LAS VEGAS, CES 2012 – If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, Apple must be feeling very flattered. Also ripped off.
Many of the new Ultrabooks here on display at the Consumer Electronics Show are so similar to the MacBook Air, they can only be described as knockoffs.
Not only do the they rip off the basic design premise — lightweight, portable laptops with long battery life — they copy the same wedge aluminum casing, wedge shape, chiclet keyboard, large, button-less trackpad, and the selection and placement of ports.
See for yourself. Here are just a few of the MacBook Air knockoffs on display at Intel’s massive booth.
Here’s the MacBook Air. Apple’s machine has become a symbol of sleek, mobile computing. It’s light, portable, and boasts great battery life. It’s the industry’s best-selling laptop, which has forced Apple’s competitors to scramble to catch up. At CES, they’re attempting this, releasing 75+ new Ultrabook models to the market. As you can see, many are shameless ripoffs of Apple’s original.
Here’s an Asus Ultrabook. Note the matte-aluminum chassis and distinctive wedge shape. Where have we seen that before?
The Asus also borrows the MacBook Air’s large, button-less trackpad and chiclet keyboard. The stickers would never fly on a Macbook though.
The keyboard is almost exactly the same as the MacBook Air’s, including the on/off button in the upper right.
This LG Ultrabook also borrows the MacBook’s aluminum chassis, wedge profile and chiclet keyboard.
Another wedge-shaped Ultrabook from Samsung. The color is different, but the keyboard and trackpad are the same.
Here’s another aluminum UltraMacBook from Asus. If the keyboard were black instead of silver, it would be hard to tell the difference between it and a MacBook Air.
The Asus sports an SD Card slot, just like the MBA. One big difference: the Asus slot is on the left instead of the right. Evolution!
Different color, but like the others, this Samsung Ultrabook shares many of the same design cues.
Aluminum case? Check. Wedge profile? Check. Chiclet keys? Check.
This Acer has a different color scheme (ugly), but is cut from MBA cloth.
This Ultrabook may be the most original of the bunch: the ports are on the back.
Another Asus Ultrabook with the familiar sharp wedge.
And another. Note this is a different machine; not the same as the one above.
Of course, Intel doesn’t call these “MacBook Air clones” or “ripoffs.” These are ultrabooks, an exciting new form factor of laptop that will take the world by storm, of which the MacBook Air is just one solitary example. The others are way different! Some of their keyboards are silver instead of black! Some come with 15-inch displays! Some even have gyroscopes in them! Gyroscopes! Watch out, MacBook Air! There’s an army of bullshit doppelgangers in town, and they’re all ready to suck.
Leander Kahney is the editor and publisher of Cult of Mac.
Leander is a longtime technology reporter and the author of six acclaimed books about Apple, including two New York Times bestsellers: Jony Ive: The Genius Behind Apple’s Greatest Products and Inside Steve’s Brain, a biography of Steve Jobs.
He’s also written a top-selling biography of Apple CEO Tim Cook and authored Cult of Mac and Cult of iPod, which both won prestigious design awards. Most recently, he was co-author of Cult of Mac, 2nd Edition.
Leander has been reporting about Apple and technology for nearly 30 years.
Before founding Cult of Mac as an independent publication, Leander was news editor at Wired.com, where he was responsible for the day-to-day running of the Wired.com website. He headed up a team of six section editors, a dozen reporters and a large pool of freelancers. Together the team produced a daily digest of stories about the impact of science and technology, and won several awards, including several Webby Awards, 2X Knight-Batten Awards for Innovation in Journalism and the 2010 MIN (Magazine Industry Newsletter) award for best blog, among others.
Before being promoted to news editor, Leander was Wired.com’s senior reporter, primarily covering Apple. During that time, Leander published a ton of scoops, including the first in-depth report about the development of the iPod. Leander attended almost every keynote speech and special product launch presented by Steve Jobs, including the historic launches of the iPhone and iPad. He also reported from almost every Macworld Expo in the late ’90s and early ‘2000s, including, sadly, the last shows in Boston, San Francisco and Tokyo. His reporting for Wired.com formed the basis of the first Cult of Mac book, and subsequently this website.
Before joining Wired, Leander was a senior reporter at the legendary MacWeek, the storied and long-running weekly that documented Apple and its community in the 1980s and ’90s.
Leander has written for Wired magazine (including the Issue 16.04 cover story about Steve Jobs’ leadership at Apple, entitled Evil/Genius), Scientific American, The Guardian, The Observer, The San Francisco Chronicle and many other publications.
Leander is an expert on:
Apple and Apple history
Steve Jobs, Jony Ive, Tim Cook and Apple leadership
Apple community
iPhone and iOS
iPad and iPadOS
Mac and macOS
Apple Watch and watchOS
Apple TV and tvOS
AirPods
Leander has a postgrad diploma in artificial intelligence from the University of Aberdeen, and a BSc (Hons) in experimental psychology from the University of Sussex.
He has a diploma in journalism from the UK’s National Council for the Training of Journalists.
Leander lives in San Francisco, California, and is married with four children. He’s an avid biker and has ridden in many long-distance bike events, including California’s legendary Death Ride.
You can find out more about Leander on LinkedIn and Facebook. You can follow him on X at @lkahney or Instagram.
