I love it. Not only is Acer totally ripping off the design of the MacBook Air for their new “ultrabook”, the Aspire 3951, but even though it looks cheaper than the real thing, it’ll almost definitely be more expensive than the $999 Air as well.
Edit: Wasn’t it just a few days ago that Acer’s founder was saying that the MacBook Air was just a silly fad? Why, yes, it was.
John Brownlee is a writer for Fast Company, and a contributing writer here at CoM. He has also written for Wired, Playboy, Boing Boing, Popular Mechanics, VentureBeat, and Gizmodo. He lives in Boston with his wife and two parakeets. You can follow him here on Twitter.
71 responses to “Surprise! Acer’s New Ultrabook Is A Shoddy Ripoff Of The MacBook Air!”
Cue Apple Lawsuit.
I don’t think you can sue someone for making a laptop out of aluminum that has a keyboard. That’s like Ford suing GM for making a car with 4 wheels and an engine.
People are too “lawsuit” happy these days.
Taipei, start your photocopiers.
So basically, a Macbook Air wannabe that comes with extra Windows crapware, sub-par webcam and no backlit keyboard. It will be *amazing* deal. For some.
Agreed, if someone can best Apple’s design, performance, and function…let them try. However, they’ve been trying(and failing) to do it for so long that I can’t remember the last time I really “wanted” a non Apple piece of technology…
Well, I agree with you in general, but in this case it’s pretty blatant copying that goes way beyond an aluminum laptop with a keyboard. Clearly, Acer intended it to look identical to the MacBook Air. I wouldn’t blame Apple for suing for this though I do think they have gotten out of control with suing everyone.
Actually, you can sue for copying “look and feel to create brand confusion”, as well as for violations of patented production processes.
If you can’t beat em join em!
I don’t know why Windows users wouldn’t just buy an Air and run Windows on it. Do they really hate Apple so much that they need to buy stuff like this?
Polish a Turd, its still a Turd
I paid $21.87 for an iPad 2 32-GB and my girlfriend loves her Panasonic Lumix GF 1 Camera that we got for $ 38.76 there arriving tomorrow by UPS. I will never pay such expensive retail prices in stores again. Especially when I also sold a 40 inch LED TV to my boss for $ 657 which only cost me $ 62.81 to buy. Here is the website we use to get it al from, http://to.ly/aUHB
Anyone for a ripoff running windows and thats more expensive than the real deal??? anyone???
You mean copy them
and by the time it gets to Best Buy, it’ll be slapped with a bunch of stickers, just to blend in with the rest of those Win laptops.
SHARINGAN!!! So many copycat…
I can’t really blame them. I mean what else are they going to do?! They’re going to pay for it. But I can’t blame them. lol
Actually, you can sue for anything. It doesn’t make you right. And your second statement is wrong.
can’t these authors actually get the correct information?
The prices for this particular laptop should be between $700 to $1000. (For the different models)CHEAPER than the MBA.
actually it will be cheaper than the real deal.
should start around $700 and end around $1000. Depending on what specs you want.
Steve did say it’s the year of the copycats! He was right…. Again ;-)
I just paid $22.85 for an iPad 2–64GB and my girlfriend loves her Panasonic Lumix GF 1 Camera that we got for $38.76 there arriving tomorrow by UPS. I will never pay such expensive retail prices in stores again. Especially when I also sold a 40 inch LED TV to my boss for $674 which only cost me $62.81 to buy. Here is the website we use to get it all from, CentHub.com
Jeff, if you spent millions doing the R&D work on the electronics and design of a brand new type of laptop that was significantly different from anything before it, using custom-designed processes and technology, and then someone came along and simply stole the whole look and feel that you’d created, you’d probably be quite upset. This is not the case of Acer just making another “laptop”. It looks nearly identical to the MacBook Air and looks like it’s made out of exactly the same materials–and that is a violation of copyright and patent law. What Acer has done is corporate theft.
I love the name “Aspire.” Acer is aspiring to be Apple, and using outright theft to do it. Way to innovate Acer!
Is that CucKoo clocks going off all over the world OR is that just at the the Acer building ????
Cheapskate factor. It’s not just about hating Steve Jobs, Wintards honestly don’t want to pay what they consider the Apple tax. Most Wintards actually believe that Apple computers are of inferior quality because they say that Apple uses the same parts from Asia as any other Wintel PC company does. Also to a Wintard, Apple customer service means nothing to them since they believe they can fix anything themselves.
I’m not talking about the average, non-tech consumer because they’ll walk into a computer store and salespeople will try to sell them anything around a certain price range. Those consumers are merely confused or they honestly don’t have enough money to purchase an Apple computer. They’re not hating, they’re just being practical or uninformed.
Wintards will never buy an Apple computer to exclusively run Windows. Doing something like that runs counter to their cheapskate lifestyle.
“Acer founder Stan Shih has opened his mouth and said something
extraordinarily stupid: the ultrabook and tablet form factors are
nothing but a stupid fad with no future”
http://www.cultofmac.com/acer-…
LMAO what a dumb *insert word here _ _ _*
Yes we do. Apple is a dirty fucking money hungry POS.
I will never again send a cent apples way after they blocked the GalaxyTAB from being sold in Australia.
We struggle to get ANYTHING down here, and in a free marketplace you cant pick and choose who you want to compete with.
Ill pay double for an un-mac branded ultrabook.
Funny how in those promo shots they never include all the ugly, garish crapware metal logo stickers/ads they always (have to) plaster all over Windows PCs. Slobs at the plants often don’t even put them on squarely. Cheapskates indeed.
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Lol it’s the funniest thing when a Mac is a better deal than the Windows alt. What’s funnier is that though they are the best deals for Macs I still won’t get one. I’m happier reaching for the “overpriced” MacBook Pro.
Keep in mind that the Australian had to, and did, agree there was cause or the injunction. Cause ya know maybe Samsung did violate Apple’s trade dress rights.
Same material, same very unique shape. Yeah it could be suit worthy. Trade dress is a valid IP issue
You are an idiot as usual
who wants that POS anyways? thangod i wont be able to see those POS here in Aus!
suck it up how you troll on a Apple Users Website!
ya Malaka
You can’t copyright the use of aluminum, you can’t copyright the design of a keyboard, and you can’t copyright a device being thin.
Saying Acer “copied” Apple is silly because, well, they are both LAPTOPS! Just because you can sue doesn’t mean your right.
Trade dress violations mean that Acer has to make you think that what they designed is very similar to a MBA to the point where a normal consumer would think it is. However, “MBA-inspired” is not the same as “MBA-confusion”. That’s like saying Galaxy S is just like the iPhone because they’re both black with large touch screens and a camera. Guess what, they’re both phones!
No, but I imagine that if Dodge made a car that looked exactly like a Mustang you’d see some law flying.
Apple sets the standard, and everyone follows suit. It’s been the same damned thing since the 70s. Apple II? IBM PC. Mac? Windows. iPod? Zune. iPhone? Android. iPad? Android again. MacBook Air? Ultrabook. It’ll never change because no one has the balls to shake up the industry like Apple does. Case closed.
Well it’s that sort of thought process that stifles innovation. (“What else SHOULD it look like, it’s a phone right?”) Sony, for example, went and designed a tablet that competes with the iPad yet has its own unique and identifiable look. Samsung didn’t put in that sort of effort, they just flat out copied Apple’s design. Google originally crafted Android to look and act just like iOS (although it’s starting to deviate a bit) whereas Microsoft actually invented a new phone interface that manages to use a touch screen without looking like a blatant rip off of Apple. To be truly unique it takes effort, and Acer hasn’t put in any effort here at all.