Indestructible macs coming soon?!

AppleInsider | Apple obtains exclusive rights to custom, super-durable metal alloy

I'm excited for this news. The only thing that worries me is that I can see the increased price of construction, and them removing something from their computers to keep the cost down. Hopefully I'm wrong, but this alloy will make the macbooks/pro, or whatever, even desirable. Scratch proof? You can't go wrong with that!

Bet I can still scratch it with a diamond ;P

Having a hardness scale in between tungsten carbide and a natural diamond, I have a feeling your scratch yourself before doing much to it. I want to see it on an apple product already....arggggghhhh

This could be an military application

idrinorbarsaku said:

AppleInsider | Apple obtains exclusive rights to custom, super-durable metal alloy

I'm excited for this news. The only thing that worries me is that I can see the increased price of construction, and them removing something from their computers to keep the cost down. Hopefully I'm wrong, but this alloy will make the macbooks/pro, or whatever, even desirable. Scratch proof? You can't go wrong with that!

Click to expand...

This oughta get PC makers to make a run for their money.

i hope "soon" is really soon

Not for nothing but... Ok, let's say we get a MacBook with said material. Sure, it's much harder to scratch or maybe dent if you drop it, but if you DO drop it, it's still not really protecting the insides from the actual impact of the fall, and components can still be damaged.

I guess my point is that while it's nice to have something that doesn't scratch, I'd much rather that it DID scratch but maintain a level of inner stability better, when dropped a decent way.

Only reason being, is that I don't want them to try and jack up the prices so high because they claim that the material is so durable that the tech won't get a scratch. Again, scratches I can deal with.. internal mucks, not so much. Does that make sense ?


All that aside: Terminator 2 anyone ?

Doug

Doug b said:

Again, scratches I can deal with.. internal mucks, not so much. Does that make sense ?

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I was thinking of that too, but I honestly can't see much of a difference in what would happen if you dropped it or banged it on something.

It doesn't matter if Apple makes it from a "mimetic polyalloy", a liquid metal that allows it to take the shape and appearance of anyone or anything it touches like the T-1000 Terminator. You will still have yahoo's spilling wine, beer, water, caffe latte double mochiato's and... motor oil into thier Macs.

I'm with anyone who thinks it won't make a difference if it's scratch proof- still can't protect the insides all that well. Which brings me to my question: does anybody remember the Panasonic indestructible "go everywhere and spill everything on it" laptop?

Chris H. said:

I'm with anyone who thinks it won't make a difference if it's scratch proof- still can't protect the insides all that well. Which brings me to my question: does anybody remember the Panasonic indestructible "go everywhere and spill everything on it" laptop?

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Oh yes, the great Toughbooks. They were surely not scratch proof, but they were very well protected, and the hard drives were in a gel case. You could spill, drop, throw, etc. and those suckers still worked. Panasonic did a demo for me once years ago and they threw a running CF-28 Toughbook across a parking lot. Yes, it got scratched but it was still chugging along.

They were cost prohibitive for the average consumer, but they were primarily designed for military and law enforcement use.

Super durable? I doubt it will present a challenge to transport companies after sending a Dual Core across Australia, wrapped in 33 feet of bubble wrap, packed in polystyrene foam and in a heavy duty furniture removal carton.

The Dual Core arrived in six pieces. Must have backed the truck over it!

harryb2448 said:

Super durable? I doubt it will present a challenge to transport companies after sending a Dual Core across Australia, wrapped in 33 feet of bubble wrap, packed in polystyrene foam and in a heavy duty furniture removal carton.

The Dual Core arrived in six pieces. Must have backed the truck over it!

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Oooh...ouch.


Relative ordered a 21.5" iMac w/ 3.6 GHz i5.
She got it via UPS...opened the box, and the screen was shattered, and the keyboard was missing. Whether this was the shipping companies fault I'll never know, but she wasn't happy.

Part of me wants to ask why does anybody need some super-metal on their computer, but I've seen pictures and heard stories from people on this forum that cause my jaw to drop.

I don't plan on dropping my laptop three stories, however...

SweetCosmicPope I think I have an answer for you.
The military. You want a laptop built to last in any conditions and they'll love you for it. They want their IT hardware to take a bullet and sill be functioning. Also another application could be Antarctic/deep sea/deep space exploration. More harsh environments a product like this would find it's use.

the8thark said:

SweetCosmicPope I think I have an answer for you.
The military. You want a laptop built to last in any conditions and they'll love you for it. They want their IT hardware to take a bullet and sill be functioning. Also another application could be Antarctic/deep sea/deep space exploration. More harsh environments a product like this would find it's use.

Click to expand...

The article only talks about the body of the notebook, not the internals being protected. But I for one can see the military switching from Windows to Apple. Well..it's wishful thinking.

What I'd like to know is..can this metal be anodized (if that's the proper term for colorization).

And if Apple decides not anodize it, how different will this look in comparison to now?

Well you hear enough topics on these forums about people crying them their Apple product has a 1mm scratch you can hardly even see. So having scratch/dent proof plastic/metal for new Macs was a logical step.

Yeah I know the military would want the internals protected but they are all about having things pristine and squeaky clean. One spec of dust on your bootcamp dorm room and you get latrine duties for a week. So having this indestructo material for the Macintosh casings might be good there too. So they don't have to to worry too much about it getting all scratched up and being an eyesore in their rooms.

the last part doesnt sound so good...
AppleInsider | Licensing agreement with Apple helps Liquidmetal pay off $11M debt


EDIT:
This just made the front page news on Yahoo!
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Apple-takes-gulp-of-strong-apf-1703700041.html?x=0

Maybe I am missing the point but why would someone want a indestructible mac? Do you plan on using it while playing a full contact sport? Dropping it out of a plane?

Scratch proof, dent proof? Take better care of your computer or buy a case/shield for it.