I assume there was probably one designer working on this. The so called managers probably calculated how many of these they can sell to their domestic market, which might be a lot. The thing that bugs me the most is that they are ruining their brand image that they have tried to build up. It was going well for a while but I have been observing the decline for a while and if they continue like this they will hit rock bottom soon.
ASUS, ACER, HP yes I am aware they have similar stuff and it might be that they have some of the same suppliers and not enough creativity to make it look different. Notebook design can be tough!!!