Apple rumored to offer next-gen MacBook Airs with black finish

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Comments

  • Reply 41 of 72
    I like the humour.
  • Reply 42 of 72
    roockaroocka Posts: 25member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by mafoo View Post


    Here we go. 2 minutes in photoshop:







    enjoy!



    LIQUIDMETAL fools.
  • Reply 43 of 72
    roockaroocka Posts: 25member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by cloudgazer View Post


    I don't think that the 'LiquidMetal' tech allows for dye throughout the metal, it's certainly not mentioned on their website. Anyway, as yet there's no evidence that Apple are intending to use Liquidmetal for their macbook enclosure - their only patents that mention it are for fuel cells



    http://www.cultofmac.com/apple-is-gr...xclusive/75486





    Google "Jan Schroers". He makes Liquidmetal in different color variances with different alloy compositions. It's dope.
  • Reply 44 of 72
    cloudgazercloudgazer Posts: 2,161member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by acslater017 View Post


    I believe the 2006 Core Duo MacBook was the first MacBook to have the chiclet keyboard inside a recessed well. Someone correct me if I'm wrong



    You're right - I was mixing it up with when it first reached the MBP, which was 2008.
  • Reply 45 of 72
    cloudgazercloudgazer Posts: 2,161member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by acslater017 View Post


    As usual, Apple was not the FIRST in the history of human beings to do something. But I think it's fairly well accepted that they POPULARIZED the "chiclet keyboard inside a recessed well" look that has become popular since 2007/2008.



    You don't see too many of those before the 2006 MacBook. I'm sure you could find an exception, but they didn't really exist in large numbers.



    Exactly, in fact they had gone terminally out of fashion since the late 70s/early 80s and as far as I know no mass market PCs had ever featured one - especially not recessed. I was just curious when the PC makers got in on it.
  • Reply 46 of 72
    cloudgazercloudgazer Posts: 2,161member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by roocka View Post


    Google "Jan Schroers". He makes Liquidmetal in different color variances with different alloy compositions. It's dope.



    Yes I know, but it doesn't allow for a generic dye to be introduced or give complete control over the colour - it's amazing because of the possibilities of structure and strength, the first thing we see from them using it is very unlikely to be something that could be achieved just by anodizing aluminium.
  • Reply 47 of 72
    noirdesirnoirdesir Posts: 1,027member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Prof. Peabody View Post


    Yeah, it's a vague area and I'm by no means sure.



    It would probably be more accurate to say they don't do finishes and coatings unless it doesn't *look* like a finish or coating. Their whole design approach is semi-brutalist and definitely focussed on honest materials, but as long as the product appears that way to the end user, they are not above using deception (invisible coatings etc.).



    Yes, one simple rule they seem to follow is not make a material look like something else (don't paint plastic to look like metal, it usually looks cheap and certainly once you touch it, it feels cheap, it feels like dressing something up as something it isn't).
  • Reply 48 of 72
    garamondgaramond Posts: 109member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by jinjo235 View Post


    I just do not see this happening unless they make a black model completely across the whole line of laptops. I suppose the other option is that this could be made out of the unibody carbon-fiber. Here's to hoping it's a dramatic redesign!



    Yeah, a complete redesign!



    From flat to ...



    wait what
  • Reply 49 of 72
    cloudgazercloudgazer Posts: 2,161member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Garamond View Post


    Yeah, a complete redesign!



    From flat to ...



    wait what



    Supposedly Steve Jobs has a long standing desire to get rid of all the external screws on the laptops, so maybe that will be it. The two halves of the shell will be made to be so incredibly sexy that they're held together by mutual attraction.
  • Reply 50 of 72
    aknabiaknabi Posts: 211member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post


    Implying their terrible Photoshop job is any sort of representation whatsoever of how it will actually look.







    Well, if you believe Apple had the first chicklet keyboard, they started in the 70s. Which creates problems, since Apple DIDN'T have the first keyboard like that.



    How dare you come to the Apple fanboi HQ and state that Apple wasn't the first when it comes to any feature they announce... tar and feather I say



    Oh yeah, and the IBM-PCjr
  • Reply 51 of 72
    dunksdunks Posts: 1,254member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by cloudgazer View Post


    The real question is why has it taken them so long to offer a black anodized aluminium finish. Black finishes are definitely in their design language, and they have superior thermal performance.



    They should absolutely give us black MBAs and MBPs



    Fewer models simplifies supply issues. Cosmetic features are an easy way to add perceived value to a high end model. They are also more likely to spur sales when they are genuinely infrequent.
  • Reply 52 of 72
    lvidallvidal Posts: 158member
    I can't imagine how horrible could be a scratch on that black aluminum :/
  • Reply 53 of 72
    theothergeofftheothergeoff Posts: 2,081member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Strawberry View Post


    I want Blue Dalmatian!



    Gateway(tm) (generic name = Holstein) Camo . (I'm purist and prefer 'black' Holstein Camo, just in case you have to hide your laptop in the middle of a dairy herd).
  • Reply 54 of 72
    mj webmj web Posts: 918member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by ALUOp View Post


    A black model? Like this one?







    And just to the right of the trackpad, meticulously hidden by the photographer and ad agency, are competing billboards with Microsoft, Intel, and nVidia logos!
  • Reply 55 of 72
    jragostajragosta Posts: 10,473member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Prof. Peabody View Post


    I'm not sure I see this happening at all either.



    Apple uses black in their design language, but they don't typically do finishes, paints, or coatings (with the single exception of the coloured iPods).



    Even though it would be infinitely harder to accomplish, I would believe this more if they had found a way to make the metal itself black, as opposed to coating/anodising.



    Sorry, but anodizing DOES make the metal itself black. It's a chemical modification of the surface layer of aluminum.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anodizing



    Anodizing allows the introduction of colors - look at the samples in the above or think about Maglite flashlights.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by cloudgazer View Post


    I don't think that the 'LiquidMetal' tech allows for dye throughout the metal, it's certainly not mentioned on their website. Anyway, as yet there's no evidence that Apple are intending to use Liquidmetal for their macbook enclosure - their only patents that mention it are for fuel cells



    http://www.cultofmac.com/apple-is-gr...xclusive/75486



    Who said it would be liquidmetal? That is extremely unlikely due to cost. But if they did, it is possible to color Liquidmetal devices.
  • Reply 56 of 72
  • Reply 57 of 72
    cloudgazercloudgazer Posts: 2,161member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by jragosta View Post


    Who said it would be liquidmetal? That is extremely unlikely due to cost. But if they did, it is possible to color Liquidmetal devices.



    This guy did



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by webmail View Post


    This is correct that the macbook pros will be offered in different colors, probably just black to start. This is NOT a paint finish, it's actually die mixed into the metal composition of the new "liquid metal" rights apple has purchased (which I don't know enough about)



    And I agree that it's extremely unlikely, and I'm sure it's possible to produce a surface colour on Liquidmetal too, but it isn't possible to make it black 'all-through' the way that say plastic could be. At least if it is their website isn't saying so.
  • Reply 58 of 72
    ggfggf Posts: 42member
    as an owner of an existing air I find the current aluminium finish very slippery t ohold. Looks beutiful but very easy to drop it. I hope that if they do move to another case ( like carbon fibre) they find a way to make the case less slippery.
  • Reply 59 of 72
    zunxzunx Posts: 620member
    And a really pocketable MacBook Air.
  • Reply 60 of 72
    wplj42wplj42 Posts: 439member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Strawberry View Post


    I want Blue Dalmatian!



    You mean like this?



    http://www.apple.com/pr/photos/imac2001/imac_tokyo.html
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