Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Apple Tried And Failed To Make A Black MacBook Air

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.
 
With the black aluminium iPhone 5 and the rumoured iPad mini, a black MacBook Pro/Air seems inevitable now.
 
SethBoy said:
With the black aluminium iPhone 5 and the rumoured iPad mini, a black MacBook Pro/Air seems inevitable now.
Click to expand...

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".
 
drummingcraig said:
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".
Click to expand...

The release of the slate iPhone 5 would seem to imply they have.
 
fpsBeaTt said:
The release of the slate iPhone 5 would seem to imply they have.
Click to expand...

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.
 
tbrinkma said:
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.
Click to expand...

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
 
Mal said:
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
Click to expand...

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.
 
iDisk said:
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.
Click to expand...

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?
 
Mal said:
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
Click to expand...

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.)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back