When you walk into a Best Buy, the small majority of non-Apple laptops seem to be made of metal, even the $300 Chromebooks. They look and feel more premium, but probably aren't.

The sad thing is that plastic should be the best material to make laptops from. It's lighter, and it gives when dropped. Think about the cases everybody puts on their phones. They're not made of solid metal, for good reason.

The old Thinkpads had it right, they used a magnesium frame surrounded by high quality plastic.

My MacBook Pro is well made, but it's also a pound heavier than it needs to be.