Apple have always had their computers and peripherals manufactured in China and Taiwan - ASUS (nasty PC manufacturer) and Foxconn actually produce a lot of gear for them, but presumably Apple has a lot of control over the process.
9to5mac released a story on Saturday saying that Apple have now developed their own manufacturing plant/prococesses - “One of the biggest Apple innovations in a decade.” The innovation bit you’re wondering about is that they are using lasers to carve macbooks out of solid blocks of Aircraft grade Aluminium. Macbooks are currently made of polycarbonate plastic (and this morning I noticed a crack in mine!) while Macbook Pro’s are currently made of, I think, a magnesium-aluminium(-titanium?) alloy, probably machined and pressed into shape.
This is cool news for apple fans, because aluminium is damn nice. This is cool news for product designers, because they’ve invented a new manufacturing process, which doesn’t happen everyday (it has apparently taken Apple years to develop). I’m now interested in seeing which material - polycarbonate or aluminium - is more sustainable. Aluminium is a bitch to mine but lasts way longer and is recyclable.
9to5mac presents an interesting list of the advantages of this 3D manufacturing :
- - Carving out of aluminum eliminates the need to bend the metal and create weak spots or microfolds and rifts.
- - There are no seams in the final product, so it is smooth.
- - Screws aren’t needed to tie the products together.
- - The shell is one piece of metal so it is super light, super strong and super cheap.
- - You can be a whole lot more creative with the design if you don’t have to machine it.
Again, this puts apple a few years ahead of the competition. Like the Macbook Air, the company is pushing products at consumers that competitors won’t be able to match until sometime around 2010. If this rumour about the Aluminium is true (it probably is) then these macbooks will be available to buy in 8 days. This is why I like Apple.
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Comment by juan 10.10.08 @ 4:14 pm