New Powerbook Design Details

If you aren't an Apple/design geek, you can ignore this post...

I was just at CompUSA looking at the new 15" Powerbooks. I have a TiBook that is starting to look like shit because some moron(s) thought that A) paint would stick to magnesium and B) magnesium could be epoxied to titanium. I've tried to be very very careful with my TiBook, and I've only had it a little over a year. Unless you never touch your TiBook, the paint flakes off very easily, and the bottom cover can separate from its subframe. After that debacle, Apple has chosen to go with anodized aluminum. I like the new finish very much. Of course the machines are faster, better, have bigger hard drives, etc., but what about the little details?

Well, sometimes I get paid to be anal about stuff like this, so I thought I might go over the new design details. (Most, if not all of these little changes appeared already on the 12 and 17 inch Powerbooks, but I hadn't really looked at those units this carefully.) One of the first things that struck me is that the trackpad has a rougher surface than my TiBook. My finger glides very smoothly on my Powerbook but it felt weird on the new trackpad. I suspect that this is something that one gets used to. After all I didn't like the old trackpad much when I first got it, but now it feels fairly natural.

In general the aluminum case feels rougher than the painted titanium and magnesium parts on the TiBook. It looks like they bead-blast the aluminum first before anodizing. I like the finish at first glance, but I wonder how it will last. Anodizing makes the surface pretty hard, but it is still possible to scratch it in normal use. Straight scratches will contrast with the random finish of the bead blasting, but they won't look as stupid as scratches look on the mirror finish on the back of an iPod. Thankfully scratches will also be self-colored because there is no paint. As far as I could tell the inner surfaces of the body and the display halves were also the same aluminum finish, and not some plastic with matched paint. Even the trackpad button seemed to be aluminum.

The new hinge design (which first showed up on the iBooks) looks to be a big improvement over the TiBook. The TiBook's cantilevered hinges look beautiful when new, but they're very vulnerable to dings and apparently many people have trouble with them losing their tension. The newer hinge design brings the pivot within the body of the computer - when the Powerbook is closed there is nothing exposed to break and I suspect there is more room to have the clutches/springs that help the LCD spring open and stay in position. One thing that seemed rather odd about the particular Powerbook that I was playing with was that when it was closed, the LCD actually floated away from the other half of the clamshell by about 2mm. I don't know if that catch was out of tolerance or damaged, but it made the unit seem cheap. The rubber screen bumpers that used to live on the body at the corners are now on the LCD side and there are two more right next to the catch. I suspect that this is because the precise bead-blast/anodized finish would wear against itself in an unsightly way if it wasn't held apart. I tried to see if the keyboard was going to hit the LCD glass itself and leave grease marks and scratches the way that it does on the TiBook, but it was difficult to see how close the keys are.

With this update all of the ports have all migrated to the sides. The older design hid most of them behind a door on the back. While there are practical advantages to either configuration which one could argue for, it is interesting to note some of the less obvious changes. Now that they are exposed, Apple has added tiny plastic bezels to each connector. They finish off the transition between the connectors and case in a very tight fashion not usually seen on a product with this many connectors. I'd love to know how they managed this. Typically it is hard to keep the tolerances on the PCB, the case, and the placement of the connectors on the PCB tight enough to have the connectors so tight and even in their openings. It looks great. I'm also curious if the plastic bezel is one custom part for a set of connectors (i.e. one per side), or if each connector is custom with an individual bezel.

The PCMCIA (PC Card) slot has been updated. The TiBook has a thin perforated metal door which is spring loaded. The eject button was lathed aluminum and came out of a separate round hole. The new slot has no perf on the door and it seems a little stiffer, and the button is now a D shaped aluminum block which is integrated into the opening for the door. I like the new design better - it seems a little less fussy.

The keyboard is all new. The biggest changes are that the keys are mostly opaque silvery plastic and sculpted in a subtly swoopy "pillowy" shape. Of course, if you get the higher end 15" machine, you get the backlit keyboard. Unfortunately they don't exactly provide a dark room at CompUSA to experience this eye candy, but I'll take people's word that it works. Less immediately obvious: the keyboard is no longer user-removable, so there are no little dead spaces between the function keys. In fact there is a new key - a separate eject button. Consequently the function key row is now oddly spaced. Even more odd: the caps lock and num lock keys have dedicated LEDs, but the caps lock has a window and the num lock doesn't. Depending on the ambient light, you might not even see the LED for num lock. I assume that this probably came up more than once during the design process and was intentional (although still questionable in my mind), but I have to wonder if it was just an oversight?

Details around the keys have evolved. The speaker grills now have a larger area, with smaller holes on a hexagonal grid instead of a square one. I have no idea how they sound, but they look better. The power button is larger - almost out of proportion. One of the shapes on the TiBook that I really liked was the bevel around the keyboard. Most of that is gone now, with just a ramp on the front edge. Unfortunately this ramp is a separate part, so it doesn't have the same smooth radius to rest your thumbs.

Similarly there is no recessed frame around the trackpad. Unlike the keyboard, I think that the loss of this detail is an improvement - the design is even more minimal. While the CD slot and case latch buttons are in about the same location as before, Apple has also done away with the details around both of them. The case latch has a new feature though: the sleep LED is now integrated into one end of it instead of being located in the center of the screen hinge. This makes some sense but I don't like that it is off center now.

If you've gotten this far, you will may tolerate my biggest design gripe with the new machines: the external screws. Apple has always tried to use the best of everything. A long time ago, they looked into screws and discovered that Torx screws are easier to drive (they transmit more torque to the screw from the driver) and they look cool. Early on it may have also been a hint to consumers that they weren't supposed to open the original Macs themselves, especially since those required extra-long Torx drivers which were even more rare then than now. For some reason Apple has switched to mostly Phillips screws and 4 hex head screws near the hinges. To me, this just looks wrong. I don't mind carefully placed external screws. Sometimes they are the best solution to assembly (certainly much better than epoxy was on the TiBooks). However, I can't help but think that someone wanted to save a few cents by going with non-Torx screws. Torx screws look precise and expensive, but Phillips just looks pedestrian. I could have tolerated them on the bottom of the unit, but unfortunately they're on the sides, along with the highly precise connectors. It just doesn't go together visually. It's possible that it would have been difficult to source off-the-shelf flat head Torx screws that small, but Apple has custom screws manufactured all the time. Of all the details to skimp on, why the screws?

Comments

[Jon H]

" the LCD actually floated away from the other half of the clamshell by about 2mm. I don't know if that catch was out of tolerance or damaged, but it made the unit seem cheap"

I think this is intentional, as the iBooks have done this since 2001.

In addition to keeping the screen off the keys, it seems that it might allow the hinge mechanism to absorb some shock in case of a small impact, rather than having the LCD immediately smash rigidly against the other half of the clamshell.

This is just conjecture, but it sounds good. It might just be cheaper to manufacture.

Another similarity with the 2001 iBook is the bumper pads on the corners of the LCD.

[Lee Joramo]

Just a note about the screws. The first generation of PowerBook G4's had Philips screws on the bottom. I had a PowerBook G4 400 with Philips, but my current G4 867 has Torx. I agree that Torx is preferable, but then again, I own a complete set of Torx drivers.

[Carlos]

I have the original 17" PowerBook...no Torx screws anywhere. So if you like them, be happy that Apple is apparently moving back towards using Torx!

[MacMastery]

I haven't seen the new unit, but perhaps the standard screws are so the common man can open his own computer for simple repairs / upgrades. Are the Torx screws where the customer isn't supposed to open their computer? Are the phillips screws in places where a reasonable customer might want to?

Just a thought.

[btn]

Regarding the screws… This seems to be another case of a no-win situation for Apple. Customers had complained when Apple used Torx screws, then rejoiced when Apple started using Phillips screws, then complained when they stripped the Phillips screws, then rejoiced again when they reluctantly bought a high-quality/properly-sized Phillips driver… Perhaps Apple should invent the Apple Screw Connector. ;)

[Tim]

"some moron(s) thought that A) paint would stick to magnesium and B) magnesium could be epoxied to titanium."

Precisely where is there painted magnesium epoxied to titanium on the TiBook? In fact, where is there any epoxy at all? Yeah, they had problems with paint wear and paint flaking, but I don't know where you get this magnesium and epoxy stuff from.

[GeekBox]

Apple and many other lap top manufacturers have used cast magnesium parts for many years. Sometimes as internal frames for plastic cases, other times it has been used for the external parts. One of the first lap tops, the Grid, used an all mag exterior.

The lighter color frame around the outside of the main body is magnesium or some similar cast alloy (which is then primed and painted). If you remove the bottom cover and look inside, you will see the subframe which is the same material. It is glued with what appears to be epoxy. Whatever the material, it cracks and peals a lot easier than it should.

The hinges appear to be aluminum, but I'm not absolutely sure. The paint flakes off of them as well, but it doesn't have the same primer coat as the parts that I think are magnesium.

[snorkeller]

You asked for it ....

.... future screw-heads won't be Phillips or Torx but Apple-logo indented, requiring a special Apple screw-driver (which will be so smart that its translucent handle will emit a glow when the correct tightening point is attained, thus avoiding over-tightening or ruined screw threads).

This tool will come free with the AppleCare package.

[toasterrific]

the titanium doesn't have magnesium for the whitish outer frame, but carbon fiber--which is pretty damn awesome AND why the Tibook absorbs impacts so well.

[adrien]

[quote]Precisely where is there painted magnesium epoxied to titanium on the TiBook? In fact, where is there any epoxy at all? Yeah, they had problems with paint wear and paint flaking, but I don't know where you get this magnesium and epoxy stuff from.[/quote]

where the top titanim plate which makes the palm rests meets the side material. mine caved in above the optical drive, apple replaced the whole top cover and kbd for free.