Rumours, rumours, rumours. These days there are plenty of rumours about the new 2012 MacBook Pro floating around and there is another one that seems to have some credibility to it. Not long ago we heard rumours that the iPhone 5 was going to be built with Liquidmetal technology for some of its parts, and this is quite relevant to the new MacBook Pro rumour.
The new MacBook Pro 2012 rumour states that the chassis of said notebooks will be built with Liquidmetal technology. Now that isn’t a confirmed rumour, and there are a few hiccups that might detract from its credibility, so don’t decide either way yet. Hear us out as we go into detail about why this rumour is likely to be true or untrue.
SlashGear stated in a report that the new 2012 Apple MacBook Pro would have a chassis made of Liquidmetal, something that we personally would like to see happen. There were concerns about the iPhone 5 rumour, and these same concerns apply to the MacBook Pro rumour. The material might not be the best for allowing wireless signals, specifically Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, to be transmitted from the device. This would obviously be a big issue for a notebook computer, as the device would almost be useless due to the overwhelming usage of Wi-Fi these days.
But wireless communication is not the only little issue with the rumour of a Liquidmetal chassis for the MacBook Pro, expected to be released sometime in 2012, but there is another problem that deals with heat. No, we aren’t referring to the possible summer release date when we say heat, but we are referring to the thermal conductivity of the Liquidmetal material. The Liquidmetal material has a datasheet which states the thermal conductivity of the material, and it happens to be much lower than that of aluminum. In fact, the Liquidmetal material has approximately one sixth of the thermal conductivity that aluminum has. Without being an expert on thermal conductivity, one can see how this might be a problem.
In order to ensure that the new MacBook Pros do not overheat, Apple would be required to redesign the cooling system for the notebook. This is not something that Apple would have a problem doing, but it would obviously be avoided if possible. Notebooks, especially those as powerful as the MacBook Pro, can get quite hot at times, and with the poor thermal conductivity of the Liquidmetal material, this could raise some serious issues. Not only is the user at risk of being uncomfortable, but the device itself is also at risk of overheating and damaging components.
With that being said, these issues look to be easy enough for Apple to overcome. We can expect to hear more information regarding the chassis material sometime soon, and it will be most interesting to find out what material Apple ultimately decides to use. We will keep you up to date if any new rumours or information regarding the material comes up in the near future.