If you are currently researching your next laptop to buy or rent, have you thought about what your new laptop case is made of? Do you mind as long as it looks good? These days, you might care, especially given everyone’s effort to be politically correct and “green” these days. Also, the material that is used to make a laptop case can affect the price of that computer almost as much as the technology that is inside.
Laptop cases are almost always made of metal or plastic materials. Since plastic materials are lightweight and relatively easy to mold, many computer manufacturers prefer to use them to make laptop cases. Even within the category of plastic, there are several types, and here we will explain some of those options.
ABS engineering plastics are the most widely used materials in the manufacture of laptop cases. The main reason for that popularity is the low cost of ABS plastic, which is actually an alloy of PC (polycarbonate) and ABS (acrylonitrile butadiene styrene). ABS is the same recyclable thermoplastic that NFL football helmets are made from, so think about how strong it should be.
On the one hand, the PC + ABS plastic composite has the superior heat resistance of PC. In addition, it is resistant to impacts and the elements, and retains its shape extremely well. On the other hand, it also has quite poor thermal conductivity and is just plain heavy. However, in this case, the positives outweigh the negatives due to the low cost associated with using ABS engineering plastics; Because of that low cost, ABS engineering plastics are very popular with laptop manufacturers.
Carbon fiber material is an attractive and high-quality material. It looks like normal ABS plastic, but its durability and thermal conductivity is far superior to ABS plastic. Since carbon fiber is also a conductive material (it conducts electricity), a laptop case made from this material can function similar to a metal case. In fact, IBM recognized the favorable attributes of carbon fiber as early as April 1998 and introduced the first laptop case made of carbon fiber that year. The biggest drawback of using this material is its high cost.
Carbon fiber is also much more difficult to form than common ABS plastic. Due to the difficulty associated with its use in manufacturing, the mere incorporation of carbon fiber into a laptop case can almost double the cost of the device. Therefore, the rental of computers and laptops becomes more expensive.
Some other manufacturers use a polycarbonate plastic material, which looks like metal, but that’s not very common. Fujitsu is just one of the computer manufacturers known to use polycarbonates in their laptop cases.
