>There isn't exactly a lot of design freedom in a black rectangle with a screen a keyboard and a touchpad

No, every laptop does not look exactly the same and they are not all macbook clones.

It doesn't look exactly the same. Sure, if it had a tiny touchpad with separate buttons or missing indent so that it's inconvenient to open the lid or didn't have stereo speakers or was really thick then it would look even more different than an MBP... If one company nails some design elements before others, why should everyone who gets those elements too be blamed for copying it.