"I quite agree- IMHO they simply look like cheap fake paneling on the
floor.
Only way I would even consider a laminate floor is if it had a Real
Wood top
layer of some thickness, so actual grain was visible. But even then,
the
faux 'board' lines and regular seams are quite easy to pick up. When I
was
house-shopping, one owner-'upgraded' house had laminate in the kitchen,
and
they had laid it like floor tile, with NO staggered seams. Looked like
****,
but he was SO proud of it, I had to just bite my lip and get out of
there. "

I believe in the accepted normal definitions, a laminate floor would
never have a real wood top layer, though the use of terms can be
confusing. There are three basic types of products:

Laminate - A synthethic resin visible top that has an imprint made to
resemble real wood over a wood core base that is never seen.

Engineered Hard Wood - A thin real wood veneer top over a wood core
base.

Hard Wood - Solid real wood.

Some people do refer to the engineered products as laminates, as that
is actually how they are made. But these are way different than the
products usually referred to as laminates. A good engineered wood
product looks just like real wood, because that's what the top layer
is. They come in varying thickness, good ones can be sanded just like
solid wood, several times if necessary over time to refinish it. Plus,
having an engineered core, this product has better performance with
regard to shrinkage, warping, etc.