Gold-plated MacBook Air breaks Steve Jobs' heart

We've already seen the MacBook Air bathed in gold and crystals, but it seems that people just can't leave well enough alone, with the folks at Computer Choppers (no strangers to gilded Macs) only the latest to spare no expense in taking the laptop to heights of tackiness that no one from Cupertino would ever dare dream of. That includes 24kt gold plating over the entire laptop and, in a final stake through El Jobso's heart, an Apple logo ensconced in multi-colored sapphires -- not to mention a polished gold SuperDrive to go along with it. If your eyes can take it, you can find a few more pics in the gallery below.

Gallery: Gold-plated MacBook Air

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[kev @ Apr 22nd 2008 10:57AM]

Given the price of gold now, you could probably buy 5+ MBAs for the same price, not that you'd want to...

[rob @ Apr 22nd 2008 1:40PM]

I didn't know paris hilton knew how to use a mac

[Kiwi616 @ Apr 22nd 2008 3:01PM]

The MB Air upgrade to SSD is finally worth the price!

[Jack @ Apr 23rd 2008 9:29AM]

Why would anyone buy this thing? Do you have any idea how many starving kids you can feed with that money? What a waste!!! I would only get the MB Air if it was free such as this one http://www.thetechbrief.com/giveaways/macbook-air-giveaway/

[Chebwa @ Apr 22nd 2008 10:57AM]

Expensive and hideous. Just like ya MOM, only expensive.

Eat it!

[Esat Dedezade @ Apr 22nd 2008 11:15AM]

*Sigh*

@ the MBA and at your comment.

[happy_penguin @ Apr 22nd 2008 11:55AM]

Pretty, but ridiculous.

[Johnny @ Apr 22nd 2008 12:34PM]

I thought it was a pretty good poke at yo mamma, but not as good as I poked yo mamma. LOL. Geez, can't anyone joke about people's mammas anymore?

[Greg @ Apr 22nd 2008 1:15PM]

No, Johnny. Here at Engadget, we realise that gadgets and the internet are serious business.

[Trevor Bommersbach @ Apr 22nd 2008 10:58AM]

Jeez...I wonder how much weight that added....

[Seoultrain @ Apr 22nd 2008 12:47PM]

it's gold plating. as in microns thick.

[warrrennnnn @ Apr 23rd 2008 12:30AM]

QQ, buzzkill. QQ.

[darkstar @ Apr 22nd 2008 10:59AM]

would it be more scratch proned now??
or is gold much more scratch resistant?
i m curious...

[BlowURmindBowel @ Apr 22nd 2008 12:21PM]

Gold is extremely soft for a metal so this would make it even MORE scratch prone...

[Abuzar @ Apr 22nd 2008 2:47PM]

Yeah like the above person said Gold is an extremely soft. That laptop will have more scratches than an iPod! I guess Apple fans are used to them though.

[Fernando @ Apr 22nd 2008 11:00AM]

I got a Platinum plated MacBook Air with diamonds as the keys on the keyboard and just the regular apple logo on the back. I'm not into all that flashy stuff. I also have snipers on my roof in case anyone tries to steal it.

[farfisa @ Apr 22nd 2008 11:00AM]

There goes that weight advantage. Macbook Lead.

[Wisam @ Apr 22nd 2008 1:06PM]

MBA Lead will protect you from harmful x-ray and gamma radiation and it is much more heavier than the air.

[Ben H. @ Apr 22nd 2008 2:14PM]

...and Kryptonite.

[Ignatius @ Apr 22nd 2008 11:02AM]

Anyone else open up the Engadget front page thinking that someone just smashed the side in of the Air?

That's what it looked like to me.

[Esat Dedezade @ Apr 22nd 2008 11:16AM]

You are not insane. That was my initial reaction too.

Then again, we could both be insane.

[Wayne @ Apr 22nd 2008 12:29PM]

That makes three of us.

[Lein @ Apr 22nd 2008 11:02AM]

Ugh, thank god Dell's aren't popular. I'd cringe if I saw my manila-envelope certified Latitude (with three fully-accessible USB ports) turned into a ghetto-top like this.

[fanman @ Apr 22nd 2008 2:32PM]

Why was he low ranked? :?

[Lein @ Apr 22nd 2008 3:08PM]

Because I compared an apple product to a product superior to it in many ways. Simple.

[Lein @ Apr 22nd 2008 3:16PM]

Proof: http://i29.tinypic.com/25re3og.jpg (not the kind with the little string-tie end, but you get the idea.)

[Darkroom @ Apr 22nd 2008 3:50PM]

"ghetto-top".. haha

[Doom @ Apr 22nd 2008 11:02AM]

I'd love to play Doom on this.

[wesg @ Apr 22nd 2008 12:44PM]

Why?

[Wisam @ Apr 22nd 2008 1:08PM]

because MBA gold will help you remember your golden days :D

[flows30 @ Apr 22nd 2008 11:04AM]

whew...can't imagine how much it's cost...and also, could you really use it on public? talk about crime here...

[Barbaric @ Apr 22nd 2008 12:40PM]

When I saw the list price of the MBA, I assumed this was standard issue. You mean it costs that much without gold plating?!!

[Goldmember @ Apr 22nd 2008 11:05AM]

Yay another gadget/device covered in gold, I'd like to take it and blend it then snort the gold dust! I like gooooooold!

[MeAtyPi @ Apr 22nd 2008 12:23PM]

Well, I love gold, the taste of it, the smell of it, the feel of it, I love gold, and I'm from holland, isn't that weird?

[Anirudh Sethi @ Apr 22nd 2008 11:06AM]

This is the ultimate waste of resources!

[JACOB @ Apr 22nd 2008 11:06AM]

bling bling

[Zak @ Apr 22nd 2008 11:08AM]

Man, isn't there a better use for people's money? Like feeding hungry children, or helping to cure diseases or something?

[Zeus.:God @ Apr 22nd 2008 11:14AM]

If it doesn't directly benefit the potential buyers of this (or Macbook Airs in general), then no, there is no better use for their money in their eyes.

[Esat Dedezade @ Apr 22nd 2008 11:17AM]

Holy crap I'm not getting in to this again. those of you that remember that crystal studded cofee machine a few weeks ago will know why.

But to cut a long story short, yes. I agree with your comment.

[Frank Furter @ Apr 22nd 2008 12:33PM]

One could argue that there are better uses of your time posting here, too. Albeit in a smaller scale, but hey, add up all these types of comments.....

[mac @ Apr 22nd 2008 1:12PM]

I could be helping starving people in my community,and I'm sure someone could still argue that my time would be better served helping the starving in some war-torn/more impoverished area.Also, I bet the money you spent on your computer could have been put to good use somewhere- why not give it up and help the less fortunate? And if you have a desktop AND a laptop...you might as well just save God the trouble and send yourself straight to hell...

But seriously, as frivolous as things like this seem (and I can agree with you on that), for the people who have ton of money it's nothing to them. And rich people buying frivolous things helps out the economy, which does help everyone. It's really not all bad.

[Zak @ Apr 22nd 2008 1:50PM]

Frank - posting here is the same thing as throwing away thousands of dollars? Really? That's a direct comparison in your mind?

mac - Yes it is frivolous, whereas my computer purchases are not. That's the difference. And as you pointed out it's nothing to people with tons of money, so why not put it to better use? I'm sorry, but there's really no good defense for buying something like this, or making it in the first place. It's pure excess.

[Ben @ Apr 22nd 2008 2:20PM]

No.

Should I forgo my Lamborghini purchase? =]

[mac @ Apr 22nd 2008 2:34PM]

I'm trying to find your real argument. Is it that a percentage of everyone's earnings should go towards helping the less fortunate? That big corporations and the wealthy owners/executives of those companies are morally obligated to be more helpful to their community than the common man and, thus, can't buy things the "middle class" deems frivolous? Why wouldn't there be a parallel with the impoverished deeming the purchase of multiple computers/anything above a $500 Dell by the middle class as frivolous?

From your perspective, your argument makes perfect sense. Now try to think from the view of others.

[Zak @ Apr 22nd 2008 3:54PM]

Yes mac, you missed the point entirely. Possibly because you didn't actually read what I wrote.

I didn't say computers were frivolous. I'm saying a gold plated computer is frivolous. See the difference? I dare you to find anybody who wouldn't call a gold plated computer frivolous. Anybody, from any class.

All I'm saying (which I said in my first post) is that if you're going to spend money on something so completely frivolous and unnecessary as a gold plated computer, why not spend it on something useful instead, like my above suggestions?

It's not about spending a lot of money on things. Take yachts for example, they generally cost a lot of money. A yacht is a luxury item but it's not necessarily frivolous. a GOLD PLATED YACHT is frivolous, and THAT money could be put to better use.

Do you get it now?

[Abuzar @ Apr 22nd 2008 7:16PM]

Look at it from Zak's point of view. Basically he is saying that the money you spend on a computer goes into how much performance it has, etc, but the money spent on gold plating a computer doesn't make the screen better or make the performance better.

Now look at it from Mac's point of view. He is saying this is the same as jewelry. Does your wife own any Jewelry? This would be the exact same thing as you are paying money to carry around something shiny. So it's as much a waste of money as jewelry and MANY people have Jewelry and I don't see people telling them they are wasting money.

[rayw @ Apr 22nd 2008 9:52PM]

@Abuzar

Are you kidding?? Do you know what my wife would do to me if I told her that her jewellery was all frivolous and she was wasting money??

[Abuzar @ Apr 22nd 2008 10:54PM]

That's what Zak is basically saying. This computer is also Jewelry of a kind.

[Tim @ Apr 22nd 2008 11:08AM]

Now regardless of your stance on the value of the base model Air, this certainly falls into the more money than sense category. And for its name, how about the MacBook Aur?

[Tits @ Apr 22nd 2008 11:12AM]

reflect pretty well the cost of a mac here in japan!