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There is a big difference between a novel design and a patentable innovation. The MBA was a very novel design, but nothing that could be considered proprietary.

If a car manufacturer makes a car with a wedge shape that sells very well and the next year a bunch of other manufacturers have similar designs, then they are just being smart and following the preferences shown by consumers.

If a company invented a hovering car and the next year everyone came out with hovering cars, there would be a case for infringement because it was an innovative concept and patentable.

I love Apple as much or more than the next guy, but the shape of the MBA and chicklet keys set in the frame are not really innovations. It is a nice design, but to berate someone for following what consumers have shown a preference for is silly.
Well right or wrong, Apple does have patents on it:

http://www.patentlyapple.com/patent...sign-patents-for-macbook-air-iphone-more.html

http://www.patentlyapple.com/patent...-store-structure-oled-driver-macbook-air.html
 
OS X anyone? Make your little laptops look just like the Air, but the joke's on you as soon as I boot it up.

OS X: It's like Windows, you know. You do stuff on it. But somehow, whenever I boot it up, I just feel...I dunno...better about myself.

Also, I have an Apple logo wallpaper on my Apple computer. That way you know I'm using an Apple when you're watching me use my Apple. I really want you to know I'm using an Apple, because I'm using an Apple.
 
Built with a mix of premium materials, the HP ENVY SpectreXT boasts an all-metal design with stark lines that contrast with a soft texture. Crafted for mobility, the HP SpectreXT measures 14.5 millimeters (mm) thin, weighs 3.07 pounds(2) and includes a 13.3-inch HD(1) diagonal display with a slim bezel line. It also includes 128 gigabytes (GB) of solid state storage(3)) and up to eight hours of battery life.(4)) A full array of ports, including Gigabit Ethernet, USB 3.0 and HDMI, provide more ways to network without compromising size.

Why do they need to defend? They have USB 3.0 which completely sets it apart
 
Sometimes people just don listen to reason. Even when given proof that Apple didn't invent the ultra book, or the chiclet keys or the colour silver, they pretend it never happened and keep spouting bollocks.
 
Seems I didn't make things clear enough:

Latch: An apple innovation

macbook-air-review-slashgear-12.jpg


Of dubious merit, most said it was crap, no longer on the market.

Wedge: A sony innovation
(I would say general idea, but taking apple's very loose meaning of the word innovation)

vaio-x505-i1.gif


oh and wait, what's that little fella from 2006, it looks like something from hp, with a silver finish on top, a black keyboard, and a wedge shape:

32000604-2-440-overview-1.gif


The only "innovative" design in the air has been the most despised one by air users, the most panned one by critics, and the one eventually discontinued: The Latch.
 
Seriously, would anyone look at that laptop and think MacBook Air?

I think there are other 'ultrabooks' that rip off the MBA look than this one from HP but it's clear they're all taking their cues from Apple as all these 'ultrabooks' came out after people were drooling over the look of the MBA.

Would anyone look at the MB Air and think it's a Vaio?

Just because Apple copied the low profile laptop concept from Sony and made it popular doesn't it make it their "invention.":rolleyes:
 
The solution is problems

Innovation has much less to do with solving problems in new ways than discovering new ways to conceive problems. This is where Apple has always outdone its competitors.

HP and ASUS set out to solve the problem Apple set for itself in creating an ultra-light notebook.

Same with tablets. Until Apple came along and re-conceived what a tablet should be, everybody automatically tried to solve the problem of how to make the best Windows Tablet PC. Now, of course, everyone tries to outdo Apple in making the best iPad.

And, of course, same with personal computers. Twice.
 
Those who have no ideas of their own and can't innovate try to steal the ideas of others.

Oh yeah, will someone break it to HP gently that they have named this after the fictional world criminal organization in Ian Fleming's James Bond books. In those books, SPECTRE's technology always fell to Bond's intellect and cunning.

Kind of like how Jonathan Ive has quite a few products looking like more or less copies of Dieter Ram's products made for Braun several decades ago?

Or like how 007 James Bond is nothing but a british ripoff of the french books (and films) about the special agent OSS 117? (Being on the subject, I couldn't help myself ;))
 
Other than the tapered edge, I don't see any similarity to be honest. The MBA (or something like it) clearly inspired this design, however I don't think this can be classed as a rip off.

ASUS Zenbook or whatever it is called, I think that is certainly much more close to the 'rip off' description.
 
Innovation has much less to do with solving problems in new ways than discovering new ways to conceive problems. This is where Apple has always outdone its competitors.

HP and ASUS set out to solve the problem Apple set for itself in creating an ultra-light notebook.

Same with tablets. Until Apple came along and re-conceived what a tablet should be, everybody automatically tried to solve the problem of how to make the best Windows Tablet PC. Now, of course, everyone tries to outdo Apple in making the best iPad.

And, of course, same with personal computers. Twice.
And what's wrong with competition and providing consumers with choices?:confused:
 
HP could build an identical ultrabook if they want, with only the logo being different. I'm still buying the MBA for one reason, and honestly I think it is the one that makes the decision for most people as it should: the OS. You want OS X you pick which MBA, MBP, desktop. You want to run Windows, Ubuntu, whatever, you pick from a whole array of manufacturers and product lines. People aren't going to start buying HPs over MBAs because of the look, most people have already decided which OS they want to run. Likewise with tablets, people either want iOS ecosystem or they want Android or Windows. Samsung really isn't threatening iPad sales with their lineup.
 
If the MBA was white, this laptop would've been white and their argument would've been 'Apple doesn't own white'.

You can't expect them as a company to say, yes we copied MBA.

And before Apple "owned" the black bordered LCD screen, guess what company was using a black bordered LCD screen: HP.

For a start, the keyboard has the split buttons poking through the case - Apple were the first with this.

Its funny how everyone is steeling Apple's keyboard. The rest of the machine looks like someone without design experience tried to copy the MacBook Air, but failed.

By Apple, I assume you mean Sony, who was using the chicklet style keyboard long before Apple adopted it.
 
Anyone else think that all these lawsuits will sooner or later adversely impact Apple's stock price/profit margins?
 
PICASSO QUOTE "Good Artists Copy; Great Artists Steal"

Not a fan of HP, but copied or not!, it is better than most PC`s out-there

The only difference here is that apple took design cues from other devices. The radio design influencing the Mac Pro, pocket radio influencing the iPod. The braun TV and iMac look is a stretch in my mind though. But if these were in fact the designs that apple tried to mimic, it's obvious they didn't find the most popular Laptop/Tower/MP3 player of the time and copy those designs, they looked else where at other technologies.
 
If Steve Jobs taught us anything, it's that the future belongs to the innovators. Whether HP deliberately "copied" anything isn't the issue; their design doesn't bring much innovation to the table.

"Similarities" are seldom accidental. Had HP's design been genuinely innovative, it would have been on the market long ago. It wasn't. The reason is pretty simple: HP still leads by the bottom line. Apple leads with passion that isn't managed by the board or otherwise forced to conform to economic constraints.

Very well put. Funny how all HP can say is "no we didn't, its slightly different", basically.
 
HP could build an identical ultrabook if they want, with only the logo being different. I'm still buying the MBA for one reason, and honestly I think it is the one that makes the decision for most people as it should: the OS.

That was the argument back when os x was a good os, good luck with trying to convince anyone now that lion isn't closer to vista than anything else.

And this comes from a looong time mac user who's every lion farts more than roars on every single mac it's on. The few remaining advantages of os x are going to be lost on most users, and its current limitations and problems are very big. Just the fact that the usual scenario of word, excel, two browsers with ten tabs open each, takes oh about 1.5 to two times the ram on a mac than it does on windows should be enough for anyone not to chose os x.

I challenge anyone to put windows 7 on a mac, any mac, in bootcamp and run said scenario (even with flash disabled on a mac) and get back to me of what feels by far faster and more responsive.

Any mac currently running without an ssd and under 4gbs of memory would benefit immensely by installing windows on it instead.

These are sad news for us mac users, but true nevertheless. It's what happens when a company shifts all its focus on the moneymaker os, ios, and neglects its core product. It's what happens when a company grows immensely larger yet doesn't grow appropriately larger in its development teams.
 
Thank you for not being retarded and posting a comment that actually makes sense. Got tired of all the "omg, it has a keyboard and a trackpad, they sooo copied apple". Apple didn't come up with the idea of a keyboard, or a screen, or a thin laptop in general. They didn't even come up with the chic-let-style keyboard. Sony did that. And macbook air thinness in a laptop, the original sony x1 did that. Anyway, I agree with what you wrote.

You're quite welcome! :) I can't stand blind bashing either.

I don't know who voted you down to -1, but I gave you a plus. People downvote for the wrong reasons. Usually silly reasons, if it's a good post that they're downvoting, like yours for example.
 
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