ninee!

@anthropy@mastodon.derg.nz @mntmn@mastodon.social probably has to do with the fact it's a pretty low-volume operation; you can't build a laptop rubber dome keyboard from off-the-shelf components like you can a mechanical keyboard, and cnc machining is much more accessible than injection moulding you need relatively big economies of scale to build a laptop with those at a price that makes sense (or you could use a keyboard made for another laptop and idk do group buys to get injection moulded plastic shells made? most decently built laptops have a metal roll cage inside anyway so you might as well just make the whole thing out of metal and save yourself the faff)

@anthropy@mastodon.derg.nz @magnetic_tape@infosec.exchange @mntmn@mastodon.social 3d printing could maybe work for the pocket reform (i'm not sure it could produce a shell rigid enough for a full-size reform), but ideally the shell would be adjusted to improve printability. i checked last night and the way it is rn it would need a Lot of support and there's some worryingly thin bits but it might work anyway ​:neobot_think:​