"Here's a weird one from TV... Apple laptops are showing up in all kinds of dramatic shows. Sometimes they have ... a case of product placement, but who's fooling whom when they take such a distinctive product and erase the identificatioon?"
Right on both counts; Apple heavily promotes its product line via placement and has for years. Greeking mostly happens when a production doesn't want to be tied down to Apple's products, because Apple doesn't (generally) like villains to use Apple products, and doesn't (generally) like shows to feature older products, or products that are worn or damaged. On the old Drew Carey Show, all of the computers at the office were brand-identified Apple desktops, but no one outside of the office ever really had much of a computer.
On a show like CSI: Where ever, the good guys have computers (often that do things that no computer can actually do), but the bad guys often do too. No one really wants their computer to be the one the terrorists are using to hack into the Pentagon, so out come the greeking supplies.
For that matter, I don't know that Apple's the only laptop out there that's in a flat, brushed metal case. If you don't see the Apple logo, it actually might not be an Apple computer.
"Another distraction like 555 phone numbers and anonymous Nikons."
As I've told many a director over the years - if they're paying that close attention to the set dressing, there's something desperately wrong with the rest of the show.
Life Continues, Despite
Evidence to the Contrary
Steven