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I hope we'll see this one day
http://www.x404.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=315		 Page 1 of 2
Author:  ProfessorF [ Sun May 03, 2009 10:05 pm ]
Post subject:  I hope we'll see this one day
Gossip suggests carbon fibre as a feature in future machines.
Sweet.
Author:  HeatherKay [ Mon May 04, 2009 8:32 am ]
Post subject:  Re: I hope we'll see this one day
How "green" is carbon fibre? Can it be recycled easily?

If it can, then it may well make an appearance in some form. Otherwise, I doubt it. Apple's done well to make their hardware as recyclable and green as possible in the past couple of years.
Author:  ChurchCat [ Mon May 04, 2009 8:59 am ]
Post subject:  Re: I hope we'll see this one day
Heat dissipation could be an issue too.
Author:  jonbwfc [ Mon May 04, 2009 10:25 am ]
Post subject:  Re: I hope we'll see this one day
Isn't it the case that carbon fibre is only strong along the fibre not across it? They always say about the bits of F1 cars that are made from it that they're incredibly strong & light along the paths they're designed to take stress on but otherwise if you lean on them the wrong way they snap like balsa wood. Doesn't really seem a very appropriate material for a laptop case to me.

Jon
Author:  ProfessorF [ Mon May 04, 2009 11:58 am ]
Post subject:  Re: I hope we'll see this one day
Re. the recycling - I have no idea. It's carbon. Seems pretty innocuous doesn't it? :?
It's probably hugely expensive to return it to another useable form though. I really have no idea though.

Heat dissipation - another good point, it's not very conductive. It's used in heat shielding for that reason. :?

Strength - By layering the sheets, creating a cross ply, you can greatly strengthen the shapes. I'd imagine that in F1, they're built for such specific roles that anything outside of that would cause grief.
There's more common uses of CF, such as in camera tripods, where rigidity and lateral strength are a factor and it seems to do the job. Of course, here it's rolled in to tubes, so the form has an integral strength to it as well.
Author:  stuartpengs [ Mon May 04, 2009 5:01 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: I hope we'll see this one day
jonbwfc wrote:
Isn't it the case that carbon fibre is only strong along the fibre not across it? They always say about the bits of F1 cars that are made from it that they're incredibly strong & light along the paths they're designed to take stress on but otherwise if you lean on them the wrong way they snap like balsa wood. Doesn't really seem a very appropriate material for a laptop case to me.

Jon


IIRC F1 components such as suspension struts are like that to save weight Jon. They design them only to be rigid in the direction they are loaded. However other components constructed of carbon fibre are strong in all directions, such as gearbox casings etc. They just layer the weaves in alternating directions. So it is possible. I bet it would look 8-)
Author:  JJW009 [ Mon May 04, 2009 5:13 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: I hope we'll see this one day
Sony Vaio anyone?

Carbon fibre, super-light and 7 hours battery. What was that, over 3 years ago?

There have been many higher-end light-weight laptops built from carbon fibre.
Author:  ChurchCat [ Mon May 04, 2009 9:33 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: I hope we'll see this one day
JJW009 wrote:
Sony Vaio anyone?

Carbon fibre, super-light and 7 hours battery. What was that, over 3 years ago?

There have been many higher-end light-weight laptops built from carbon fibre.


*Wonders if high end 13" laptops exist*

;)
Author:  ProfessorF [ Mon May 04, 2009 9:43 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: I hope we'll see this one day
It's interesting, reading the design interview on the Sony site (clicky), they talk a lot about the aluminium body and extrusion (and how they wanted it to look like it was carved from an aluminium ingot) but not at all about the CF finish. :?
Author:  JJW009 [ Mon May 04, 2009 10:36 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: I hope we'll see this one day
CC; even by today's standards that is not a bad specification. Performance wise, it was certainly in the upper quartile of units sold in it's day. Let's face it, for over £3000 you'd expect it to be good.

If you look at the current specification you'll see it's more powerful than the Macbook Air for example. It is 100g heavier, but then it does include a BluRay drive:

    VGN Z 35X
    Carbon fibre Ultimate performance
  • 2.93 GHz Intel® Core™2 Duo
  • Genuine Windows Vista® Business
  • 256 GB SSD flash drive
  • 4 GB memory
  • Blu-ray disc™ drive
  • WXGA++ X-black LCD (1600x900)
  • Carbon fibre

    Starting from
    £ 3,251.00 inc. VAT

ProfessorF wrote:
It's interesting, reading the design interview on the Sony site (clicky), they talk a lot about the aluminium body and extrusion (and how they wanted it to look like it was carved from an aluminium ingot) but not at all about the CF finish. :?


The CF finish is black. They mention it twice in that interview They don't talk about it at great length because it's not interesting. Most people wouldn't care that the black plastic had carbon in, but they do like the shiny designer palm rest. If you look on the Sony home page for the current model, it does say:

Quote:
Easy portability

With its carbon fibre casing the VAIO Z Series notebook weighs under 1.5kg, so it could hardly be easier to carry.

Carbon fibre is 30% lighter than traditional computer construction materials. Yet as you’d expect of a material more commonly used in aviation and Formula One, it is also 200% stronger.
Author:  Nick [ Mon May 04, 2009 10:37 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: I hope we'll see this one day
Why would you want to buy a Mac made out of carbon? It will be a complete rip-off.

I could make my own out of charcoal briquettes.
Author:  rubicon [ Tue May 05, 2009 3:27 am ]
Post subject:  Re: I hope we'll see this one day
JJW009 wrote:
If you look at the current specification you'll see it's more powerful than the Macbook Air for example.


But does it run OS X?
Author:  jonbwfc [ Tue May 05, 2009 8:08 am ]
Post subject:  Re: I hope we'll see this one day
JJW009 wrote:

Starting from
£ 3,251.00 inc. VAT

*cough*.

Jon

PS. Is it just me, or is the sonystyle site phenomenally broken?
Author:  ChurchCat [ Tue May 05, 2009 9:07 am ]
Post subject:  Re: I hope we'll see this one day
JJW009 wrote:
CC; even by today's standards that is not a bad specification. Performance wise, it was certainly in the upper quartile of units sold in it's day. Let's face it, for over £3000 you'd expect it to be good.


Sorry JJ,

I am just smarting from a roasting I was being given in this thread

viewtopic.php?f=19&t=241

It seems that even if a laptop has nothing faster in it's class it can't be considered high end. There are apparently high end 17" laptops (as long as Apple don't make them) and no high end 15" laptops. So my comment about 13" laptops was somewhat tongue in cheek.

CC
Author:  big_D [ Tue May 05, 2009 10:14 am ]
Post subject:  Re: I hope we'll see this one day
CC, show me a 15" MacBook with quad core extreme processor and SLi configured dual graphic chips... ;)
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