Apple jobs: carbon composites, iPhone cameras, MacBook design

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Comments

  • Reply 21 of 44
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Mark View Post


    I am dumb. What are carbon composites, exactly?



    not to be an ass, but seriously? I really hope you are < 13 yrs old. Anyways, whats stopping you from trying wikipedia first? 5 seconds away...
  • Reply 22 of 44
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by WJHMH View Post


    Not the best material to use for computer casings.



    why is that? I would like to know the cons, other than cost.

    On the other hand, I don't follow material sciences day to day, and I wonder if there are any newer ultra-light/strong composite materials or "doped" polymers or something else entirely available to innovative companies such as Apple for special projects (Air v2.0?) Carbon nanotube shell, anyone?



    That being said, I think I would trust steel/aluminum/titanium more when I'm flying on an aircraft. Have to watch the 787/dreamliner progress or whatever it's called, eh?
  • Reply 23 of 44
    macroninmacronin Posts: 1,174member
    Sweet, Apple is looking for a MacBook designer to design the new MacBook touch, a carbon fiber engineer to assist with the MacBook touch chassis (no optical, low power chips & a SSD mean less heat; therefore not needing the conductive properties of Al…) and an improved iPhone camera to drop into the new carbon fiber MacBook touch…!!!



    Yeah, that's right, I said it. MacBook touch, the new 13.3" multi-touch slate tablet from Apple!



    :^p
  • Reply 24 of 44
    jeffdmjeffdm Posts: 12,953member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by winterspan View Post


    That being said, I think I would trust steel/aluminum/titanium more when I'm flying on an aircraft. Have to watch the 787/dreamliner progress or whatever it's called, eh?



    I really don't think there's a problem as long as it's properly designed. There is already a flight history of composite materials. Scaled Composites appears to have made at least 30 different models of aircraft, including several that broke world flight records. F22 and A380 are two major aircraft models already flying with composite parts.
  • Reply 25 of 44
    bageljoeybageljoey Posts: 2,008member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by MacRonin View Post


    Yeah, that's right, I said it. MacBook touch, the new 13.3" multi-touch slate tablet from Apple!



    :^p



    ...which won't be out for another 2 years at best, considering the people who are going to design it haven't even been hired yet, much less come up with some mockups...



    If I had my hopes pinned on a MacBook Touch, I would pray that the hiring and designing happened in '06 or '07.
  • Reply 26 of 44
    gxcadgxcad Posts: 120member
    I've always thought that Apple would consider Carbon Fiber or similar materials for their laptops (particularly, the MBA for weight reasons). As far as I've seen, Carbon tends to be black, so it would fit their natural product transition, plus its probably fairly environment friendly which also fits into Apple's 'green' initiative.



    if sony, why not apple?
  • Reply 27 of 44
    markmark Posts: 143member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by winterspan View Post


    not to be an ass, but seriously? I really hope you are < 13 yrs old. Anyways, whats stopping you from trying wikipedia first? 5 seconds away...



    Yes, you're being an ass. I was looking for a more simple & concise explanation than the entry at Wikipedia, which is rather long and technical. Hence my opening line.



    Nice to see that these boards still have their share of jerks along with everything else.
  • Reply 28 of 44
    hirohiro Posts: 2,663member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by winterspan View Post


    why is that? I would like to know the cons, other than cost.

    On the other hand, I don't follow material sciences day to day, and I wonder if there are any newer ultra-light/strong composite materials or "doped" polymers or something else entirely available to innovative companies such as Apple for special projects (Air v2.0?) Carbon nanotube shell, anyone?



    That being said, I think I would trust steel/aluminum/titanium more when I'm flying on an aircraft. Have to watch the 787/dreamliner progress or whatever it's called, eh?



    It does not act as a heat sink. The bottom of an alu MacBook Pro is pulling heat away from the CPU heat sink as a purposeful design. Without that relatively (to the need) large volume of heat conducting aluminum Apple would need a lot more fan action inside that casing. That means weight and power drain.



    Carbon fiber can be significantly lighter but is generally a little bulkier and definitely more expensive to manufacture in an engineered strength manner. Cool factor is un-approached though if you can see past the heat and cost issues.
  • Reply 29 of 44
    hirohiro Posts: 2,663member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by JeffDM View Post


    I really don't think there's a problem as long as it's properly designed. There is already a flight history of composite materials. Scaled Composites appears to have made at least 30 different models of aircraft, including several that broke world flight records. F22 and A380 are two major aircraft models already flying with composite parts.



    Don't worry, military fighter pilots and helicopter have proven carbon fiber lay-ups are well understood and incredibly durable in aircraft. F-18s and helo rotor blades are primarily carbon fiber and both apply stresses commercial airliners won't ever see per unit volume. They have flown flown for a couple decades allowing any long term issues to crop up, and no unexpected ones have. Better yet, CF does not corrode like aircraft aluminum does making it better and safer over the long haul.
  • Reply 30 of 44
    catman4d2catman4d2 Posts: 174member
    Carbon Composite... isn't that what happens to you when you don't pay off Jabba the Hutt in time? pooor Steve jobs!!!



    lol sorry i couldn't resist.



  • Reply 31 of 44
    Mg alloyed ?
  • Reply 32 of 44
    I couldn't wait! Last night I finished my prototype MacBook Air Carbon Fiber lower housing (pics). It looks pretty good, but since it was my first carbon fiber project, I've got some technique-refining to do. It's lighter than the aluminum, and the corners are very strong but the center is a bit flimsy. My next version will have reinforcements in that area.
  • Reply 33 of 44
    you should've used finer grid CFs....



    but i am pretty sure Apple won't do it this way with CF weaves... so played out IMHO.
  • Reply 34 of 44
    aegisdesignaegisdesign Posts: 2,914member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by JeffDM View Post


    There's a fundemental difference that might be a stumbling block tough, bikes are mostly tubular and curved, whereas notebook shells & frames are quite flat with some ridges on the edges. There was a discussion on carbon fiber computer parts a while back. There was some question as to whether carbon fiber can be mass produced at a worthwhile cost vs. other light materials when made in the millions of units. CF is almost ideal for low production stuff, it has a very low cost of entry relative to many other production techniques, but it is relatively complicated and tedious when compared typical higher volume production techniques.



    At least in the bike industry, carbon fibre is so easy to do that unskilled labour can build carbon fibre bikes. It takes a lot longer to train a welder. I once remember seeing taiwanese workers rolling carbon sheets around magic marker pens to create the tubes for some silly mega expensive top end bike brand. I've ridden steel/aluminium/ti ever since.



    I'd imagine in computer parts they would either use plain sheets with carbon thermoplastic corners, which again a trained monkey could build or an automated product line into a mold.



    Carbon fibre looks shit though. It's the computer equivalent of black ash furniture with chrome bits.
  • Reply 35 of 44
    [QUOTE=BMWintoxication;1223489]you should've used finer grid CFs..../QUOTE]



    Yeah, I agree. That's all the local store had. I was happy enough to find it, and happy that it was twill!
  • Reply 36 of 44
    Is it in any way significant that the camera applications job asks for someone with experience of writing multi-threaded code? Is this a default requirement for such a job, or an indication of the future integration of a multi-core processor into iPhone? (However much that might seem inevitable.)
  • Reply 37 of 44
    aegisdesignaegisdesign Posts: 2,914member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by lonepilgrim View Post


    Is it in any way significant that the camera applications job asks for someone with experience of writing multi-threaded code? Is this a default requirement for such a job, or an indication of the future integration of a multi-core processor into iPhone? (However much that might seem inevitable.)



    It already is multi-cpu and multi-core.
  • Reply 38 of 44
    monkeyoemonkeyoe Posts: 45member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by morcheeba View Post


    I couldn't wait! Last night I finished my prototype MacBook Air Carbon Fiber lower housing (pics). It looks pretty good, but since it was my first carbon fiber project, I've got some technique-refining to do. It's lighter than the aluminum, and the corners are very strong but the center is a bit flimsy. My next version will have reinforcements in that area.



    Even lighter? Wow. Using it as a frisby yet?

    Bottom thingies kinda tarnish the look of it. But otherwise lookin' good!
  • Reply 39 of 44
    jbh0001jbh0001 Posts: 80member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by wbrasington View Post


    I was thinking exactly the opposite.

    If they are still trying to hire the person to do the design, there is no way we will see any new design for the book, no carbon based products, and no real changes to camera technology anytime in the next 12 months.



    I'm thinking more WWDC 2009. By then Intel will have released the Calpella platform which will include the Clarksfield and Auburndale variants of the Nehalem CPU. Mac OS 10.6 should also be ready by WWDC 2009.



    What a great opportunity to commemorate the Mac's 25th anniversary by bumping the OS to the next level, and completely refreshing the Mac line (by eliminating the front side bus, which Calpella makes possible).
  • Reply 40 of 44
    mimicmimic Posts: 72member
    What would be really cool, is to allow me to print my images directly from my iPhone. Of course storing images on my iPhone from my camera would be equally as cool.



    And why can't i store files on my iPhone like i do images, music, or vids



    heck, why can't i 'see' Numbers files but i can Excel files



    Great toy, lots of work needed to be done though.
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