[Tepix]

No. I remember my wife bought a Sony Vaio N-505 back in 2000. An amazing machine with a magnesium case, very thin and very lightweight. Only the 10.4" screen was pretty crappy (but they all were back then).

Apple had the Powerbook G4 at that time which was a very high-end machine but much much bulkier of course.

[huxley]

Not quite at that time, the Powerbook G4 wasn't announced until January 9, 2001, at the time it was the Powerbook G3 Pismo that was Apple's main pro notebook.

I don't think the magnesium case played much a role in the weight difference between the 12.1" VAIO N-505 (3.75 lbs / 1.7 kg) vs the Powerbook G4 (5.3 lbs / 2.4 kg), so much as the bigger 15.2" screen and integrated optical drive in the Powerbook (which at the time was remarkably unbulky for its size)