Apple Tried And Failed To Make A Black MacBook Air

[wikus]

Originally Posted by aurichie

This is great news customers. Nobody wants to be confused by complicated color choices. I'm confident Apple will continue to make the best decisions for customers.

Yeah! Screw choice! Let's have the world turn into 1984 and live a sterile life where everyone and everything looks the same.

Oh wait a minute... 1984?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYecfV3ubP8

[Kimbie]

They could anodize them black, as LianLi do with all their cases

Kimbie

[macmastersam]

i don't get it...
if apple made a black macbook before and succeeded, then why arent they succeeding in trying to make a black macbook air/pro?

[tbrinkma]

Powder-coated surfaces don't react (cosmetically) well to the skin oils from wide range of the population. Anodized surfaces have significantly less trouble, but even they run into issues with certain (uncommon) PH ranges.

But, regardless of all of that, the reason Apple doesn't do various colors of anodized MacBooks is that the stock management for those models is a royal pain. Invariably one of those colors is much more popular than expected, making it difficult to keep in stock. Worse still, one of those colors ends up being much *less* popular than expected, making it difficult to sell off the initial stock. With the assembly lead times involved, this makes it very difficult to provide the correct mix of product.

Additionally, as nasty as the really bad cases of eaten-away anodization looks in silver, it looks that much worse with the gray aluminum showing through the colored anodized surfaces. This isn't as much of a problem with the anodized iPods because people don't, generally, leave their wrists resting on those surfaces for hours at a time, day in, day out.

But, again, the real reason they don't do it, IMHO, is the stock-management issue.

[SethBoy]

With the black aluminium iPhone 5 and the rumoured iPad mini, a black MacBook Pro/Air seems inevitable now.

[drummingcraig]

Originally Posted by SethBoy

With the black aluminium iPhone 5 and the rumoured iPad mini, a black MacBook Pro/Air seems inevitable now.

Unless they solved the discoloration problem which is discussed throughout this entire thread (and cited in the first post as being the reason we don't already have black laptops) I don't see it happening "now".

[fpsBeaTt]

Originally Posted by drummingcraig

Unless they solved the discoloration problem which is discussed throughout this entire thread (and cited in the first post as being the reason we don't already have black laptops) I don't see it happening "now".

The release of the slate iPhone 5 would seem to imply they have.

[drummingcraig]

Originally Posted by fpsBeaTt

The release of the slate iPhone 5 would seem to imply they have.

For whatever reason, I don't see the smaller scale slate backs of the iPhone 5 and the iPad Mini (as apparently rumored) translating to what they would need for a laptop. Whatever surface process they're using on the phone would need to be much more durable before it could work well on a laptop. With all of the scratching issues the phones seem to be having I wouldn't want to see that coating used on a $2000+ laptop.

Also curious to see how the slate phones stand up to regular use with regard to absorbing oils during day to day usage.

[Mal]

Originally Posted by tbrinkma

But, regardless of all of that, the reason Apple doesn't do various colors of anodized MacBooks is that the stock management for those models is a royal pain. Invariably one of those colors is much more popular than expected, making it difficult to keep in stock. Worse still, one of those colors ends up being much *less* popular than expected, making it difficult to sell off the initial stock. With the assembly lead times involved, this makes it very difficult to provide the correct mix of product.

But, again, the real reason they don't do it, IMHO, is the stock-management issue.

This has some merit, but doing a simple aluminum or black option doesn't present a huge stock problem, and they've been doing it with the iPhone for years. It was definitely an issue when they had 5 colors on the iBooks, and ended up killing the Tangerine iBook over very poor sales outside of Tennessee (as the rumors had it). I don't think that's likely the main reason for not doing the black option, although it's a major factor in not going back to a full range of colors.

jW

[HishamAkhtar]

Originally Posted by Mal

This has some merit, but doing a simple aluminum or black option doesn't present a huge stock problem, and they've been doing it with the iPhone for years. It was definitely an issue when they had 5 colors on the iBooks, and ended up killing the Tangerine iBook over very poor sales outside of Tennessee (as the rumors had it). I don't think that's likely the main reason for not doing the black option, although it's a major factor in not going back to a full range of colors.

jW

I've been dreaming of a black MBP for years! Hope they make it happen because it would look badass. The aluminum look is getting to be a bit vanilla now.

[skunnykart]

Originally Posted by iDisk

Sorry but, "black aluminum PC laptops" and Apple don't belong in the same sentence..... Because there is a difference

Steve made the right decision, but I'm glad he realizes that the Black Mac needs to come back.

The difference is that one is black and the other isn't, but why don't they belong in the same sentence? Just because of colour?

[JoeRito]

Its just a matter of time before Apple returns to its colorful roots a la the iMacs of old.

[tbrinkma]

Originally Posted by Mal

This has some merit, but doing a simple aluminum or black option doesn't present a huge stock problem, and they've been doing it with the iPhone for years. It was definitely an issue when they had 5 colors on the iBooks, and ended up killing the Tangerine iBook over very poor sales outside of Tennessee (as the rumors had it). I don't think that's likely the main reason for not doing the black option, although it's a major factor in not going back to a full range of colors.

jW

I agree completely. That said, the silver aluminum case has been iconic of Apple's 'pro-line' laptops since after the TiBooks. They may have simply determined, based on the black/white MacBook experiment, that the added expense and channel issues aren't worth it.

I seem to recall an aftermarket company that offered anodizing services on MacBook Pros back before the unibody designs, but I can't seem to find them any more. Perhaps that's another indicator that the demand simply isn't there? (Or maybe they're still out there, and I just can't find them.)

[rdlink]

Originally Posted by theman123

If Lenovo can make a quality aluminum black laptop, why can't apple?

Lenovo doesn't make a quality anything.