The MockBook from Sony?

Sony has just issued a press release for their latest N-10 series VAIO notebooks, and guess what. It looks just like Apple’s MacBooks. Or at least that’s what MacDailyNews thinks (and we know how the Mac cult is just so passionate about Apple). Indeed, at a first glance, you would notice some elemenets, umm, borrowed, from the MacBook. Do particularly check out the chicklet keyboard and the latch-less design (which has also been adopted by several models from other manufacturers, such as the Compaq V3000).

First of all, yes, we did a genuine “Grade A” double-take when we first saw the press release images. Right down to the chiclet keyboard, no less! When companies do this, it really draws attention to their lack of original ideas and their inability to innovate. See Microsoft’s Windows Vista, for example: It’s Windows XP dressed up to fool the general public that it’s “just like Apple’s Mac OS X.” Now poor Sony with this OS-limited, can’t-run-Mac OS X-but-obviously-wishes-it-could, knock-off spawn of a MacBook Pro and a MacBook.

I haven’t personally owned any VAIO laptops, but judging from what I’ve seen from VAIOs and other Sony products, I think Sony values its designs highly. And they’re not likely to just rip off design elements from yet-another-company-with-cool-designs. Perhaps gadget designs do really take cues from what’s succesful and usable. Remember that once, laptop hinges were not on the laptop chassis’ edge, but closer to the middle, with some part of the lid extending to the back of laptops? Well, we rarely–if ever–see this design anymore. And remember that the iBook once started the trend of trick hinges–the ones mounted on the back of the chassis instead of on the top. I really liked this design, because it lowered the screen’s profile, making it, for instance, easier to see what’s behind the laptop, which is great when doing presentations on a podium, or when in a boardroom (or cafe table) meeting. Even my other non-Apple laptop (the Compaq V2000) has this feature.

Sure, at first glance, the N-10 looks like a MacBook. But look a little longer, and the similarities start to fade away.