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HP's MacBook AirPro
- Thread starter Rogifan
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Yup. The Vaio X505 back in 2004 was the first laptop to use a chicklet keyboard.
In fact, a goodly bit of Apple's general design style was inspired by Sony back during their heyday. The X505 was probably the inspiration for the Macbook Air, in fact.
Hasn't the chiclet keyboard been around since the 70s/early 80s?
Maybe Apple took cues from Sony in terms of wedge shape and chiclet keyboard but I wouldn't look at a MacBook Air and think it reminds me of a X505. For one thing the hinge is completely different. Also the X505 has no palm rest or track pad. This new HP Envy is much more of a rip off of MacBooks in terms of the complete design. Other companies like Lenovo, Asus, Samsung, etc. have original laptop designs. HP should be embarrassed.
You might be thinking of membrane keyboards, which were kindasorta a precursor design. They were almost perfectly flush, with the button being located just underneath a thin, flexible square of plastic. The modern chiclet keyboard as we know it today came out with the X505.
True. Apple took a lot of inspiration from Sony without any direct aping them like HP did with Apple.
But it's like I said in that other thread up in news discussion. Jony Ives is responsible for a good deal of modern tech fashion, and the MBP is a good looking computer. It's like the old saying goes, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Why be bothered by everyone else copying the style of the company you support?
Everyone copies from everyone at some point or another. Like OllyW said above, the first unibody Macbook pros looked quite a bit like slightly cleaner versions of an HP Compaq machine. Silver keys on a silver body.
HP was actually doing the black low profile keys on a silver body before Apple was. You could almost say that if the MBP never existed, the shot of the Envy above would almost be the natural evolution of HP's style (I say almost, because HP always loved that weird super rounded edges look, whereas Apple's style is a little more squarish in comparison).
Now everything is flipped around. Apple lead the charge into sleek minimalism, and it turned out so well everyone else wants to follow suit. Sometimes a company takes inspiration, some times they give it. To use another old phrase, what goes around comes around.
By that logic HPs laptop is completely different. For one it's logo is in the front under the screen instead of the laptop name. Also the Macbooks have no beats.
That's not a unibody MacBook Pro.
I was talking about the current design which had similarities to the screen on the HP Pavillion when it was released.
As usual, a lot of MacRumors members didn't like the new design when the first spy shots surfaced...
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/580034/
I wonder how many of the complainers now own one?
That's not a unibody MacBook Pro.
I was talking about the current design which had similarities to the screen on the HP Pavillion when it was released.
Really? I thought the first unibody Macs came out in '06, not '08.
Well...uh...er...yup.
As usual, a lot of MacRumors members didn't like the new design when the first spy shots surfaced...
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/580034/
I wonder how many of the complainers now own one?
Probably all of them. Though to give them the benefit of the doubt, there are quite a few people still griping about glossy screens even today.
Still, that's a funny thread. It's weird seeing that things are still exactly the same even after all these years. I mean it's identical down to the quips, like "well, I guess I'll be buying 'previous model X' instead of this travesty" and things like that. The only real differences is that the complainers usually add something like "Tim Cook doesn't know what he's doing" afterwards.
You do realise that the Envy is one laptop product line of many by HP? There are other designs. And your concept of originality is certainly questionable, especially when quite a lot of MacBooks have looked like HP laptops.
Who are they suing right now besides Samsung?
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Not as bad as the Acer Aspire R7. No palm rest and track pad above the keyboard. Who the hell designed this and did they actually use it before they mass produced it?
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Sad think is some tech sites are giving Acer props for trying something different. That's the problem with Windows OEM's right now. Throwing stuff at the wall to see what sticks. Thank God Apple leaves most of this stuff in the lab.
What the what!?
I'm not even a designer and I can't see the logic with this.
Hideous
Think of it as this...
...but with more control over the positioning of the touchscreen.
Really? Which MacBook looks like a HP laptop? I have an HP Pavillion (similar to the pic posted above) and it doesn't remind me of a MacBook.
You're comparing a logo to a trackpad and palm rest? I think anyone would objectively agree that the HP envy looks more like a MacBook than the Air looks like an x505. I'm not arguing that companies don't take design inspiration from other companies, but rather that HP seems to be taking the inspiration/copying a bit too far. And other OEM's like Asus and Lenovo are able to produce nice designs that aren't MacBook clones.
You are telling me this doesn't look like an Apple laptop?
But the Envy line does?
Must be just the silver then.