Apple's Revolutionary New Macbook Manufacturing Process

17 Oct 08

Apple is soon to release a new version of their Macbook notebook computer. Much of the recent press about the new Macbook has centred on the 'revolutionary' manufacturing processes it will engage to manufacture the enclosure referred to as 'the brick'. The articles published tended to focus on the latest in laser machining and waterjet cutting technology being used to produce the enclosures which had many readers envisioning laser beams and jets of water turning a raw slab of aluminium into the final product in a matter of seconds with no other processing required.

Having read about this futuristic laser machining process being used to produce the Macbooks, thousands of people searched the internet to find out more about laser machining and most found their way to ManufactureLink's directory of manufacturing processes where laser machining, and waterjet cutting process are discussed in detail.

But in reality the laser machining and waterjet cutting processes being publicised were just media hype and the real manufacturing processes being used, while still state-of-the-art, are somewhat less like something out of Startrek and more like something found in any modern machine shop.

Apple's new MacBook and MacBook Pro feature precision unibody enclosures milled from an extruded block of aluminium, allowing them to get even thinner while retaining the rigid durability and strength notebooks require, especially as they get thinner. The new design is thinner, cleaner, and more polished.

In a press release touting the new manufacturing process, Steve Jobs said, “Apple has invented a whole new way of building notebooks from a single block of aluminium."

Introducing new manufacturing methods isn't entirely new for Apple. Steve Jobs has always had a fondness for having his own plant to produce computers. In 1990, he built a totally automated plant in Fremont California that could build NeXT machines with only 100 workers. It was a "plant with just about everything: lasers, robots, speed, and remarkably few defects." Unfortunately, the demand wasn't very high at the time. However, Jobs remarked, "I'm as proud of the factory as I am of the computer."

Jonathan Ive, Apple’s senior vice president of Industrial Design, noted that, "Traditionally notebooks are made from multiple parts. With the new MacBook, we’ve replaced all of those parts with just one part—the unibody. The MacBook’s unibody enclosure is made from a single block of aluminium, making the new MacBook fundamentally thinner, stronger and more robust with a fit and finish that we’ve never even dreamed of before.”

More about how the Macbook will be produced has been published and ManufactureLink can give you a detailed insight into the entire process.

How the Macbook Enclosure is Manufactured

The previous MacBook Pro uses a thin, bowl-shaped, pressed metal shell that has a metal formed internal skeleton to hold the internal parts together. The top bezel lays on top and is screwed in place on the sides and back edge. These pieces allow for some tolerance, requiring plastic gaskets to fit the components together snugly.

Click here to locate manufacturers of custom metal pressings.

The new 15" MacBook Pro, along with its nearly identical 13.3" MacBook version, start with an extruded block of raw aluminum, selected for its favorable strength to weight ratio and the flexibility it offers in processing and finishing.

Starting with an aluminium extrusion is an excellent strategy often used to reduce machining times. Extrusion can produce a pre-finished section in almost any shape which is then cut to length before the detailed machining work is performed. This eliminates the need to 'block out' an aluminium billet before finish machining.

Click here to find suppliers of custom aluminum extrusions.

In the Macbook process, waterjet cutters are used to slice up the extrusions and to quickly remove the areas where it woudl be milled right through such as where the keyboard fits. The aluminium extrusion is then carved out using high speed CNC or "computer numerical control" machining in a process used by the aerospace industry to build mission critical, high precision components. The aluminium extrusion undergoes 13 separate milling operations.

Click here to locate suppliers with waterjet cutting capability.

Apple uses high speed CNC machining to precision cut keyboard holes from the face of the slab, mill out the "thumbscoop" that provides enough of a recession to open the display lid comfortably without putting too much pressure on the lid, and machine out complex patterns from the inside.

Click here to locate high speed CNC machine shops.

Now comes the part where the lasers are used. Laser drilling is used to create micro-perforations in the aluminium that light can pass through but are practically invisible to the human eye.

Laser drilling has limitations on how deep it can penetrate, so a portion of the front edge is milled thin enough that the laser can be used to micro-perforate the metal to allow light from the sleep indicator LED to pass through the metal. When the sleep indicator is off, the metal appears to be solid. Apple has already used this process on the MacBook Air and the Bluetooth Keyboard that shipped last year alongside the aluminium iMac.

Once the inside is precision CNC machined it leaves a design that is in many ways more beautiful internally than externally. The component is finished by automated deburring, edge rounding and polishing.

The environmentally-friendly recycled bits

The material machined from the aluminium block (swarf) is collected and recycled. Jobs noted that the new MacBooks "are the industry’s greenest notebooks.”

Apple says the entire new MacBook line meets stringent Energy Star 4.0, EPEAT Gold and RoHS environmental standards, and leads the industry in the elimination of toxic chemicals by containing no brominated flame retardants, using only PVC-free internal cables and components, and using energy efficient LED-backlit displays that are mercury-free and made with arsenic-free glass.

What advantages are there to manufacturing from a solid aluminium billet using CNC machining?

• Carving out of aluminum eliminates the need to bend the metal and create weak spots or microfolds and rifts.
• There are no seams in the final product, so it is smooth.
• Screws aren’t needed to tie the products together.
• The shell is one piece of metal so it is super light, super strong and super cheap.
• You can be a whole lot more creative with the design when you are machining it rather than pressing metal.

As Peter Oppenheimer said at the recent earnings call, this innovation is something "Apple's competitors won't be able to match for some time to come. We expect the process to drive down the prices of MacBooks over the next few years and at the same time allow Apple to continue to lead in the innovation department. Design changes should come much more rapidly with rapid prototyping."

Subscribe free-of-charge to the Advanced Manufacturing Bulletin and be kept informed about manufacturing industry news and new manufacturing technology.