I don't actually keep track of Apple's designs, so I guess you're right--they've been garish all along. Covering the logo up with a sticker would make sense if there were no alternatives without annoying logos; happily, there are.

I have seen the black MacBooks, and they are better than the normal ones--rather good looking, actually--but I'm not sure if they sell them any more and I was looking exclusively at thin, light laptops akin to the Air. As far as I know, matte black Airs do not exist.

I remember seeing the beta Chromebook and really liking the design; unfortunately, the ones they actually sell now look different and too much like normal netbooks.

Where both fall short is the keyboard--in a perfect world, there would be a version with unlabeled keys. It would match my DasKeyboard :).

The Vaio Z I currently have also comes close. From my perspective when I'm using it, it's actually almost exactly what I want (except for the annoyingly omnipresent labeled keys). The back of the screen is a dark blue with a metal (not lit) logo. I rather like that effect as well, although it doesn't quite have the appeal of a completely blank laptop. Having a plastered-over Apple logo wouldn't do either--all this would ruin the effect I want.

Of course, I recognize that the laptop I picture is incredibly silly and can never be more than a very niche product, but I am perfectly content being silly.