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How can MacBooks be so slim compared to others laptops
There are so many laptops out there - Thinkpad, SurfaceBooks, Dell Inspiron, etc. How come they are so bulkier compared to Macbooks? Macbooks are so slim and lightweight, while an Inspiron or Thinkpad is so bulky and thick. Which engineering aspect is superior in case of Macbooks that makes it slimmer and less bulkier compared to those? Is it the OS - the way it has been written, it requires less cooling and hence lesser bulk? Or is it something else?
- sircastor 5y agoI think a contributing factor is Apple’s decisions to solder everything directly on the motherboard. No sockets, no plugs, they cut out a lot of volume at the cost of flexibility.
- nhumrich 5y agoThe price. You seem to be comparing MacBooks to cheaper laptops. "High end" laptops such as Lenovo X1 Carbon, are slimmer, and lighter than MacBooks. Another reason however is thermal distribution. A MacBook shell acts as a heat sync, but a plastic shell does not. So MacBooks don't need as much airflow.
- donboscow 5y agoSo, using aluminium as body material is one of the factors why Macbooks are so slim? Why can't the bulkier laptops use the same? Price?
- tony-allan 5y agoA higher price allows the use of particular materials, precision engineering, and slim custom components. Some is a huge R&D spend, the bill of materials, and assembly techniques.
- donboscow 5y agoYeah, I get the R&D part, what I want to know, what specific improvement here does the R&D here contribute to?
- coldtea 5y ago"the use of particular materials, precision engineering, and slim custom components" All of the above require R&D. Techniques for unibody construction for example required a lot of R&D in machining parts, precision opening of ports, and so on.
- kingkongjaffa 5y agoThe hard part is also not doing it once really well, it's doing it 100's of millions of times also really well.
- maximus-decimus 5y agoInteresting video about how the only reason you even need a fan in the mac book pro is because how hot the shell of a laptop is allowed to get is legislated so you don't burn yourself on it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghDvyItIHTY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghDvyItIHTY
- GekkePrutser 5y agoCarbon fibre's lower heat conductivity can be a good thing too though. Less heat leaking through to the keyboard deck where it could bother the user.
- GekkePrutser 5y agoThey're not. A company like Chuwi makes $300 laptops that are just as thin :) https://www.notebookcheck.net/Chuwi-GemiBook-CWI528-Laptop-Review-Full-sRGB-Coverage-For-300-USD.490985.0.html https://www.notebookcheck.net/Chuwi-GemiBook-CWI528-Laptop-R... Of course you're not getting the same specs or build quality for that price but it's comparable to MacBook thickness. I think the other players you mention just have less desire to make them as thin as possible. I really prefer my work T490s ThinkPad to my work MacBook Pro. It's got more ports, a phenomenally better keyboard, upgradable internals and more. All for a few millimeters extra thickness and no extra weight. They've made the right choice IMO.
- skavi 5y agoYour premise is incorrect. There are high end Windows laptops with chassis just as thin as MacBooks. See the Surface or XPS family.
- nijave 5y agoThinkpads and some other business oriented laptops tend to be field serviceable so they're a little bigger to accommodate easier repair. As others have mentioned, there are Ultrabooks made by other companies comparable and some even smaller HP Envy has similar dimensions and the 15" version is slightly lighter than the MBP
- Mikeb85 5y agoHonestly, because most emphasize function over form. The most comfortable laptop I ever used was a T430 ThinkPad. It was thick but the cooling was fantastic, you could put it on your lap all day and it never got warm. Now I have a laptop about as thin as a MacBook and it's significantly less comfortable than that old ThinkPad. Also, if you do want MacBook thin, there's the Dell XPS line, Asus Zenbooks, Samsung Galaxy books, etc...
- alexfromapex 5y agoBecause Apple has lots of financial resources? Especially for the the MacBook Air, they just aim for lightweight and design it to be slim and light from square one.
- max_ 5y agoIt's the new cooling technology. The new MacBooks are fanless.
- fomine3 5y agoWeight and footprint are my concern, but not thickness for me. Slim laptop sacrifices keyboards (for who dislike thinner keyboards), interfaces, and cooling (this is no longer an issue for Apple).
- bmitc 5y agoAre they? Compared to XPS and Surface Laptops? Also, Macbooks are in no way lightweight. Nothing Apple makes, including their iPhones, is lightweight.
- willio58 5y agoMy MacBook Air was pretty damn light..
- bmitc 5y agoYou're right. The Air branded products, the iPad Air and Macbook Air, are counters to what I said about nothing Apple makes is lightweight. Although, the MacBook Air is the same weight as the 13.5" Surface Laptop, so it's not like the Apple is magically lighter. And according to the specs, the Surface Laptop is actually thinner.
- 4oh9do 5y ago> Macbooks are so slim and lightweight, while an Inspiron or Thinkpad is so bulky and thick. What are you talking about? Plenty of laptops are more lightweight than Macbooks such as Vaio, Acer, Asus, etc. And a 12" Macbook is only about half a pound heavier than a 13" Thinkpad. https://www.ultrabookreview.com/4219-the-lightest-ultrabooks/ https://www.ultrabookreview.com/4219-the-lightest-ultrabooks...
- _xerces_ 5y agoHow can Ferraris be so fast compared to Honda Civics?