Apple has been granted a patent (number 20120099264) by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office for the MacBook Air. The patent is for a portable computing device includes at least a base portion of a lightweight material that includes at least a wedge shaped top case having a trough formed at an interfacing edge thereof.

The trough includes a raised portion having a first contact surface and a receiving area, and a bottom case coupled to the top case to form a complete housing for at least a portion of the portable computing device for enclosing at least a plurality of operational components and a plurality of structural components. The portable computing device also includes at least a lid portion pivotally connected to the base portion by a hinge assembly.

In the described embodiments, the lid portion has a display in communication with one or more of the plurality of components in the base portion by way of or more electrical conductors that electrically connect the base portion to the lid portion. The inventors are Brett W. Degner, Euan Abraham, John M. Brock, Matthew P. Casebolt, Robert L. Coish, Laura M. DeForest, Michelle Goldberg, Joseph Bradley Hamel, Ron Hopkinson, Jim Hwang, Caitlin E. Kalinowski, Steven Keiper, Patrick Kessler, Eugene Kim, Chris Ligtenberg, Jay K. Obsorn, John Raff, Nicolas A. Rundle and David J. Yeh.