Over the past year Apple has been fighting in courts around the world to keep Samsung devices out of international markets because they believe they violate Apple’s patents and look to similar to the iPhone and iPad. I’m sure the last thing Apple thought would happen would be that another company would clone a different Apple product. Vizio announced at CES that they have done just that.
Vizio will be new to the PC manufacturing market and decided to do so with a bang. They showed off the designs behind what will be their new PCs, Notebooks, and tablet devices. All look similar to Apple Products. Even their Streaming TV device built with Google TV has similarities to Apple TV, except of course for the large remote with a thousand buttons.
It’s interesting to see that instead of a mouse, Vizio even offers a touchpad that is very similar to Apple’s Magic Trackpad. I’m sure that it doesn’t function nearly as well or have the multiple gesture feature that makes Apple’s products great.
Difference in the Clones
One of the main differences in the Vizio all-in-one PC is that it has it’s USB and other connections in it’s base instead of on the back of the monitor like the iMac. It will also be interesting to see if the displays are anywhere near the quality of Apple’s. The high quality display is what makes the rest of the iMac design stand out.
iMac Clone Pricing
Vizio hasn’t announced specs or pricing details for their new computer line yet but my guess is it will have to be significantly less than an iMac to stand a chance. If it’s the same price why wouldn’t people just go with Apple’s line of computers? Even if they just want to run windows, Boot Camp on a Mac would give them that capability and give them the option to run OS X if they ever decide to.
At a price point around $700 the Vizio line of All-In-One PCs stands a chance in the market. I’m honestly surprised that other PC manufacturers hadn’t taken a similar approach years ago.
