Apple mulling carbon-fiber parts for MacBook Air?

Apple may be searching for ways to make the MacBook Air even lighter.

AppleInsider reports that the company is investigating using materials enhanced with carbon fibers in some of the parts on a future MacBook Air. Given the time and energy Apple poured into the latest redesign of its notebooks, developing a new unibody chassis milled from a single block of aluminum, it's unlikely that the entire chassis would be replaced anytime soon.

But AppleInsider thinks the company could shave 0.22 pounds off the overall weight of the Air if it used some sort of carbon-fiber material for the bottom cover of the notebook. That may not sound like a lot, but it's within shouting distance of 10 percent, and could make for a really nice marketing slogan at some point in the future.