Speaking of lawsuits, suppose Apple could file one against Gateway for trade dress infringement? The initial wave of cheap iMac copycats has long since died out, but the iBook knockoffs just keep on coming. To be fair, the Wintel manufacturers learned their lesson when Apple's lawyers started getting involved: make a knockoff look too much like the original product, and you're just begging for a savage legal beatdown. That's why the new invasion of consumer portables consists not of direct ripoffs, but rather of "iBook-inspired" products. Nevertheless, Dell's Inspiron 3800 touts "design and affordability" and comes in a choice of colors, while IBM's recently-announced ThinkPad i Series is a low-cost laptop with integrated wireless networking. It's not hard to guess where these guys got their inspiration.

But with the Solo 5300, Gateway might be pushing the design similarity barrier just a little too far. As faithful viewer Patrick Winter puts it, "if this doesn't look like a gleaming graphite iBook, I'll eat a bug." Truth be told, at first glance, the likeness is striking, to say the least-- white cover with curved grey accent at the bottom edge, company logo large and in charge. Take a look at a similar photo of a Graphite iBook for comparison. It's not exactly a "separated at birth" moment, but you can't help wondering if the Solo 5300 is the iBook's ugly cousin. Add in the fact that Gateway's offering starts at the same $1599 price as the iBook (albeit not the Graphite version) and includes a familiar-sounding 12.1-inch TFT screen and 6 GB hard drive, and you've got to wonder if Apple's lawyers are straining at the leash.

Granted, the differences are pretty severe, too; whereas the iBook is delicately curved and sports a convenient handle, the Solo 5300 is boxy and emphasizes its screen hinges as design accents. If Gateway is indeed dragged into court over this, we expect its defense to be something along the lines of "there's no chance of customer confusion because our product is far too gross-looking to be an iBook." Then again, maybe the Solo 5300 will live up to its number and ship with batteries that decide to burst into flame at inopportune moments; did Apple patent flammable laptop technology when it had the chance? (Disclaimer: no PowerBook 5300 ever caught fire in the field yadda yadda yadda.)