Notebook Shells Are Plastic - Offer Metal Casings Too

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Notebook Shells Are Plastic - Offer Metal Casings Too

9976 points posted to Laptops by googideas 02/17/07

Notebooks get carried everywhere. Shouldn't Dell offer an aluminum or otherwise metal casing/construction as an option?

If I am going to drop two grand on a laptop, which I just did, I sure as heck want it as rugged as possible. I don't care about weight or additional cost. I want it to last.

Plastic is brittle. A dent in the metal is better than a crack in the plastic. It's also easier to recycle.

What do you think?

gautam 02/17/07	Yes, I was going to say this as well. Especially for the palm-rest area, where the pain strips off!
hope 02/17/07	Many of the laptops are made of metal. D620 for example is.
googideas 02/17/07	Absolutely. The Inspiron unfortunately is not, and an extremely popular model. I just bought a media Inspiron and as my portable library of music it is going to see some wear, and I am beginning to see what that is going to mean. Metal conducts heat better too, and I have supported the post which comments on how hot a laptop is when it is one's lap (which is to be expected:). Thank you.
henchan 02/18/07	If you want a metal laptop, get the Business D-series. They are very well made, with metal.
snife 02/18/07	i'm sorry to be harsh about this but I have grown somewhat annoyed with how PCs have become commoditised. Inspirons are for chumps - you get what you pay for, if you want a laptop for $500 then it is going to be a piece of cheap plastic that wont last long and is generally not that well designed (mouse buttons almost unusable sometimes in my experience for example). If your buying a PC that is important for your life/work then be prepared to spend a bit more and get something of superior quality and design like the D620 Latitude, or better yet, forget about Dell and get a ThinkPad
aridog 02/19/07	Amen on the Dell Latitude series...I am on my 3rd one, a D620, preceded by a D600 and D800. Tough enough if cased even moderately well. Mine have bounced all over the USA in checked baggage no less, and even overseas. One caution...do not block the ventilation ports. I love the expansion docking station for them, one button to push and go.
mahei 02/19/07	You are absolutely right!For that much money i expect anything to last for some years and not fall apart after ~2years. Gosh, i'm beginning to hate these consumer electronics. Already when i'm buying some stuff nowadays i wonder how long it will last :(
snife 02/20/07	aridog - i couldn't disagree more about the D800 - it had rotten build quality, the only thing that gave it any strength was the fact that it was the size of a small tank. I think that the D620 is soooo much better that they shouldn't even have used the same naming convention for the 2 models as they are leagues apart.
maruser 02/20/07	Metal would be too heavy
googideas 02/20/07	Snife: I paid $2000 for an Inspiron fully loaded for emdia experience. Because it was the best way to configure what was on offer, and because of the way Dell breaks buying choices into categories. It is a good computer. This post was to say that all laptops should have a metal casing option (if it were me, I'd give it as a free upgrade when $ spent is above a certain level). That is all the post is arguing for, or suggesting.
camix 02/21/07	I'm just tired of my laptop feeling like a chinsy breakable piece of crap. Encasing the laptop in something more solid would be nice and building them in a way that the paint doesn't just eventually wear off from use would be nice too.
vozome 02/26/07	rugged, child-friendly laptops would be nice, too
cstradling24 02/26/07	I would not want a metal case. It would make a heavy laptop even heavier....
acb15 02/26/07	A metal case can seriously mess with your wifi reception. Just ask a Macbook user. :)
blackflag 02/26/07	Yes.. A better case would be a good idea.. But what kind of metal could it be made of that wont mess with a wi-fi antenna? I would rather have a better plastic or a non interfering metal.. There are many other types of composite plastics that can be used that would offer much more impact resistance and a lighter frame.. But all this would come at a cost that would more then likely be passed on to the consumer.. I'd gladly pay more for a better case if I knew that it would be stronger and lighter then the usual case...
ftmgal 02/27/07	Back in the olden days when I spent $4000 for a 25MHz laptop I wanted it to last forever. As time went on I found that I could could either buy a $2000 desktop replacement and worry about every bump or I could buy a $500 tool that did what I needed in the field and if I knocked it off the bucket it was sitting on I wouldn't cry if it then fell into the sewer. There is a place for big, heavy, and expensive and there is a place for light, cheap, and disposable. You won't be happy if you try to make one do the other's job.
capslock 02/28/07	It also makes the product "feel" more expensive, a slick metal shell will always be more nice than plastic, even if the plastic is just as strong. You could have a look at the mobile phone and mp3 player market to get some inspiration... A leather notebook would be cool aswell, although IIRC Asus has done that already...
davedave 03/03/07	I like the idea. Simple but bang on.
getgreg 03/03/07	Ok, I'm just going to assume, by "metal" you actually mean aluminum. Which is really the only metal suitable for a laptop. Apple experimented with titanium, but it interfered with WIFI too much and they moved to aluminum. Also, I'm not so sure that D620 is metal. I believe it's just plastic with metallic paint, but I could be wrong. Some Sony VIAOs that claimed a "magnesium alloy" exterior were just that, magnesium paint on plastic. Those metallic paints are pretty convincing and it can honestly be pretty hard to tell the difference sometimes. However, I'd much prefer more durable plastic over aluminum or any metal. Polycarbonate for example is unbreakable, they use it in bullet proof glass. Apple uses polycarb on the iBook and MacBook line and it's great. My Dell laptop on the other hand is made of such cheap, flimsy plastic I can actually feel it bend under it's own weight when I pick it up. The big problem with aluminum is that it seems to warp and bend a lot easier than plastic breaks. So you end up with laptops that don't really close completely. Find anyone with a PowerBook a few years old and take a good look at it. Most likely if the owner ever dropped it, the lid won't close right anymore. Anyways, I actually just wrote about aluminum versus polycarb on my blog, you might want to check it out: http://www.theyshoulddothat.com/2007/02/polycarbonate_vs_aluminum_for.html
jervis961 03/07/07	This would be a great option along with a betther venting system.
blizcheetah 03/07/07	Putting the "laptop" in your lap is NOT expected.
mdp 03/08/07	Probably need to identify metal for the ‘shell’ or ‘frame’. I'm a desktop support director and see many laptops have their 'issues'. The most resilient laptops for business have the durable plastic or polycarb shells (Latitude D800, D810…). (I’m not talking about the rugged military designs.) I’ve heard the ‘metal is durable’ suggestion, but the two worst cases in the past 12 months were two Apple PowerBooks. One was dropped and looked like a taco- Apple will not support warranty work if there is a dimple in the case. The Apple tech said this was because the dimple shows ‘something’ happened and it may affect the internals. I’m not sure if Dell could continue offering Complete Care if they went to the metal shell.
ctkachuk 03/13/07	Actually, I'm using the Latitude D620 right now. The shell IS made of plastic. As are the shells of all our portables. The D620 latch is made of metal, but everything else is plastic. The D620 ATG (All Terrain grade) is using a magnesium alloy chassis, but that system is also quite a bit more expensive. The D620 is actually magnesium alloy, tested by the military for durability. As for complete care, it's offered with all the systems, and I'm sure it wouldn't matter; if the system's performance was affected, it'd just be sent back to the depot for repairs, or a whole system exchange.
greythanis 03/23/07	just ask for a more rugged plastic! Ther are some pretty potent plastics out there. Maybe even reiforce it with carbon fibre? it's expensive, but we're not talking about huge amounts. I've always envisioned a laptop with metal frame, stronger plastic, and rubber pieces on the corners to absorb impact. that's what i think
alatown 04/23/07	Yep, my Precision M70 is cracked on the all-too prominent and pointy corners. Not to mention it looks like a cheap piece of crap.
skylarkguy 04/25/07	Metal is better. I hate plastic...
reg 04/25/07
gerryjoson 05/09/07	dell's X20 series latitudes have a cast magnesium alloy base and lid outer,the palm rest is plastic as is the inner lcd bezel. The xps1710 has a cast mag base as does the XPS1210 and precision series. FYI magnesium is roughly 30% lighter than aluminium and up to 50% stronger depending on its composition,dell's newest laptops of this variety are built much better than most brands and bear no resemblance to the plasticy inspiron 8600,precision M60 era Dell's
expatinasia 05/17/07	"Apple experimented with titanium, but it interfered with WIFI too much and they moved to aluminum. " Baloney. Steve Jobs commanded that the Product Design folks develop a business computer less than 1" tihck. The result was a titanium-paneled case with a carbon fiber external frame (the internal frame was magnesium). It wasn't an "experiment", it was a real product. As with most Apple PD creations, the case was very expensive and, when the PD language was renewed, Apple used aluminum. The change was made due to cost, not the WiFi experience. There are many metals available and, if you limit yourself to Aluminum - as you have - you'll miss a lot of opportunities. As other posters have noted, Dell uses metal in some of its cases...and it's magnesium.
thebittersea 05/17/07	no wireless signal.
saleemohaib 08/25/07	Metal will get really hot and also make the laptop heavy therefore I will vote against the idea. Using Carbon fibre night be a nice Idea though. They are using that stuff to make aircrafts these days, it will make the laptop more expansive for sure.
kwifler 09/18/07	There are many strong plastics and fibers out there, of course Dell would choose the weak cheap stuff, eh? Have you heard of the efforts with producing a material from spider web? It's awesomely strong and light!!!!! Also, metal can be surprisingly strong in a thin paint coat, and layering can reenforce the integrity. Wow, I thought magnesium was a vitamin, LOL

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