Image via CrunchBaseIt was interesting to watch the video of the Apple Notebook Presentation. The new notebooks are indeed items of engineering and design beauty.
But...
What struck me as very wrong was the claim around the new chassis for the notebooks. The claim on it being invented or new is simply and horribly wrong. The unibody is simply a variation of the monocoque technique that has been around in manufacturing for a long time. Aircraft have used the technique since the 1930's.
It might be new to computers but Apple's claim is high suspicious. My real question is - what took so long? Why are advanced (and not so advanced) manufacturing and design techniques only now coming to computers?
I suspect because manufacturing has always been a tertiary or lower concern. Now is the time for computer companies to grab a few manufacturing and mechanical engineers and lock them room and tell them pioneer new designs for chassis that take advantage of the latest manufacturing techniques, equipment and design.
One other thing. The emphasis on new chassis indicates that computer manufacturers have a lot of room to reduce costs and material usage in computers. It is going to interesting to see how companies take advantage of the possibilities offered by advanced manufacturing.
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