Design of a Macbook

Many readers have commented on the number of Apple products that appear on the site. The reason for this is simple. For the most part, Apple’s products offer an attractive package of quality and performance at an affordable price. The design choices made by Apple also tend to mirror the ones I would make, so the products are well-suited to my particular tastes. But, in case readers would like a more detailed explanation, I’ve decided to do a little case study.

Ever since the Apple II, general opinion has been that Apple products are better designed than those of their competitors. While I do believe that Apple’s industrial design is first class, thanks in large part to Jonathan Ive and his team, I think that the engineering build quality of the company’s products has only just recently become exceptional as well. While the iPod, iBook G4, Powerbook G4, and iPhone were strikingly designed, they all suffered from numerous flaws, including easily scratched plastics, surfaces that stained over time, peeling paints, and cracking plastics. Going further, I don’t think that these products were any more rugged than the less attractive products they competed with. Fans of IBM Thinkpads (now sold by Lenovo) and Nokia phones have long touted their reliability as a selling point, and I agree with them. However, I believe that in the past couple of years, Apple has begun to reconcile beautiful design with robust construction in a way that no other consumer electronics company has. To illustrate my point, let’s take a look at the design of a current generation Macbook Pro. (For brevity, any instance of Macbook refers to the Macbook Pro unless otherwise specified.)

Enclosure

Let’s start with what is most obvious. Since late 2008, Apple has manufactured the Macbook Pro using the unibody construction method first introduced on the Macbook Air. While the process has been around a long time for automotive and industrial applications, I can’t find any examples of it in consumer electronics before the Air. There are two parts to Apple’s unibody construction process. The first is easy to guess: the Macbook body base is one seamless piece, as the name suggests. Unlike previous Macbooks where a thin aluminum shell was placed over a frame, the unibody enclosure is both the skin and structure of the notebook. The same evolution took place in aircraft and automobile design. Instead of building a skeleton over which surface panels were placed, engineers came up with the idea of a monocoque that could perform both functions.

The second part of Apple’s unibody design is where people get confused. A car or airplane body is far too large to be sculpted out of one piece of metal, so multiple panels are welded together. Though a proper weld creates a joint that is as strong as the material itself, it detracts from the look of the monocoque construction. Since a notebook is a much smaller product, it can be milled out of a single block of aluminum. In a sense, the Macbook unibody is the truest monocoque you can make.

The unibody construction is the main reason why the newer Macbooks feel so much better than the ones they replaced. You couldn’t pick up an old Macbook Pro in one hand without feeling a slight bend in the enclosure. Resting your palm below the keyboard sometimes resulted in spurious clicks due to the case bending inwards and triggering the trackpad sensor. And anyone who had a Powerbook or early Macbook Pro knows that the lid became curved over time, resulting in an uneven gap between the two notebook halves when closed. Carving the notebook body from one material solved these issues. Aluminum is one of the lighter metals, too, so weight is kept in check. I should also mention that the massive increase in battery size with the unibody Macbooks is key in improving structural rigidity. A battery is extremely dense — perhaps even bulletproof — so tightly placing one or more between the enclosure walls definitely contributes to the Macbook’s solid construction.

There are a whole host of other benefits to the unibody enclosure. By choosing a material like aluminum and applying several finishing stages to it, the need for a coating is eliminated. Gone are the peeling paints of the titanium Powerbook. The alloy chosen by Apple is fairly scratch resistant and matte in appearance, so it doesn’t suffer from the swirl marks that plagued the glossy white Macbook or the greasy appearance of the black model. In my experience, the aluminum doesn’t stain like plastic and is easy to clean. The metal also has pretty good thermal conductivity. While I don’t know to what extent Apple currently takes advantage of this, I could imagine future enclosures having interior walls machined with grooves like heatsinks. Hot chips could be placed directly in contact with the enclosure, and the massive surface area would dissipate heat. Lastly, one can’t ignore the premium look and feel of aluminum. When you pick up a Macbook Pro, it feels cold and smooth, unlike other notebooks.

Ports

Many would think that using a solid aluminum enclosure limits what can be done in terms of expandability and aesthetics. This couldn’t be more untrue. Take the port design of the Macbook Pro as an example. On the first Macbook Pro, the cutouts for the ports were lined with plastic inserts. My guess is that they were needed to reinforce the hole cut through the thin aluminum shell. You won’t find these on the newer unibody Macbooks. Manufacturing is simplified down to a CNC machine cutting through the enclosure, so fewer parts are used, and the resulting opening is stronger — not to mention nicer looking. In fact, comparing the ports on a Macbook Pro and a competing PC notebook shows the vast gulf that exists between the two in terms of build quality. On a PC, the ports are made from thin metal and soldered to the various circuit boards. The ports are then placed through larger cutouts in the plastic enclosure. This method comes nowhere near the tight tolerance found on a Macbook Pro and puts far more stress on the circuit board each time a peripheral is connected and disconnected. And again, the smart engineering of the Macbook creates beautiful design. The ports line up precisely, grouped together smartly on one side, without compromising the strength of the enclosure.

Status Indicators

The use of a strong metal for the enclosure encourages creativity and subtlety in design. Take a look at the battery or sleep indicators on any new Macbook Pro. They’re nearly invisible when not lit up. Rather than cut out a small whole for an LED — like on the underside of the Magic Mouse — many tiny holes are made using a laser. Unlit, the holes can barely be seen with the naked eye. When a status needs to be indicated, the dots light up and blur together, appearing as one. The process was first used on the Macbook Pro iSight indicator in 2006. Apple then began using it for all external status indicators. Even the power indicator on the relatively cheap aluminum keyboard is made this way. Slightly larger holes are used for the microphones on unibody Macbooks, too. As with the example of the ports above, this design touch flows from the choice of material. Plastic is too soft to allow such fine laser cutting.

The process of hiding external features until they’re needed is both aesthetically pleasing and functional. It means you can be as subtle as possible in notifying the user that something is happening. I fully support this, having owned an iMac G5 in my bedroom. The large sleep LED hidden behind the polycarbonate front needed to be covered with tape to keep it from lighting up the room. (At least it pulsated smoothly in sync with my average resting respiratory rate.) The evolution of this status indicator concept found on the Macbooks is so much better than what you get on a PC. An LED placed through a hole in the case disrupts the exterior surface, can be broken easily, and offers dirt or water another place to get inside. See Jonathan Ive talking about this in a short excerpt from Objectified.

Keyboard and Trackpad

Apple does some incredibly simple things to the keyboard and trackpad that contribute immensely to the look and feel of the Macbook Pro. For the keyboard, Apple adopted the same chiclet keys found on Sony Vaios. Indeed, a Sony Vaio from 2004 has a very similar keyboard to the ones used on all Macs today. (Older computers like the ZX Spectrum had keyboards with separate buttons, but it’s clear the Macbook inherits the most from the Vaio.) Here’s a perfect example of Apple "stealing" a design and refining it. Even on the later Vaios, the keyboard still looks a little too complicated. Apple aligns all the keys nicely, chooses a suitable typeface for the letters, and designs simple glyphs for the function keys instead of crowding them with full words. Apple took a design and went a few iterations further. And that makes all the difference.

Apple also addressed a design problem with the chiclet keyboard. On pre-unibody Macbook Pros and old Powerbooks, people complained that the keys pressed against the display when the lid was closed, which caused scratches. It took two design elements to fix the problem. First, when the chiclet keyboard appeared on the plastic Macbook, it was recessed into the base a couple of millimeters. This wasn’t enough to stop dusty key outlines from showing up on Macbook displays, though. The plastic lid wasn’t rigid enough, bending inward when held tightly in hand or placed in a backpack. On the unibody Macbooks, the lid no longer flexes easily, preventing contact between the display and keyboard.

When it comes to trackpads, almost everyone agrees that Apple’s are the best. Attention to detail in the design process is the only explanation for this. PC manufacturers have access to the same touchpad controllers as Apple, from companies like Synaptics and Broadcom. Trackpads are not a new technology. But the PC manufacturers go and make trackpads that are minuscule and mushy feeling, that don’t sit flush against the casing, that dip down more on one side than another, that have special strips to access different functions. On a Macbook, the trackpad is gargantuan relative to other notebooks, and it feels solid. Some say the Macbook trackpads click too loudly. With the unibody Macbook, Apple got rid of at least one unnecessary seam by removing the separate button for clicking. That’s one less place for dirt and grime to go, and that matters when it’s the one spot on your notebook that’s constantly being touched. If you’ve ever cleaned an old mouse’s scroll wheel or the famous Mighty Mouse nipple, you know what kind of gunk collects on your fingertips. Even better, the trackpad surface itself is glass. Apple says this improves the feel of it. I don’t think most people would agree with that, but I appreciate the improved build quality and the fact that it doesn’t stain and is easy to wipe down.

Aesthetically, it’s worth mentioning that Apple makes an effort to keep things symmetrical and properly aligned. The rounded corners of the keyboard surround match those of the key holes. The trackpad is centered horizontally between the edges of the notebook. Why do others insist on putting it off to the side? Last, I appreciate that the Macbook keyboards are identical to their desktop counterparts. Moving from machine to machine and retaining the same key layout and feel is convenient. It also helps with manufacturing and reduces component number and cost.

Final details

Some aspects of the Macbook Pro design have been around awhile, and competitors still haven’t stepped up. The best example is the slot-loading DVD drive. While I’d love for Apple to get rid of it altogether, it’s at least as unobtrusive externally as you can get. And yet, in 2010, almost every other notebook ships with a bulky plastic tray-loading drive. Every time I see one, it feels like I’m looking at some relic from the past. The mechanical pop of the tray as it ejects, the snapping of the disc onto the holder — it might as well be a tape player from the ’80s.

The hinge design of the Macbook Pro is another feature that demonstrates attention to detail. There are multiple patents for it. The engineers responsible came up with a design that allows for one hinge — rather than two separate ones — to run the length of the notebook, even in notebooks with extremely thin bases. You’ll also notice that it allows the keyboard to sit very close to the bottom of the display. The design looks simple and clean when the notebook is closed. The only downside I have found is that the hinge limits the maximum angle at which the lid can be opened. This isn’t ergonomically ideal for people who use their notebooks lying down. I never do, so I think it’s an acceptable tradeoff. It took a few tries to get it right, though. A search of the Apple support forums is an easy way to find lots of problems related to the hinge design, on all but the most recent notebooks. When you’re putting new designs into production, especially for mechanical components, the risk of failure is higher. Thankfully Apple has excellent customer service to fall back on.

Of course I have to briefly mention the use of magnets in the Macbooks. The most obvious use is in the MagSafe connector, which is magnetically attracted to its female socket. It’s only lightly held in place, so tripping over your power cable causes the connector to pull out cleanly, without dragging your notebook to the floor with it. Ingenious. Like most plugs, the MagSafe connector is only symmetrical about one axis. It works upside down, though, so it’s easy to plug it in correctly. (I can’t say the same for USB.) I would however like to see the shape change to something less angular. The magnetic pull of the connector causes it to insert abruptly, and the tight fit means that the edges of the connector tend to scratch against those of the Macbook’s port. The MagSafe’s other major design flaw has already been fixed. The first version lined up the cable with the connector. Given the plug’s small size, most people tend to pull it out by grabbing the cable itself. Over time, the repeated stress on the cable can cause fraying, and in some cases fire. Newer MagSafe power adaptors place the connector at a 90° angle to the cable, forcing you to grab the connector itself to remove it.

The less noticeable use of magnets on the Macbook is on the lid. Before the plastic Macbook, Apple notebooks used horribly flimsy latches to secure the lid to the base. Moving to a magnetic closing system removed a number of parts and a significant point of failure. All that's visible now is a small groove in the base to allow your finger to lift the lid up. I can guarantee that the depth of that groove was only settled on after a lot of testing. Too shallow and you can't comfortably lift the lid; too deep and the display is exposed to fingerprints and scratches. It feels just about right, and it’s a smart solution that PC makers are starting to incorporate into their own products.

A Few Words for Competitors

Every major tech company can source the same components and fund the most advanced manufacturing processes. There is no Apple magic. Apple follows industry trends, judging when new features make sense from a cost perspective and deciding when old features can be dropped. There is a clear effort to simplify and reduce. That’s it. Watching everyone else produce such inferior products is frustrating. The industry would be so much more exciting if companies would care a little more. The change doesn’t even need to be drastic. If Apple’s Macbooks are proof of one thing, it’s that complex products like notebooks require numerous design iterations to get right. And no Macbook has ever been perfect. Daily use by millions of people reveals design and engineering flaws that must wait until the next update to be fixed. There are still numerous ways to improve the Macbook. I see them every day.

I’m waiting for Apple’s competitors to wake up and try harder. I can’t think of another industry where the standard is so low. Every other product category, from cars to watches, has healthy competition between companies that devote huge resources to design and quality. For whatever reason, consumer electronics is different. Until there is a change, this site, whose purpose is to seek out the best products available, will continue to feature plenty of Apple products.

Klhip Nail Clipper

People are criticizing the steep $50 price, but I kind of love this nail clipper. The design appears to solve several problems, and it looks well constructed. Horrible name, though.

The Beatles USB Limited Edition

If you love The Beatles, here's yet another way to own their discography. The Beatles USB collection features every stereo remastered track in a lossless 24-bit version — the highest quality release ever. Available for $269 on Amazon.

The Beatles Stereo Box Set

Today Apple began selling The Beatles' music catalog on iTunes. The box set is priced at $149. Individual albums are $12.99 or $19.99. Alternatively, you could buy The Beatles Box Set, in mono or stereo, for $129, with individual albums going for $7.99 or $11.99.  In either case, you'll get better sound quality than what's on iTunes. When will the record labels learn?

External Hard Drive

A few years ago I lost about 10GB worth of documents because I didn't back them up properly. It put me in a pretty bad mood for a few weeks. The feeling you get when you lose your phone; it's like that but much worse. There's no chance of getting your files back, and you can't replace them. I lost hundreds of photos, sketches, and notes.

Don't let this happen to you. If your data only lives in one place, it might as well not exist at all. And if that one place is on a notebook, you're even worse off. Not only are notebooks more susceptible to technical failure, they're also more likely to be stolen than a desktop. My sister is in exactly this situation, and I cringe every time I see her load yet more photos onto her Macbook, without having a backup. I think of it as a form debt — data debt. It builds up as you collect media, until something catastrophic happens and you lose it all. Get on top of it before it's too late and start backing up.

It turns out that backing up your computer is easy and affordable. All you need is an external hard drive. There are a couple things to consider when shopping for a drive:

• Every hard drive is destined to break.
• The hard drive is the slowest part of a computer by several orders of magnitude.
• Hard drives all cost about the same.

This means that the only reasons to choose one external drive over another are design factors, i.e, how it looks, how small it is, how many cables it needs, etc. No point whatsoever in comparing different brands' reliability statistics and specs. With that in mind, I really like Lacie products, and especially the Lacie Rikiki Go. It's the smallest 2.5-inch hard drive you can buy, it's housed in a sleek aluminum enclosure, and it's got up to 1TB of storage. Because the Rikiki uses a mobile hard drive, it doesn't need to be plugged into power; the included USB cable is all you need. I hate cable clutter, so that's a big deal. I really like the included mini cable for quick transfers, but it's not ideal for a drive that will stay plugged in on your desk. Get a longer USB cable if you plan to hide the drive behind your display or on a corner of your desk.

You may be wondering what the point of a mobile drive is if you intend to keep your backup at your desk. Let me share another story. Last year, there was a fire at my apartment building. At the time, I was outside with my dog, so I wasn't allowed in until the fire had been put out. I watched from the street as firefighters sprayed water onto a column of smoke rising just above my apartment. All I could think of was what would happen if my computer got damaged. You see, I had a desktop with two backup drives, but both were heavy and needed power bricks, so I left them plugged in on my desk. My computer is used for all my work, so I could have lost absolutely everything. In the end, the fire was due to a faulty circuit in the elevator shaft which happens to be one apartment over from mine. Luckily I didn't lose anything.

So why is a mobile drive the way to go for almost everyone? Because you need a second one to store somewhere else. Keep a backup on your desk for immediate recovery when something goes horribly wrong. If your computer dies the night before a project is due, plug in your backup and you can keep working right away. But you should also keep a drive offsite. It could be at your office or a friend's house. For college students, this is easy. Swap backups with someone you know across campus. That way, if someone robs your dorm or some disaster strikes, your data will be safe. The smaller your external drive, the more likely your are to swap it out regularly. And if you think this is too extreme, consider that most companies back up their data on multiple continents in case of natural disaster.

While I'm on the topic, I should mention the best software available for backing up your computer. For full backups, you should use SuperDuper. It's the simplest, most reliable app I've found for the job. I schedule it to run at 2:00 AM every morning, so it doesn't get in the way like Apple's Time Machine does. With SuperDuper, you'll have an exact bootable copy of your computer's hard drive, ready to use if ever something goes wrong. As for individual file backup, I love Dropbox (referral link). I haven't found anything else that is as convenient for online storage and sharing of files. You get 2GB of space for free, which is enough to sync the stuff you're currently working on. If something happens to your computer between backups, you'll have your newest stuff saved in your Dropbox.

That's my backup plan. One backup on my desk, one backup offsite, and my newest files stored in multiple places around the world with Dropbox. This might all sound inconvenient, and it is. I can't wait for the day when something better exists. For now, though, it's the best option. You can have peace of mind for $250. Trust me, it's worth it.

Lacie Rikiki Go 1TB Portable Hard Drive: $125 – Buy Now

SuperDuper: $27 – Buy Now

DropBox: Free

Incase Protective Sleeve Deluxe

Came across this while doing some research on notebook sleeves. The Incase Macbook sleeve has a thoughtful design feature; one corner is zippered for quick access to the charging port.

Leather Overnight Bag

This site is my quest to find the best products out there. Most of the time, I stick to computers and technology, not only because it's what I'm familiar with, but because the vast majority of tech products are horrifically bad. That makes picking the good ones a little easier. There are also fewer competing manufacturers in the industry. I can say with complete certainty that Apple makes the best computers on Earth.

Things like clothes, watches, and accessories are another matter. Techniques for working with textiles, woods, metals, leathers, and other basic materials have existed for centuries. There's been a lot of time for people around the world to perfect them and make fine products. That makes picking the best ones a challenge.

With that said, it's hard not to recommend the Saddleback Leather Company bags. They're made of waterproof full grain leather — the toughest kind — and forego breakable zippers or snaps in favor of heavy-duty buckles. The copy on their site reads like an exaggerated Old West saloon tale, but the company backs it up. Every bag is covered by a 100 year warranty. Look around online and you'll find many stories of Saddleback issuing full refunds or replacements to unsatisfied customers.

There are plenty of Saddleback reviews already, like the ones here and here, so I won't repeat what's been said. If you want a bag that's tough as nails, you'll be happy with a Saddleback. If you want a slim, modern briefcase for your Macbook Air, you should probably look elsewhere. There are some things I'd like to point out, though. First, I love the idea of a product that looks better with use. As you scuff and scratch your Saddleback bag, it softens and develops a unique patina. Gadgets are the opposite: not only do they become obsolete with the introduction of faster models, they look tacky at the slightest blemish. Next, I can appreciate the boldness of Saddleback's designs. There has been no attempt to tone down the rugged appearance of their bags. The leather is thick with unfinished sides and covered in chunky straps and buckles. As a result, the overnight bag weighs 12 pounds with nothing in it. Rather than compromise and build a bag that would suit a larger audience, Saddleback tailored their product to a particular customer. That's how you make stuff that people love. Lastly, I can respect a guy whose company has personality. Saddleback feels like a small shop of craftsmen proud of the work it took to become a success. And you've got to love the tribute to the company dog.

The Saddleback overnight bag itself has some smart design touches. The shoulder strap's clasps swivel, so it can't get tangled up. The main compartment is undivided, leaving you free to pack it however you'd like. There's a back pocket running the entire length of the bag for quick access to magazines or newspapers. An aluminum bar has been riveted to the top flap for extra strength. The inside lining is pigskin; it feels like it could take a bullet. All of these things make for a simple and durable bag. Because of these choices, you'll need to unbuckle five straps to fully open the bag, and there are no sealable pockets, but that's a tradeoff I can live with. And one tip: don't buy it in black. You buy a bag like this to see the natural wear of the leather over time. Black leather, no matter the quality, just looks cheap as it ages.

In my search for the perfect bag, I came across a few other quality brands, like Palmer & Sons, Custom Hide, Mitchell Leather, and Walden Bags. You can even order a bag made from the finest 18th century Russian hides, discovered at the bottom of the Plymouth Sound. I wish that I could definitively pick the best out of all of these, but I can't. All I know is Saddleback Leather Company makes a damn fine bag.

Saddleback Leather Company Overnight Bag: $537 – Buy Now

Safety Razor

There was a time when shaving was a rite of passage for men. It was something that your dad taught you when you were responsible enough to take a sharp blade to your face. With the advent of cartridge razors, that's all gone. Usually, I support any attempt at making a product more accessible and easier to use. When it comes to shaving, though, the tradeoffs are far too many.

Today, men are told that the best way to shave is with a multi-blade cartridge razor. We're up to five blades now. Five blades. If that doesn't sound like "more is better" philosophy gone wrong, I don't know what does. Worse still, these razors all look like something modeled after a car from The Fast and the Furious. They're cheap and plastic with a bunch of moveable, breakable parts. Some even vibrate! This madness has to stop.

The right way to shave is with a safety razor. The Merkur Heavy Classic is one such razor. It's made in Germany out of solid steel. The design hasn't changed in decades because it doesn't need to. Essentially it's the same as the standard-issue Gillette razor given to Armed Forces during World War I. Go browse eBay and you'll find all sorts of antique razors from the early 20th century. And, unlike anything sold at the drugstore today, all they need is a quick bath in boiling water and they're good as new.

More important than your choice of razor is the blade you shave with. I'm perfectly happy shaving with Merkur blades. If you want an even closer shave, try the blades from Feather. They're Japanese and surgically sharp. There are tons of other blades out there, with a nice roundup of a few here. I like to stick with one brand and buy in bulk. Merkurs go for just over 6 cents a blade when you buy 50.

Next up is your choice of cream. Stop using a can of goop. If you want a cream that you can apply without a brush, go for Cremo Cream. I don't love the smell, but it'll give you a great shave. If you want the full ritual of a wet shave, you'll need a badger hair brush and true cream. You can spend some serious money here when you start looking at brushes made from silvertip badger hair. Honestly though, anything from Rooney or Vulfix will do. As for creams, it's a very subjective matter. Truefitt & Hill and Taylor of Old Bond Street are excellent premium options. A little goes a long way so the cost isn't so bad in the long run.

Now that you've got everything you need, go check out some YouTube videos for a quick demonstration of a proper shave. It's nowhere near as difficult as Gillette would have you believe. There's a reason it's called a safety razor. A bit of care in how you handle the razor is all you need. With a little practice, you'll be getting the closest, most comfortable shaves of your life.

There are entire communities dedicated to discussing the perfect shaving supplies and techniques. It's fun to explore and compare your options, but don't obsess over them. Find something that works and stick to it. Purists will say the only true shave is with a straight razor. That's nonsense. A safety razor like the Merkur gives you nearly all of the benefits without the added risk and maintenance. If you get bitten by the bug and want to give it a shot, that's great, but the safety razor hits the design sweet spot for me.

Merkur Heavy Classic Safety Razor: $49 – Buy Now

Design Fabulous

An interesting blog written by young industrial designer Andrew Kim. Check out his concepts for an HTC smartphone and a greener Coke bottle.

Instapaper 2.3 for iPhone and iPad

Really great update to one of my favorite iOS apps. There's already an option to read in inverted mode (white text on black) for more comfortable nighttime reading, but it has to be switched on manually. In this update, Marco uses GPS to find your location so that the mode can be turned on automatically at sunset. Attention to detail.