parts placement - automated?
Steve Jobs had always cared about how a computer looked on the inside even if the owner is not supposed to look inside. He did this with the original Mac and there was no user serviceable parts inside. He went a few rounds with the original Mac design with the engineers and demanded that the machine looked good on the inside. When Apple got some plants, Steve wanted the factory clean and painted in multiple colors. No one gets to see the plants except for the employees. When Apple got Jony Ive, he also cares how it looks on the inside as well as the outside. Apple also goes around and around, but the engineers and designers work in the same area and generally give feed back to each other when making mock ups for Steve to see. Tim Cook also has the same bias.
While I agree, there is very limited "play" room to get everything to fit, but Asus is just too little to close to say it is not a copy. But so far, the price isn't the sub $1,000 that Intel wanted. Remember too, as far as I've seen a few, who bought a Mac, wipe it and install Windows that the Air is a great Windows machine. The price of Windows will raise the Air's price to around the Asus.
