CLONE

noun (Science and Technology) A computer which deliberately simulates the features and facilities of a more expensive competitor; especially, a copy of the IBM PC. Etymology: A specialization of the figurative sense of clone which originated in science fiction: from the early seventies, a clone was a person or animal that had developed from a single somatic cell of its parent and was therefore genetically an identical copy. The computer clones were designed to be identical in capability to the models that inspired them (and, in particular, to run the same software). History and Usage: A usage which arose during the eighties, as a number of microcomputer manufacturers attempted to undercut the very successful IBM personal computer (and later its successor, the PS2). Also widely used for other cut-price copies (for example, of cars and cameras as well as other computers). Amstrad [is] leading the cut price clones attacking IBM personal computers on price. Marketing 11 Sept. 1986, p. 5 The company is a major porter to Far Eastern clone makers, who are developing copies of Sun Microsystems' SPARC-based workstations. UnixWorld Jan. 1991, p. 68