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9300 construction materials

post #1 of 34
3/18/05 at 2:30am
Thread Starter 
Hi everyone,

I was interested in knowing which parts of the laptop are metal and which parts are plastic. There are a lot of conflicting reports in the forums.

Can anyone shed some light on this?
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post #2 of 34
3/18/05 at 2:34am
bottom part (black) is metal. LCD cover(top) as well.
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post #3 of 34
3/18/05 at 2:41am
I agree with gsfeng. So, where's the conflict?
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post #4 of 34
3/18/05 at 3:19am
Thread Starter 
Was this the same on the 9200 as well? I know the bottom part was metal but am surprised that the LCD frame (?) is metal as well? Is that the whole of the top surface?

I've heard plastic, I've heard metal. Dellbert, the conflict is in my mind, LOL!!! It will be great if the top is metal as well. A mate has a HP/Compaq NX7010 with a metal LCD cover and it's really nice. But unfortunately the rest of the chassis is all plastic, including the base. I would prefer metal where possible, particularly if they're using an aluminium or better, Magnesium, which I doubt highly. For those who do any Chemistry, an Mg - bodied laptop would make quite a spectacle if it caught on fire...

So Dellbert, what are the plans for your 9200?
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post #5 of 34
3/18/05 at 3:24am
Yeah, the lid on the 9200 is Mg too. They had to go with something rigid and light on a notebook this big. The inner bezel is plastic, and so is the deck.

I'm keeping the 9200 until I spend 21 days with my 9300. And then I'll light one of them on fire
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post #6 of 34
3/18/05 at 3:24am
Well, I just took my 9300 system apart.
You have to see it for yourself. Some parts are metal, some are not. If all was metal you'd need a dolly to move it around. Overall I would say that the system is very stirdy and the design is smart.
Let me just say that when you unscrew it - your screwes will go into metal parts, which is important.
Overall - you have nothing to worry about.
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post #7 of 34
3/18/05 at 3:33am
Thread Starter 
I wasn't expecting all of it to be metal. Are you guys sure it's Mg? It's not a cheap metal to work with, I thought Al would make a sturdy, cheap alternative.

That's great to hear. I'm concerned that the thing might just snap apart if you lift it from one end only. You've all given me some hope! I gather you still need to take reasonable care when opening/closing the LCD, picking it up with both hands to put into the bag etc.
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post #8 of 34
3/18/05 at 3:39am
I'm not positive it's Mg-alloy. But if you know of any non-destructive tests, I'll try it. I read that it was Mg-alloy somewhere, and it is certainly light and very rigid, and Mg-alloy has been used fairly often in this application, so I'm sure somebody is tooled up for it. In other words, yeah, I'm pretty sure.
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post #9 of 34
3/18/05 at 3:52am
Thread Starter 
We have an XPS (X-Ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy) and a TOF-SIMS (Time Of Flight Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry) over here at uni, 5 minutes with your laptop and a scalpel and I'll find out. We just need to chop a little bit off the bottom and sand it down to reveal the metal surface. Are you game? LOL!!!

Sounds like you know what's going on, I suppose if they have the tools over there at Compal (who I hear make the 'barebones' of the laptop) and they are doing it already no reason to change now...

Thanks for the heads up
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post #10 of 34
3/18/05 at 9:43am
Quote:
Originally Posted by pstojanov
Was this the same on the 9200 as well? I know the bottom part was metal but am surprised that the LCD frame (?) is metal as well? Is that the whole of the top surface?

I've heard plastic, I've heard metal. Dellbert, the conflict is in my mind, LOL!!! It will be great if the top is metal as well. A mate has a HP/Compaq NX7010 with a metal LCD cover and it's really nice. But unfortunately the rest of the chassis is all plastic, including the base. I would prefer metal where possible, particularly if they're using an aluminium or better, Magnesium, which I doubt highly. For those who do any Chemistry, an Mg - bodied laptop would make quite a spectacle if it caught on fire...

So Dellbert, what are the plans for your 9200?
I've not heard of a notebook made of aluminium ... it'd be too soft I'd have thought (and it'd need to be too thick in quantities that'd provide enough strength). Magnesium alloy has been used in things from notebooks to bicycles ... rest assured it doesn't burst into flames in alloy form
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post #11 of 34
3/18/05 at 9:45am
Quote:
Originally Posted by bbstls
Well, I just took my 9300 system apart.
You have to see it for yourself. Some parts are metal, some are not. If all was metal you'd need a dolly to move it around. Overall I would say that the system is very stirdy and the design is smart.
Let me just say that when you unscrew it - your screwes will go into metal parts, which is important.
Overall - you have nothing to worry about.
The 12, 15 and 17" Mac PowerBooks are (almost) all metal ... titanium alloy if I'm not mistaken ... sure they're heavy but not *that* heavy. Ultralights have been all-magnesium for a while. I'm currently typing this on an all-magnesium Toshiba Portege 7220CTe - even the deck is magnesium alloy (the only plastic parts are a thin strip that covers the keyboard screws and the screen surround). It's so strong that I can open it up flat, hold it by one corner of the screen and lift it horizontally and have neither the screen nor the base of the notebook flex
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post #12 of 34
3/18/05 at 9:47am
Hmm.. my i9300 feels plastic to me... except the memory, minipci cover at the bottom that feels metal the black base feels plastic to me...

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post #13 of 34
3/18/05 at 9:53am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Shinji_U
Hmm.. my i9300 feels plastic to me... except the memory, minipci cover at the bottom that feels metal the black base feels plastic to me...
Notebook manufacturers are very good at putting nice plastic coatings on their notebooks so they don't show scratches as easily (and so bits that are plastic, like screw covers, drive faceplates and the like don't stand out) ... some people can tell what surfaces are plastic underneath and what aren't (I tend to look for signs of plastic moulding defects for instance - they look different if the underlying material is metal), a more reliable way is to look in the screw-holes and on the inside. And even then, sometimes plastic parts have a metallic coating on them for RF shielding ... perhaps the only really reliable way is to find an inconspicuous place that is obviously not coated by a metallic coating and see if you can get electrical conductivity by punching through the coating with pin probes.
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post #14 of 34
3/18/05 at 12:03pm
The Latitudes are made of magnesium alloy, so it's probably the same for the Inspirons:

"... the Dell Latitude D-Family Moonlight Silver casing with a Magnesium Alloy chassis for durability."
http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/pr...505&l=en&s=dhs
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post #15 of 34
3/18/05 at 1:26pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Psinewave
The 12, 15 and 17" Mac PowerBooks are (almost) all metal ... titanium alloy if I'm not mistaken ... sure they're heavy but not *that* heavy. Ultralights have been all-magnesium for a while. I'm currently typing this on an all-magnesium Toshiba Portege 7220CTe - even the deck is magnesium alloy (the only plastic parts are a thin strip that covers the keyboard screws and the screen surround). It's so strong that I can open it up flat, hold it by one corner of the screen and lift it horizontally and have neither the screen nor the base of the notebook flex
Apple PowerBooks are made out of aluminum sort of making the chassis a heat-sink within itself (not sure if there is some sort of other composite involved). The outer casings are all anodized aluminum which keeps them looking new and pristine after a simple wipe of a wet cloth (scratch free too - at least mine).
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post #16 of 34
3/19/05 at 10:28am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sowelu
Apple PowerBooks are made out of aluminum sort of making the chassis a heat-sink within itself (not sure if there is some sort of other composite involved). The outer casings are all anodized aluminum which keeps them looking new and pristine after a simple wipe of a wet cloth (scratch free too - at least mine).
I stand corrected! Yes indeed, PowerBooks are now aluminium alloy (having worked aluminium, I'd have thought straight aluminium wouldn't have been dense enough but as an alloy I guess anything is possible.). I do recall them being marketed as "Titanium Powerbooks" at one point though ... *shrug*

Note that any metal chassis can be a heatsink (although granted aluminium and copper tend to be better conductors than anything else to be found in sizeable quantities on a notebook) ... modern notebooks can't rely on even an aluminium chassis though, without a fan-forced air cooled heatsink, they quickly get too hot to touch!
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post #17 of 34
3/20/05 at 10:03am
The bottom of the 9300 is not metal. It's plastick with paint on it that makes it look and feel like metal. I know this because I used my drill w/ a screwdriver bit to unscrew the screws on the bottom and I scratched the plastic in one place and it was white under the paint.

I used a sharpie to cover it up and it look fine again.
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post #18 of 34
3/20/05 at 10:15am
How deep was the scratch? I ask because I've come across this sorta thing before only to hit real metal later ... my PDA (Sony Clie NX70V) is magnesium (I've opened it up and had a look) but the top layer of paint is a metallic silver layer, followed by a really thick white plastic layer before you hit the actual metal (and most scratches I've had on its case only tend to hit the white layer, only in the corners is it worn through to the bare metal) ... my current laptop, a Toshiba Portege 7220CTe, is similar ... grey semi-metallic finish, lighter grey plastic layer then the metal underneath (which varies from shiny to dull depending on if it's a place that keeps getting rubbed by the computer case).

Without knowing how deep the scratch is, I'm tempted to believe that the white you've hit is another layer ... if it were plastic and the entire piece had a black finish on the outside, you'd expect the plastic to be black all the way through right? Especially given AFAIK there isn't a laptop that uses the exact same part that requires any finish other than a black one (the XPS is black there too).
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post #19 of 34
3/20/05 at 7:43pm
Thread Starter 
I'm sure that the metal chassis would be coated in a plastic to stop short circuiting. There's no way that metal would be left exposed with the possibility of short circuiting. I reckon the chassis is indeed metal coated in plastic and the the top layer is a coating which allows better heat conduction for cooling. It will no doubt feel metallic if it is a good heat conductor.
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post #20 of 34
3/20/05 at 7:59pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by pstojanov
I'm sure that the metal chassis would be coated in a plastic to stop short circuiting. There's no way that metal would be left exposed with the possibility of short circuiting. I reckon the chassis is indeed metal coated in plastic and the the top layer is a coating which allows better heat conduction for cooling. It will no doubt feel metallic if it is a good heat conductor.
Actually, short circuiting isn't a problem because the circuit boards don't touch the chassis (they're on standoffs and/or have plastic sheets between them and the chassis) and the chassis itself is connected to "case ground" (ie. the ground signal of most of the laptop's electronics). You can get electrical continuity across the lid of my Portege (which is bare metal) for instance ... in fact, plastic laptops are sprayed on the inside with a conductive film for radio frequency shielding (and, presumably, static dissipation) so you can take a multimeter probe to the inside of a plastic cased laptop and still get (limited) conductivity!

It just occurs to me that one potential way of telling is to leave the laptop turned off overnight (assuming it was relatively cool) then feel the base in the morning ... even with a thin layer of plastic it should feel "metallic cold" whereas plastic wouldn't feel as cold ... but then again I've felt some pretty cold, dense, almsot metallic plastic before so it isn't a reliable test ...
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