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MacPoulet

macrumors 6502a
Dec 11, 2012
621
461
Canada
I'd love a cheaper, rugged, plastic MacBook for my kid to take to school instead of an awful Chromebook. That would be an instant buy.

The black models didn't have the coloration issues that the white ones had (they tended to turn pink/orange over time). Heck, I'd love a series of different colour MacBooks with black keyboards.
 

AltecX

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Oct 28, 2016
550
1,391
Philly
I'd love a cheaper, rugged, plastic MacBook for my kid to take to school instead of an awful Chromebook. That would be an instant buy.

The black models didn't have the coloration issues that the white ones had (they tended to turn pink/orange over time). Heck, I'd love a series of different colour MacBooks with black keyboards.
Sony used to do Vaio S laptops with multiple color options. They were cool. A couple years after Apple stopped doing it.
 
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Fravin

macrumors 6502a
Mar 8, 2017
803
1,059
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Weird that this thread pops up today--over the weekend I was looking into the original polycarbonate MacBook, its history, its popularity, etc. I couldn't even find an Apple keynote on YouTube for this device.

The launch of MacBooks in polycarbonate caused a huge impact on engineering society. It was a kinda revolutionary method to inject plastic in tho ways, and at the time I believe it could be such a secret hidden.

In the time we could inject PS and ABS plastics, but in only one way. I don't know exactly how Apple's team figured a way to do so. I was at the university at that time and everyone was so excited about it.

Today we know the process very well. But I can't mind how Apple's engineers had figure it out. :)
 
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Citizen45

macrumors member
Apr 9, 2022
49
48
I mean if they're going to have pink, yellow, blue, purple etc Macbook Air's like the rumor suggests, you might as well throw in a black version, just like the iPhone 13.
 

Diablo360

macrumors 6502
Jun 8, 2009
250
101
The space gray color looks pretty good. Not sure if the MBP would look good in black, but I guess it depends on how they anodize the aluminum
 

Tenkaykev

macrumors 6502
Jun 29, 2020
385
427
Just wondered with the M1 Air if it would be practical to " Rattle Can " it in the colour of your choice. A decent etch primer followed by a nice bright red with the logo masked off...
 

ian87w

macrumors G3
Feb 22, 2020
8,704
12,638
Indonesia
I think space grey is the closest thing we would get these days. Apple is all-in on aluminum these days, for luxury perception and recycling/environmental. Plastic would be bad for Apple's environmental PR/marketing, so I don't think we will ever see plastic body for any Apple products anymore.

I am curious what would plastic macbook be today with Apple Silicon. I remember those plastic macbooks getting quite hot so easily.
 

Fravin

macrumors 6502a
Mar 8, 2017
803
1,059
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
I remember those plastic macbooks getting quite hot so easily.

Incredibly hot. I remember when it came. We were used to G4 PowerBooks So cool, and so snappy...

Those G4 Powerbooks have a solid aluminum case too. In that time, Apple used aluminum in a lot of its devices. The polycarbonate Macbook was an introduction of iPod design language in a laptop form.
 

spiderman0616

Suspended
Aug 1, 2010
5,670
7,499
Incredibly hot. I remember when it came. We were used to G4 PowerBooks So cool, and so snappy...

Those G4 Powerbooks have a solid aluminum case too. In that time, Apple used aluminum in a lot of its devices. The polycarbonate Macbook was an introduction of iPod design language in a laptop form.
The heat and performance of G5 and the switch to Intel is what seemed to have sealed the plastic MacBook's fate. An Intel processor would melt right through the bottom. ;)
 
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AltecX

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Oct 28, 2016
550
1,391
Philly
The heat and performance of G5 and the switch to Intel is what seemed to have sealed the plastic MacBook's fate. An Intel processor would melt right through the bottom. ;)
Not sure if this is sarcasm. Intel chips were in plastic MacBooks for years...
 
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spiderman0616

Suspended
Aug 1, 2010
5,670
7,499
Not sure if this is sarcasm. Intel chips were in plastic MacBooks for years...
Totally sarcasm. I bet modern Intel chips would have a hard time for real though and would have to be severely throttled in a plastic chassis. M1 might be the same deal.
 
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