RSS
Today is a big day on the gadget sites, new Apple MacBooks - the cool thing (I think) is Apple showed videos of how their new laptops are made from carving them out of sheets of aluminum - how things are made (and why) is becoming more important and the lead story once everything else was commodified in the industry. There's great coverage on Engadget and Gizmodo.
Update: Wow, the video about the "making of" is incredible!
Making MacBooks from giant sheets of aluminum
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Oct 14, 2008 10:50 AM
Computers, Gadgets |
Permalink
| Comments (5)
| Email This |
| Digg this!
Recent Entries
- <3 your maker: MAKE's Valentine's Day gift guide
- Don't walk! Controlling a pedestrian sign with an Arduino
- UC Berkeley has "Nobel Laureate Only" parking spaces
- LEGO PCB Agitator
- Volkemon in Space: Additional launch pics
- "Batteries Out of Thin Air"
- From typewriter to teleprinter
- Turning a motor into a sensor with the Peppermill
- Maker Business: Venturing out...
- Exploring the business of making
Comments
Oldest comments listed first.
Leave a comment
Subscribe to MAKE Magazine!
Subscribe today, save 42% and get web access to MAKE free. MAKE Digital Edition is available only to subscribers.
$34.95 / 1 year
(4 Quarterly Issues)
So, coworkers were watching the video at scoffing at the "waste" produced by the manufacturing process, mentioned how Greenpeace has (rightly, to my knowledge) been on Apple's case for a while about their poor environmental record.
I can't shake the feeling, though (having seen a few episodes of How It's Made ;)) that the traditional process of milling aluminum for laptop parts is probably at least as wasteful as the unibody process. Are there any makers out there who can clarify this for me? Would there be a big difference in the waste metal produced by Apple's new unibody process versus the multi-part process they were using before?
Reply to this comment
The aluminum is not wasted, it's recycled. Aluminum is extremely easy to recycle and almost all of it is. It's a part of the metallurgic processes to use only part of the raw material. Aluminum cans are made from discs punched into a sheet of metal .. The remains are melted to make more sheet and more cans. I guess the same happens here. Some more electricity is needed for this, though, but not more mining or otherwise.
Reply to this comment
I was excited about this computer upgrade... until apple downgraded by removing firewire ports from the macbook.
Support for legacy products is environmentally friendly, because it doesn't force replacement of already working products.
Boo apple for another crippled product.
Reply to this comment
vivi: Thanks! That's about what I figured (I recall hearing that aluminum is one of the few recyclable materials that pays for itself without figuring in recycling subsidies), but it's nice to have that confirmed by someone else. =)
Reply to this comment
@boo. if you need the firewire option then you get the new macbook pro, it comes whit firewire 800
Reply to this comment