Speaking of copycats, undoubtedly the most shameless of the big-name PC makers to opt for full-on Apple emulation is Dell, whose product lines mimic Apple's strategies without going so far as to steal Apple's actual designs. We admit, it's not entirely a mercenary thing, seeing as we have proven conclusively time and time again that Michael Dell is psychologically unstable and has a serious Steve fixation; still, though, it's gotten to the point where every single Dell move is somehow traceable to a previous Apple one-- or, at least, seems to be.

Case in point? Dell's new Inspiron 2100 laptop, which we found via Go2Mac courtesy of a gentle nudge from faithful viewer Tony. If this had come out, say, three months ago, we wouldn't have given it a second look... but in light of certain recent advances in the Mac portable world, the Inspiron 2100's "metallic" case and one-inch-thick svelteness tripped the alarm bells in our head. No, as far as we can tell, it's not actually made out of titanium, but doesn't it look awfully familiar anyway?

Now that we think about it, though, we're probably just a bit oversensitive to the whole "Wacky Mike" syndrome. After all, the new Inspiron probably isn't titanium, and it doesn't have a wide aspect ratio screen. It also doesn't have a built-in DVD-ROM drive, opting instead to shave a couple of pounds off its weight by leaving that stuff for external attachments. Yes, there's apparently built-in Ethernet and a modem, but that's probably par for the course these days. In all, other than the metallic surface, the real reason that the Inspiron invites comparisons to the PowerBook G4 is because-- dare we say it?-- the G4 is Apple's most typically Wintel-looking notebook to date. (Other than the fact that it happens to be gorgeous, of course.)

Say, what if we're on to something, here? We definitely heard complaints from some Mac users when the PowerBook G4 was unveiled, who felt the design was too similar to Wintel junk. So what if Steve is messing with Mike by having new Apple designs start to mimic Dell's? Suddenly you've got Mike copying Steve copying Mike. We figure one of two things will eventually happen: either Mr. Dell will regain his sense of self through Steve's selfless act, and thus return to a state of grateful sanity-- or the contradictions and confusion will snap his fragile mind like a twig and he'll go totally Fatal Attraction on Steve's behind. Hide the pet rabbit, Steve!