There is a brewing engineering problem with the next generation of ultra-thin netbooks: cheap plastic cracks after a while when it is molded into the required shapes. Brooke Crothers writes:
“Early production units being built in plastic, with the bottom case being plastic, are cracking,” said Broadpoint AmTech analyst Doug Freedman, in a phone interview, referring to discussions he had with original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and and original design manufacturers (ODMs). Typically ODMs don’t market under their brand name but supply devices to OEMs, which then slap on their own brand.
To upgrade them means they won’t be cheap anymore: nice plastic and metal is expensive, resulting in Vaios and Adamos and MacBook Airs.
When I was a teenager, I lusted after and ultra-thin Casio watch. I was so happy when I got it, and showed it off to all of my friends. In less than a month the LCD screen had cracked and turned black. Later, I couldn’t remember why I wanted it so much.
How is it that plastic is still cheap when the price of oil has been between too high and astronomical? Surely metal or even fibreglass would be cheaper these days?
Hm. If you don’t want the plastic to crack, it has to be able to flex. But if it flexes, it doesn’t provide as much protection for components. Which means more weight would be needed elsewhere.
Personally, if I’m going ultralight I want something shirt-pocket sized or less with a thumb keyboard. If I’m not, I want a full-size laptop and I’m willing to have it weigh a few pounds; that’s what backpacks are for, and these days backpacks are almost as acceptable as briefcases.