Apple struck a blow in the personal computing industry with its “unibody” aluminum MacBooks. The Cuptertino company’s most recent business moves have seen it officially retire the white plastic MacBook, and a big upgrade to its svelte MacBook Air. This on the heels of of the company’s latest financial earnings call, which revealed Apple has a 10.7% share of the US computer market, making it the third-most-popular computer seller in America.
A lot of Apple’s popularity has to be attributed to its brilliant aluminum MacBook designs, which marry strength and (low) weight in perfect harmony. But a report in the Washington Post shows that aluminum is starting to be in short supply—precisely because Apple has that market practically cornered.
Fiberglass is now being touted as an alternative to aluminum for laptop manufacturers not named Apple:
The laptop makers plan to combine the latest fiberglass fabrication techniques with a plastic shell to produce something as tough and lightweight as magnesium-aluminum, but significantly cheaper.
By using fiberglass (rather than a metal alloy), laptop makers could expect to lop off $20 from the gross cost of manufacturing a laptop. That gross saving on a per unit basis means that your next laptop may be housed in fiberglass.
