Just now I was watching the video of Apple's announcement of their new laptops. I saw something that made me pause the video to write this post.

Earlier in the presentation, Jonathan Ive talked about the manufacturing process that Apple pioneered for the frames of their new generation of laptops. I'd already read about this: they carve the frames out of a single piece of aluminum, making them not only light but very strong. I'm at the part now where Steve Jobs has passed around a piece of the new "unibody" enclosure for the audience to touch and feel for themselves. He did this at about 25:15.

Having seen and heard what the audience saw and heard, I'm surprised how many of them simply passed the aluminum piece to the next person, barely giving it a glance. Of the people who did hold on to it for a moment, I'm surprised how many people looked at one side, looked at the other side, and passed it on. Very few of the audience members tested the frame's strength in any way, at least the people they showed in the video. I don't understand this, because that's what I would immediately have done given what Jonathan and Steve just said. Indeed, Steve himself gave the frame a little wiggle, as if inviting the audience to do the same.

I once read a tip about buying suits. If you're not sure the suit is 100% wool, grab the sleeve and give it a hard twist like you're wringing water out of a towel. If it's wool, you won't leave a wrinkle. (Note that I read this tip many years ago; modern synthetics may pass this test as well.)

I do a similar test for the rigidity of laptops. I hold the laptop with one hand on each side and give it a very slight but firm twist like I'm loosening ice cubes in an ice cube tray. I judge the laptop's toughness by how much it gives.

Apple's aluminum laptops have all done very well in this test, especially the MacBook Air, considering how thin it is. I tried the latest MacBook and MacBook Pro and I think they feel even stronger than previous aluminum models, but I admit that might be power of suggestion, since I already knew about the new manufacturing process. I would love to be able to try an "old" MacBook Pro side-by-side with a new one.

Okay… time to watch the rest of the video.