The company has drawn attention to the fact that the new MacBook Air lightweight notebook is fitted with a screen that uses LED backlighting. Traditional panels have fluorescent backlights, which contain small amounts of mercury. LED lamps also use less power, and Apple boasts that the MacBook Air uses less power than any other Mac.
Furthermore, the new notebook's screen is made of arsenic-free glass, the "majority" if its circuit boards are free of brominated flame retardants, and the internal cables use no PVC.
These features are largely invisible. More noticeable are the readily recycled aluminium enclosure, and the use of recycled packaging materials. The MacBook Air box is mostly 100 percent post-consumer recycled materials, and is about half the size of previous MacBook boxes.
Apple's green thumb
Having taken some stick for allegedly poor environmental practices (though that was as much about communication as actual performance), Apple has played up the green aspects of its latest model.
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Stephen Withers
Stephen Withers is one of Australia¹s most experienced IT journalists, having begun his career in the days of 8-bit 'microcomputers'. He covers the gamut from gadgets to enterprise systems. In previous lives he has been an academic, a systems programmer, an IT support manager, and an online services manager. Stephen holds an honours degree in Management Sciences, a PhD in Industrial and Business Studies, and is a senior member of the Australian Computer Society.
