The choice of wood has everything to do with design. If all he wanted was function, wouldn't it make sense to just go buy a laptop? In terms of pure function,

The choice of wood has everything to do with design. If all he wanted was function, wouldn't it make sense to just go buy a laptop? In terms of pure function, ignoring such things as the look and feel of wood, do you really think you can improve on a mass produced laptop? You can trivialize "style" if you want, but in this case, it is what makes the difference between "everybody else's laptop" and a beautiful work of craftsmanship. (now if it was me, I would have done even more out of wood, such as the side panels)