Apple Inc (AAPL)

[Tex]

re margins

The high recyclability of the aluminum is a plus, but I can't help but think that unless the extruder can take shavings as an input, there's a ton of energy wasted in reforming shavings into bulk metal for re-introduction into production. If Apple owns these facilities, Apple could be making a substantial investment in its own plant. This would drive up opex, unless right out of the gate the plant is more cost-effective than an already-depreciated plant run by folks bidding down assembly prices to keep their assembly lines busy.

The thing that strikes me on the per-unit side is that the Pro books have in essence two graphics engines, unless I misread it: an integrated graphics engine, for low-power use, and a full-blown graphics card with dedicated memory, for high-performance use. I don't think NVidia's chipset that includes integrated graphics is the low-cost offering.

Or does someone think NVidia is using Apple to try to break into the market, and paid for top billing in the new notebook lineup?

One good thing about aluminum is that it's soft. The machine tools will last a large number of cases.

Speaking of cases, the most recent Apple-is-an-evil-monopolist suit is terrible, just utterly pointless, and makes me think the attorneys must be getting paid by the hour. Who would take a pleaded-as-$75k federal antitrust case on contingency?
http://jadedconsumer.blogspot.com/2008/10/baffling-apple-monopoly-suit-filed.html

Take care,
--Tex.