Aluminium is great for some things and useless for others.
Unfortunately, when cut into a thin shell (like a thick egg shell) for the external use of an item, one knock and it's dented.
Pretty useless for anything that get's knocked or bumped about. Plastics can be much stronger in this use.
Unfortunately we STILL have this "Plastic = Cheap" attitude rather than what's the best product for the job.
They could make 24 carat gold cases but they'd be useless.
And we shall continue to have this "Plastic = Cheap" attitude because, quite literally, it's true. Plastics are not
stronger than metals, they are, however, more
resilient. As you said, when certain metals, like aluminum, take a hit, you get a dent--plastics just deform and spring back. This isn't a demonstration of strength, but rather of flexibility, since an impact that would shatter the plastic would merely show a bigger dent in the metal.
The logical outcome of this, then, would be for an all-metal housing with the flexibility of a plastic, but the durability of metal. However, this hardly seems to be the only reason to choose Liquidmetal's technology. If it were, the concept of having exclusivity is somewhat weak since a stamped steel housing would have similar characteristics even if slightly heavier. The weight difference between 18gauge steel and 18gauge aluminum isn't really all that much when you're looking at about 1 square foot of the material. 8 ounces may be twice as much as 4 ounces, but that's still only a quarter pound difference overall.
No, there's probably another factor here we haven't considered yet and may not realize until Apple releases a new product with the metal. Maybe it is something like 'transparent aluminum'. Word is that one company has developed a prototype material (I don't remember who) that could meet those qualifications of weight and transparency, but then, would it work as a display for a capacitive touchscreen? What if it's something completely different, like developing a flip-back cover for the iPad screen that could also morph into a rigid stand for Landscape or Portrait display regardless of hinge point and not 'transparent aluminum' at all?
There could be many possibilities here. We can guess and deduce all we want, but until a product comes out from Apple, we really won't have any ideas.
