'Brick' Refers to the MacBook Manufacturing Process

[ezekielrage_99]

My major question of the new Macbook would be how much of it will be user servicable?

Does anyone think we'll see a Macbook Air type of arrangement (e.g. can't upgrade or change anything) or (what I am hoping for) like the current Macbook that is fairly easy to update the RAM or HDD?

I need a new laptop soon but the ability to update RAM and HDD by the user I have to say is a selling point.

 

[kabunaru]

My major question of the new Macbook would be how much of it will be user servicable?

Probably not much since reading the latest rumours. It is probably going to be like the current MacBook Air.

 

[owdin]

Maybe this has already been brought up (I can't real all 295 posts)...

but while this manufacturing process seems both "cool," and in-line with Apple design I also hope it doesn't mean more Apple products with sealed batteries. That is the one thing I really abhor about current Apple design. Yes, maybe the bottom of a Powerbook/MBP/iBook/MB is ugly, but it's practical. If I want to admire a back I'll pick up a copy of the SI swimsuit edition.

If I remember well... When some site published leaked photos of the MBP's case, a man from apple confirmed that it was a leaked prototype and said that in the future changing memory and hard drives would become easier with the MBPs.

 

[Nobita]

I don't think it'll be very wise of apple not to let us not to have any single user-replaceable part. I think they won't do that. MBP also made of aluminium and we can change hard disk and RAM right?

 

[yorkshire]

Maybe this has already been brought up (I can't real all 295 posts)...

but while this manufacturing process seems both "cool," and in-line with Apple design I also hope it doesn't mean more Apple products with sealed batteries. That is the one thing I really abhor about current Apple design. Yes, maybe the bottom of a Powerbook/MBP/iBook/MB is ugly, but it's practical. If I want to admire a back I'll pick up a copy of the SI swimsuit edition.

Good point. We need removable batteries.

 

[kabunaru]

I MBP also made of aluminium and we can change hard disk and RAM right?

RAM you can change but the Hard Drive is hard to change but not impossible.
The current MacBook is the most upgradeable Mac laptop. I hope it stays that way with the new Macs.

 

[Tallest Skil]

I don't think it'll be very wise of apple not to let us not to have any single user-replaceable part. I think they won't do that. MBP also made of aluminium and we can change hard disk and RAM right?

The original Macintosh 128k was an all-in-one computer because Steve Jobs didn't believe in letting the end-user perform their own upgrades.

Consequently, this has carried over through several decades.

 

[stevehp]

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great stuff. Hope this drives down the costs and increases build quality.

 

[kabunaru]

increases build quality.

It definitely will.

 

[puffnstuff]

will the keys be aluminum too? what are the current mbp/mba keys made of?

 

[kabunaru]

what are the current mbp/mba keys made of?

MBP: Painted plastic to make it look like Aluminium
MBA: Black plastic
MB: Plastic
I think.

It would be nice if the new Mac laptops were 100% Aluminium.

 

[jojo13]

will the keys be aluminum too? what are the current mbp/mba keys made of?

plastic, i guess for the mba
alu for the mbp

 

[jojo13]

MBP: Painted plastic to make it look like Aluminium
MBA: Black plastic
MB: Plastic
I think.

It would be nice if the new Mac laptops were 100% Aluminium.

really, they painted the plastic of the mbp???
i didnt know that

 

[kabunaru]

really, they painted the plastic of the mbp???

Yes, they did.

 

[gehrbox]

Sharks with freaking laser beams on their heads!


Somehow, I do not see Apple carving out a case from a solid lump of aluminium, far too expensive and wasteful.

More likely they will use the process to make the forms needed by the stamping presses to form the cases from sheet aluminum. It's time consuming to machine billet into parts and expensive both in raw materials and machine equipment/bits.

Using water jets and lasers to make the forms would significantly reduce tooling time and might provide some design features not easily done with standard machine tools.

 

[McGiord]

How is this wasteful? Whatever's leftover is melted and made into another brick.

Surely they can recycle it, but the time and energy wasted to remove the material that will not be part of the final product of that process is WASTE, it doesn't add any value to the end product.

brick + waste = final case

Some interesting engine manufacturing process that GM uses to create their aluminum engine blocks is known as lost foam, they use a foam replica of engine block, they put it into the sand mold and then inject the melted aluminum, the foam replica is vaporized and filled by the aluminum, providing an aluminum part that requires less machining, and that allows the future engineering changes to be easily implemented without major investment in tooling changes.

So there are very creative ways of doing things and many of them are proprietary patents of their inventors. I am always impressed with the innovations that some USA companies spearhead, and also by how tamed they are by local unions that don't allow them to evolve as fast as they could or wanted to.

 

[McGiord]

I haven't read all the threads...but has anyone else thought also that the brick term may be related to LEGO bricks, so you can build to order your mac mobile or they can run a lean manufacturing assembly process that will allow them to leverage component combination like these:

case brick = aluminum color and size that you want
main brick = NVIDIA choices of motherboards
video brick = what kind of video display and processor you want to have, 1080p HD isight, etc...
storage brick = fast HDD, or flash based
disc brick = DVD or BlueRay
network brick = ethernet, WI-FI, 3G or WI-MAX
input bricks = track pad, 1 or 2 buttons, gestures, keyboard type/languages/colors, etx..
ports brick = firewire, usb, etc...

Maybe that is what they will be doing in their manufacturing site, to use compatible and interchangable hardware components that work flawlessly with the next MacOSX updates, and that are also capable of still running windows and let us watch how Seinfeld spent some time with Bill...

Of course the choices will be limited by big brother , so they are still under control of what we can and can't have on them....

What do you think?

 

[Ahboyd]

Ultimately, Apple is trying to make notebook computer to be like a car industry. If Apple is going to have their own plant in Cupertino, it will be designed by Frank Gehry. Very much like what Zaha Hadid did for BMW.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jL13eOXmVjY

 

[unity]

Some interesting engine manufacturing process that GM uses to create their aluminum engine blocks is known as lost foam, they use a foam replica of engine block, they put it into the sand mold and then inject the melted aluminum, the foam replica is vaporized and filled by the aluminum, providing an aluminum part that requires less machining, and that allows the future engineering changes to be easily implemented without major investment in tooling changes.

Thats pretty much how all castings are made and have been made for years.

 

[freiheit]

Nothing gets made in the USA / Brick as OSX for PCs

MADE IN USA?

How much of this process will translate to the pricing I must ask.

NOTHING gets made in the USA. Even #2 pencils have "Made in China" on them these days.

Back to the "Brick" rumor, I rather liked the one I heard about "Brick" being OSX for beige box PCs, whereby "Brick" would shatter Windows.

 

[TMay]

Interesting

There are some good comments, and since I actually machine housing for telecom out of aluminum, I'll add a few comments:

Waterjets erode material with a stream of high pressure water (55,000 psi and up) and an abrasive such as aluminum oxide is introduced into the stream. It would be possible to use this for machining closed volumes, but not easily, so maybe this is the breakthrough.

Traditional machining at very high RPM would be a possibility though it would require quite a bit of operator intervention and inline inspection. Either way, not a breakthrough process.

Hot or cold extrusion would be my choice, using blank "bricks" of aluminum alloy plate (this would be similar to a forging process, but using pressure rather than impact). It would give you a near net shape, and high strength with low residual stress after heat treating. This would still require finish machine operations for details, undercuts and holes. Again, not a breakthrough process, but a possible starting point for waterjet erosion processes.

Diecasting is commonly in use for current housings for laptops, drives and such, but it wouldn't be cosmetically suitable for a single piece laptop housing. Yet again, not breakthrough process.

Lasers have been used for cutting aluminum for quite a while, and they have been used for through and blind holes, so the breakthrough would be using this process for a consumer product. I can see this used sparingly for secondary operations.

I'm keen to see what the actual processes are being used, but in the meantime, for some of you using the word "billet", it is generally considered either the process following the ingot pour at the mill, where the surface impurities are chemically or mechanically removed, or the process after a remelt of aluminum, where there aren't the same level of impurities to deal with. The billet then goes to forging, rolling or extrusion processes that actually are used for manufacturing something.

As well, 6060-t6 "aircraft" aluminum is pretty much the standard for machined products as it is economical to use, easy to machine, easy to weld, and fairly easy to form (something annealing to a softer condition required). 2024 alloys are actually more suitable for aircraft as they have higher yield strengths and better fatigue resistance that 6061 alloys, and there are many other alloys as well.

lastly, it takes only about 5% of the original energy to remelt aluminum, so it is very environmentally sound to use aluminum where large material removal is necessary.

(I just got a Roku box for streaming Netflix, and there is an excellent program on Watch Now from PBS called "X-planes" which is about the Joint Strike Fighter competition. Lots of cutting edge manufacturing processes shown)

 

[50548]

Talk about a fanboy. You have all the qualifications to run for President of the US.

Thanks a lot for all the compliments; do you think I can still get some federal funding for a campaign?

What about receiving the official endorsement of both Chuck Baldwin and Sarah Palin?

 

[jojo13]

Thanks a lot for all the compliments; do you think I can still get some federal funding for a campaign?

What about receiving the official endorsement of both Chuck Baldwin and Sarah Palin?

hahaha you so funny








not

 

[rdowns]

All this Made in the USA talk is rather comical. There is no way in hell that Apple will manufacture their laptops in the USA. They got out of the manufacturing business because it was just too costly.

 

[kolax]

All this Made in the USA talk is rather comical. There is no way in hell that Apple will manufacture their laptops in the USA. They got out of the manufacturing business because it was just too costly.

Not when it is all automated like this, and cost efficient.