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My Mac problem: Too many and too alike

Macs look the same, which can cause problems the more they invade the market.

Matt Asay Contributing Writer
Matt Asay is a veteran technology columnist who has written for CNET, ReadWrite, and other tech media. Asay has also held a variety of executive roles with leading mobile and big data software companies.
Matt Asay
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.