Several years ago, I happened to be sitting on a plane next to a chatty HP executive. He was explaining to me that HP's size gave them serious purchasing power for things like hard drives and that this allowed them to do well in the consumer market. Well, now we see that this it's about more than just managing your profit margin.

So far as I can tell, the only other company out there that's had a history of trying to be truly innovative in its PC hardware design is Sony. Back in the day, the Sony 505's were the best subnotebook around, bar none, and the current Vaio Z is still pushing the boundaries (lightweight laptop, clever docking station with its own GPU, etc.). But, I have to say, after my experience ten years ago with the 505, I have no desire to ever deal with Sony customer service ever again.