The Channel Wire

November 12, 2008

Apple may be considering using carbon fiber parts in the MacBook Air in a bid to reduce the notebook's weight, according to a Tuesday post to the AppleInsider blog.

Carbon fiber is strong, lightweight, and resistant to thermal expansion, making it a preferred material for aeronautical engineers, and more recently, the notebook PC industry. Apple may be planning to use it to replace the bottom part of the MacBook Air's aluminum case, which could reduce the notebook's weight from around 3 pounds to 2.78 pounds, AppleInsider noted.

When Apple introduced the MacBook Air, the company touted it as a lightweight, thin-profile alternative to conventional notebooks. But the growing popularity of Netbooks, many of which weigh less than three pounds and cost hundreds of dollars less than the MacBook Air, could be motivating Apple to shave more weight from the notebook.

But John Strikwerda, retail manager at Carbon Computing, a Kitchener, Ontario-based Apple reseller, says the MacBook Air is already light enough for most customers; what they'd like to see is a lighter price tag. "There currently is a fair bit of a premium to get the lightweight and small size of the MacBook Air," he said.

Another theory, this one as yet unsubstantiated, is that Apple will one day shock the industry by making the MacBook Air so light that it actually floats in mid-air, thus living up to its name in a way that no one could ever have imagined when the product was launched. Just imagine the buzz at MacWorld the year that's announced.

Although this theory is outlandish, the fact that notebook PC makers are engaged in a race to roll out smaller and lighter notebooks -- a game similar to the mobile phone miniaturization competition depicted in the movie Zoolander -- means that it's certainly plausible.