New Microsoft Ad: "Hi Mac, I'm a PC and I'm Cheaper Than You"

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MAGNeT

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Latest Microsoft ad may be its strongest attack on Apple yet

Microsoft founder Bill Gates once famously said that he "didn't get" Apple's attack ads on Microsoft. After all, both companies trying to do the same thing -- create ultra-functional OS systems that met all the users’ needs. Indeed, for a long time Microsoft was dumbfounded as to how to combat Apple campaign which was based largely on exaggeration, vague accusations, and unfounded insults.

Microsoft finally announced that it would be fighting back with a $300M USD advertising campaign. For the first round it recruited Jerry Seinfeld, only to see the expensive commercials meet with mixed reviews. From a public reaction standpoint, the successor to those commercials, the "I'm a PC" commercials were much more effective, appealing to many who were sick of Apple's campaign of PC abuse.

Now Microsoft has come up with perhaps its cleverest barb yet -- pointing out how much cheaper PCs are than Macs for the same hardware.

The ad gurus at Crispin Porter + Boguksy, who Microsoft has hired to do the ads, contacted computer shoppers in Los Angeles area through Craigslist and other sites. Posing as market researchers they offered people $700 to $2,000 to buy a new computer, not telling the people that they were with Microsoft according to the Wall Street Journal. The customers were motivated to bargain hunt as they were told they could keep the rest of the money after the computer purchase.

The first commercial features a woman named Lauren who was given $1,000. She wanted to get a 17-inch screen and a comfortable keyboard. She went to the Apple store only to leave disappointed as their cheapest computer (the $999 MacBook) only had a 13-inch screen and featured a narrow keyboard.

"I’m just not cool enough to be a Mac person," the fashionable Californian sarcastically remarks as driving off.

She ends up at Best Buy instead, where she finds a HP Pavilion notebook with a 17-inch screen that's $699.99 before tax. She's able to get the computer and a printer for $900, pocketing the extra $100. At the end of the commercial, she states, "I’m a PC, and I got just what I wanted."

Microsoft began airing the programs last night during the popular NCAA men's basketball tournament, broadcast on CBS. The ads mark the latest chapter in a series of jabs made by Microsoft at Apple over price. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer recently remarked that Apple customers were paying $500 more than PC customers "for a logo."

Brad Brooks, corporate vice president for Windows consumer product marketing at Microsoft, says that he "swears on a stack of Bibles" that the contracted ad agency didn't steer customers towards PCs -- they were simply the natural choice as they were cheaper and more full-featured. He states, "Value is on the top of everybody’s mind these days with the economic situation we’re in."

Indeed, Apple's sales of its pricey desktops and laptops dropped in February, falling 16 percent, while PCs continued to post better sales, thanks to ultra-cheap netbook sales. Apple is faced with the challenge of wooing the cash-strapped consumer -- it has a couple of entries below $1,000 -- the Mac Mini desktop and the MacBook -- but most of its computers are much more. For example, the only computer it announced at MacWorld -- the new 17" MacBook Pro starts at a cool $2,799.
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DailyTech - New Microsoft Ad: "Hi Mac, I'm a PC and I'm Cheaper Than You"
 
To add some comparision to the price, i read on one of the blogs that for the price of the 17 inch macbook pro, Lauren could have got 3 more HP Pavillions i.e 4 PCs for the price of 1 macbook pro.
 
I agree windows is better, but an apple doesnt compromise on the hardware, you have to give that credit, the hardware will almost never disappoint you, in terms of aesthetics and usablity..Thats the price you pay for guaranteed satisfaction IMO, which unless ur a rich brat, you cant afford....In terms of Os, windows rules, no matter what anyone says..
 
Pat said:
:right: And who are you exactly sir ?
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Im a person entitled to my opinion, and before you ask again, you're a person entitled to your opinion too, and thus free to ignore what ever you fell isnt correct as per you're experience..:)
Just for the fact sake, saying windows rules, doesnt make OSX bad..So back off fanboys...:P
 
Party Monger said:
I agree windows is better, but an apple doesnt compromise on the hardware, you have to give that credit, the hardware will almost never disappoint you, in terms of aesthetics and usablity..Thats the price you pay for guaranteed satisfaction IMO, which unless ur a rich brat, you cant afford....In terms of Os, windows rules, no matter what anyone says..
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I don't exactly remember, but in a few of the posts which i had shared on Google Reader with you, the Apple Hardware was also compared. Did not fare well when the prices were taken into account, as in entries from both the camp for the same prices were compared.
 
I agree windows is better, but an apple doesnt compromise on the hardware, you have to give that credit, the hardware will almost never disappoint you, in terms of aesthetics and usablity..Thats the price you pay for guaranteed satisfaction IMO, which unless ur a rich brat, you cant afford....In terms of Os, windows rules, no matter what anyone says..
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Ah, a sensible post

like or dislike for an OS is very subjective unlike quality of hardware

A MB at a price point marginally higher than a XPS delivers a better quality hardware proposition which can be objectively judged, and I find it ridiculous when someone compares an Inspiron with similar hardware specs with a MB

There's no denying the fact that the MB is a better piece of engineering which will of course come at an extra price

However, Windows is a better OS from the POV of many people, and that's an opinion which you can't force someone to budge from

which unless ur a rich brat, you cant afford.
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gotta disagree on this one though, I think I am better off (financially) with a MB than an Inspiron since I wouldn't be tempted to upgrade the former for a while
 
superczar said:
gotta disagree on this one though, I think I am better off (financially) with a MB than an Inspiron since I wouldn't be tempted to upgrade the former for a while
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Well that's not a very correct statement.Just because you can't handle temptations doesn't make the macbook better.

As a matter of fact, you have actually stated quite the opposite as another negative is the pain in the @$$ when you need to up a Mac.
 
An intel desktop is exactly what the mac is, I think the price point increases on the OS front. A hackintosh is prime example of what can be achieved on peice of hardware that in everyway is cheaper then the mac. Its just the OS that runs on that hardware, more or less similar to how it would behave on a mac.

So, the real question is, Is the MAC OS that much better than a windows XP in terms of value and performance + features?

That is a different question for a different thread altogether.
 
Party Monger said:
but an apple doesnt compromise on the hardware, you have to give that credit, the hardware will almost never disappoint you, in terms of aesthetics and usablity..
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But most of it is still standard hardware available off the shelf at a much lower cost and the only way Apple has managed to make people keep buying them from them at ridiculously high prices is by getting some of the select components customized by their OEM's into non-standard shapes and sizes making regular of the shelf parts unusable.

I attribute most of Apple's recent hardware reliability to their move to Intel processors. The Power PC chips and particularly the G5 some how didn't have had the same kind of reliability. Those processors run so damn hot that the entire machine would make a nice oven if we did not have the AC running in the office. Hardware failures were quite common with those older machines if you keep them running for long periods. However to makeup for the boost from Intel adoption, they seemed to have messed up all their OS releases after Panther. Panther was better than Win XP and everyone of us used to have the Mac as our primary machine during those days, but Tiger, Leopard and Snow Leopard are pretty poor compared to Win XP or Vista in consistency of speed and stability. So most of us are back to using Win XP as the primary platform these days.

Also regardless of the exterior aesthetics, at least in the case of the tower models like the older Power Mac G5 or the Mac Pro, the internals are just as badly put together as a in a Dell or HP desktop tower. I guess that's always a price one pay's when getting a branded machine regardless of how much you spent on it.

As for the Laptop's, in terms of build quality, Mac Book Pro is the best I have ever come across. None of the Dell, HP, Acer, Toshiba, Lenovo come anywhere close. Everything about them is right from the perspective of a portable workstation. The regular Mac Book is not in the same league considering the only ones I have tried had a plastic feel to them, But Mac Book Pro is probably the only Apple product I would happily recommend to anyone.
 
The regular Mac Book is not in the same league considering the only ones I have tried had a plastic feel to them
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have you seen the new ones?

They ain't called baby MBPs for nothing

Smaller, lighter and the exact same build...

As a matter of fact, you have actually stated quite the opposite as another negative is the pain in the @$$ when you need to up a Mac.
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Let's not forget how nicely Macs hold their resale value (check the price of horribly outdated G4 minis and macbooks on eBay to get an idea)

Frankly, all the OS hokum apart, for I, the so called premium for a Mac is more than justified by just one thing

The sub second startups...once you get used to it, to wait a minute or more for your laptop to start seems like a relic from the past

(Not sure if a Hackintosh laptop handles the same)

PS: Before someone points to the existence of standby on windows machines, point me to one windows laptop user who uses standby all the time, and does not shutdown or hibernate his unplugged machine before leaving for office or going to sleep
 
We All Need To Give Credit To Microsoft For Making Comps Easy To Use.how Many Could Remember Command Line Unix /linux /dos .agreed That Apple Gave A Gui But I Think "bill & Co." Gave It Cheaper.for Graphics/designing/sound Etc Mac May Be Preferred For Guys & Co's With Deep Pockets
 
Here we go again with endless argument of Mac vs. PC...

I could add something... but then I realize it's just as pointless, but then again that's what we all are there to do.... :P

For those cribbing about prices... Most of us run almost the similar hardware configs... the same ol' Intel or AMD processor, some fancy ramsticks and aftermarket coolers and stuff... but some people pay extra for better cooler, casings even small things like FANs and UV cables and cathod lights.

Some spend more while some run their system just plain vanilla. Why is that? afterall it's the same damn computer. It's not going to make difference weather you buy high-end casing or some cheaper alternative, or one of our beloved peripheral for arguments... PSU. why buy a costlier PSU from corsair when you can get cheaper ones?

The same analogy goes with Mac and PC hardware... well almost... You're paying for quality engineering. As for OS, that's subjective as stated earlier by may, but for regular users the experience it still different and some find it better. My girlfriend finds it's much easier to work on iMovie and iPhoto than working on Premier Element on PC that is almost as fast as my new Macbook or 10 times faster than my old G4 iBook. Lord Nemesis, I know you have many quirks with OS X, but for some users with light computing it's still pretty much stable (at least in my circle).

Anyway, this topic is as endless as "Chicken first or Egg?"... so those who appreciate Apple products, aesthetics and solid feel, and have money to buy it will buy macs, those who can't will build their hackintosh's and those who don't like apple products will stick to their PC's. The world will go on. :)

For the record, I find the microsoft ad funny and rubbish at the same time.
appleinsider said:
The new ads don't go into details on hardware purchases; they simply make the case that PC laptops can be found for cheaper, playing up tight funds in the tough economy. Best Buy actually does sell the DV7-1245DX, an HP notebook with 17" screen, but it lacks fast wireless 802.11n, 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.

One HP buyer pointed out that this model series "has the worst screen I have ever seen in my life. It's the 1440x900 screen and the viewing angles are so poor that even when sitting directly eye level with the screen it is totally washed out. If I go a little bit off-axis the screen results in a negative image. I was using the default settings. Unfortunately I didn't read reviews before i purchased."
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Microsoft bought affordable computing to the masses and mac is still harping on the exclusivity crap which in this day and age and in times of recession doesnt make sense which shows up in the numbers.
MAC is for those who have deep pockets and like to show off .
Yes i do agree MAC is much more simpler and more stable than a PC but on the flip side ppl who have pcs have so many choices they can even chose to install a different OS and customise their computer the way they want .
now beat that steve "robs".
 
Party Monger said:
but an apple doesnt compromise on the hardware, you have to give that credit, the hardware will almost never disappoint you
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Thats was a long time back. Nowadays they have gone low on there hardware as well.

~LT
 
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