I am actually quite surprised that while everybody has been talking about how good/bad Apple's latest products have been, nobody seems to talk about the new direction that Apple has been steering towards, which is that of corporate responsibility. With the introduction of the highly-recyclable aluminum casing, they have reached another milestone.
In an age where despite the technological advance we have been backwards with how we approach the environment, maybe even people(?), and in a time when companies have only considered their own gains where quite frankly, the greed of a few has now led to the downfall of many, we should applaud Apple's approach. Why? Because it has unveiled another new way to do business. That everybody, including customers and staff, right up to the environment (our most important asset) can benefit. Fewer parts means fewer problems, fewer product defects and shipped parts, faster assembly builds, stronger product build quality, and lower production costs - all of which means fewer recalls and less wastage. I suppose this adds another layer to the multi-skilled and multi-facet-coloured company that we call Apple (remember the old logo anyone?) and why I love Apple so much. They really do think different from the norm.
I guess in such turbulent times, there never has been a more important time to reveal such a simple yet great idea. Yes the product may be a little more expensive - but this is a small trade-off compared to the greatest one if we do not act now. The other night I was just watching on TV how, if we do not act now to curb our carbons emissions, how the icecaps of the Arctic and Antarctic would melt and the sea-levels rise - up to between 20 to 150 ft(!) should the Arctic melt first, then Antarctic - within the next 50-100 years. Current scientific measurements have shown the Arctic icecaps have been losing about 8 sq. miles of ice every year (minimum) and this same phenomenon is now spreading to Antarctica, where because of the changes in temperature, warm surface water enters the cracks between the ice from the top, flows down to gather underneath the caps, causing large parts of the ice shelf to break off. Our sea levels have already warmed a degree - and each degree of warmth adds about another foot of water to our coastlines. It doesn't go to say how important Apple's contribution is as a producer of millions of laptops when it comes to protecting the environment....and us.
Never has there been a time where we all have to think different in order to survive. I am not a Apple shareholder, but I applaud them for what they've done. Time to buy AAPL stocks perhaps?
The weakest part of the aluminum Powerbook G4s and MacBook Pros is the DVD slot. They cut a 5 inch long slit into the bottom case. Above the slit is a thin band of metal. When one of these laptops is dropped, the impact often causes the DVD slot to become deformed. Even putting normal pressure on the palm rest causes the slot to eventually collapse, making it impossible to insert or eject a CD. Look at several aluminum Powerbook G4s and MacBook Pros. See if the top part of DVD slot is straight, or if it is bowed downwards.
Replacing this type of damage often requires completely taking the laptop apart, removing all internal components, replacing the entire bottom case, then putting the entire laptop back together. This is both time consuming and expensive.
It looks like the DVD slot in the new MacBook and MacBook Pro still uses the same design, where a narrow slit is cut into the case. Because of this, we may continue to see the same problem with damage to the DVD slot. This problem could be avoided if the laptop had an opening for the entire DVD drive, rather than just a narrow slit cut into the case. If Apple made the entire DVD drive easily slide out, any damage to the DVD slot can be fixed by just replacing the DVD drive instead of having to take the entire laptop apart and replace the entire case. Another advantage of having the DVD drive easily slide out is that people who don't want the DVD drive would be able to replace it with either a second battery or a second hard drive.
i think you do have a valid concern. specially if the slit is warped after dropping. but do we know the failure rate in the past, such as broken DVD slit? further if DVD slit is broken, what percentage has to replace the whole housing instead of just a partial rim? by the way, the strength of the case might be much stronger than the previous model, so hopefully it can sustain the impact better.
I am actually quite surprised that while everybody has been talking about how good/bad Apple's latest products have been, nobody seems to talk about the new direction that Apple has been steering towards, which is that of corporate responsibility. With the introduction of the highly-recyclable aluminum casing, they have reached another milestone.
This is a good point, one not discussed much here but I suspect will be in other places.
How about this...the new product uses less plastic, more aluminum and more glass.
This is a good point, one not discussed much here but I suspect will be in other places.
How about this...the new product uses less plastic, more aluminum and more glass.
Well Boondox...
I've just come off this site > http://www.ecogeek.org/content/view/2208/24/ and they've been talking about the recyclability of the Mac. It seems that this is the best and most environmentally friendly Mac, despite the initial thoughts of the author.
Reading the discussion thread there (which is really really interesting) I found the following facts:
1) High-grade aluminum is easier to recycle than plastic. According to an expert there (who used to recycle aluminum and melt it in a furnace) recycling pure aluminum is the easiest method.
2) If extracted raw from bauxite, aluminum is energy-wasteful (some 95%). However recycling left-over aluminum uses much much less energy than the extraction stage, and its practically the same high quality (which someone has said, Apple will re-use).
3) Because it is a highly thermal conducting material, it will dissipate heat better than plastic, resulting in a cooler machine during operation.
4) Die-casting an alloy of aluminum is harder to recycle than pure aluminum, which is used in the new Macbook.
If we are talking about the recyclability of the product, I read someone mentioned to look at how green a product should be we have to look at the ENTIRE LIFE of the product taking into account not just its ability to be recycled, but also general usage. We have to look at the overall usage/wastage/CO2 emissions over the lifetime of the product - basically the cradle-to-cradle lifespan including its ability to protect the components and the durability/repairability of the product. ie. what I said earlier.
Whereas we've been assuming that plastic is supposed to be more 'environmentally friendlier' we've been told actually it is far worse to make and to recycle. Reason is plastic has a limited recycle life. After 7 times it cannot be recycled due to grade/quality issues, meaning it has to be thrown away! Also to make plastic requires heat and additional chemicals (which aluminum doesn't). And if you are recycling plastic, there are difficulties in the recycling process if there are glues and adhesives involved (according to a recycling expert).
Another interesting point (which most people may find astonishing) is drilling and lasering uses much less energy (apparently) than smelting plastic. These can be powered by renewable electrical sources, whereas plastic would need heat. And according to one poster, Apple said it will produce 360kg of CO2 over its lifespan, half of which (40%) is said to occur at the manufacturing stage. How on earth they got this figure I don't know, but its safe to assume those clever folks over at Apple have done a lot of homework.
Overall for being eco-friendly I think this is a step in the right direction. My only concern out of all this is how strong that screen is gonna be over time. How strong will that new glass screen be to daily use compared to the old Macbook especially if most of us will be travelling around with it? Is it gonna be as tough as the iPhone screen?
The unibody is not that expensive.... or state of art.
Material cost Aluminium : $2.5 LME/Kg + $1.5 /Kg premium for extruded products using virgin aluminium billets.
This translates into $4/Kg of which about 85% of the scrap can be recovered for use casting billets.
So the material cost for using aluminium would be about $2 per mac.
CNC, laser cutting, water jetting, through described by Apple as cutting edge is quite common in China & Rest of the World(US, UK, Germany, India, etc).
The technology is used by many small scale industries in China. Machines to do this are not very expensive. A laser cutting machine able to cut through 40mm thick Steel plate costs about a $ 1 million, CNC milling is available for about $ 0.5 million. These machines are quick with steel & Will be able to do a lot BETTER with low density Aluminium (Al density=2800 Kg/meter3 v/s Steel density= 8000 Kg/meter3)
For Quantities @4 million in 2008, the no of machines required will not be high).
The cost of machining the brick may be about @28 per mac including shipping.
The other cost could be Product Design which may have run into millions, but is very little per mac @ $5.
Thus cost of Production in China (not in Germany, US, UK) is @ $35 per Laptop & with bragging rights & Brand Differentiation.
the advantage of using aluminium is that in a machine that produces heat, as a heat sink (Perhaps the biggest heat sink in any laptop ever seen). But use in the sun could be detrimental.)
Apple can do that because it realeases few models Vs others.
It is for laptops Maverick. The way it is done is cutting edge for laptop computers. That is what we are talking about here, not the whole of metal fabrication.
When I read Seth Weintraub's rumor about the "brick" at 9to5Mac, I called it ludicrous. Of course, what Seth described is ludicrous. That's probably due to the fact that he didn't know what he was talking about and so got the details wrong when explaining it.
Typically, a new process, saves costs. I doubt that this process will save costs, so Apple has to justify the new process' value in another way. That way is in improved feel. This is related to customer perception of quality, and has overall brand value.
I love the new laptops and will buy a 13" MB. I have been waiting to replace my 5+ yr old 12" AluPB. I was going to get a MBA, but the new 13" MB is a better choice for me.
Seth described something out of StarWars and we got conventional CNC milling. Apple is NOT buying CNC machine tools. FoxConn is buying CNC machine tools. As many note, Apple can save on assembly, on repair work, etc. Still CNC milling takes time. So does 56 screws for just the keyboard install!
Anyway, the point I want to address is cost. Oppenheimer stated that Gross Margins would drop something like 2% or 3% next year due to this product transition. Well, if we take $30B as Apple's sales next year, a drop of 2 to 3% in GMs means an increase in mfring costs of $600M to $900M.
If you are generous and say that laptop sales increase from around 6M to around 10M in 2009, that would mean an incremental cost of about $60 to $90 per laptop. That's ALOT, but Steve thinks it's justifiable as a way to differentiate Apple products. I'm a shareholder, with 2000 shs, and while I don't like dropping margins, I think Steve is making a good bet. Alot of Apple's mystique is generated by the notion that Apple is uncompromising on technical innovations, whether they be software or hardware. I like the quality of the new Macbook. It reminds me of a finely crafted Swiss watch.
Well, tomorrow is my birthday and I decided to get me a new computer.
I'm a creative director and I use my lap top all the time, so I was thinking, why not a little update.
Well, it would be perfect but, YOU CAN'T USE IT LYING DOWN...
Yes, seriously it is not a joke!
The new LED screen is heavy... Ok it looks good, and works perfectly on top of the table... but if you are used to work lying down on bed, or on the sofa... FORGET IT! It will close on you.
I was surprised with this since I always considered Apple's engineering amazing, so for people with some sort of disability or for people who just like to relax during work, this laptop simple does not work.
Comments
In an age where despite the technological advance we have been backwards with how we approach the environment, maybe even people(?), and in a time when companies have only considered their own gains where quite frankly, the greed of a few has now led to the downfall of many, we should applaud Apple's approach. Why? Because it has unveiled another new way to do business. That everybody, including customers and staff, right up to the environment (our most important asset) can benefit. Fewer parts means fewer problems, fewer product defects and shipped parts, faster assembly builds, stronger product build quality, and lower production costs - all of which means fewer recalls and less wastage. I suppose this adds another layer to the multi-skilled and multi-facet-coloured company that we call Apple (remember the old logo anyone?) and why I love Apple so much. They really do think different from the norm.
I guess in such turbulent times, there never has been a more important time to reveal such a simple yet great idea. Yes the product may be a little more expensive - but this is a small trade-off compared to the greatest one if we do not act now. The other night I was just watching on TV how, if we do not act now to curb our carbons emissions, how the icecaps of the Arctic and Antarctic would melt and the sea-levels rise - up to between 20 to 150 ft(!) should the Arctic melt first, then Antarctic - within the next 50-100 years. Current scientific measurements have shown the Arctic icecaps have been losing about 8 sq. miles of ice every year (minimum) and this same phenomenon is now spreading to Antarctica, where because of the changes in temperature, warm surface water enters the cracks between the ice from the top, flows down to gather underneath the caps, causing large parts of the ice shelf to break off. Our sea levels have already warmed a degree - and each degree of warmth adds about another foot of water to our coastlines. It doesn't go to say how important Apple's contribution is as a producer of millions of laptops when it comes to protecting the environment....and us.
Never has there been a time where we all have to think different in order to survive. I am not a Apple shareholder, but I applaud them for what they've done. Time to buy AAPL stocks perhaps?
The weakest part of the aluminum Powerbook G4s and MacBook Pros is the DVD slot. They cut a 5 inch long slit into the bottom case. Above the slit is a thin band of metal. When one of these laptops is dropped, the impact often causes the DVD slot to become deformed. Even putting normal pressure on the palm rest causes the slot to eventually collapse, making it impossible to insert or eject a CD. Look at several aluminum Powerbook G4s and MacBook Pros. See if the top part of DVD slot is straight, or if it is bowed downwards.
Replacing this type of damage often requires completely taking the laptop apart, removing all internal components, replacing the entire bottom case, then putting the entire laptop back together. This is both time consuming and expensive.
It looks like the DVD slot in the new MacBook and MacBook Pro still uses the same design, where a narrow slit is cut into the case. Because of this, we may continue to see the same problem with damage to the DVD slot. This problem could be avoided if the laptop had an opening for the entire DVD drive, rather than just a narrow slit cut into the case. If Apple made the entire DVD drive easily slide out, any damage to the DVD slot can be fixed by just replacing the DVD drive instead of having to take the entire laptop apart and replace the entire case. Another advantage of having the DVD drive easily slide out is that people who don't want the DVD drive would be able to replace it with either a second battery or a second hard drive.
i think you do have a valid concern. specially if the slit is warped after dropping. but do we know the failure rate in the past, such as broken DVD slit? further if DVD slit is broken, what percentage has to replace the whole housing instead of just a partial rim? by the way, the strength of the case might be much stronger than the previous model, so hopefully it can sustain the impact better.
I am actually quite surprised that while everybody has been talking about how good/bad Apple's latest products have been, nobody seems to talk about the new direction that Apple has been steering towards, which is that of corporate responsibility. With the introduction of the highly-recyclable aluminum casing, they have reached another milestone.
This is a good point, one not discussed much here but I suspect will be in other places.
How about this...the new product uses less plastic, more aluminum and more glass.
This is a good point, one not discussed much here but I suspect will be in other places.
How about this...the new product uses less plastic, more aluminum and more glass.
Well Boondox...
I've just come off this site > http://www.ecogeek.org/content/view/2208/24/ and they've been talking about the recyclability of the Mac. It seems that this is the best and most environmentally friendly Mac, despite the initial thoughts of the author.
Reading the discussion thread there (which is really really interesting) I found the following facts:
1) High-grade aluminum is easier to recycle than plastic. According to an expert there (who used to recycle aluminum and melt it in a furnace) recycling pure aluminum is the easiest method.
2) If extracted raw from bauxite, aluminum is energy-wasteful (some 95%). However recycling left-over aluminum uses much much less energy than the extraction stage, and its practically the same high quality (which someone has said, Apple will re-use).
3) Because it is a highly thermal conducting material, it will dissipate heat better than plastic, resulting in a cooler machine during operation.
4) Die-casting an alloy of aluminum is harder to recycle than pure aluminum, which is used in the new Macbook.
If we are talking about the recyclability of the product, I read someone mentioned to look at how green a product should be we have to look at the ENTIRE LIFE of the product taking into account not just its ability to be recycled, but also general usage. We have to look at the overall usage/wastage/CO2 emissions over the lifetime of the product - basically the cradle-to-cradle lifespan including its ability to protect the components and the durability/repairability of the product. ie. what I said earlier.
Whereas we've been assuming that plastic is supposed to be more 'environmentally friendlier' we've been told actually it is far worse to make and to recycle. Reason is plastic has a limited recycle life. After 7 times it cannot be recycled due to grade/quality issues, meaning it has to be thrown away! Also to make plastic requires heat and additional chemicals (which aluminum doesn't). And if you are recycling plastic, there are difficulties in the recycling process if there are glues and adhesives involved (according to a recycling expert).
Another interesting point (which most people may find astonishing) is drilling and lasering uses much less energy (apparently) than smelting plastic. These can be powered by renewable electrical sources, whereas plastic would need heat. And according to one poster, Apple said it will produce 360kg of CO2 over its lifespan, half of which (40%) is said to occur at the manufacturing stage. How on earth they got this figure I don't know, but its safe to assume those clever folks over at Apple have done a lot of homework.
Overall for being eco-friendly I think this is a step in the right direction. My only concern out of all this is how strong that screen is gonna be over time. How strong will that new glass screen be to daily use compared to the old Macbook especially if most of us will be travelling around with it? Is it gonna be as tough as the iPhone screen?
I am an engineer working in Aluminium Industry.
The unibody is not that expensive.... or state of art.
Material cost Aluminium : $2.5 LME/Kg + $1.5 /Kg premium for extruded products using virgin aluminium billets.
This translates into $4/Kg of which about 85% of the scrap can be recovered for use casting billets.
So the material cost for using aluminium would be about $2 per mac.
CNC, laser cutting, water jetting, through described by Apple as cutting edge is quite common in China & Rest of the World(US, UK, Germany, India, etc).
The technology is used by many small scale industries in China. Machines to do this are not very expensive. A laser cutting machine able to cut through 40mm thick Steel plate costs about a $ 1 million, CNC milling is available for about $ 0.5 million. These machines are quick with steel & Will be able to do a lot BETTER with low density Aluminium (Al density=2800 Kg/meter3 v/s Steel density= 8000 Kg/meter3)
For Quantities @4 million in 2008, the no of machines required will not be high).
The cost of machining the brick may be about @28 per mac including shipping.
The other cost could be Product Design which may have run into millions, but is very little per mac @ $5.
Thus cost of Production in China (not in Germany, US, UK) is @ $35 per Laptop & with bragging rights & Brand Differentiation.
the advantage of using aluminium is that in a machine that produces heat, as a heat sink (Perhaps the biggest heat sink in any laptop ever seen). But use in the sun could be detrimental.)
Apple can do that because it realeases few models Vs others.
No big deal about the process as apple claims.
When I read Seth Weintraub's rumor about the "brick" at 9to5Mac, I called it ludicrous. Of course, what Seth described is ludicrous. That's probably due to the fact that he didn't know what he was talking about and so got the details wrong when explaining it.
Typically, a new process, saves costs. I doubt that this process will save costs, so Apple has to justify the new process' value in another way. That way is in improved feel. This is related to customer perception of quality, and has overall brand value.
I love the new laptops and will buy a 13" MB. I have been waiting to replace my 5+ yr old 12" AluPB. I was going to get a MBA, but the new 13" MB is a better choice for me.
Seth described something out of StarWars and we got conventional CNC milling. Apple is NOT buying CNC machine tools. FoxConn is buying CNC machine tools. As many note, Apple can save on assembly, on repair work, etc. Still CNC milling takes time. So does 56 screws for just the keyboard install!
Anyway, the point I want to address is cost. Oppenheimer stated that Gross Margins would drop something like 2% or 3% next year due to this product transition. Well, if we take $30B as Apple's sales next year, a drop of 2 to 3% in GMs means an increase in mfring costs of $600M to $900M.
If you are generous and say that laptop sales increase from around 6M to around 10M in 2009, that would mean an incremental cost of about $60 to $90 per laptop. That's ALOT, but Steve thinks it's justifiable as a way to differentiate Apple products. I'm a shareholder, with 2000 shs, and while I don't like dropping margins, I think Steve is making a good bet. Alot of Apple's mystique is generated by the notion that Apple is uncompromising on technical innovations, whether they be software or hardware. I like the quality of the new Macbook. It reminds me of a finely crafted Swiss watch.
I'm a creative director and I use my lap top all the time, so I was thinking, why not a little update.
Well, it would be perfect but, YOU CAN'T USE IT LYING DOWN...
Yes, seriously it is not a joke!
The new LED screen is heavy... Ok it looks good, and works perfectly on top of the table... but if you are used to work lying down on bed, or on the sofa... FORGET IT! It will close on you.
I was surprised with this since I always considered Apple's engineering amazing, so for people with some sort of disability or for people who just like to relax during work, this laptop simple does not work.
I'm voting for a recall
!!!!!