I agree that Apple's behavior isn't quite consistent with a simple obsession with thinness, but I don't think it's weight, either.
My 15" PowerBook in 2001 was 2.4 kg. The 15" MacBook Pro in the linked answer is 1.83 kg. (At their heaviest, they got to about 2.5 kg.) This seems like a lot of trouble for half a kilo (-25%). It also got much thinner over that time, from 2.5 cm to 1.5 cm (-40%).
It's probably a combination of factors. Jony Ive in 2001: "People will have a visceral reaction to its weight and volume."
My 15" PowerBook in 2001 was 2.4 kg. The 15" MacBook Pro in the linked answer is 1.83 kg. (At their heaviest, they got to about 2.5 kg.) This seems like a lot of trouble for half a kilo (-25%). It also got much thinner over that time, from 2.5 cm to 1.5 cm (-40%).
It's probably a combination of factors. Jony Ive in 2001: "People will have a visceral reaction to its weight and volume."