I used to be into high end audio, and spent rather large sums acquiring great looking machines. When apple first came out with their brushed metal cases, I assumed that Apple had simply copied luxury audio manufacturers of the day.

I still don't know why other computer companies don't try and design beautiful machines that have minimalistic design principles.

Here are some earlyish examples I was talking about, but there are plenty more from other companies who I have long since forgotten: http://www.pliniusaudio.nzld.com/photolibrary/photo.asp?id=h...