Most of the time you hear about another tech company “borrowing” from Apple’s design language it’s a Chinese smartphone maker creating an iPhone knockoff. Not so with HP, which just unveiled its gorgeous new EliteBook Folio notebook — which happens to look a whole lot like a MacBook.
If you’ve ever fancied a MacBook that runs Windows, this is probably the closest you’re ever going to get!
Photo: HP
The fanless EliteBook Folio is powered by Intel’s Skylake Core M processors, with options available for the M3, M5, and M7. It boasts 8GB of memory, two USB-C ports, and a choice of screen sizes — including an Ultra HD 4K display and 1080p touchscreen.
On top of this are dual array microphones with noise-cancelling software, and a Bang & Olufsen-tuned 4-speaker system, plus optional extras like a fingerprint scanner, smart cade reader, and more. The ultra-slim, but surprisingly rugged laptop will be available from March, beginning at around the $1,000 price tag.
Well played, HP. Well played! (Although it still has to run Windows.)
Via: Slashgear
Luke Dormehl is a U.K.-based journalist and author, with a background working in documentary film for Channel 4 and the BBC. He is the author of The Apple Revolution and The Formula: How Algorithms Solve All Our Problems … and Create More, both published by Penguin/Random House. His tech writing has also appeared in Wired, Fast Company, Techmeme and other publications.
6 responses to “HP borrows from Apple for its MacBook-inspired EliteBook Folio”
Love it. Imitation is a form of flattery or something like that.
When you run out of ideas, steal someone else’s.
Oh I’m so sick of this knock-off, clone and borrowing thing. Yes, this laptop does look a lot like the MacBook. Or the MacBook Air. Or the HP Elite something. Or The Samsung anything.
Just get it: Laptops do look pretty much the same these days. There is just so much you can change, like color / material, size, thickness, a little bit of keyboard design. But as everybody goes for the same goal, the actual options are even more limited. And then there are a dozen manufacturers with a zillion of models, and they just NEED to look the same.
No, they really don’t. Apple’s computers have a specific design language – there is nothing in Apple’s product line that doesn’t “look like Apple”. On the reverse, other companies have come up with their own unique design language – look at Alienware. Furthermore, look at designs coming out of Microsoft and Lenovo – unique designs that don’t look the same.
This machine in particular does look a little like the MacBook, but I can also see some evolutionary design language from HP’s linage.
OK. I appreciate your well-foudned comment (apparently you’re a lot more into design than I am – professionally?), and in this particular case your very specific assessment may be more exact and true than my rather generic one.
However, I am still sick of these knock-off and copy allegations that come up every time a good idea (in terms of design, feature, whatever) is being taken up (and improved, hopefully) by a competitor. Get it, people (not addressing you), this is how all progress works!
Boot Camp. Parallels.