benefits of the aluminum unibody case?

What are the benefits of the aluminum unibody case on the apple notebooks?

 

It's cheap and easy to manufacture and you can cut corners on the anodizing if you want to without most people noticing.

 

Lighter, stronger, smaller footprint.... equalling smaller, lighter, stronger laptops.
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ps not to mention it looks good.
ppss oh and its better for the environment, than the more difficult to recycle plastic, which also creates more dangerous waste during the manf. process

 

As apposed to the cheap polycarbonate laptops that most manufacturers seem to be churning out these days.....

@ the op:
Assuming you are comparing the unibody to the white one...
The benefits would be better heat dissipation, much better build quality,
better trackpad and screen, and DDR3 ram and faster FSB and assuming you buy the 2.4GHz model you get a backlit keyboard.

You might want to check out this video on the manufacturing process as well. Link

 

Lighter than what? Stronger than what (alu is very malleable), smaller footprint? Than what? The older aluminium Macbooks also with huge bezels?

Which leaves us with this:

... in some people's opinion. To me, my MBP's finish looks rather cheap when sitting next to my Artemide Tolomeo (it's an anodised aluminium lamp).

No, in comparison with computers that has frames, are properly engineered and not just cut from a slab of aluminium where the only rigidity is derived from thickness of the casing. Polycarbonate doesn't have to be a part of it. On the contrary, Apple had the same thought using polycarbonates: They simply made it thick in order to get it stiff enough.

In theory, at least.

Has absolutely nothing to do with the case being aluminium or not.

As above.

Yes, please do check out that piece of propaganda. It's amazing how they can make "cheap mass manufacturing" seem like "it's much better for you as a consumer".

Go look up these things, and you will notice how the manufacturing process used is used by everyone (in other parts of the alu bizz) because it's cheap.
Also, take a look at anodising and, say, extruded alu profiles (an example would be masts), and you'll see why this sort of thing is used, and why anodising is needed to get around the drawbacks of aluminium (i.e. it's soft, very soft, malleable, and very prone to scratches). And cheap anodising is just that: Cheap.

 

Seems like someone isn't a fan of the Unibody design.

 

The benefits is that it's build quality is out of this world. MUCH stronger, MUCH more solid. Also heat disspiation is MUCH better. My unibody doesn't get hot, at all.

Compare it side by side with an ordinary PC laptop case and you'll see that there is no comparison. The unibody is out of this world.

Ignore the earlier troll

 

I appreciate all the comments so far. I'm basically asking about the benefits of the full metal body (unibody) compared to all the polycarbonite and plastic crap that you see on almost every laptop available currently.

Persnicketys posts have been amusing but they're nothing but negative opinions so I'm not giving them any weight (aside from some comic relief).

I had read somewhere that the aluminum body could help with heat dissipation because it could function as a giant heatsink. This would depend entirely on if the system was designed to take advantage of it though.

 

Not sure about the heat disspation, the thing idles at 40 degrees but quickly reaches 80+ when you start a game. I haven't really stressed this one with any really heavy ones yet, so I can't say much about it.

About the build quality, so far I've only heard good things about it. And it feels good too. Of course it's possible to make a good plastic laptop, some makers make great laptops that don't use an aluminium body. Anyhow, compared to the old plastic Macbook.. Er, well there's no comparison really. Unless they upped the quality of the recent Macbooks that is, the only white Macbook I've used is the GMAX3100 version, and it was not impressive at all.

 

Yes. Please only accept positive opinions on the subject. Why bother asking a question really if you only want to hear one side of the answer?

 

Build quality is mostly important in this factor. Most laptops generally get creaky after several months and sound fragile and cheap. The unibody's ultra strong casing is much different than any other notebook on the market with the exception of the Panasonic Toughbook. It's quite easy to see the benefits of the unibody once you pick one up and feel how strong it is. I have the Macbook Air, I had always wondered why it was so much stronger than Apple's previous gen aluminum notebooks.

 

Weird. I take it that the moment something is negative towards anything apple, then they're "nothing but negative opinion". Apparently you and the other guys didn't take to do any research even though I pointed you to where you could begin your research.

Exactly. Hence my "in theory"-comment.
As before, perhaps it would be a good idea to research aluminium, mass production and anodising before pretending it's nothing but "negative opinion". I'm sorry, but having been on the platform for twenty years and having worked with aluminium, my opinion on this matter amounts to a tad more than merely "negative opinion".
As mentioned: The only benefit is that it is cheap and easy to manufacture and that - to some - it looks good.

But again, do some real research, unless, of course, you're only interested in being talked into something with no basis in facts.

I'm willing to bet that most of the people talking about the slab-MBs also expounded the virtues of the polycarbonate iBooks and Macbooks. So it goes in the realm of Macs.

 

When I bought my macbook pro I was actually looking for a macbook, and first compared the old white Macbook to the unibodies.

There was no comparison. The old white macbook felt like it was an old system, made years ago.

The build quality compared with other PC's, but not to the unibody.

My best advice would be to go and see one for yourself. I didn't think much of the unibodies until I went and saw and used one myself. Now I can't imagine using anything else

 

The unibody has a very nice tactile feel, and looks great. But aluminium is a weak metal - these things will bend and warp, because there is no frame to support the almost-metalloid metal.
Take a ThinkPad - very high-quality plastic with a magnesium alloy frame all around. Feels like plastic, not as impressive visually. But it's tougher because it's very structurally sound.

Also, as far as I remember, the aluminium used is not of the best kind. Decent, but not as tough as you'd expect it to be.

It's a very nice design, but there are many misconceptions that it's almost indestructible.

I'd personally feel better about dropping a White than one of these. If the plastic cracks, fine. If the entire body bends...

 

Um, there hasn't been a single case of a unibody "bending" in any way at all.

If you drop it, it's not going to bend or chip. If you drop a plastic case, cracking is a real possibility.

The fears that some people have for the unibody chassis are totally unfounded. I've certainly seen NO evidence to support it

 

http://forums.macnn.com/69/mac-notebooks/382464/is-the-new-unibody-case-weaker/

There's two. Plus a Google search reveals some unibodies arriving with small bends in the case (not uncommon on pre-unibody MBP). Aluminum will bend. My pre-unibody MBP is bent and dented pretty bad from a spill it took and a manufacturing defect. Unibody will do the same although may be not as bad.

As for plastic or aluminum, they both have pluses and minuses. Plastic ill not bend, it will crack. If that crack is in a bad spot, say the hinge, the result can be pretty bad. On the other hand, my express card slot is unusable because of the way it was bent.

Don't worry about the material. Worry more about being careful with your machine since all computers are delicate.

 

Well I was specifically thinking of the plastic mb vs the alu mb.
where the weight has dropped -0.5kg, and build quality is greatly improved.

Comparing the old vs new mbp is a bit more difficult to see a huge improvement.... and as I have not owned either I can't comment on those.

However remember that this process was developed first for the mb air!
Which is arguably the smallest/thinnest, lightest, and strongest notebook in its class..... but maybe thats not enough for you... in which case buy plastic by all means
a

 

feels really good!

 

To be fair, the damage you've linked to isn't normal use bending or warping, it's clear impact damage with some force.

Your last line has it spot on IMHO.

 

No it wasn't. The process has been existing for years and years and years and have been put to good use all around. However, it's the first laptop manufacturer using the process as far as I can tell. But that's not what you're saying.

No it's not. There have been thinner notebooks out, and it's certainly not the smallest 13" laptop, and if we're not talking 13 inchers specifically it's so far from being the smallest anything.

No, it's not the lightest. But the lightness it HAS acheived is by way of exclusion of hardware, not by way of going "unibody".

LOL, you think it's stronger than a Thinkpad? Are you kidding me?
However, the Airbook is most likely stronger (when it comes to resist twisting) than the MBP. And why is that? Well, the form factor.
What do you consider to be "strong"? Are we talking malleability? Scratch resistance? Resistance to twists? Resistance to dents? Shape memory? In neither of those things aluminium comes up on top. It's cheap, though.

Well, if anything you said had any bearing on reality you might have had a point.

Hmm, magnesium, carbon fiber and fibreglass and a well-engineered case instead of a hollowed out slab of aluminium surely sounds like crap ...

 

I don't get your point. Lets take all the stuff I say out of context... the reality is that the unibody is better than what "apple" was producing before.
If your considering buying a mac then the only two choice's you have are unibody or plastic.... thinkpads are irrelevant.

And the mb air comments were put all together as they were meant to be all together... ie show me a 13" notebook that is thinner, lighter and stronger.
Is the mb air the best laptop no, but it is an engineering feat. I was not trying to suggest that apple created the whole process, rather that apple applied this technique and perfected it for the first time in a laptop situation.

 

And you base that on misguided pseudoknowledge about aluminium's properties.
Nothing quoted was "out of context". On the contrary, I took each and every premise of your pseudoargument and argued against it. That's not taking anything "out of context".

And I am saying that almost everything about the perceived superiority of the "unibody" macbooks have no bearing on reality. Yes, the polycarbonate on the white MB might crack, but it will take a whole lot more to crack that thing than it will take to dent or otherwise destroy the unibody.

X300s

Besides, I can get 1440x900 on a 12" computer – something I have on my 15" MBP currently. So, what constitutes "thinnest", "lightest" and "stronger" in your book? It's as if you've decided to be completely oblivious to the inherent strengths and shortcomings of the very material you praise.

Ah, yes, excluding most any port in order to have tapered sides, and having to redesign the left-over ports in order to keep those tapered sides. What a feat ...

Oh, i forgot: The huge bezels they had to incorporate to fill out in order to have those tapered sides.

Perfected it? LOL, they told them which shape they wanted. The rest is marketing.

 

Attracts women like a rare earth magnet

Gives you 100% more fertility

Increases your wifi reception by 5000%

Increases CPU performance by 270%

Can block bullets up to .60cal


Uhm... you can use it for any kind of extreme sports too btw

 

It made the laptops lighter then previous generations, although not by a whole lot. Definitely looks nicer.

 

I haven't read every single comment, but in terms of heat, I'm idling at low 30C. It's dead silent. When I game the temp (cpu at least) sits around upper 50s low 60s. That's not bad at all. Then again I live in San Francisco where it's not a desert everyday and I always turn up both fans to 4500 rpm whenever I go into a game. SMCFANCONTROL BABY! caps lock deliberate.

 

SMCFANCONTROL INDEED!!!



Loving it!!!

 

Spot on. I had a Santa Rosa MBP for a while which I just sold a few weeks ago and I picked up the new unibody MBP.

I really like the previous MBP and the build quality and design aesthetics were good but with all metal-sheet experts' comments and whether apple used the right material remarks aside, the new Alum unibody puts the old MBP to shame in this area. We've had a few of the old MBPs and out of the box the new one suffers from none of the design/build issues of the old one. That's quite an achievement considering the old MBP for the longest time was what other notebooks were being measured up against in terms of design and build.

I mean when everything is perfectly aligned to the tenth millimetre, no uneven gaps, no give in the body or display lid, no creaks, noticeably lighter... what's not to like? And they've somehow managed to improve wifi reception (my old MBP wasn't even close to the reception I'm getting now) in the process.

By going to the new design I think Apple achieved what most notebook makers strive for; a cost manageable and effective way to mass produce a notebook with very low tolerance for imperfections.

Now, the material might bend, dent, scratch and stain but so did the old MBP. There are a ton of pictures I've seen of exactly these things happening on the old ones. But lets be honest, this thing isn't meant to be dragged into the battle field and most MB/P owners baby their lappies anyhow so it's a non-issue.

 

C'on,I use windows

 

i'm sure he doesn't mean it. Btw, aluminium is more durable then plastic and anodized aluminuim is harder to scratch and does not rust!!!!

 

Should've made these macbook pros with stainless steel. Shiny and .... probably very heavy. >.>

 

^very,very heavy

 

Titanium would have been great too... xD
Like the old powerbook! =)

 

True – had Apple back then not insisted back then to make it from what (again back then) was "commercially pure" (i.e. 99.99999% pure) Ti, but instead made it intelligently from a proper Ti alloy – like any other proper Ti-wrestler, it would have held up and not broken hinges and flex like a rain worm on tequila.

Anyway, I really liked my Tibook despite all its flaws :-(

You have to define "durability" and then you have to define what you consider "Plastic". Of course it doesn't rust. Even unprotected alu corrodes and oxydises by itself. The anodisation is sort of a "forced" natural oxydisation and it can be executed more or less excellently. "Pitting" comes to mind. Something that is know on bikes and boat masts, but only when the mast is some cheapo or the owner tried to do it himself.

 

The new Unibody MBP is not lighter than the old one. It is slightly heavier. Come on people, I love Apple, but don't be such a fanboy.

 

^macbook is 0.5 pound lighter then polycarbonate one

 

i think he talk about the macbook pro

 

yes,but the thread does n't say "benefits of the aluminum unibody case on the apple mbp"

 

NEITHER does it say "Benefits of the aluminium unibody case on the mb"

 

that's why I am free to list it as an advantage for unibody case

 

I see. So it's not about a Unibody vs a non-unibody alu computer, but about a aluminium computer which happens to be "unibody" compared to a similarly almost non-engineered* polycarbonate computer. Excellent.

*By "almost un-engineered" I mean that the strength and rigidtiy is derived almost solely from the thickness of the goods (which in most cases can be considered bad engineering).

Also, you guys dropped the comparison to non-Apples quite quickly. Let's stay in the vacuum, right?

 

Dude, this is an apple forum, why would this be compared to anything else? Are you trying to sell windows laptops here or something?

 

I have been a Mac-user propably since you were but a mere twinkle in your mother's eyes.

I am simply tired of all the drivel, nonsense and ignorance portrayed in threads like these. Anything goes, and everything Steve says is the truth. It must take effort to stay in that RFD of yours.

I am fully aware that this is an Apple-section. The thing is, from reading the thread title it looks like the OP was looking for something positive to say about "unibodies" as a whole, rather than merely comparing it to older Macs. I could be wrong, but judging from his follow-up responses I was right.

Btw. What is it with the fanboys – the moment the drivel and utter ignorance is countered, then automatically one must be trying to peddle windows-PCs and it is implied that one should go somewhere else.
Because we simply cannot live with being countered, can we? It's that vacuum again ...

 

Actually, I've used windows computers all my life until just recently, so I'm actually not a fanboy, but hey, way to jump to conclusions. My issue is that your really just coming off as completely negative towards apple products which is actually hurting your credibility as trying to be constructively critical of the product. There are certainly faults with apple products, I'll be the first to say that, but truthfully, you're pretty much being an about it, and it doesn't seem that you're being all that critical towards windows laptops which also have their faults. Seriously, a twinkle in my mother's eye? If you're going to insult me, please do it properly.

 

We are in an apple forum, thus the OP's question can be logically taken to mean why is the unibody better than previous mb or mbp's.
Thus its a simple uni vs plastic vs non uni-alu comparison
If some people can't handle that and think that people are being "fanboys" for only responding to the logic of the question so be it. But the unfortunate reality is that there is not point discussing alu vs carbon fibre vs graphine vs diamonds as apple only use alu !
If the OP were to post this in the general section and it was titled "what is the best material to make a laptop out" of then those comparisons would be fair, but were in an apple section people so lets stay on topic.

You don't need to be an engineer to know that the weakest point of any structure is the joint between two objects. As the uni drastically reduces the number of joints it therefore increases its overall strength. This is just a simple engineering fact.
Thus to get back to the OP's topic. The advantages are
Improved build quality
Increase strength
in some cases less weight (mb)
Better heat dissipation (plastic vs uni)
better for environment (plastic vs uni)

Downsides can include
increased cost of production
poor wireless reception (plastic vs uni)

a

 

Looks cooler. Supposedly dissipates heat better. Sturdy.

Gets hot. Long term durability unknown. Prone to warping. Dents.

 

when someone says that apple sucks,he is unbiased.when someone defends apple,then he is a fanboy,blind Steve follower ... great logic!

ok,let me give you few comparisons with PCs if you want-I was at Saturn(something like Best Buy in Germany)and they were displaying macs right next to other PCs-non of theme felt as macs.I had 5 people with me(who never used macs) and all agreed that mac's have best build quality!

it is cooler then previews series.also,how long do you think an average notrebook should last?

Dents...I ll show you what happened to my x200 after 2 month of usage

 

Hmm, I'm sorry, but you're not the only one here. From the get-go, the OP ignored facts and countless others spewed nonsense, completely disregarding facts.
But anyway, if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck ...

Hurt my credibility? Are you kidding me? Since the get-go the OP and the rest of you have decided that build quality et al for a given Apple product should only be compared to certain other Apple products. That there should be no comparison outside the vacuum that constitutes the self-created RDF, even though the OPs question was not formed so it specifically (and artificially) limited the comparisons to "more of the same, from the same builder, and only recent laptops from the same provider". No, the OP seemed to be asking "How is the unibody superior to everything out there", since, if there is no limitation in the question, no limitation should be inferred.

It was another way of saying that I have been a Macuser for a very long time, propably as long as you have lived. There was no insult anywhere in there.

No, when someone gives someone facts about a given material, and people choose to ignore it in order to stay in a vacuum of ignorance in order to continue making-belief that xx is the best thing since sliced bread, yes, they certainly are fanboys.

Oh, great, anecdotal evidence. You do realise that anecdotal evidence is just that – anecdotal, right?

LOL, from LOOKING at them in a shop? Come now! You ought to do better than that. The only thing one can deduce from that anecdote is that you and your five friends are the reason Apple went glossy – most people fall for stuff like that when they are in the store.

No, it's not true - one can deduce one more thing from that situation: You and your five friends all think you can deduce build quality on a car as well by opening and closing the doors at a car dealership.

Depends who you are and how you use it. What do you mean "it's cooler than the previous series"? Physically cooler or "cooler" in the metaphorical sense? If the latter, I have to say I don't buy computers because of a "cool-factor". I buy computers as tools.

Anecdotal evidence does not make up for inherent properties of a given material. You're saying that just because someone wrecked their Volvo, a 2CV is very impact proof – especially from the side.

As I have asked others: Please do your research on the properties of aluminium before you spew more nonsensical anecdotes.

 

By durability, i mean that Aluminum bends but does not crack unlike some plastic laptops when they fall down. When i say plastic, i mean the materials used to build the average laptops such as dell and acer. In fact the aluminum is aluminum oxide. The additional oxide layer prevents the metal fro reacting to the atmosphere and makes the aluminum more resistive to scratches. Aluminum oxide is obtained by a process called electrolysis. This is an expensive process but i'm sure apple covers up the cost. The apple laptops heat up quicker than the ordinary plastic laptops but it also gets cooled down rapidly.

 

So, you purposely disregard things like shape memory, how easily something is bent and dented and how easily stuff is scratched.

Oh, so you DO include computers from other makers. So, where do I draw the line? I should let you guys decide what to compare depending what you want to "prove"?

Er, NO it isn't. It's an aluminium alloy. Aluminium oxide is what is used to produce the alu alloys (as well as the thin naturally occurring protective layer). It's like saying that iron ore is stainless steel.
Also, it's true that aluminium, if not protected by something naturally oxidises and creates it's own protective layer. We create this layer artificially by anodising it. This can be executed well and not quite so well.

Yes, it's called "anodising" ("anodizing" in the US) and anodizing is a needed surface protection because the material is inherently very scratcheable, "dentable" and in general very malleable. Take notice that I mentioned that it's a surface protection.

First, it really bugs me that you cannot even get the terminology down, yet you try to make-belief that you somehow know it's expensive to mass-produce anodised aluminium? Who do you think you're kidding?

Yes, a good example would be the 1st gen MBA, right?


Here's a link about anodisation, you might want to read up on:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anodizing

 

all the facts that you give are from "IMO" series

do you realize that you are crossing the line?

LOL,yes! and that 5 people were my father and his friends,who all are mangers and CEOs of pretty big companies.

And yes, by going to car dealership and sitting/test driving the cars I can say whether they are good or no!

I own 8 notebooks and the only notebook that has better BQ then mb is HP elitebook 8530w.

yes,physically cooler!

transporting it from home to work and back in a backpack is considered as wrecking?In same way I can say that dents appear on macs bc of careless using.