Lenovo, LG and HP Introduce MacBook Lookalikes at CES 2016

[crashoverride77]

If Dell can do it with their XPS 13, I don't see why Apple can't with their MBA.

The XPS 13 runs the same class of processor as the MBA, yet has a much higher res display and is quite a bit lighter.

I agree there should be no reason for such a crap screen on a MBA.
I believe, as someone above me also said, that they are phasing out the MBA soon because the pro is basically the same and the MacBook is the ultimate in thinness and lightness.
There is hardly a reason these days to get a MBA, even if it had a Retina display.

 

[DNichter]

Wow! So we're "hearing it wrong" (now)? Glad Apple is driving this change to make it all so much better:

• proprietary jacks completely controlled by Apple or licensed from Apple (at an Apple premium and Apple "sharing with others" pace) vs.
• lightning adapter (again licensed only by Apple at an Apple premium) vs.
• bluetooth wireless which brings the compromises of a "standard" not really made to maximize wireless audio quality playback.

Pick a favorite option (knowing that no matter which one anyone likes, there will very likely be at least one adapter to add to our (off device) load: lightning to 3.5mm, so that the new headphones we have to buy can work with just about everything we already have, including everything from Apple that doesn't have a lightning port).

"The future" looks so bright I can barely look toward it.

Just telling you what I see. Maybe you'll come up with a new standard and fix all the issues. I like lightning for the high end and Bluetooth for everything else.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

And I'm just telling you what I see: what are you going to do when a friend has a song "you must hear" but you don't have your lightning-to-3.5mm (or lightning to a competitors new "copycat" proprietary jack) adapter so you can do that? What are you going to do when you want to jack into any non-Apple AV equipment that doesn't have a lightning port or bluetooth? What are you going to do when you want to use your new headphones with any current Mac but need better-than-bluetooth quality? How about listening on the airplane when all wireless options must be turned off? How about plugging into airplane audio to hear the audio of the TV show or movie playing on the long flight? Etc.

Apple's rumored decision is apparently great for you in about every way. But not everyone is you. Lots of us already own great headphones and don't want to have to carry adapters to be able to use them with our future iDevices. And yet, that's exactly where this goes if it comes to be: carry an adapter for iDevices or lay out the cash for new headphones that terminate with lightning... and then carry an adapter to make those work with everything else.

Or embrace bluetooth and accept the quality compromises.

Quitting thoroughly ubiquitous standards for a proprietary one completely controlled by only one company is almost NEVER a good option for consumers. We will spend more to embrace it AND likely have the burden of both buying and then carrying an adapter around to achieve the same utility we already have "as is" right now. Best I can tell, this is only good for Apple (or shall I say AAPL shareholders) and apparently a few people like you.

 

[rp2011]

Because not everyone wants to run OS X and running "other" on a Mac you have to compromise something or it's a PITA

Yeah that's nonsense. It's been said many times that the best Windows machine is a Mac. It runs Windows better than any other computer.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

And I believe this myself. Macs also bring amazing utility for those that need to run anything (only) available on Windows: one computer that can run both OS X and Windows (at the same time with tools like Parallels). I personally find that to be a huge, HUGE benefit of Macs that is not so well known beyond the Apple fans. And it sure is handy to be able to run native Windows apps on the Mac when complete compatibility is crucial rather than hoping an OS X version of some piece of software can import-edit-export something that will look the same when it is then opened in the Windows version of the same app (I'm looking at you MS Office apps).

 

[lowendlinux]

Yeah that's nonsense. It's been said many times that the best Windows machine is a Mac. It runs Windows better than any other computer.

So you can get full stated battery life and get optimus functioning so you can turn off the discrete card?

 

[DNichter]

And I'm just telling you what I see: what are you going to do when a friend has a song "you must hear" but you don't have your lightning-to-3.5mm (or lightning to a competitors new "copycat" proprietary jack) adapter so you can do that? What are you going to do when you want to jack into any non-Apple AV equipment that doesn't have a lightning port or bluetooth? What are you going to do when you want to use your new headphones with any current Mac but need better-than-bluetooth quality? How about listening on the airplane when all wireless options must be turned off? How about plugging into airplane audio to hear the audio of the TV show or movie playing on the long flight? Etc.

Apple's rumored decision is apparently great for you in about every way. But not everyone is you. Lots of us already own great headphones and don't want to have to carry adapters to be able to use them with our future iDevices. And yet, that's exactly where this goes if it comes to be: carry an adapter for iDevices or lay out the cash for new headphones that terminate with lightning... and then carry an adapter to make those work with everything else.

Or embrace bluetooth and accept the quality compromises.

Quitting thoroughly ubiquitous standards for a proprietary one completely controlled by only one company is almost NEVER a good option for consumers. We will spend more to embrace it AND likely have the burden of both buying and then carrying an adapter around to achieve the same utility we already have "as is" right now. Best I can tell, this is only good for Apple (or shall I say AAPL shareholders) and apparently a few people like you.

Bluetooth works for everything I need. Maybe I am in the minority, but I don't see the issue. We can differ in opinions, I accept that.

 

[pjarvi]

I have a netbook that looks like those, it cost $127, but unlike those it has 2x USB2.0, 1x USB3.0, Ethernet, HDMI, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, touchscreen, and a 2.5" drive which I swapped out for an SSD. Paying $999 for one of those is a joke.

 

[bladerunner2000]

if you can't beat 'em, copy 'em.

Or in Steve Jobs' words 'steal ideas'.
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I have a netbook that looks like those, it cost $127, but unlike those it has 2x USB2.0, 1x USB3.0, Ethernet, HDMI, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, touchscreen, and a 2.5" drive which I swapped out for an SSD. Paying $999 for one of those is a joke.

Which one is it?

 

[Tony.Skid]

Still patiently waiting for an updated Macbook Pro 15"... ready to throw money at them.. please make a move Apple.

The same for me..... skylake CPUs, and the same keyboard from the MacBook Pro 15" (not the crap from MacBook 12)!

 

[akbarali.ch]

I'm calling it right now...once Apple gets rid of the headphone jack in the iPhone 7, in the next year or so, hardly any smartphones will have them.

Don't forget, first everyone will say how bad the idea is, next, they'll start following it, one by one...oops, now a days altogether.

 

[AFEPPL]

Yeah that's nonsense. It's been said many times that the best Windows machine is a Mac. It runs Windows better than any other computer.

Is that because apple copied MS and moved to the intel based chipset?
Best by what measure?

 

[rp2011]

Is that because apple copied MS and moved to the intel based chipset?
Best by what measure?

Every measure

 

[AFEPPL]

So measurable they can't be verbally expressed or quantified...

 

[Steve121178]

They should be hiding right now...

Why's that?

 

[Roykor]

These look a-likes will be push Apple to do better. Thats good for everybody. The competitions is active and like in all kinds of business, they simply follow the money!

 

[Rogifan]

If Dell can do it with their XPS 13, I don't see why Apple can't with their MBA.

The XPS 13 runs the same class of processor as the MBA, yet has a much higher res display and is quite a bit lighter.

Because Apple decided to create the rMB and (most likely) phase out the MBA. The rMBP will become the retina MBA everyone wanted.

 

[melendezest]

Just because a design and adapter for something doesn't mean the original product is flawed. The Apple pencil comes with an adapter yet I haven't used it once. I plug my pencil into the iPad Pro when I want to charge it. But I get that not everyone will want to charge it that way so the adapter is understandable. As far as the rMB goes i'm just giving you my opinion on what I believe Apple's thinking is. And I'll bet any money new rMBPs come out this year that are more like the MBA in terms of weight so all those who wanted a retina MBA will finally get one it just won't be called that.

Well, we can go around in circles with whether or not it's a design "flaw", as that is subjective to the beholder.

Clearly the RMB is a tradeoff machine.

Hopefully, Apple will rectify their design, um, "choice" and put one more port on it.

It is a decent iPad replacement, albeit an expensive one.

Still, I'd buy the 11-inch Air over the RMB, but that's just me.

 

[Rogifan]

Well, we can go around in circles with whether or not it's a design "flaw", as that is subjective to the beholder.

Clearly the RMB is a tradeoff machine.

Hopefully, Apple will rectify their design, um, "choice" and put one more port on it.

It is a decent iPad replacement, albeit an expensive one.

Still, I'd buy the 11-inch Air over the RMB, but that's just me.

All design is a trade off of some sorts. I shed a tear when I see all these accessories turning the rMB into something it wasn't designed to be. If someone need all kinds of ports and need to drive 4K displays this is not the product for them. Wait for the new Skylake rMBPs to drop, most likely this spring.

 

[Andres Cantu]

Wow, they're not even trying to hide the copying anymore. They're probably thinking: "Why bother? This way saves us a lot of $$$."

 

[Xiroteus]

Apple comes up with a new model and everyone else copies it and then goes on later how Apple doesn't innovate anymore. If that's true, then why does everyone copy Apple designs in such a rabid manner?

It's so back and forth. Apple is slow at many things yet pushed for many things to get better as well. Mainstream use of higher ppi laptops did appear to happen until Apple did it.

 

[wikiverse]

If Apple had a clothing line, everybody would look the same.

Except the Lenovo Yoga looks absolutely nothing like any of Apple's products.

The HP laptop also looks radically different to a macbook.

The only one that remotely resembles a macbook is the LG.

 

[AdonisSMU]

Wow! So we're "hearing it wrong" (now)? Glad Apple is driving this change to make it all so much better:

• proprietary jacks completely controlled by Apple or licensed from Apple (at an Apple premium and Apple "sharing with others" pace) vs.
• lightning adapter (again licensed only by Apple at an Apple premium) vs.
• bluetooth wireless which brings the compromises of a "standard" not really made to maximize wireless audio quality playback.

Pick a favorite option (knowing that no matter which one anyone likes, there will very likely be at least one adapter to add to our (off device) load: lightning to 3.5mm, so that the new headphones we have to buy can work with just about everything we already have, including everything from Apple that doesn't have a lightning port).

"The future" looks so bright I can barely look toward it.

It's hard to say one way or another without trying it first. I'd like to believe there is a benefit to only having one way in and out of a device. I guess I more of a positive person, a glass half full person. In this case, I'm cautiously optimistic that the net benefit will be good.
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Except the Lenovo Yoga looks absolutely nothing like any of Apple's products.

The HP laptop also looks radically different to a macbook.

The only one that remotely resembles a macbook is the LG.

They look similar to me. All of them. I can see the influence the Apple MacBook had on them. The shape to the minimalistic style to the size etc... You see only what you want to I guess. No one would be comparing them otherwise.

 

[zhenya]

All design is a trade off of some sorts. I shed a tear when I see all these accessories turning the rMB into something it wasn't designed to be. If someone need all kinds of ports and need to drive 4K displays this is not the product for them. Wait for the new Skylake rMBPs to drop, most likely this spring.

Yeah, I mean wanting a laptop that is super mobile yet can be easily docked via a single connector handling power, data, and video output is crazy. LOL.

 

[nofear1az]

Dell XPS 13 Developer Edition. About as good as it gets when it comes to ultrabooks pre-loaded with Linux.

Why does it have to be pre-loaded with Linux? Any flavor of Linux is easy to install yourself. Who cares if the lappy comes with Windows or not.