Macbook Air was a proof-of-concept?

Macbook Air was a proof-of-concept?

Apple rolled out their updated Macbooks today (http://events.apple.com.edgesuite.net/0810rtdws876/event/index.html). No tablets, though there were major improvements to their multi-touch trackpads (http://gizmodo.com/5063232/new-macbooks-get-glass-trackpads-4+finger-multitouch-no-buttons-and-no-lcd). They also unveiled a dual graphics system that allows the Macbook Pro to switch between energy efficiency and better graphics mode. This relies on a NVIDIA chipset, so it will likely turn up in other, hopefully mobile, computers.

While that's all pretty cool, the announcement that caught my eye was the unveiling of their new manufacturing process (http://gizmodo.com/5063227/how-the-macbooks-are-carved-out-of-solid-aluminum) that involves cutting the major parts of the frame from solid aluminum rather than soldering pieces together. The result is a frame that is both stronger and slimmer, features that should be very important to a mobile PC user.

What I found equally interesting was the revelation that this process was used to create the frames for the Macbook Air. When the MBA was first announced (http://sumocat.blogspot.com/2008/01/macbook-air-next-imac-or-next-cube.html), I didn't really understand the point. But now that they revealed it was built using their secret new process, I see it for what it was: a proof-of-concept.

Apple devised a new manufacturing process. They needed to prove it would work. They created a new product to do so. They went high priced because the product run needed to be low. They went thin to push the limit of the process. And the device was dazzling enough that no one dug further to find the secrets of its constriction. In fact, people were so eager to get inside its solid bottom plate, they didn't realize the special part was actually the solid bottom plate.

So while there's still no Mac Tablet, I'd say these three features are pointing in the right direction, and I can finally move the Macbook Air out of my "undecided" column. I still can't say it's a commercial success, but as a test run of a new manufacturing process, it looks like it came up a winner.
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