My Mac problem: Too many and too alike

(Credit: Apple)

Here in the Asay home we have a growing problem: Each year we add a Mac to the fold, making it increasingly more difficult to tell them apart. My wife, eldest daughter, and I each have MacBook Pros. Soon, no doubt, my nine-year old son will get one. I love the way the Macs look, but it becomes a problem when they all look the same.

That's at home. Imagine what it's like at work, where we have scads of MacBook Pros.

Yes, we could litter the laptops with stickers, but that's a bit like sacrilege (though some disagree).

It's much easier in PC land, where various shades of ugliness help to distinguish criminally ugly Dells from nice-try Toshibas. ThinkPads are the only PCs worth buying, but they suffer from the same defect that MacBook Pros do: They all look the same.

Today this may not be an issue for you. But with the Mac poised to grab eight percent of the desktop/laptop market, and set to double over the next three years according to Gartner, it's a problem that you, too, may be fortunate to have.

[blabtech]

This is a problem..... but they make such great computers, now they have to start making them in different colors, until then you can just add a case on the laptop, in the worst scenario..

http://blabtech.blogspot.com

[rossburton]

GroovyLids on Etsy -- http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5721296 -- sells vinyl laptop lid stickers which are both cool and removable.

[all-usernames-in-use]

Can we get the title of this blog changed, please? It's ridiculous to call it "the open road" and suggest that we buy in to a closed system.

It's like visiting a church for the first time and getting cornered by an Amway associate.

[royrusso]

Solution: At your next company meeting, use your car key to scratch obscenities in to every Mac you see, except yours.

[nandod2]

what a waste of time... does this guy get paid to write such mindless articles? geez

[nandod2]

what a waste of time... does this guy get paid to write such mindless articles? geez

[ArtInvent]

Oh good grief. Not that I want a Windows machine, but this post just reeks of ignorant Mac snob superiority. Mac's are nice. But, as you say, they found one nice look and do it to death. Dell and HP both are making some beautiful machines now that are sleek and have interesting textures and colors - and aren't all the same. I often wonder what market share Apple would have if they loosened up a little and appealed to more than just the Mac fanatics who take whatever white and aluminum box Jobs anoints as 'the' Mac design. (At least the iPod comes in cool colors.)

[chustar]

One question:
Is the eight percent that they're poised to grab based on actual users or online users?

[cardes]

I actually want a mac, but tools like this guy make me take pause.

[batitombo]

so... you gonna switch to PC maybe windows XP because they all look alike?? jajaja welcome back to the past!! Upgrade to Windows XP or downgrade to Vista for a sluggy machine! soo........ or go Linux, but... If you have the tech ability well go ahead, I have worked with windows, linux and mac, MAC is by far the best OS.... THE BEST no doubt, the way it handles process and it works close to the core unlike windows which works in layers.. WTFFFF no wonder is so sluggish! remember *nix is a really a old OS so..... is far more experienced than windows XP or Vista..