[morcheeba]

Yes, the technology is the same. But how many machined products were available for the consumer to buy in 1970? I was excited about the Macbook Air not because it was thin, but because it was CNC made, just like the aerospace products I designed. Injection molding remains dominant, but over the last 15 years CNC has made a lot of progress.

[varjag]

I dunno, by the end of 1970s most high end camera lenses were CNC machined with bezels and scales CNC engraved. My 1980 Summicron 35 is certainly one, although the optical stack sits in an injection molded envelope.

When it comes to MBA enclosure it's likely the infill or separation problems with long thin walls that led them to abandon injection molding. Even then it's not done on a mill in one take. Things like speaker grilles are probably something like EDM or etching rather than 8000 operations with 0.2mm drill bit.