How can MacBooks be so slim compared to others laptops

Posted by donboscow on Thursday November 25, 2021 @08:27PM
from the self-post dept.

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?

( 21 comments | 9 points | on HN )

Re:How can MacBooks be so slim compared to others laptops by nhumrich on Thursday November 25, 2021 @08:32PM (#29346738)

The 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.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:How can MacBooks be so slim compared to others laptops by GekkePrutser on Thursday November 25, 2021 @10:41PM (#29347319)

Carbon 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.

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Re:How can MacBooks be so slim compared to others laptops by donboscow on Thursday November 25, 2021 @09:02PM (#29346883)

So, 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?

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Re:How can MacBooks be so slim compared to others laptops by tony-allan on Thursday November 25, 2021 @09:19PM (#29346954)

A 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.

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Re:How can MacBooks be so slim compared to others laptops by donboscow on Thursday November 25, 2021 @09:29PM (#29346988)

Yeah, I get the R&D part, what I want to know, what specific improvement here does the R&D here contribute to?

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:How can MacBooks be so slim compared to others laptops by coldtea on Thursday November 25, 2021 @10:40PM (#29347318)

"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.

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Re:How can MacBooks be so slim compared to others laptops by kingkongjaffa on Friday November 26, 2021 @04:40AM (#29348744)

The hard part is also not doing it once really well, it's doing it 100's of millions of times also really well.

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Re:How can MacBooks be so slim compared to others laptops by maximus-decimus on Thursday November 25, 2021 @11:42PM (#29347538)

Interesting 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

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Re:How can MacBooks be so slim compared to others laptops by sircastor on Thursday November 25, 2021 @09:26PM (#29346977)

I 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.

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Re:How can MacBooks be so slim compared to others laptops by GekkePrutser on Thursday November 25, 2021 @10:20PM (#29347241)

They're not. A company like Chuwi makes $300 laptops that are just as thin :) 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.

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Re:How can MacBooks be so slim compared to others laptops by Mikeb85 on Thursday November 25, 2021 @11:05PM (#29347390)

Honestly, 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...

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Re:How can MacBooks be so slim compared to others laptops by 4oh9do on Friday November 26, 2021 @01:21AM (#29347917)

> 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...

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Re:How can MacBooks be so slim compared to others laptops by skavi on Thursday November 25, 2021 @10:29PM (#29347277)

Your premise is incorrect. There are high end Windows laptops with chassis just as thin as MacBooks.

See the Surface or XPS family.

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Re:How can MacBooks be so slim compared to others laptops by nijave on Thursday November 25, 2021 @10:36PM (#29347301)

Thinkpads 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

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Re:How can MacBooks be so slim compared to others laptops by bmitc on Thursday November 25, 2021 @11:25PM (#29347479)

Are they? Compared to XPS and Surface Laptops?

Also, Macbooks are in no way lightweight. Nothing Apple makes, including their iPhones, is lightweight.

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Re:How can MacBooks be so slim compared to others laptops by willio58 on Thursday November 25, 2021 @11:36PM (#29347518)

My MacBook Air was pretty damn light..

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Re:How can MacBooks be so slim compared to others laptops by bmitc on Thursday November 25, 2021 @11:45PM (#29347548)

You'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.

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Re:How can MacBooks be so slim compared to others laptops by fomine3 on Thursday November 25, 2021 @11:24PM (#29347476)

Weight 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).

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Re:How can MacBooks be so slim compared to others laptops by alexfromapex on Thursday November 25, 2021 @11:10PM (#29347415)

Because 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.

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Re:How can MacBooks be so slim compared to others laptops by _xerces_ on Friday November 26, 2021 @02:13PM (#29353099)

How can Ferraris be so fast compared to Honda Civics?

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Re:How can MacBooks be so slim compared to others laptops by max_ on Thursday November 25, 2021 @11:19PM (#29347457)

It's the new cooling technology.

The new MacBooks are fanless.

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