'Brick' Refers to the MacBook Manufacturing Process

[virologynerd]

this is def really good, but i dont think the mb and mbp coming out this month will be made this way, i really wish they were because i cant wait any longer, but its highly improbable. Does anyone know when apple would start using this process?

i might be way off though 😱

 

[t0mat0]

Carved out of one piece of aluminum? no screws to hold it together? Flush edges!?
That sounds beautiful!
On a less happy note that also sounds like it will have a non-user replaceable battery, no user replaceable hard drive and no user upgradeable RAM.
CARP!

Isn't it fair to say that actually a fair few of Apple's designs are becoming better laid out, more accessible - though they may well have a case to contend with - Mac Pro, XServe, iPhone 3G...

I'd imagine, that now they aren't fixed to a standard shape, they will be able to fully maximise a balance of shape, design, acessibility, taking into account thermal issues etc.

Can't really carp on about something that isn't out yet, that has so much potential 😉

 

[Clayne]

I think it will have user replaceable stuff and is it even possible to build it without any screws as one piece? What bout the images we saw a couple months ago?

It should remain user replaceable. Just because they're carving it out of one block, doesn't mean the ENTIRE case will be one piece of complete aluminum.

And I think this would make those "leaked" photos from a few months ago fake, or a model design that was scratched.

 

[MacsBestFriend]

Great! But...

OK, so the confirmation of aluminum and knowing that the new MB will be stronger and look better is great but I just wet myself a little at the fear that the Macbook will be like the MBA now and to change the battery I will have to go to the Apple Store! I really hope this isn't true!!!

 

[kabunaru]

They could just as easily carve a chunk out of the bottom à la the current MB/P's.

I wonder if the new MacBook and MacBook Pro would still look like this:

 

[The Awesome]

9to5Mac finally puts an end to 'Brick' speculation and claims that 'Brick' refers to the new manufacturing process for MacBooks.9to5Mac speculates that this will give Apple strategic and technical advantages over other manufacturers, including improvements in complexity of case design, strength and quality. They also point out that Steve Jobs has been known to focus on the details of factory design with his NeXT startup in the 1980's.

The site also ties this back to recent comments by Peter Oppenheimer that Apple will continue to introduce state of the art products that their competitors are unable to match.

Finally, they expect that the MacBooks will indeed be released on October 14th.

Article Link

Very nice!

I like the "(re)introduce state of the art" and "competitors... unable to match"! Sounds like a relief now that Apple is gaining market share and losing some of its innovative luster.

 

[isoceles]

I wonder what the new monitors are gonna look like. 🙂

 

[Abstract]

Carved out of one piece of aluminum? no screws to hold it together? Flush edges!?
That sounds beautiful!
On a less happy note that also sounds like it will have a non-user replaceable battery, no user replaceable hard drive and no user upgradeable RAM.
CARP!

Exactly. Beautiful implies "impractical".

I'd definitely want a user-replaceable battery, RAM, harddisk, etc. Anything less than that is silly. It's a computer, and a person can only be so shallow before they realize that the machine they bought, which is a tool that allows him/her to do things, is too impractical in many ways. Even if it's carved from a single piece of aluminium, I expect a square-ish hole at the bottom that I can unscrew and replace the RAM, battery, and HDD.

 

[Ant1-Hero]

Grado Headphones afaik.

Good call, Love my RS 1's

 

[marbles]

If Apple really wanted to keep 'us' out of upgrading our machines then they could have already , quite easily , but they haven't .....It's not too difficult to laser cut some access holes into the case when it's made ...giving flush fitting easy access ....bring em on Apple

I seriously doubt that this means the MacBooks will be made in the USA. That would mean apple would have to manufacture the case, send it to china to have the guts stuffed in by Quanta or Asus or whoever, and then shipped right back to America. Not the model of effeciency... especially with fuel prices what they are nowdays.

Also, the boost in quality control would only occur with the most superficial aspect of the laptop.... the case. Everything else (ie the important stuff like the internal components) would still be made by a third party.... unless apple plans on carving the motherboard, LCD, ram, hd's, etc. out of aluminum as well.

No , they'd just get the internals shipped to the new sites and bingo , all assembled in one place ....not much on the fuel bill that I can see.

The QC boost will come as everything is put together on one site ...meaning more quality control 😉

More important then the case, what about blu-ray. This is a feature that I should have on a $2000+ laptop, actually even a $1000+ laptop. I need blu-ray its something that apple needs to put into their products. I am not buying a pc for this. The technology has been out for a few years, apple needs to give their users a fair share of new tech.

buy an external ...maybe they will do away with the drive altogether and just have external drives as an optional extra , ...you know , for those that need them ....this will bring the price down for those that don't need a drive and keep the price about the same for those that do.

 

[MacBook08]

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.

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

 

[philamac]

I highly doubt they're actually carving macbooks out of solid blocks of aluminum like some of you may be imagining. Carving like that would create lots of scrap and use lots and lots of energy.
Most likely, the manufacturing process may start with a brick of aluminum, but then that brick is cut down into individual sheets for further pressing/shaping/processing. The lasers/water jets are for cutting precise slots, slits, panels, and holes, bringing the manufacturing tolerances down, and creating macbooks that look seamless and feels solid (not carving).

That's what I think anyways.

[edit] to those of you stuck on the carving idea, saying the carving scraps are not wasteful cause they're melted and reformed. Recycling "aircraft grade" aluminum is not as simple as melting it and pouring it back into a mold. Aircraft grade Al is an alloy, and thus after melting loses all of it's worthwhile properties and needs to be remanufactured in order to be 'aircraft grade' again. Recycling is neither simple, nor cheap.

 

[labrats5]

Carved out of one piece of aluminum? no screws to hold it together? Flush edges!?
That sounds beautiful!
On a less happy note that also sounds like it will have a non-user replaceable battery, no user replaceable hard drive and no user upgradeable RAM.
CARP!

Not necessarily. Remember, the trackpad isn't manufactured using the same piece of aluminum. Neither is the keyboard. Those have to be put in after the chassis have been made. An old school ibook "pull up" style keyboard could easily allow access to the RAM and other components.

 

[Xfujinon]

I predicted this in another thread a day ago or so. Not gloating, but I'm glad I was on the right track, it looked awfully familiar to me.

As for the bottom case having a section you can remove to access battery, HD, RAM...


...why not make the keyboard area removable? Make a top panel that could be a solid chunk (with chicklet key holes), attached with tabs and a few screws on top, so that the bottom case can stay one solid chunk. Think iBook G4's, only with improved internals: lift the keyboard out, and you can access the guts.

Sounds plausible. That way, when closed, the top and bottom are laser-cut, solid chunks of aluminum that are strong, light, and will protect the laptop well. Moreover, with a solid-state drive, they would be even MORE secure compared to competitor's designs.

 

[.Andy]

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

It would waste a fair whack of energy to keep re-melting aluminium.

 

[marbles]

It would waste a fair whack of energy to keep re-melting aluminium.

that's debatable really ....what when you factor in previous parts shipping costs & the major one of paying someone else to make your product , always cheaper if it's in house .

 

[Doju]

You all don't get the picture. Close to home manufacturing means cutting out of the middle man and more profit. So they can lower the price for us; the consumers.

 

[olternaut]

People don't seem to realize how BIG this is! It isn't just about new Macbooks and Macbook Pros. This means that the case problems will be lowered SOO MUCH, because of a better manufacturing process. ALSO, there will be better quality of design (no screws, one piece of metal). Finally, it is something that Apple can truly manage. Think about it, you can manage a factory in the U.S. much better than one in China. This would lead to a better product in the end.

By the way, if it is better managed, than suspect less leaks... 😛
FTW

EXACTLY!! Its like these idiot kids are watching a friggin NUKE go off and point and say "oh thats cool." ......all right before the freakin blast wave obliterates them!!!!

APPLE HAVING THEIR OWN PLANT WITH STATE OF THE ART MANUFACTURING PROCESSES IS HUGEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!11111111111

 

[Abstract]

You all don't get the picture. Close to home manufacturing means cutting out of the middle man and more profit. So they can lower the price for us; the consumers.

Or higher profit margins for Apple. It's not like Apple is known for their slim margins. Their margins are fat for Apple consumers, and phat for Apple shareholders.

 

[Terrador]

Score 1 for engineering!

What an incredible innovation on the BOTTOM level of production! Thats where it starts. I salute the engineers who developed this process. Here's what we get:

-Stronger MBP's
-Cheaper MBP's
-Lighter MBP's
-More envrionmentally friendly MBP's

Win. 100%.

 

[OllyW]

I highly doubt they're actually carving macbooks out of solid blocks of aluminum like some of you may be imagining.
Most likely, the manufacturing process may start with a brick of aluminum, but then that brick is cut down into individual sheets for further pressing/shaping/processing. The lasers/water jets are for cutting precise slots, slits, panels, and holes, bringing the manufacturing tolerances down, and creating macbooks that look seamless and feels solid (not carving).

That's what I think anyways.

That makes good sense.

Making it out of solid aluminium blocks would be very expensive. I would think that at least 50% of the raw material would end up as waste material.

And even though the waste material could be re-cycled, the scrap value would be less than 25% of the cost of the raw materials.

 

[.Andy]

that's debatable really

Not really. If you don't have to re-melt aluminium large amounts of waste aluminium you don't have the cost of running a furnance, the costs of labour carrying out the process, the costs of the facilities etc etc. Limiting waste and double-handling is one of the first design principles that would go into manufacturing a product. Less stuffing around, less wasting of energy in metal = easy to manufacture and cheaper product.

....what when you factor in previous parts shipping costs & the major one of paying someone else to make your product , always cheaper if it's in house .

You all don't get the picture. Close to home manufacturing means cutting out of the middle man and more profit. So they can lower the price for us; the consumers.

This isn't true for everything. Sometimes domestic labour and costs of setting up a manufacturing facility aren't favorable on returns. If this were the case every business would do absolutely every single part of their manufacturing processes in house. The reality is quite different. Outsourcing saves money in many cases. Firms can concentrate on individual components. Economies of scale is a powerful concept.

 

[akm3]

Or higher profit margins for Apple. It's not like Apple is known for their slim margins. Their margins are fat for Apple consumers, and phat for Apple shareholders.

I am a shareholder (and it has definitely not been phat the past few weeks haha!) and during their last conference call, they specifically referenced a product transition that would lower their margins. They refused to provide any detail about what it was though, just that it would happen during the fourth quarter. THIS is big enough to dent their margins.

 

[marbles]

Or higher profit margins for Apple. It's not like Apple is known for their slim margins. Their margins are fat for Apple consumers, and phat for Apple shareholders.

edit> see above ..beat me to it
true.. but didn't they say recently that the price margins would be falling & also went as far to say profits would be down ?

That makes good sense.

Making it out of solid aluminium blocks would be very expensive. I would think that at least 50% of the raw material would end up as waste material.

And even though the waste material could be re-cycled, the scrap value would be less than 25% of the cost of the raw materials.

It does make some sense , maybe Apple will press the 'bricks' into a rough shape for the lasers to finish ?.....also it doesn't really matter what value the raw material becomes when it has been used because ,as you said ,it will be recycled , and in house too ...another money saver .

roll on Tuesday





Also , marked with 7 negatives on the front page ...how is this negative ?

 

[Minimoose 360]

Please yes!!

Better include new Macbook Pros. I hate the general "Macbooks" term leaving us out of the loop. Hopefully at the same time or a week later?