[Merged] Sony and Macbook KB Similarrities

[Pixellated]

While apple get all the credit for this, lets go back 20 odd years.

A young Steve Jobs visited XEROX PARC and saw that the GUI is the future. He went home, and now everyone's using it.

 

[Pixellated]

Sheesh I'm already majorly drooling over the vaio z series, this picture isn't helping curb the crave!
If the new macbooks look like that I'm selling mine tomorrow for a new one. God how I wish it ran Leopard, I'd get that machine in an instant.

*Ahem* OSX86?

 

[Sesshi]

Student to the master? Work in electronics retail for any amount of time and see how many sonys get returned or come in with problems. I've owned two sonys and never again will I buy another. Sure they look very very nice, but they're over priced and come with numerous problems. I thought my first one was just a lemon and gave them a second shot 2 years later. Nope, same numerous problems (speakers dying, cd rom dying, and battery going after about a month of use).

The only time sony made a good pc was back in the pre-2002 era. They were great back then. If they made them today like they did back then I would have one as a windows machine.

Maybe work in product development and marketing for any amount of time and see Sony builds two tiers of machines. The low-end machines are built in the same / similar contract facilities as Macbooks, Dells, etc. The machines like the SZ and TZ (and presumably the new Z1) - i.e. hardware price-comparable with Apple's offerings - are built in Japan.

I suspect if you work in electronics retail you'd probably deal comparatively little people buying the latter, as well as the question as to what you'd be able to afford even with a staff discount.

I gross slightly more than a shop assistant and I buy slightly more tech gear than your average guy. I've had top-tier VAIO's since launch in the 90's and failures / RTB for any reasons can be counted in the single digits, as opposed to the high-double-digits (in terms of machines and percentages) I've had with supposedly 'Pro' Apple gear. I must admit I have no idea about the low-end NR series, etc - I don't buy them.

 

[muldul]

Looks very nice, but it doesn't run OS X so no thank you

 

[Consultant]

While apple get all the credit for this, lets go back 20 odd years.

A young Steve Jobs visited XEROX PARC and saw that the GUI is the future. He went home, and now everyone's using it.

The difference is that STEVE JOBS OBTAINED THE PERMISSION OF THE INTELLECTUAL RIGHTS HOLDER. That was used to make the first Mac OS.

Bill Gates deceptively obtained the pre-release version of Mac OS under the guise that MS will write apps for Mac OS, and proceed to use the BETA Mac OS as basis of windows without obtaining the proper rights. Looks like they still do, 30 years later.

BTW, it's 30 years, not 20 years. Get your info straight.

 

[Killyp]

Why would you want it to be less reliable

I have one on preorder.

As others have said, Sony have been doing this style of chiclet keyboard longer than Apple. Everything Apple knows about making laptops, they learned from them - and they're still the student to the master.

What, like the trackpad?

In reality, Sony are nothing when it comes to laptop innovation. The real innovators were people like Compaq, who were the first to develop a laptop in the guise it's known today. In fact I'd say since then, the biggest innovation which has actually affected users when it comes to laptop design is developing the OS specifically for the computer, AKA Apple.

 

[Joe23]

I'm sorry, but Sony were doing this on their X505 before Apple came along with their own rendition of it.

 

[Abraxsis]

The meeting at Xerox was in Dec 1979, and the Lisa, the first commercially available computer based off that meeting, was out in 1983. Now, I wasn't a math major, but that seems to be 20 odd years to me. Which is what the OP said, he did not say "20 years ago." To be such a stickler for facts you might want to take some of your own advice.

The difference is that STEVE JOBS OBTAINED THE PERMISSION OF THE INTELLECTUAL RIGHTS HOLDER. That was used to make the first Mac OS.

Bill Gates deceptively obtained the pre-release version of Mac OS under the guise that MS will write apps for Mac OS, and proceed to use the BETA Mac OS as basis of windows without obtaining the proper rights. Looks like they still do, 30 years later.

BTW, it's 30 years, not 20 years. Get your info straight.

 

[Tosser]

The meeting at Xerox was in Dec 1979, and the Lisa, the first commercially available computer based off that meeting, was out in 1983. Now, I wasn't a math major, but that seems to be 20 odd years to me. Which is what the OP said, he did not say "20 years ago." To be such a stickler for facts you might want to take some of your own advice.

'79-'08=29 years
'83-'08=25 years

 

[jimN]

...
I suspect if you work in electronics retail you'd probably deal comparatively little people buying the latter, as well as the question as to what you'd be able to afford even with a staff discount.

I gross slightly more than a shop assistant and I buy slightly more tech gear than your average guy. ... I must admit I have no idea about the low-end NR series, etc - I don't buy them.

Seems you traded earning potential for people skills. Whilst you undoubtedly are able to offer a different perspective to the other poster it wouldn't hurt for you to read through your post and just take a moment to realise quite how condescending and arrogant it is. We all need shop assistants, in fact they are arguably more useful than a lot of other professions which may command far higher salaries.

Sorry to hi-jack the thread.

 

[topicolo]

'79-'08=29 years
'83-'08=25 years

Lol. owned

 

[Sesshi]

What, like the trackpad?

In reality, Sony are nothing when it comes to laptop innovation. The real innovators were people like Compaq, who were the first to develop a laptop in the guise it's known today. In fact I'd say since then, the biggest innovation which has actually affected users when it comes to laptop design is developing the OS specifically for the computer, AKA Apple.

They were very late in the game to launch their own. However they had been working with many other companies - Apple included - to develop laptops. It was the explosion of the laptop market in the 90's which caused Sony to enter the fray themselves. A keyboard isn't exactly an innovation. The form factor of many Sony notebooks were, as well as the build quality of the flagship notebooks in relation to their compactness / capabilities.

Seems you traded earning potential for people skills. Whilst you undoubtedly are able to offer a different perspective to the other poster it wouldn't hurt for you to read through your post and just take a moment to realise quite how condescending and arrogant it is. We all need shop assistants, in fact they are arguably more useful than a lot of other professions which may command far higher salaries.

Sorry to hi-jack the thread.

I'm very familiar with people skills - far more than your average shop assistant it has to be said - but raising issue with BS is something else altogether. What the problem is, is not actually being in the best position to know about whatever is under discussion but being very definite about it - which is to a larger extent also a problem with the dedicated and vocal Apple users I have to say, if what I read on this board is anything to go by.

 

[muldul]

What laptop is that? Very familiar keyboard, wonder where i know it from

 

[queshy]

Sony is so creative these days!

 

[mixmacface]

'79-'08=29 years
'83-'08=25 years

simple math'D!

 

[Masquerade]

Sony's new tagline should be "Steal from the best and make it your own"

I noticed the similarity the first time I saw a picture of Sony's new notebooks.

sony had rounded key keyboards long before macbooks.

 

[aussie.damo]

What laptop is that? Very familiar keyboard, wonder where i know it from

Umm, have you not read the rest of this post? If anything, Apple nabbed the idea from Sony, who had this design WELL before they did.

It must be nice to live in the RDF.

Damo

 

[elppa]

I thought those guys only made my big screen/flatscreen/LCD/Bravia/TVs/Monitors...

This is a joke, right?

Looks very nice, but it doesn't run OS X so no thank you

OSX86 will probably get some of the way there, but in reality it has only been designed to do Windows.

 

[elppa]

Introduced in 2004, discontinued now.

Funnily enough it is also slimmer than another Apple Innovation “the world's slimmest notebook”, the MacBook Air.

 

[0098386]

I'm more than certain my Spectrum computer from the 80's has this keyboard that Apple "invented"

 

[Roba]

As been said already enough times Sony used this sort of keyboard years ago for the first time.

Not only that they have been using this keyboard in more recent years as well on the 11.1 Sony TZ and the 14.1 Sony CR. The keyboard on TZ was very popular so they started to extend using this keyboard on other ranges in their product line up.

Sony TZ

Sony CR

 

[benlangdon]

Sony copies Macbooks keyboard

i saw this in a magazine i was flipping through the other day,
just remembered it.

http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs...otebooks:ss&ref=http://www.sony.com/index.php

mods, sry if repeat, just delete if it is.

 

[0098386]

Already posted here somewhere.

Oh and Sony might have stole it from Apple. Just as Apple might have stole it from the Spectrum ZX from the 80's.

 

[zioxide]

Sony had a laptop with those keys back in like 05.. before the macbook came out.

 

[PlaceofDis]

the macbook style keyboard has been around for a long time. its just that apple only recently decided to move to it.