They’ve got a point on the cost to feature ratio of Macs v. Windows machines in this new Microsoft ad. I have to say, these things are getting a lot better over time. And the price difference is the key weak point in the Apple product lineup. Mac fanatics couldn’t care less. But to a recession-beaten regular computer user, this message is right on the money. “I’m just not cool enough to be a Mac person,” the actress says after visiting an Apple store and not finding any laptops in her price range.
See our coverage of other recent Microsoft ads here, here, here.
Yep. I saw this. The comments on the original blog post have a lot of Windows users defending the post.
Simply put. I run Windows on my MacBook Pro. I love Apple hardware and I especially love the ridiculously high resale value of Macs but for getting things done, I use Windows.
The commercial is pretty dumb but I don’t think the windows or mac flame war has to continue on. It doesn’t freaking matter anymore.
That is a point nobody considers. I live Mac is worth as much as a beater car. It works. I have had literally one failure in 25 years of Apple products and that was last years’s iMac hard drive. I give them to my son after a couple of years, so he has always had a nice Mac laptop since he was 6… The Air is next.
As a designer, it is not a delusional activity to use a Mac, and the hardware pales mightily in the face of software and font costs. I literally have nearly twenty grand on my Air. Any professional is likewise going to have a heavy investment of time and software on their personal devices. If they choose a Windows machine, great. If they are my friends, I can plead ignorance, and not have to support them.
I have better things to do than flame somebody for their computer choices.
Just bought a used Mac Mini (my first Apple product in 20 years). In my first hour of use I upgraded the Flash player and got to experience all the browsers crashing..repeatedly. The OS didn’t know how to handle it and only when I restarted did the problem go away.
True, I’ve had the same experience on Windows many times. But considering that I paid £430 for a 2 year old Mac Mini (the price of a very decent brand new Dell) I wouldn’t have expected this sort of performance. Especially after only one hour of use.
(It’s nice and shiny though)
Charbarred….You shouldn’t be let near any computer let alone a Mac.
You have to be either completely incompetent or technologically illiterate to think Adobe’s horribly bloated software is anyway related to the stability of the Mac OS and it’s browser.
::facepalm::
£430 for a 2 year old Mac Mini?
Can’t you buy a new one for £499?
alex
if he’s successfully done the same on a win/n*x machine, the failure on a mac leaves very few other variables to consider.
at least for a nontechnical user
The Flash player for Mac is notorious for corrupting the disk permissions. You should always Repair Permissions after updating Flash.
Hardly Apple’s fault, but why can’t Adobe do better, especially when their other installer don’t have the same fault?
Personally I think the reliability of Macs is a myth – I’ve had plenty of macs fail for a variety of reasons, software and hardware. I’m typing this on a mac because I like them, but like the first poster, I use XP when I really need to get things done.
Personally, after two decades of Mac usage in a professional context…
0 hardware failures
0 viruses
Lots and lots of “really getting things done”
Not sure what you mean by getting things done, but I imagine whatever it is it’s mundane.
I’ve had my Macbook fail twice, once was a hard drive crash and the other was a motherboard malfunction. I also had another incident where my power cord simply melted itself open. I use my Mac strictly for school work and video editing.
Of course, I wouldn’t trade it for anything. But I will be making a Hackintosh this summer, not up for another huge purchase that doesn’t do EVERYTHING that I want it to.
Everyone here has anecdotes one way or the other. That’s why Consumer Reports exists.
the supposedly better reliability of the mac is really a myth. Yes they do indeed fail and a lot of PC’s live quite long as well, except their owners don’t feel the need to shout to the world about it like the mac zealots do.
spoken like a true PC zealot.
What…I can;t hear you over the pro PC shouting.
@Bill
What…I can’t hear you over your mistyped word. Uncomfortable Apple keyboard? Oh, but I bet it looks great. Now all your need is a plug-in that adds a line that says “Send from my [Apple product here]” to all your blog comments.
@Sam
Real smart man, you had your own typo as well. You might want to proofread your comments before you try to call someone else out….or choose not to make a fool at of yourself. I’m guessing the latter of the two will remain too difficult for you.
Sent from a MacBook with a very comfortable keyboard
@jacob you TOO had a typo… OMG you call someone on their typo and then you have your own!!!
As I was about to go to bed I decided to take a look at the Tech Crunch website. I gander over and see an article about the new Windows commercial. So I start reading all the comments. I never really realized that the battle between Mac users and PC users were like kids in grade school. You smell like camel shit…your mom’s a crack addict Blah Blah Blah. Pretty much that’s what it sounds like. So I’m turning on Pandora and popping open a beer (comment mode)
Yes I have been contemplating getting a Mac computer. Yes I admit to it. I am guilty. Throw shells, tar and feather me or beat me with a crow bar. I don’t give rats ***. I just can’t see spending 1500 or more on a computer in this day in age. Mac user’s blood pressures are starting to rise. I will basically break a PC down for you. Dell and HP PC’s are crap. I can say that with confidence. I’ve cursed and thrown things when working on them. The truth is these pieces of junk are made with crap parts. The true PC is usually custom built. A custom built PC will last a long time and usually is easy upgradeable (if you need to upgrade it). I have built computers for people when I was in college and these machines today are still running well.
I will have to admit no matter what PC you have you may run into spy ware or viruses. But common sense tells you not to look all the Viagra emails and stop looking for all the free porn on the web. Yes I’m calling you porn watchers out. Perverted bastards. That’s where all the crap comes from. I can also say that Vista is crap. It is probably the biggest piece of junk that has ever been invented well since snugie. It tries to do way to much and it runs slow. XP has its problems, but I think it works rather well. Why couldn’t Microsoft just fix XP? They wrote the damn software.
Ok Mac people are starting to hate me now. I have to ask. What can’t be done on a custom built PC that can be done on a MAC? Will my eyes not hurt from looking at the screen after, will it make me more money a year, will it go get me another beer downstairs? What makes it so much more expensive? Tell me damn it. In a nut shell it’s a different OS. I mean I can honestly say a Mac looks dam good. That’s why their in the movies and TV shows (ha ha ha). Other than it being the Maria Sharapova of computers. Why use mac?
So now that I’ve raised some harsh questions about Mac’s you are probably asking your self why I would even think of buying one. Well I’m into technology. I like to know how to work everything. I like to have shiny new toys. I like to keep up with the Jones’s. I have to have something better than the next person. I love new gadgets. I work for a living why should I be able to buy a new toy if I want one. Although at this point I don’t think I can see why a Mac is so much better than a PC. I can do the same thing with a $700 computer that I can do with a $2000 Mac. I know someone is reading this and saying grow a pair…….Maybe I should start a donation website that will allow Mac users to change my mind on the subject. Who’s up for it?
So, like some have noticed, what some call a premium price, I call quality parts. Now let put as the price comparison of price which I will address in the end. Anyone knows that Apple’s laptops start with a determined decision in matching user experience (user desired features, reliability, weight, style, etc.) with cost effectiveness. Now let look at a laptop from Apple. For this purpose I will use the base models of the 13in Macbook and the 17in Macbook Pro to show how cheaper is not better and what she has decided to give-up by putting price over quality. The woman in the video buys the 699 HP Pavilion Laptop with AMD Turion X2 RM-72 Dual Core Mobile Processor-with a Bronze/Chrome finish because nothing say stay like bronze and shiny chrome. It looks meh. Both Mac’s look way better. Anyone can see that.
In terms of mobility, I don’t know of anyone that would consider any 17in laptop portable. I have always thought of them as mobile desktops because of battery life concerns running hardware too heavy for it to be useable. That said, she choose a bulky (11.2″x15.6″x1.7″) and heavy(7.8lbs) computer compared to the MB (8.94″X12.78″x0.95″) and 4.5lbs and MBP’s (10.51″x15.47″x0.98″) and 6.6lbs. I think that anyone without good reason should avoid 17 laptops, but she insisted. I don’t think her back will be happy after a few trips.
She has an AMD processor. AMD is a bit behind the time in terms of performance per watt. I wonder if see noticed that? Apple stacks top of the line processors sometimes being the premiere system featuring new processors. Releases of new systems can normally be planned around Intel’s release schedule. Intel is ahead of AMD in terms of processors. If Apple wanted to compete in that market, they could use last years technology. 2 and 3 year old processors could shave off those dollars. Use old system cards with low bus speeds and tiny caches. Processor speed sounds impressive until your look at the things surrounding it. Her system has 2.1GHz, with 1MB of L2 cache with 4GB DDR2. The MB 2.0GHz, 3MB L2 cache, 2GB DDR3 and MBP 2.66GHz, 6MB L2 cache with 4GB of DDR3. Good enough for today verses prepared for tomorrow.
Hard drive are another matter. HP uses the cheapest large hard drives out there. Apple provides the best hard drives with sudden drop sensors with 8MB cache buffers on disk sets with faster throughput.
Media card reader are like nice to have but never necessary. If you need one on you at all times, then that is a plus, otherwise it is added tech that you won’t use often. Video cards make the system sound way outdated. ATI doesn’t even bother listing the HD3200 on their site it is so old. Apple uses MB 256MB GDDR3 Nvidia GP, and the MPB uses 2 different GPUs for battery verse performance concerns, and both are GDDR3 256MB verses the 512MB.
She wanted a 17 in screen, but seemed to ignore screen resolution. Her HP has 1280X800 verse the MB(1280×800) and MBP 1920×1200 (thats true HD capable and much more screen usage). I’ll take this time to point out that the 15in MBP has better resolution than her 17in HP. Note, the Best Buy site is listing the external monitor size as the internal monitor size, a little deceptive if you ask me. What she can see on her 17in screen she could view all the same content on a 13in MB and more on larger screens.
HP has a modem. Anyone using a modem… well it is upsetting to say the least if someone must suffer like that. It also does not have a Gb ethernet jacks and only supports wireless B and G. I am convinced she enjoys living in life 3 years ago… Macs comes standard with Gb ethernet, access to A/B/G/N networks. The MBP comes with a firewire 800 and a PCI-expansion slot for additional versatility.
Battery life which is a major point of a laptop. The HP has 2.5 hours. The MB 5 hrs and MBP 8 hrs. The Mac has a multi-touch trackpad. It comes with OSX which is better protected against viruses and malware for average users that can slow or corrupt a system. In addition to the OS being way better and faster than Vista’s resource hog, the added software of iLife is celebrated for its ease of use and power. There is no comparing iMovie, iPhoto, or Garageband to anything out there in the consumer range.
The woman should also know that her HP will probably die after her one year warranty is up or a year from then. She will wonder in 2 years why her computer is so much slower than the rest of the computers out there. When she goes to throw out her computer, she will be hurting the environment, because her computer contains so many harmful components. The Mac is design with carbon footprint in mind, from the packaging, battery disposal, recycling, having LED backlit screens. I mean look at the size of the box for her computer.
I will close with this little nugget of explanation. In January of 2007 I bought a 15in MBP. It has a 2.16GHz core 2 Duo Intel processor, 4MB L2 cache support for Wireless A/B/G/N, 3GB of DDR2 SDRAM, 1440×900 Native display, a PCI-X expansion slot, Firewire 400 and 800, and a backlit keyboard along with other features. I am willing to say that a computer that came out in late 2006 is better than what that woman bought in 2009. On Craigslist, one person is listing theirs for 1100 and the other person is listing theirs for 1200. Mac maintain their value better than other brands. What I am saying is that when the time come for her to get a new computer, it is likely that hers will either no longer work or it will be close to worthless.
A mac quality is roughly on par with high end PC machines (which are NOT your 800$ 17″ pc notebooks). I think the software is better, though. I use a mac because it just allows me to get things done, windows is just not a productive environment for me (due to not being based on unix).
So for me, the choices are *bsd, linux, and os x if I expect to be productive. Of those choices, a mac gives the best environment for me.
The cost difference is just not something I worry about, my time is valuable. Billed at a competitive rate , a vista machine costs me more due to the time it takes me to configure a fresh vista box in a way that makes it even halfway usable.
That’s why I use a mac. Of course, the idea that if a mac is not suitable for you, then it’s not suitable for anyone is really quite silly.
So Aaron i guess you could say your a Mac? hahah
yeah Ryan you could say that. I had been a windows user for years. If you count DOS as a Microsoft product I would say that I have been using a PC for 20 years. I went to college and had 5 PCs in my first 3 years of college. Gateway desktop, Alienware Laptop, BYO PC, another BYO PC, and a HP desktop. All had serious issues. My Alienware which was more than a comparable Mac at the time was done so that I could get the performance while getting around having to get a Mac. In the end, after Macs switched over to Intel chipsets, I was convinced. I waited until Adobe confirmed that they would be porting over to 10.5 in their next build of CS3. I made the switch. I added my own RAM, clean the screen from time to time, upgraded to a larger HD (120GB to 200GB) and I plan to do it once more to 320GB which is a fun task since it is not user accessible in early models.
Featured software on my Mac are:
Maxon C4D 11
Final Cut Studio
Adobe CS3 Design Premium
MS Office 2004 (The good one – new one sucks)
And I’ve had zero failures on a PC in the same period of time. Mac cannot justify the price. Mac= overpriced and fashionable. PC=practical, functional, high performance for value price. The commercial is spot-on. It’s about time Microsoft starts responding to Apple’s marketing efforts.
PC=Buick
I’ve come to the conclusion that Mac Fanboys need to scream so loud because in reality they are trying to stave off the creeping feeling that they have spent twice as much money for no good reason.
Joking.
Mostly. If Macs were cheaper, I would probably buy one and dual boot it… a prospect that theoretically could make Microsoft and Apple both happy. Microsoft only supplies the OS.
Seriously though, why is this such a religious war? All that these rants prove is that we have mindlessly bought into the marketing manipulation of these companies. It’s quite pathetic if you think about it.
Agree! I like the hardware in Macs and how quite and calm it remains over time but I’m not so found of the MAC OS X… its buggy and unstable at best.
Here’s my stats:
Windows XP/Vista Crashes: 0
Windows XP/Vista Viruses: 0
MAC OS X Crashes: 10+
MAC OS X Viruses: 0
Stick with PC friends, don’t give jobs all your hard earned money.
Yes, Bill Gates would suffer!
Yeah true
}
http://www.smartbloggerz.com
Yes because Bill Gates isn’t one of the most generous people in the world donating billions of his own fortune to charity while steve jobs focuses on maximizing profits and destroying microsoft.
You can say what you want about Microsoft, but you have to respect Bill and Melinda Gates.
Yup.
Steve Jobs is the Giorgio Armani of the tech world.
Both Jobs & Armani sell wildly overpriced stuffs that are prettier than the competition.
Apple fanboys/girls are basically fashion victims.
A fashion victim would gladly pay $300 for an Armani shirt even though an equally well made one could be had for $100. But at least she would feel cool wearing that pretty shirt.
An Apple fan would gladly pay $3000 for an Apple computer even though an equivalent PC could be had for $1500. But at least she would feel cool lugging that pretty laptop around.
Armani. Hermes. Louis Vuitton. D&G. Apple…
they all have wildly fanatic fanboys/girls. They all sell wildly overpriced merchandise.
Apple in reality is in the fashion business.
“Apple in reality is in the fashion business.”
There are SOOOOOO many fashion people amongst web developers.
Just look at the Google Developers channel on YouTube, pictures at Mozilla HQ, the proportion of people using Macs at Google…
I worked in a bank for a while, developing software used worldwide. We worked on Macs too… but you must be right, it was because it’s fashion and overpriced.
Oh wait… what is the cost of 1 day of becaus of hardware or software problem ? Well, more than the price difference between a PC or a Mac.
And I don’t even talk about productivity…
Huh?
So you’re saying web developers and google employees can’t be fashion victims?
You sure are ignorant about web developers AND fashion. As for google employees and fashion victims, ever heard of Marissa Mayer?
And if you truly want reliable software, you’d be running Linux instead of some closed-source junk like Mac OS
“You sure are ignorant about web developers AND fashion”
Well in fact… i’ve been a web developer myself for 10 years. Now, i employ developers to work on “my” website about music. And of course in the music world, we know nothing about fashion.
“ever heard of Marissa Mayer?”
Yeah of course, i saw many videos with her. But do you realize that she’s not a developer anymore for a long time ?
Ever heard of Ian Hickson ? http://www.yout...h?v=xIxDJof7xxQ
He clearly is a fashion victim… and of course, uses a Mac.
“And if you truly want reliable software, you’d be running Linux instead of some closed-source junk like Mac OS”
Mac OS X IS reliable. And i chose it because the same tasks (that I need to do) take less time to be performed with OS X than with Windows, KDE or Gnome.
Plus, it has a lot of software i love (GarageBand, Photoshop…) and i still can use Internet Explorer to check that my website is ok in this sh*tty browser.
I also like Safari (but Chrome really impressed me).
So i’m using a mac because it saves me plenty of time, can run almost all Linux Software (Apache, PHP, MySQL, ImageMagick…), can run excellent proprietary software or proprietary software i have to use and (for my first MacBook) because the keyboard and the trackpad were perfect for me.
Hey! Fashion victim? I don’t even know what fashion is!
Oh BTW… which PC has 2 quad core nehalems processors and DDR3-ECC RAM for $1500, like the Mac Pro has ?
6 x 1Go DDR3 ECC RAM costs $500, add the price of 2 Xeon X5500 CPU, a REAL Mobo, a computer case that is perfectly designed and noiseless… no PC can offer that at $1500, that’s just impossible.
Yeah you right that’s just impossible, because on the Apple Store, it’s 2600$, not 1500$.
And yes at 2600$, i can perfectly do that with a PC.
I was replying to “An Apple fan would gladly pay $3000 for an Apple computer even though an equivalent PC could be had for $1500.”
Apple is much simpler and more intuitive to use and a big time-saver. I used Windows for 10 years, and now have a HP laptop and MacBook Air. I prefer the Mac design (easy to carry and hold) and its simpler software. I still need windows (installed VMWare) for some application, but generally Mac run much smoother and get things done.
So the price premium is partly justified for the comfort and time-saving it brings. Nevertherless £1200 for Air is too much. I got 2nd hand for £650, so no complain. Love the lightless and slimness, contrast to HP’s bulky and heavy design.
Wait a second…so if Mac is Armani…then…PC must be Bentley!!!!
http://www.auto...ntley+computer/
“An Apple fan would gladly pay $3000 for an Apple computer even though an equivalent PC could be had for $1500. But at least she would feel cool lugging that pretty laptop around.”
Where do I get a machine for 1500, using unix, with good 3rd party *commercial* desktop application support?
The only realistic answer is ‘hackintosh’, which is obviously against the terms of service. Macs aren’t fashion for everyone; for a lot of people, they need something unix based just to get things done.
Not everyone, not even most — but the statement that all mac users by them for fashion is a bit silly.
The notion that most or even many Mac users buy it and use it for the underlying UNIX is also a bit silly.
Everyone has their reasons why they would spend more money for a Mac, but nevertheless, some reasons are less fringe than others…
That being said, this debate (or flamewar) in truth centers around our own fears of buying into the well honed and time-tested manipulative tactics of marketers. Unfortunately, we are all subject to this, sorry.
But value is in the eye of the beholder… and the fear of being taken and proven a fool is in their hearts.
At the end of the day, Apple does not sell an inferior product. If a Mac user is happy with it, then they should let go of their paranoia and self doubt arisinf from having spent more. If a PC user is happy with a PC, then they should let go of their paranoia and self doubt arising from having spent less.
True .. but, if you like little screens .. you’ll save even more! – Try searching for “netbooks” under computer on BigPayLess.com
Google should run ads against the high cost of Microsoft Office
Funny.
)
Surely only a matter of time!
How can you compare the feature set? Have you ever used Google Docs and Spreadsheet? Do you realize how many business applications are built on the power of the macro language in Office?
That is like comparing Paint to Photoshop. Why is it that people like you only complain about Microsoft Products? How come no one complains about the fact that Photoshop is $699.00? Surley you could use GIMP, but you would lose all the functionality that makes Photoshop as great as it is.
People need to wake up and realize that no everything that is opensource or free (because google bought it) makes it better.
Jim
Jim,
You’re right. Office will reign supreme in the enterprise for a long time but I’m of the opinion that for the every day home user Google Docs/Zoho/etc… are, in the majority of cases, more than sufficient.
Will be interesting to see what happens when MSFT launch their free Silverlight version of Office mind you.
-JT
JT,
Having seen the Sliverlight version, it will put all the others to shame. It is essentially a copy of the desktop products with a little bit less features than the full desktop product. Much the same way that OWA (latest version) is Outlook on the Web with the full user interface, Office is the same way.
But I can guarantee that when it is released, people will find faults in it simply because it is a MS product and not a Google product.
If I had to use an online product, it would be Zoho due to their feature set and interactivity between all the products.
As far as the home user is concerned, most of the PCs sold today have MS Works pre-installed which is still a great product for personal use.
Jim
Jim,
Have you asked why the Office numbers in the Microsoft’s balance sheet has too many zeros? and begin with a $?
srw
Jim,
I think that was his point. Like you wouldn’t compare G Docs to Office on price, you shouldn’t compare PC with Macs (the implication being you get so much more for your money).
Note: I don’t agree but a least understand the point and the reason for his smiley.
you saying people with Macs get so much more for their moneY? really? you must be drinking too much of that apple juice, go to rehab man, it’s damaging to your brain.
How can you compare the feature set? Have you ever used Google Docs and Spreadsheet? Do you realize how many business applications are built on the power of the macro language in Office?
That is like comparing Paint to Photoshop. Why is it that people like you only complain about Microsoft Products? How come no one complains about the fact that Photoshop is $699.00? Surley you could use GIMP, but you would lose all the functionality that makes Photoshop as great as it is.
People need to wake up and realize that no everything that is opensource or free (because google bought it) makes it better.
Jim
doublepostfail.
old meme fail
GIMP is more than enough for average user. I like it.
Much the same way that MS Works is more than enough for the average user and it comes pre-installed on most new PCs. The point is that just like you can not compare photoshop with gimp, you can not compare office with google docs.
So is Paint .Net and some other photo editing programs.
Seriously, how hard is Windows or Mac OS X to use? If you have problems using either of them you’re probably not very good at a computer in general. Marketing Mac OS X as easier to use is like saying 30-thread-count sheets are better than 25-thread-count sheets. Yes it’s true, 30-count is better, but seriously, does it really matter. When I go into an Apple Store, a lot of the people I see buying their computers are people who simply don’t know much about computers.
Apple is pretty and high quality, but they always force their users to make concessions which is what I hate about Apple. I would love to get a Macbook, but seriously, put a USB port on the right side so I can use a wired mouse. I’m not using a bluetooth mouse. Increase the hard drive capacity, increase the RAM. For the price, these aspects I feel are necessary. If I bought one, of course I’d run Windows on it.
As far as Windows XP is concerned: It’s outdated. Vista is not that bad, and the memory requirements dont’ really matter since the hardware is so powerful nowadays. Unfortunately, their making Windows 7 more and more like OS X and that’s too bad. It’s amazing that a company with 90% market share will allow a company with 5% market share to dictate their OS design strategies. The DOCK is the most duganish thing I’ve ever seen!!!
The reason the USB port is on the left side is so that you can use the mouse close to the right side of the computer without running over the wire/hitting the cable end that is sticking out of the side of the computer. Try it for a week, you’ll see what I mean
at the end of the day, she was right… she is just not cool enough.
like you are?
Lauren looks very, very cool to me. Hubba, hubba.
No she’s smart. she gets a free PC, she will sell it and use the money to buy a Mac
logic does not apply here…
She stared in a Microsoft add. As Bill Hick’s would say: “Suck Satan’s cock.”
Microsoft write shit bloatware.
Who doesn’t love macs?
me
Yeah but you’re a looser, so it doesn’t matter.
A looser?
And I thought her Mac would’ve fixed that for her.
Ads like these should be illegal. They have nothing to do with selling Microsoft products and everything to do with battering a competitors product.
Why can’t we get back the ads that told us what the new versions key features was ?
And like those Vista bashing ads that Apple was running are any better? It goes both ways.
Interesting, what country are you from?
probably just lives in CA where, apparently, the color of your car is called into question by the gov.
seriously, when people start thinking about banning everything and anything our world has troubles
CA bashing are we. Did you know that CA uses half the energy per capita than the rest of the US? Haven’t we learned that some government regulation is good, or do you miss smelling like an ash tray after a night out on the town?
Yes, and the rest of us are bailing out your state’s failing economy due to a steady increase in regulations and government services. Instead of trying to stop every person from doing anything wrong, you guys should start by fixing your government and reign in the spending.
Also, in America we’re supposed to have this thing called freedom. If you don’t like smelling like an ashtray, go to a different bar. That’s called freedom. Your solution is to force me to adhere to your behavior or risk the government going after me with guns drawn. That’s the California definition of “Land of the Free”, and you can keep it.
You shouldn’t be allowed to say your competition is more expensive?
The ad is very misleading, especially since she spends all this time “explaining” what you get in the cheaper PCs and doesn’t even talk about what went into the Macs.
I’ve had an Apple branded computer since my first Apple II GS when I was a kid. I also have a custom built PC I’m retiring when I can afford to upgrade to Nehalem. Compared to Macs, none of the Brand-Name PCs can hold a candle to them, not in my experience anyways. But my gaming machine can run circles around my Macbook.
But then again, I didn’t stuff him full of crap parts, either. Only the best for my babies *clings to his computers*
Nobody disputes that Macs are cool computers. They just slightly out of pricing reach of the average consumer.
If Apple released a 17″ iMac at $499 and a 17″ laptop at $799, they would dominate the hardware market.
I do think Apple has done a good job in recent years in dropping the price down on their products. It’s just not enough to take the market over.
The ad is fine. At least they didn’t do something *really* stupid like mimic the apple ads. It seemed like a reasonably good marketing message.
Of course, announcing that macs are a premium product is a little like announcing that rain is wet, but you have to start somewhere, I guess.
Macs are not perfect, and messaging wise, microsoft can do a little bit better than this attempt, but this is much better than some of their prior attempts.
So their campaign is “we’re cheap”. Wow maybe I should buy some stock in this company. Snort.
It really isn’t that hard to understand “they’re expensive” vs. “we’re cheap.”
Well, for people who aren’t fanboys, that is.
How can I join you in your bubble? Because out here in reality, people are struggling with unemployment. A business case that says “Hey, are you really getting your additional $500-$800 worth out of that machine?” rings very true with me and a lot of my pals right about now.
And that, in essence, is the whole argument here. Mac Fanboys believe they get more than that amount in value in design, usability, and freedom from frustration. My experience with Mac is that the only real value of those three is design, and that’s a personal preference. Were I raised to use Mac, I would feel way differently, I’m sure.
Mac people feel constantly against a wall to prove the extra $ is worth it, and PC people feel constantly against a wall to prove that it’s not. And that leads to several hundred comment long streams like this will end up.
Mac’s are a premium product. There’s an advantage in selling only a premium product: you have only to support a premium product.
I recently saw a 12 year old European made petrol vehicle with half a million kilometers on the clock without an engine rebuild.
After having made the switch from PC to Mac and Ford/Holden to European I’m left wondering what was going on in my head the previous 10 years.
Following that same reasoning, I’ll never buy chipboard / mdf furniture again, nor will I ever go in to an ikea store.
I’d rather go without than put up with piss poor quality items in my life.
I last PC laptop I owned was a cheap one, AU$1000. Powersupply board burnt out in the warranty period, then the motherboard shat itself after the warranty expired.
Microsoft is Satan’s spawn come to wreck havoc on the personal computer world.
If I played games I’d custom build a PC for sure. But I’m too busy cycling, gardening, training martial arts, socialising, and making love.
Human potential is wasted in the IT industry supporting Microsoft / PC users. Human potential is wasted playing computer games.
I wonder if she likes all the stickers on her new, soon to be worthless, 17″ computer.
A typical PC user has to upgrade their machine every 18-24 months. A typical Mac user, more like 36+ months. So you pay a little more up front, get a lot more for your money.
Tata motors makes cars for $2000, but most people prefer something better.
2000$ car is safer than spending 900-1000$ for scooter!
Considering US consumers, I do agree with u!
And I love PC!
Could not have said it better! My mac got handed down to daughter and my current mac is like the energizer bunny…keeps going…and going…and going (it’s what…3 or 4 years old now). Meanwhile my best friend keeps needing the geek squad for her pc.
my 2003 Dell with xp and centrino still working very well
I think you are making the argument for them there Hamid. The typical Mac user can’t upgrade because 1) their initial outlay was higher so they need to keep it longer to make it worthwhile and 2) Apple doesn’t put out worthwhile upgrades less than every 2-3 years so there is no possibility to upgrade.
Yeah I hate the fact I can’t upgrade the normal things a PC user does, such as HD or RAM … oh, wait?
Or CPU or Video Card or MB … Oh wait.
Haha, what? That is completely inane. If the hardware is out of spec in three years for the applications you use, it will be out of spec in three years regardless of the OS. The overhead of Mac v. Win v. *nix is not significant.
Plus maybe the batteries truly are better in this new generation, but my friends have been very hard pressed to get a usable 36-month lifespan from powerbook batteries.
–Typed from my 3 year old XP/Ubuntu desktop that still does everything I need it to do as a developer / “power-user”. Yes, I use a mac occasionally, also.
@Hamid,
Where did you get your statistics?
I’ve been using an IBM for 3 years straight, no upgrades. I bought it second hand.
The point is simple:
PC 1000/24 = 41,6 for month vs MAC 2000/36 = 55 for month
still more cheap
with PC, no need waste time write good either, big more savings.
I lol’d.
That is a complete load of crap. I have managed installations and maintenance at studios which were all Mac shops, all PC shops, and mixed environments, and in years of looking at the budgets, have never seen any demonstrable ROI benefit to Macs over PCs.
It is easy to claim that Macs last longer to win an argument, but lets see some numbers to back it up. If what you say was true, then businesses using all Macs would have a clear advantage, due to the cost savings, and I have yet to see a single instance of this being the case either in real life or any study.
The only PC users that upgrade that often are gamers. (of course, how many gamers do you know using a Mac????) I’ve got machines I use for business (including graphics) that are 4+ years old. I have 10yr old PC’s I’ve handed down to others still being used, and no failures at all on any I have purchased.
I’ve got a nephew with a macbook that’s had two failures in two years. For mac users, you pay a premium for ‘cool factor’, not quality and certainly not performance.
Stupid Commercial! That’s like saying I only want to spend $5000 for a new 2009 Cadillac Escalade. It ain’t going to happen. Now if you want a Yugo go ahead buy a HP.
Stupid Comment! That HP has the same processor, same memory, and same screen as the Macbook Pro yet it costs more than 50% less than the Macbook (which is now $2700).
That is simply due to competition! Apple can charge higher prices because it has no competitors because it makes the only hardware that is capable of running its OS. Can you imagine what would happen if the OS could run on any hardware? Apple would have to sell the MBP for the same price as that HP.
Apple controls the hardware and that is what gives it the capability to charge so much money for their computers.
Jim
Not the same screen brother…”Best Buy actually does sell the DV7-1245DX, an HP notebook with 17″ screen, but it lacks fast wireless 902.11n, fast Gigabit Ethernet, digital audio inputs and outputs, weighs 7.75 pounds, and only features the screen resolution of Apple’s 15″ notebooks: 1440 by 900. Technically, it is a 17″ notebook in terms of size, but it doesn’t have the 17″ resolution of Apple’s MacBook Pro, which is 1920 by 1200.” – from Prince Mclean on the actual comparison of the laptop the red head bought…
Dante,
My new MacBook Pro cost $3400. It weights 6.6 pounds, has the N wireless, but requires an AirPort Extreme to work at the best speed, does not have digital audio inputs or outputs.
The laptop that the red head bought was $699. For an additional $200, she could have gotten the 1920×1080 screen. If she would have really gotten a top of the line Dell Inspiron, she would have spent around $1600 which is still half the cost of the Mac.
I used Dell laptops for the last 15 years and they were always stable, solid, fast, and reliable machines. Windows XP is a solid operating system and I currently run Windows 2008 server (used as a workstation) on three laptops which work very very well without crashes and very fast. I currently use a MBP due to iPhone development that I am doing and that is limited to the Mac platform.
The reality is that MS Bashers will always find a way to bash it no matter what is put in front of them. I, for one, think that MS lost some of its credibility with the “I am a Mac” ads and their lack of response to some of the false advertising that Apple used. I would not be too surprise if they did not produce an ad which shows the red head six months later coming in to an Apple store to buy the 13″ laptop.
Jim
Jim Z: The MBP does have digital input/output for audio… but it is handled through the same jack as the analog. Just plug-in a mini-optical TOS-link cable, and it will magically switch to digital.
The dv7 does have Wireless N and its does have the option for 1680 by 1050 and the quality on the 1680 by 1050 is quite good. It also can have the glass bezel added like the macbooks have.
At the risk of incurring huge piles of crap from Mac fans the other cost MS should be pounding is the switching cost. After growing up on Windows/Office you cannot switch without a huge immediate loss in productivity as you adapt to the new system.
And yet you gain huge productivity in general ease of use, lack of malware/security issues, better operating system design, and hardware that was made to work well with the operating system.
All of my family members have switched and have not had any productivity loss, and we’re not talking about computer experts by any stretch.
OS X has security issues. They are magnified due to the lack of any sandboxing/aslr type approaches. It’s a little too technical to (easily) convey in mass market advertising, though.
I agree with Andrew Shotland, making the switch from windows to the mac for nontechnical users is not straightforward. Additionally, if they telecommute (as many do these days), you lose access to a lot of things, often. Particularly with so many enterprise web apps using active x.
I’m a mac user, and don’t use windows unless I absolutely can’t avoid it, but they each have their plusses and minuses. Cost is just not an issue to harp on for most of apples potential customers.
That’s a good idea. They could have someone on a Mac complaining: “Holy crap. MS Office for the Mac can’t open this Windows MS Offics file! WTF is up with that?”
Well. Let’s keep that quiet or we’ll have that antitrust things again. MS software not working with MS software on another platform, No… You’ve got to be wrong.
The best commercials only market what businesses want known.
yep, here in europe for the price of a low end macbook you can get 2 same or better featured laptops from name brands (hp,dell,toshiba,samsung), i totally get the ad and i think the point is a good one, the same way mac says that their laptops are not only prettier but also have more features and software, so should microsoft say that they offer a way more diverse range of laptops that usually go for half the price of a mac
The first logical ad I have seen from MSFT. Got to give them some credit for figuring out an approach that might be effective.
Nothing new… The Mac is and always has been a ‘premium’ product…
Apple even has a mandate that states that if they cannot produce a great product at a particular price point – they will not do it.
Some people drive a Toyota… Others a BMW or Porshe…
The choice is there to be made… Personally, I prefer the Mac…
Interesting analogy… though you do know a Toyota is a better built and longer lasting car?
You’re right, I think a better analogy would be, some people buy a Ford, and some people buy a Lexus.
In the the ad, she is driving a Volkswagen, literal ‘car for the mass’ … nice subtly move.
And i bet, in reallity she is using a mac at home
As are the people who actually produced the commercial:
http://www.appl...with_macs.html/
This is smart, and well done. It’s the right message at the right time and it’s engaging. It’s almost as charming as an Apple ad. The Seinfeld stuff was crap, but this is nice.
I’ve been a long-time Mac convert, but unfortunately this ad is aimed right at people like me: I just can’t afford one.
Thankfully I’m still getting good mileage out of my three year old custom built PC, but the time will come, and unfortunately the dollar sign will be the difference. It’s not about “putting in a little extra money” to get more out of it if you don’t have the extra money to put in.
For people who consider their budget first no matter how cheap quality product they get, they don’t need this commercial as they know what to do.
The commercial seems a waste and shows MS’s incompetency in both this one and Seinfeld.
I wonder what kind of talent MS is composed of…
Acer Aspire 14″ resolution: 1200 x 800
Apple MacBook 13″ resolution 1200 x 800 PLUS
2560 by 1600 pixels on an external display.
Citing size alone is a classic sales bluff.
You CAN afford a Mac if you skip the 14 inch requirement and go for the same resolution 13″ MacBook and the $1000 price point. I did.
But what is the cost of the amount of time you spend running virus scans and defragmenting your harddrive? Or the cost of the virus scan programs to begin with? Mac’s cost more because they work better. You get what you pay for. I’m glad I’m not her boyfriend at 3 am when her PC crashes and she has an essay due the next morning……
Basically zero time for me since Windows 3.1.
I really don’t understand how people get viruses on their computers. As long as you keep auto update on and don’t run executable unless you can trust them, you should be fine with a PC.
I was 12 years windows. Now 8 years Mac. If you cacluate how much you make per hour, then multiply the hours extra you have to devote to maintaining issues, updates, and annoyances supporting Windows the $$ equals out. Mac isn’t perfect, but in 8 years I’ve spent maybe two hours with problems. With Windows it was at least an hour a month. Thing is, if all you’ve ever used is Windows your personal support time is just a way of life. You don’t know with Mac it almost non-existant.
I believe your support issues are unusual. I spend no time at all on support. Updates happen in the background.
And if Apple was easy and free-from-support would they have a need for a genius bar?
M$ don’t mention the **Cough** Free nature of Linux.
Oh, I nearly forgot to say… The M$FT Advert was edited using Final Cut Pro on a….. You guessed it! MAC!
I’ve got to be honest, making the switch to a Mac just over 12 months ago has made me consider something that is little discussed in this debate. Since that time, I’ve not had a single hiccup, failure, or general real error with my Macbook Pro, other than Microsoft Office 2008 crashing occasionally. The computer is on, running at full speed, 3 seconds after I open the lid. My only complaint is that the chromed button to open the lid wore through the chrome, but I like to consider that testament to it’s heavy usage. It has toured the world several times in that time period. Not one failure. I consider the additional $500 a small convenience charge, in that the countless number of hours I’ve saved in not having to wait for the thing to boot/come out of hibernation, recovering documents after program failures, and dealing with general slowness due to non-apparent causes has led me to be a much happier computer user in general, and also focus that saved time on what I do in order to continue to have a salary during this down period – my work. For me, that is a small convenience charge indeed.
But then again I never have shopped at WalCo, or given much of a shit about paying a few pennies less for something of lesser quality. It took me a long time to switch to a Mac, and simply put – you get what you pay for. In my case, my new line is “once you go Mac, you never go back”.
And I am just not cool engouh to put up with all the windows hassle and not drop one of those low cost win machine out the window every other week.
Let’s see
1 Apple notebook over 2 years = $ 3000
22* Winowds low cost at $1200 / year = $ 26,400.00 / year = 52,800.00 per 2 years
* My prediction is that I’d loose it (or myself) about every second week
** Highly personal coalculation – might not apply to your style of working. Ask your doctor or pharmasist regarding ramifications or side effects of using the ‘wrong’ computer for the majority of your work day.
none of this post made sense
Reference to what the actress says in the commercial “I’m just not cool enough to be a Mac person…”
lol you would need a new laptop every 2 weeks if it were windows ?
Pretty much.
does your mac not have a spell checker? (loose? you are a looser!)
sorry English is only my second speech.
FireFox spellchecker overheated recently from my staccato TC commenting – since then I am on my own. No time for quality control on typing, got to get our product out of beta on top of my full time commenting job
How the hell does a firefox spell checker overheat?
- Question asked on a Mac
obviously I am joking.
- question answered on a Mac 2
Good thing she got the cash. She’s gonna need the rest of that $1000 to pay for anti-virus programs and annual renewals. And third-party tech support, because Chuck and the Geek Herd will only steal her files and/or erase her hard drive when she brings it in because it’s running so slow because of all the time-limited crapware HP thoughtfully loaded on to it for her.
Hopefully, she’ll be smart enough to wait until the cameras are gone, return the purchase for credit, crowbar the other thousand out of her purse (that she was going to spend anyway) and the MacBook Pro that will let her do her work and not get in the way of getting her work done.
Who buys antivirus software? Really?
Yeah, the Mac is a little more expensive in upfront cost, but that is nicely offset by not having to endure wanting to blow my brains several times a day while:
1) Having to reboot because of some error
Hour long virus scans and defrag
2) MSFT telling me that they need to send an error report
3) Blue screen of death
4) Waiting 10 minutes for the computer to boot
5) Waiting another 10 minutes for all the other crap loaded on there to boot
6) Waiting for .PST files to load in outlook
7) Having to update one piece of software or another every other day and then having to reboot and wait the twenty minutes again referred to in #4 & #5
9) Waiting on hold with various tech support “gurus” stationed all over the world trying to resolve miscellaneous issues
Yes, if spending $500 more for a quality product and being too cool is what it takes, so be it. Certainly beats using a cheap, flaming pile of dog turd that passes for high-technology.
F**K YOU MSFT FOR ALL THE TIME I WASTED USING YOUR CRAP.
Does Windows come with a rebate for all my time wasted?
Well said Peter.
#1 through #9 is where the throwing out the window comes in as a cost factor. With me it used to be around #5
Well said +1
Dude, either you’re talking about a Windows PC you used a decade ago or you’re completely PC illiterate.
I haven’t had to do any of the things you listed in your 1 to 9 list since I started using XP, back in 2000.
By the way, it’s fanboys like you that let Apple get away with this crap. Crap like Jobs claiming that iphone users don’t want background apps, or that running background apps will be too processor intensive (forget which one). Of course the truth is Apple would much rather keep their systems closed. And they get away with it because dumbos like you have lost the ability to think critically whenever Apple is being discussed.
Oh by the way, that PC? Hardware support for it is up in the thousands. The Mac? You get to choose between the white one…, and the other white one.
Hey, are you the guy who was told he was too stupid to own a computer and should box it up and take it back to the store? You didn’t, did you.
You kept it and used it and you think your idiocy is the computer’s fault. Bad boy. Quit downloading pr0n and warez and opening Nigerian emails and your virus problems will go away.
She can use the money saved for tech support from the Nerd Herd, she’ll need it!
I wonder how much she’s going to love that HP Pavilion in just a few weeks/months when its keys begin flying off and she suffers third-degree burns to her thighs from overheating hardware?
Why, what? You’ve been sleeping with your HP?
Yeah but you’ll notice that her “price range” is only below $1000 because “they” said if she could find one, “they’d” give it to her. If she was using her own money other factors would come into play… like long-term happiness. In her place I’d do exactly the same thing… and I’m a Mac user. That’s not much of an endorsement.
Umm ok… that thing is gonna be so chock full of viruses in 2 months that it going to be unusable, but hey it was cheaper for the first 2 months.
Now you are going to take it to some “rip you off” computer repair shop and they are going to charge you $200 to do a back-up reformat and reinstall. Then they are going to recommend that you buy some crap anti virus like norton which in my experience slows your down as much as the viruses, and it still won’t protect you.
That brings you over $1000 right there plus the cost of lost productivity, and the security risks involved in having viruses and spyware on your machine.
If you wanna buy a cheap HP… I say Go For It, but don’t run Windows on it.
Run Linux. It is a FREE operating system with all the functionality of windows but with-out all the headaches. No Viruses!
She wants a 17″ screen on a laptop? What is she compensating for? (It is an advert, nothing logical can be added, why are we all bothering to argue over this.)
She said 14″ was her minimum. Which is the same resolution as the 13. Later she found a cheap 17″ for under $1000 and she got “just what she wanted” [deserved... for not doing her homework]
I’m a Linux!, an Ubuntu to be exact. Okay wait, I guess that makes me a penguin??
Well, actually, I’m using a PC – price matters in today’s economy, and after I lost my company MacBook in the layoff, I couldn’t justify paying more than $500 on e-bay for a laptop. Especially because all I was planning to do was connect over the net via logmein.com to my home iMac anyway!
So, I don’t use Vista much, nor do I particularly care for it after now spending the last two years on a Mac. If OS X ran natively on AMD 64 hardware, I’d be writing this on a Mac VM.
Instead, I’m writing this on 64 bit Ubuntu virtualized in 32 bit Vista, on a HP Compaq laptop. And when I want a mac laptop, I just connect remotely to my iMac. Did I lose ya?
I am glad Microsoft stepped up to the plate with some smart marketing, but let’s face it – with cloud computing already within reach, all anyone needs is a monitor, an internet connection, and optionally VM software so you can prevent yourself from getting hosed by nasty viruses, etc.
So, I’m not a PC, nor am I a Mac – I’m the internet (sorry iJustine).
-Jim
I myself am a PC until now but I am planning to buy a Mac.
Mohammad Afaq
Free Website Traffic
Umm. It comes down to TCO. No doubt that Macs are a bit more expensive upfront, but from a total cost of ownership standpoint, Macs win.
Here is a recent post from TUAW which links to report after report that Macs are cheaper in the long run:
http://www.tuaw...ou-look-at-tco/
Also read:
http://www.amer...cles/view/38285
http://www.zoli...-all-about-tco/
MAC ftw http://tr.im/hNWG
You guys got it all wrong… this is great. It’ll hopefully drive the price of macs down to something closer to the PC. Remove the mac OS, install windows and get apple hardware at a low price. Win for everyone. Apple = hardware $, Microsoft = OS $, consumer = save $!!!! And of course, slip in a few Linux VMs on the machine too.
What exactly is wrong with the hardware on that HP? It is most likely the same processor, memory, hard drive, and screen that the Mac has if not better.
The problem with most of the people who posted on this post is that they hate Microsoft and are willing to blame it for anything that might cause a crash.
You go ahead and develop software that runs on 99.999% of the hardware configurations and lets see how crash proof it would be.
Its easy for Apple to claim that it works so well. The OS runs on a total of 3 different platforms.
Jim
Well done Microsoft. About time you pointed out what non-nerds actually care about: price.
Sometimes price is a key factor but not always.
The only think is that Apple is about the only computer company whose sales are increasing. Everyone says they should go cheap, but they are doing better than everyone else.
Errr…have you seen the sales figures recently? Last I heard Apples sales were tanking.
Looking at the video again, while I have seen attractive PCs, that was a couple of ugly computers she was looking at, and chose the ugliest.
A few bucks for something I stare at hours every day is worth it to me.
Mac is for the Elite, PC for the rest of us (outside the SV).
Im in Pacoima… The bottom of the barrel baby! I wouldn’t use anything but a Mac.
wow dante… you’ve really proven yourself to be a smart person throughout this post..
Feature to feature, the prices are similar. Find me a non-Apple laptop with a 17″ IPS (I believe) screen, 1920 x 1080 resolution, discrete graphics controller with 512MB of RAM, the latest Core 2 Duo 2.66 GHz processor, 4 GB of RAM with expandability to 8 GB, 320 GB hard drive, and a battery life of 6 to 8 hours for less than the price of the 17″ MacBook Pro. It might be out there, I admit it. But if it is, it’s not going to be much less than the MacBook Pro, which has a Pro in its name for a reason – It’s a professional machine, not a student or home fun machine. It is, as someone suggested, a nerd machine: a specialist’s machine. You think Apple doesn’t know that?
Really, this line of advertising is only going to convince folks who aren’t computer-savvy and who already prefer Windows-only machines. It’s not scary at all.
Buying an Apple doesn’t make you smarter or cooler. Paying $1000 more for the same exact pieces of metal and wire is pretty stupid.
For the record, I’m a PC and have never had anywhere near the problems Mac users are always going on about PCs.
Well, maybe next time I’ll call you when I need to install some new hardware or software.
I blew my entire Saturday last week trying to install a wireless all-in-one printer on two Vista machines.
After finishing the install program, I discovered that whenever I booted up the computers, they hung during the startup sequence by throwing up a UAC prompt asking me if I trusted some low-level program that was trying to launch. There is no way I could live with this. Do you know how to turn off UAC prompts for one program only? I didn’t either and I spent an hour trying to find a way. Had to download something called Microsoft Application Compatibility Toolkit and follow instructions that were no longer available on the Microsoft site (having to go back to the Wayback Internet archive site to find them).
And once I got that done, I found that on one of the Vista machines, every time I printed, it resulted in an error dialog appearing telling me that the print spooler has stopped working (even though the document printed out) and that it was busy for a few minutes checking for a solution to the problem, which of course it didn’t find. So, back to Google to see if I can find something myself. An hour later, almost by accident, I discovered an article that suggested trying a 15-step process of registry edits and reboots to fix the problem.
Nobody should have to deal with this crap. PCs suck. Period.
George,
In case you did not know this, the same can happen on a Mac. The drivers, installation, and compatibility is not always controlled by Microsoft. It is entirely possible for the same situation to occur in a Mac.
As for your statement that PCs suck, it just goes to show how your views are clouded. 90% of the computers in this world are run by the platform and technologies that you say suck! If it sucks so bad, why is the majority of the world using it? Oh yes, because the other platforms were not as reliable and affordable as the other possibilities. Lets not forget that about 15 years ago, Apple was on the verge of closing down, Linux was in its infancy, and the rest of the Unix platforms were beyond the price range of anything other than fortune 1000 companies.
Jim
agreed, the same hardware failures, malware infestations, plug and pray problems, etc. “can” happen on a Mac, but for the most part, they don’t.
They don’t simply because it is not as popular as the Windows platform. That is a false sense of security though. Any Mac user who says that their machine is protected from Malware is living in denial. OS/X has the same features (scripting, automation, etc) that can let viruses. It might be more secure, but again, that is directly related to how many hackers will attempt to break it.
Being a software architect, I know that there is no such thing as Zero Defects in software. It is a mentality that every company should strive for, but it is a pipe dream that does not exist. Every software will have bugs in it and given enough QA or enough hacking, it will be found.
Jim
I get this and I don’t if you know what I mean. Microsoft, PC makers and the general public have always known the Apple sell premium products. Why waste more cash marketing this fact?
In terms of value, price is important, but at the end of the day quality in a computer purchase must be also up there. Apple make good products, maybe Microsoft & Co should focus more on marketing what they do well and catching up with Apple in terms of design or brand loyalty.
So here’s the thing: HP 17″ laptop wfor $699.99 is this one: http://www.shop...NF795UA%2523ABA
Note the T4200 processor, the Intel integrated graphics, the non gigabit ethernet, 3GB of DDR2 ram, 800mhz bus, and the 1440×900 resolution
Now, compare this to an a new MBP: T9950 (significantly faster, significantly more cache), 4gb of DDR3, 1066bus, 1920×1200, plus it’s 1lb lighter.
Ultimately, the choice between Windows and Mac is completely up to which the user prefers, but the people that frequent TC should know better: this is NOT *ahem* an “apples to Apples” comparison in terms of pure hardware; the MBP 17″ will blow this thing out of the water in terms of performance.
In fact, go configure an IBM t61p, probably the mbp’s closest competitor in terms of performance, and look at the price difference. You may be surprised.
You miss the point. Of course this is an apples to apples comparison. But with Apple you get a very small set of configurations. I don’t need gigabit ethernet — unless Comcast really ups its bandwidth! I’m not going to pay for faster RAM. Heck, if the data is in RAM it’s already a win. The extra RAM is nice, but with the PC I can pick where I want to be on the spectrum from 512MB to 6GB w/o a problem.
The commercial is showing two things. Everyone here picked up on the price point. What they missed was that with PCs you have a feature set to match each price point. You aren’t stuck with Apple’s belief that in order to own a computer you must have a specific configuration and they’ll define that price point (which is almost always a config with stuff you neither want nor need) .
So many comments off the mark here. Lauren (in the commercial) wants a comfortable keyboard and a 17″ screen. Here top price is $1K. Simple.
You can guess why she needs a big screen, but it comes down to the fact that she knows she needs a laptop with a 17″ screen FOR UNDER A GRAND. No matter what else you say about Mac vs. PC, she could not find one at the Apple store, but found many choices in the PC aisle at the other store. Some may be better choices than others, but looking at Lauren’s criteria, most likely she will be THRILLED with her choice. She’s already pretty happy that she was able to make her purchase. Go, consumer! Vote with your dollars!
Looks like Microsoft finally found a good marketing angle…
As a shareholder though, I’d much rather own the company with big profit margins and increasing market share than the one with lower profit margins and decreasing market share… But maybe thats just me
Sorry… typo: MBP has T9550
You Mac people should go right now and buy the new 8GB memory upgrade for your Macbook. IT’S ONLY $1200! — run now, we’ll wait….
I’m actually in the apple shop right now waiting for it to be installed, I’m writing this from iPhone while listening to music on my new iPod.
– so need to wait
Apple fangirl with an apple for a brain!
Better than a biscuit
daddy’s money must be nice huh?
…an old Macintosh LC or something. Friend said I bought this used computer, will it get on the internet?
Thing looked like a 286 to me in there. That was cool in 1991 but somebody had tried to sell it to a young lady who had no clue, she wanted to “get on the internet” and was impatient.
I started homebrewing my own at about that time and my first one was a 386 DX at 66 MHz so after about 14 years well, YES, the Mac was junk to me and I knew how to make x86 stuff run fairly well, even if it was all parts and donated, rarely much above 1500 MHz.
Now that generation is becoming hard to find memory for sometimes, it can be hard to find parts and software that like newer systems and OSes or it flat out breaks down for good. It gets to be easier running a network of flies on spaghetti sometimes.
I stopped running PC 100/133 a long time back and now it’s fun trying to find 200/266 DDR for boards with processors that still ring fresh in many heads like PENTIUM 4???
All in all, Macs are not for the clueless. The biggest notion I get from them is I liked the HP 3000 minimainframe I had to use on campus better, but when I didn’t have to use DOS Windows was miles ahead to me.
I have another lady friend who used a G4 and was not clueless and was quite good with it.
It was still a foriegn object to me, like a Ferrari.
I like hrr more than the Mac also, duh.
The last time Macs were so cool to me was when 386 machines were not doing audio and multitrack composing so well. Since then PCs have been fine.
Over the years, I tried every possible OS (DOS, OS2, Geos, Irix, BeOS, All versions of Windows, All versions of Mac OS). Mac OS X is just the best OS ever. Stable and virus free.
As far as the computer itself… All I can say is that my new Mac Pro can also run Windows and Linux without rebooting! All on the same computer! Try this with a PC!
It’s called virtualization, and I am. My laptop only cost $800 and it has 2x the specs of the macbook that started at $899 at the time.
Oh, and I forgot to mention, it’s a tablet. Can’t find that for a reasonable price on the Apple side.
Its only stable and virus free because it runs on three different hardware platforms and has such as small market share that virus authors who are looking to make a statement would rather do so on the platform that runs on more than 70% of the computers in the world.
Oh, and by the way, VMWare has been available on the Windows platform for the last 12 years and allowed you to run Linux, Unix, Windows (different versions), and Solaris without rebooting. You can not run OS/X of course because Apple requires a specific chip to exist on the motherboard.
Jim
Actually, you can run Mac OS on VMWare now, this is what i am doing currently. Takes a while to run stuff (must be due to my background running programs on xp, need to test on a clean pc), but all in all i can say i have a Mac OS (Leopard)!!
I meant legally…
Legal aspects aside, I have Mac OS/X running on a Dell Mini 9 and it is one of the best netbooks I have ever used. But my daughter’s ASUS running XP is as good, fast, and cool as the Mini 9.
Also, makes you wonder why Apple won’t allow OS/X to run on VMWare? What are they afraid of? Are they afraid to show that the PC hardware can run OS/X most likely better than it can on Mac hardware? But the Ads and people at the store definitely push the fact that the Mac is a better PC and can run all windows applications (Via Parallels or VMWare).
I just hate double standards…
Jim
Yeah, the reason you can’t “try this on a PC” is because Apple won’t let you install their OS on non-sanctioned hardware. But you didn’t just read that, Apple couldn’t possibly be evil, could they?
i want her hair!
I bought a little compaq for throwing around for $499 about a year ago – so far working great (who knew they were still making compaqs, although I did downgrade to XP). I’ve crashed my mac many times. So much for all myths.
Proving once again size DOES matter to women… Lauren dissed the netbook she picked up “This is a phone”. She also rejected a Sony with a 16.3-inch screen. But she settled on a 17-inch HP with an AMD processor weighing in a svelte 7.8 lbs!
Yeah, she’s a PC–but in her case, those letters might stand for what she thinks the do.
There are tons of products that I won’t buy based on price, why would something like a computer be any different?
because you need to replace it at least once every 2 years.