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Apple Researching High-End Titanium MacBook Casings With Unique Textured Finish

TBH its about time they had some more variety other than space grey and silver.
 
Those old Titanium Powerbooks certainly didn’t wear well - the area on either side of the trackpad wore pretty badly over time, and eventually looked rather trashy. Apple would really need to get it exactly right if they decided to move forward with Round 2.
 
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Please let it be true; I'm so nostalgic about my old TiBook.

(And I would have bought a Ti AW if only the milanese loops had actually matched.)
 
pavelbure said:
Titanium is so much harder to machine along with the added material costs over aluminum. I really don’t see any great advantage to switching materials. Is there a great deal of bending aluminum MacBooks out there ?
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Rewrite your question to be about iPads, and then realise that Apple is taking their MacBook-line closer and closer to being like the iPads…

Bending will become an issue sooner or later.
 
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dannys1 said:
Well that's not true - high gloss finishes are always grippy in the hand. Matte isn't as it doesn't stick to the hand - think sucker pads, they only grip to smooth gloss.
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Exactly. My jet black iPhone 7-Plus was the only glossy iPhone in that lineup and I could hold it securely without even wrapping my fingertips all the way around the phone. The non-glossy models were like trying to hold a fish.
 
Apple will need to double down on its environmental message after putting its disposable computer innards in a TI casing. Tim & Lisa will undoubtedly get a messaging update from PR, and Apple will buy more credits to stay carbon neutral. Consumers will continue to polish Apple's brand halo without question.

From a published study: "Relative to other common engineering materials the carbon footprint for extracting titanium alloys is already very high..."
 
svanstrom said:
Rewrite your question to be about iPads, and then realise that Apple is taking their MacBook-line closer and closer to being like the iPads…

Bending will become an issue sooner or later.
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My aluminum PBG4 had way less flex than my Ti PBG4. I felt way more comfortable throwing that one into my backpack. Honestly was a night and say difference.
 
Let’s get an 11” MacBook Air with Apple Silicone out the door first, please! Was contemplating getting an iPad Air, but the price is nearly on par with a M1 MBA and the MBA is way more versatile!
 
Analog Kid said:
I’d forgotten how enormous the Ti MBP was... I thought it was amazing at the time, but it looks ancient and massive now.
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I’ve got one on my shelf in my collection, that’s not a good angle. It looks a lot thinner in person and the screen bezels are more slim than a MacBook Pro.
 
pavelbure said:
Titanium is so much harder to machine along with the added material costs over aluminum. I really don’t see any great advantage to switching materials. Is there a great deal of bending aluminum MacBooks out there ?
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For Macbook, yes.

For iPhone, especially the iPhone Pro, it is far lighter than Stainless Steel.

For iPad, it "should" offer better structure integrity than Aluminium. As Apple try to make iPad even thinner.

It is quite a bit more expensive though. Around 10x the cost of Aluminium, and considering the time required for production, I am guessing this is at least $30 if not far higher BOM cost increase.
 
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I’m still waiting for a MBP or an iPhone made out of Liquid Metal. Now *that’s* a material I’d get behind… But I wore Air/Lindberg titanium wire glasses for years and currently have a pair of titanium frame RayBans (very scuffed, as they’re old and the frame is painted black, but I don’t care), so I’m very keen on it, too. Titanium is light, stupidly durable and just awesome like that, and if it wasn’t so expensive and prone to obsolescence anyway, my next Apple Watch would be a titanium one.
 
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The TiBook was definitely a cool computer. I remember using and playing WoW on one.. Just about!

Would be cool if these casings came into use, hopefully (lol, I know, very unlikely) without the price tag to match.
 
I’ll admit, I’ve wanted a lighter material than stainless steel on the pro iPhones after using an 11 Pro Max since launch. It’s a great phone with excellent battery life, but it really can feel like a brick. I’ve been told that the bigger, boxier 12 Pro Max only adds to that feeling.

Aluminum would solve the problem (and I actually think it looks nicer than glossy steel on the new flat-edge iPhones), but I’m assuming Apple wants to keep a separate material for the pro models. Titanium may be the answer. I would want it to be matte instead of glossy, though (that’s what makes the aluminum sides look nicer than the steel ones to me).
 
melgross said:
The problem with the original models were that they were stamped, not machined as the aluminum models are. Because of that, the thin sheets of titanium allowed the laptops to twist. They didn’t feel solid, as the aluminum ones do. That was criticized, and I agree. If they do this again, how are they going to do it, and I don’t mean the finish.
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AFAIK Titanium Forging has become more of a thing - perhaps that’s how they can go light and thin.

I’ve always wondered about an outer case of carbon fiber myself.
 
I love the brushed aluminum look. I also agree that the aluminum iPhone 12’s look leagues better than the steel iPhone 12Pro.
 
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