Updated Photos of Acer's Ultrabook

[kockgunner]

You can't seriously think these look alike. Only the Acer looks like the Air.

 

[thatisme]

buttonless trackpad is a buttonless trackpad
thinness is a state, a measurement, surely two things being thin is not copied
color, grey silver is grey silver
keyboard, chic-let black keyboards are everywhere
hinge - bar color similarity it's a hinge that has to be like that because of its slim design. Not exactly a copy.


Basically if a sleek thin silver looking laptop with a chic-let keyboard is the new fashion - they are all going to look much of a muchness by design limitations of creating a sleek thin silver laptop with a chic-let keyboard.

All of these are following a reference from Intel and of course will then all bare remarkable similarity design concept wise.





The MBA still has OSX which at the end of the day is the most important thing when it comes to 'mac' ownership surely, rather than a glorified pissing contest over the fence with pc users.

All glass, buttonless clickable trackpad with gesture support is ALL Apple design. This alone would allow them to sue for infringement. But add to that the tapered form factor, the exact clone for a keyboard and hinge design, and you have an IP lawsuit.

The issue isn't whether or not other companies can make Ultra-Thin laptops. The issue is whether or not the company in question appears to have reverse engineered and copied proprietary designs and / or infringed on patents, copyrights, or are intentionally trying to design a product as to confuse a casual observer as to the origin of the product.

Unibody design, I believe, is patented
Buttonless glass trackpad, I believe is patented
Multi-touch IS patented

Other than that:

Overall aluminum enclosure with tapered contour, rounded corners, chicklet keypad may not be patented, but one could argue very effectively that this is inherently an Apple design, not a general laptop design (as of yet). One could also argue effectively that there are other ways to configure and design an "Ultrabook" as to not mimic or resemble a Macbook Air.

 

[PaulWog]

Thread isn't silent, are you deaf as well as blind? It's only garbage for the blind, I guess, because it's clear as day. Not only can it be plainly seen side by side but the notion of companies not attempting to copy Apple and that they are just late in the game is ludicrous. It's not so much that obviously people want thin gadgets so that's not enough to say it's copying - it's the way it's designed and implemented that makes it egregious enough to be alleged a copy.

Companies are emulating Apple, this is no secret. To think that they're all coming to the same conclusion is bull. It's just coincidence that Apple has consistently come out with their products first (iPod, iPhone, iPad, MBP, MBA) and then others come out with others that look similar afterwards? It's one thing to make a gadget thin. It's another to use the same colors in the same spots, the same kind of tapering, the same keyboard, the same button-less trackpad, etc.

It's like if I wore the same color shirt as you, it's not enough to say I copied you. But if I wore the same color shirt that has the colors in the same spots and had the same pants and shoes are the same brand then, yea, that's pretty darn close.

Apple wasn't first (I repeat: They were not first) with ultraportable laptops or the mp3 player or the touch screen phone but the industrial design of their products or user experience that they did come out with has no doubt been mimicked to a shockingly similar degree. It's too plain to see. I guarantee you that if the iPhone never came out, we would *not* have smartphones as they are today in both industrial design and apps/OS as they work now. If the iPod never came out, we would not have Zune from MS as it is now. If the iPad never came out, we would not have the Galaxy 10.1 as it exists.

Even if what you say is true that the same conclusion was reached - Apple still made it well and popularized it to make it a viable consumer-buying product - they prove that this exact formula is successful. Let's say other companies have a similar "conclusion/formula" but Apple's implementation clearly wins. So guess what? They copy them even one more iota because their formula works and it works better than their own original conclusion.

I'm not particularly saying this is not something companies should do (it's business) but it's quite plain to see that it happens.

Didn't read past the first half of the first sentence. I'm not going to argue with someone who is going to start name calling or what-have-you. This is a debate of opinions and fact in a general sense; not a discussion about any specific individual forum member. Don't take your aggression out on me directly: Attack my opinion, or the "group" that argues my opinion, and not me. It's rather rude to call me personally "deaf" and I don't know what else you may have gone on to say.

Fact of the matter is what I said stands true. I don't need to repeat my original post again. I got most of what I had to say out.

 

[jsolares]

Thread isn't silent, are you deaf as well as blind? It's only garbage for the blind, I guess, because it's clear as day. Not only can it be plainly seen side by side but the notion of companies not attempting to copy Apple and that they are just late in the game is ludicrous. It's not so much that obviously people want thin gadgets so that's not enough to say it's copying - it's the way it's designed and implemented that makes it egregious enough to be alleged a copy.

Companies are emulating Apple, this is no secret. To think that they're all coming to the same conclusion is bull. It's just coincidence that Apple has consistently come out with their products first (iPod, iPhone, iPad, MBP, MBA) and then others come out with others that look similar afterwards? It's one thing to make a gadget thin. It's another to use the same colors in the same spots, the same kind of tapering, the same keyboard, the same button-less trackpad, etc.

It's like if I wore the same color shirt as you, it's not enough to say I copied you. But if I wore the same color shirt that has the colors in the same spots and had the same pants and shoes are the same brand then, yea, that's pretty darn close.

Apple wasn't first (I repeat: They were not first) with ultraportable laptops or the mp3 player or the touch screen phone but the industrial design of their products or user experience that they did come out with has no doubt been mimicked to a shockingly similar degree. It's too plain to see. I guarantee you that if the iPhone never came out, we would *not* have smartphones as they are today in both industrial design and apps/OS as they work now. If the iPod never came out, we would not have Zune from MS as it is now. If the iPad never came out, we would not have the Galaxy 10.1 as it exists.

Even if what you say is true that the same conclusion was reached - Apple still made it well and popularized it to make it a viable consumer-buying product - they prove that this exact formula is successful. Let's say other companies have a similar "conclusion/formula" but Apple's implementation clearly wins. So guess what? They copy them even one more iota because their formula works and it works better than their own original conclusion.

I'm not particularly saying this is not something companies should do (it's business) but it's quite plain to see that it happens.

Yes because the LG Prada didn't make it to market before the iPhone... oh wait...

 

[Gemütlichkeit]

they are all cutting corners to drop price. but no one cares because if you're going to buy an apple you're buying it for a reason

 

[AppleTech22]

Uhhh... no one cares for unintelligent bashing of Apple competitors.

It's just another laptop. Can another company not make an ultra thin laptop without you accusing them of copying the Macbook Air? I mean come on.

Don't ******** us bro, you look at that and you know that in the Acer design process the head man was looking at Apple.com and saying make it look like this without breaking any rules.

 

[LeakedDave]

Didn't read past the first half of the first sentence. I'm not going to argue with someone who is going to start name calling or what-have-you. This is a debate of opinions and fact in a general sense; not a discussion about any specific individual forum member. Don't take your aggression out on me directly: Attack my opinion, or the "group" that argues my opinion, and not me. It's rather rude to call me personally "deaf" and I don't know what else you may have gone on to say.

Fact of the matter is what I said stands true. I don't need to repeat my original post again. I got most of what I had to say out.

You're absolutely wrong throughout this thread, but at least you're civilized.

 

[stevensr123]

I'm not usually the one the defend apple when these circumstances, but let's be honest, the samsung galaxy s2 and the galaxy tab (all versions) do not look anything like the ipad or iphone.

However this is clearly daylight robbery, it's not about how thin it is, but every single part of this machine looks like the macbook air. In almost every single way.

 

[Sounds Good]

... every single part of this machine looks like the macbook air. In almost every single way.

That's why I like it!

 

[iExpensive]

Apple may have not invented ultraportables, but they did invent an ultraportable with little compromise in terms of power.

 

[lovelaptops]

Others "copying" Apple

Judging from Apple's ultra-aggressive (can you say "anti-competitive?) actions against Samsung and HTC, you can bet that if anyone was truly "copying" Apple in ultra-thin laptops, they'd be in court faster than a NY second to get an injunction to take them all off the market.

Some designs are known in the IP field as "obvious," a legal term of art. Very thin, very light laptops with large trackpads are clearly in the "obvious" range. Still as usual, Apple sets the bar very high with the new MBA 13 and competitors will have a hard time meeting its performance, features, and quality at Apple's price. Gone are the days of the "Apple tax;" now it's more of the "Apple predatory price" to drive all the competition out of the market, if they can't injunction them with bs overly broad patents.

Not the tech world's finest hour.