systems.

The new manufacturing process is supposed to make design changes faster and allow Apple to reap cost savings, which will drive the price of the Mac notebooks down. 9to5mac says its source insists that the rumor of the new manufacturing system for the MacBook computers is accurate.

Advantages to the new manufacturing process will include no need to bend the metal, which reduces weak spots and folds and eliminates the need for screws to hold the case together. This should make for a sleeker looking computer that is lighter and stronger than previous MacBook designs. This is all speculation at this point and we can only wait and see if the mythical press event on the 14 of this month materializes.

The last MacBook update added new processors and a few tweaks -- nothing as interesting as this new design process.

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Apple has magic now?
By Gzus666 on 10/6/2008 3:59:17 PM , Rating: 4
OK, as a youth, I worked in a machine shop for years, and I'm not sure how one would cut out a laptop from a solid chunk of aluminum. Not to mention how expensive the manufacture this way would get.

Water jets are used for cutting, lasers as well. Not sure what magic factories Apple has, but I have yet to see something that can hog out the center of a brick, without it being in pieces first. Even the best 5 axis machines can't do this, so I would be interested to see what they actually are doing here.




RE: Apple has magic now?
By mindless1 on 10/6/2008 4:05:28 PM , Rating: 2
Agreed, it seems likely the top will be left open with a plate over it.


RE: Apple has magic now?
By 3DoubleD on 10/6/2008 4:39:49 PM , Rating: 5
I also agree. This method would not change anything. You would have the bottom piece with a lid (keyboard, palm rest, touch pad, ect). Since laptops are already made like this... milling out a brick of aluminum to accomplish this goal instead of stamping and folding is pretty ludicrous. It would be insanely expensive and a huge waste of time and energy (and I mean in the anti-green sense waste of energy). To top it off, why would they want to make it stronger? I can't imagine any rabid mac users breaking their macbook sending emails, watching youtube, and surfing facebook (I can't think of anything else people use macbooks for???). If they were really serious about anything, they would build the laptop out of carbon fiber, it would be light, strong, with slight heat conductivity (less than aluminum though). They could even paint it white or black! I have a black ASUS laptop with carbon fiber metal alloy for the case... AMAZINGLY light and strong http://www.topmicrousa.com/asusz33a.html. Apple should catch up, I bought mine in 2005.

I really hope this is just a rumor, because it would top the "Stupid things about Apple does that Mac fans love" chart. I'm sure my old housemate would love it.


RE: Apple has magic now?
By Gzus666 on 10/6/2008 4:47:15 PM , Rating: 2
Agreed, carbon fiber would be the way to go. I saw that Asus before, loved the idea. But, I'm a fan of Asus products. I don't understand how using metals for something is a progression when metal isn't needed.


RE: Apple has magic now?
By snownpaint on 10/6/2008 6:08:38 PM , Rating: 2
Our R&D team makes complex markers(guns) out of blocks of AL for the paintball industry. (grooves and holes drilled 4" down a .7" hole) I have seen some amazing stuff made on a CNC / lath machine out of a block of AL. With the right case design the laptop could be made from one block, but it would have to have a large opening on top (keyboard opening) for the mill head to carve out.. However, I do not think this is efficient (lots of waste) or any stronger then a well assembled case.

Then there are the 3d printing prototype machines which can make amazing stuff the CNC can't do. Parts assembled inside parts, just not very strong polymer and not metal..

Carbon Fiber is a easy way to go, and much more cost effective for the Qtys they are running especially after making the mold..

But if they are going for colors, you can't go wrong with anodizing and laser engraving AL.. the possibilities in design are amazing and durable.


RE: Apple has magic now?
By BladeVenom on 10/6/2008 7:13:03 PM , Rating: 2
Color anodizing would look great on a laptop.


RE: Apple has magic now?
By DigitalFreak on 10/7/2008 8:06:42 AM , Rating: 5
Apple = form over function


RE: Apple has magic now?
By DeepBlue1975 on 10/8/2008 10:13:26 AM , Rating: 2
Correction:

Apple = form WITHOUT function

It's like an airhead stunning, easy going (to bed) girl who just can't make a single complete sentence out of her mind and all she seems to think about is her looks.

You'd like to be intimate with her just a couple of times because she is stunning, but you wouldn't wanna engage in any kind of serious or long term relationship with her, because she bores you to bed as soon as she steps out of the bed.

Same happens with nowadays Mac Hardware: insanely expensive standard PCs with sometimes seriously reduced functionality packed inside an awesome looking case.

The advantages Mac OS could have vs Windows will never be enough to offset the price because, at the core, you know it's just another PC (unlike some years ago).

That unless, of course, you need to use very specific software that only runs on Mac OS.


RE: Apple has magic now?
By frobizzle on 10/13/2008 12:28:29 PM , Rating: 2
Are you referring to the Mac Book or Sarah Palin?? The description fits both to a tee!


RE: Apple has magic now?
By paydirt on 10/7/2008 10:52:00 AM , Rating: 2
I gotta agree that I see this as possible and don't see how it will save Apple money (unless they can recycle all the scrap aluminum). There's potential for the laptops to simply look and feel awesome.

If anyone has ever seen the computers make custom wheels for Orange County Choppers (motorcycles), they can see the potential here.


RE: Apple has magic now?
By Ricklar on 10/6/2008 6:53:50 PM , Rating: 1
quote:
Agreed, carbon fiber would be the way to go.

How would carbon fiber be the way to go? Does carbon fiber dissipate heat good? NO. Is carbon fiber cheaper than aluminum? NO. Can carbon fiber be easily working into a laptop case on a mass scale? NO.


RE: Apple has magic now?
By Gzus666 on 10/6/08, Rating: -1
RE: Apple has magic now?
By mindless1 on 10/6/2008 8:48:05 PM , Rating: 3
While I agree that people won't want the laptop heating up on the exterior to the extent it would if the exterior were used as a heatsink, you are incorrect about the general cooling benefits of doing so.

Metal of sufficient thickness without fins can still be a fine heatsink due to the large surface area of the entire case. You can still have forced air across it because a fan that sucks in air someone then blows it out in the opposite side is moving air over that casing IF it is designed to do so.

You wrote "ranther than just heat everything up" but that is the idea of a heatsink, to create a thermal gradient. SOmething with high density due to small dimensions like an engine will need increased surface area for more effective cooling but an entire outside case on a laptop already has more surface area than any heatsink you could reasonably put inside of one.

Sorry but the dumb part is your inability to grasp cooling design, given enough surface area you don't even need active airflow at all and indeed there are laptops now without fans. The entire case of a laptop is enough to cool a moderate CPU, except for the issue you already mentioned that people won't want to be holding or placing on their lap a hot case. Because of that, yes plastic is the cost effective choice most popular today.

Even then, inside you often find secondary heatsinks that are little more than flat metal without significant fins or fans for that 'sink. A laptop external case is potentially multiple times larger and more effective compared to these existing 'sinks already used in laptops.


RE: Apple has magic now?
By Gzus666 on 10/6/08, Rating: -1
RE: Apple has magic now?
By mindless1 on 10/6/2008 11:43:47 PM , Rating: 3
No, the opposite. I'm saying you are wrong about your heatsink ideas and the main problem is it could heat up the case enough to make handling it or putting it on one's lap uncomfortable.

Fins are more effective given the same 2 dimensional area for the heatsink, but when the entire case is the 'sink it is the equivalently larger surface area too. That is the only reason you see finned 'sinks, that cheaper non-finned would be too large to fit in the available space. There is no available space limit when the enclosure itself is the sink and is so large just to have room for a given screen dimension and keyboard width.


RE: Apple has magic now?
By Cullinaire on 10/7/2008 2:33:13 AM , Rating: 2
Now would be a perfect time to introduce the iMelamine laptop, what with all the free publicity you'd get at this point in our history.


RE: Apple has magic now?
By randomly on 10/7/2008 9:28:59 AM , Rating: 2
You don't have a clear understanding of heat transfer and heatsink/system design for laptops. Do a little research.

Besides that, Do you think you are smarter than the engineers at apple? Do you think they don't understand thermal design? Do you think they don't understand manufacturing costs? Would management in the company allow a non-economical manufacturing technique be implemented?

They know a great deal more than you do, they don't make obvious engineering/production mistakes. They are vastly better informed on all aspects of the design and manufacturing than you are. You are jumping to all kinds of lame conclusions with insufficient information.

Ignorance breeds confidence, and you are so very confident.


RE: Apple has magic now?
By Gzus666 on 10/7/08, Rating: -1