Meet Lauren: she’s young, she’s hip, she’s “not cool enough to be a Mac person”
Microsoft fired off the latest video in its ad war with Apple.
The story so far: Apple’s Mac Guy vs PC guy ads, featuring Drew Barrymore’s hip, Gen Y boyfriend Justin Long as Mac Guy, and the prematurely middle-aged John Hodge as PC guy, were a run-away hit.
Microsoft hit back with an existential, series of videos featuring Jerry Seinfeld and a self-deprecating Bill Gates, amusing some and confounding many before segueing into a more cohesive campaign that saw hip celebrities like Pharrell proclaiming “I’m a PC” (the budget for the whole series: $US300 million; Seinfeld's cheque: $US10 million).
“I’m a PC,” hit the mark, and Apple shot back with an uncharacteristically snide clip suggesting Microsoft allocated most of its Windows budget to marketing, and little to improving its software.
Spunky, cute-but-seemingly-obtainable
Now, Microsoft takes an aggressive - or is that passive-aggressive? - tone with a new video featuring Lauren, a hip - but not too hip (you know, like those try-hard Apple folk) - young woman who goes shopping for a notebook (Infoworld walking mid-life crisis columnist Robert X Cringely calls her "spunky, cute-but-seemingly-obtainable", and also notes Microsoft Steve Ballmer's attack on Apple last week, in which he said the only difference between a Mac and a PC is "the $500 badge".). She finds a Windows-based model offers twice the features for half the price of a MacBook.
“I’m just not cool enough to be a Mac person,” says Lauren sarcastically, after leaving an Apple store where she finds everything twice the price.
(There's some nice signage for HP in the clip below, too, incidentally, unlike this community content gone wild effort.)
How will Apple respond? Which ever direction it heads, it might have to be without "Mac Guy" Justin Long, whom following his break-up with Ms Barrymore is apparently too distraught to work.
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Whatever
"Microsoft Steve Ballmer's attack on Apple last week, in which he said the only difference between a Mac and a PC is "the $500 badge""
First off, Ballmer is a psycho. Second, Macs are expensive, and for the high end, really expensive. Third, if you need a Mac for your work, its best for low tech users. Fourth, this enumeration is becoming annoying.
Anyway, PCs have always appealed to people who like to "make" their computer like kids who like to put Legos together and take them apart. Macs appeal to people who don't want to deal with all techy stuff, people like my sister, and people who are a bit snobby, people like my sister. To find a really good PC compatible with the integration quality of an Apple, you have to shop around, but its not that difficult, REALLY. And it can save you thousands of dollars if you are not using a Mac for graphics and processor intense applications on a regular basis. People who just want a computer to surf the net, watch movies, collect family pictures, play a few games, an expensive, well chosen PC is just fine, plus it leaves more money to buy other stuff, like the mortgage. As for games, the PC still rulez.
Techie just got a Mac
It reminds me of the liberal-conservative debate
Fanboys parade their ignorance and prejudice.
I own both platforms.
An over clocked Intel quad with Vista, XP Pro, and Ubuntu Linux, which I built for gaming. It's a work of art. It's very fast. I probably have $2200 in it not including the OS's, keyboard or monitor. I've been building and over clocking PC's since Windows 3 (486).
I also have a 5 year old HP laptop with XP Home. It sits in a corner. It is slowwww.
I just got a Macbook-Pro in October. It has OSX and XP Pro on it. I have about $2500 in it not including XP. It's also very fast.
I dual screen both machines. All have MS Office and Photoshop. They are all networked to a laser and inkjet printer, Central storage and a scanner.
I used to live only on my PC until I got the Mac. Then I only started my PC to game. But now I have started to Game on the Mac under Bootcamp. It works great. I don't have any reason to start my PC anymore as my Mac does everything my PC did. I still start it up to just play with it, kind of like taking a favorite hotrod for a spin.
I don't have malware problems on any of them. I think mainly because there is a firewall on my Router. All the PC's are protected with free software. The Mac doesn't get attacked, though I realize it is just a matter of time. I have been looking into what protection is available for OSX
I could of bought a PC laptop at the time, but for the same specs, but it would of taken a high end PC laptop which is not necessarily cheaper.
But I am a techie (it’s my living since 95).
Most folks are clueless about technology.
I think Lauren if she actually lived with both might of chosen the Macbook even with the smaller screen. My mother in law did. She had a HP laptop. She always had problems. She kept calling me for help. She now has problems with her Mac, but not as many and the folks at the Mac Store seem to really want to help her. It saves my time doing support.
Get all the quality you can afford. Cheap machines can have cheap parts in critical areas.
When the thrill of a cheap price is gone. The bad taste of low quality is still there.
When the pain of a higher price is gone, the satisfaction of a quality machine is still there.
Techie stuff
Nobody but techies want to deal with techie stuff. It's why I build my PC's since Win3. I enjoy it. It's like tinkering on a hotrod. That is not most people. Maybe one or two out of a thousand?
I recommend to my clients all the time to buy Macs if they aren't tied to a particular software. Of course I make less money from them in the long run. They seem very happy they switched. As far as Mac users being snobby, I don't know. I think it is a personal problem availible to both platforms. You want snobby check out the Linux fanboys.
Oh, as far as gaming is concerned, any Intel Mac with a real video processor (Nvidea 7600-9600) can game under Bootcamp.
It reminds me of the liberal-conservative debate.
Fanboys parade their ignorance and prejudice.
WTF?
These comments are hilarious. Do you guys do parties?
PC's are just goofy and not worth the hassle
PC's running windoze are just goofy. I'm programmer so i want a hard core UNIX OS without out all that DIY bumf you get with Linux.
I code mostly in Ruby (on Rails web application projects) and Java for other projects. I'm currently tinkering with the idea of doing an iPhone app.
I have a .NET web site I built a couple of years back I built for a client when I was still mired in windows tech gunk but that's due for a Rails rebuild.
I'd say Mac and OS X is better for all computing work _except_ some esoteric features in the windows version of MS Excel not yet implemented in the OS X version of Excel, and of course gaming.
Other than that the majority of people, techies and non-techies will get the value back from any extra $100 or so they had to spend on Apple technology, through increased productivity.
And frankly if I can be more productive then it's worth a heckuva lot more than the price difference between the MS and Apple tech.
Finally an excellent examination of Mac vs. PC truth!
I have been working with both Mac and PC since, well, since the beginning! I graduated from Commodore 64 to my first PC, and I did my first computer drawing on an Apple in '84. I've used both at jobs and later in my own business as I do today. I've listened to the point of nausea at both side of this argument, Mac guys who delude themselves saying Macs never fail, and PC guys who say Macs are unsupportable immature toys. OS X and other advances shut up most of the PC folk, and the Mac side is afraid to admit that their tools are expensive and not bullet proof... but this article by "Pops" says it all, says it well, and is (other than my wranglings here) the last word on the matter. Well done!
wow
i couldn't have said it better myself. This should be an advert all by itself. Call it "plain truth".
PC's blow, and are not cheaper in the long run
I am a geek, and have used both systems since the 80's. The key difference now that I am completely on Mac, is that I don't spend my free time screwing with my PC to keep it running right. When I boot up, the machine comes up and fast. When I power down, it just turns off. Oh, and I use PS and Illustrator, tons of tabs on my browser, MS apps, and more and have yet to have it crash in two years. Lastly, Winblows seems to get more sluggish with every update, as if they are ushering planned obsolescence along a little faster. When on PC's maintenance was a hassle, the machine degraded over time and I had to upgrade more frequently. Now I spend my time doing what I need the tool to do, not messing around with making the tool work so I could get things done. Ballmer is completely off his gord.
Neutral
PC, brag all u want when u get a better designed OS
MAC, not all of us have a money tree at home
Posted by Scottish Supergod (not verified) at 10:14 am on March 29, 2009
Talk to us when you get down to the technical OS stuff, and i can guarentee you that you will find the OSX's design, resource management, file system structure to be more logical
Hmm.. PC's are cheaper... break out the presses
PC's have been cheaper than MAC's for many years.
I am guessing 98.5% of Mac buyers already know this, as well as 98.5% of PC buyers.
the ads make the point that PC's are cheaper, but they don't make the point that PC's are better.
Is it just me or are Microsoft firing more blanks than bullets these days?
Check your grammar
"I could HAVE bought a PC laptop...would HAVE taken a high end..."
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