alt Hacker NewsI think the costs of milling a solid piece of aluminum that precisely and in those quantities can be “it”.
I am not an expert, but it seems to be an engineering achievement, given that no one else does it. I doubt milling methods are patent protected, but rather Apple can use its volume and vertical integration to drive costs down and spend more on the chassis than other laptop designers.
Apple is #4 in laptop sales. Lenovo, Dell and HP each have at least as much volume. Apple also has higher margins than those companies, implying that any cost savings they make on other components aren't making it into the price anyway.
It's probably just that it costs a little more to do it and most customers wouldn't pay a premium to have it.