Apple Chromebox

Yesterday I tweeted about Samsung’s Chromebox being remarkably similar in design to Apple’s Mac Mini. Today, Dustin Curtis had the same thought.

You can see what we’re talking about when you look at the bottom of the Mac Mini:

And the bottom of the Chromebox:

But I think it’s even worse than that. In an earlier tweet, I made this observation:

Also, why does Chromebox need vents on back cl.ly/1m2x1t3v2h1p2d…Even after it copied the Mac Mini’s bottom venting?cl.ly/0y2G2J1F2k3y1q…

— Matthew Panzarino (@mpanzarino) May 29, 2012

See, I don’t think that the bottom vent on the Chromebox is even functional as a vent like it is on the Mac Mini. There are already vents on the back for expelling heat, the slits on the bottom seem to be some sort of dead-stick auxiliary vent of some sort, maybe just for intake. They’re even blocked in places by bits of internals.

So, in the end, Samsung was able to copy the look of the Mac Mini’s vent, but wasn’t actually able to copy the way that it works. Suitably ridiculous.