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Microsoft Releases Second 'Laptop Hunters' Commercial

KnightWRX said:
Funny, millions of computers still got infected. It's a reality, in Windows you need all those different security software. OS X and Linux don't because you can configure them to have exactly 0 listening network services.
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No, you don't. You forget that even if 2 million PCs got infected, thats still less than 1% of total PCs running Vista and a fraction of a percent running XP.

WeegieMac said:
You come up with a balanced, perfectly valid argument about why you prefer Windows to OS X, providing you have plentiful experience of both, without resorting to snide digs, and we'll get somewhere.
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Well, I've been using OS X since 10.4.8 and I have a UniBody MacBook now. Been using Vista since before retail launch, XP since retail launch, and Windows since 3.0. I also used Macs back in the System 7 days.

Why do I like Windows better? Lot's of reasons.

Here's a perfect example. Today I bought an external display. It has HDMI, VGA, and DVI inputs. All it took was an HDMI cable to connect it to my PC. Upon first connection, Vista asked me if I wanted to clone or extend my desktop, or use the external display only. I clicked external only, it choose the right resolution and refresh rate and shut off the built-in display. That was it. I didn't need to do anything else.

Now with the Mac. Of course I had to buy a silly adapter. I plug the adapter plus the cable in. Upon first connection Mac OS X extended my desktop. Okay I don't want that. My only options in software are to clone or extend. With clone I can't pick the proper resolution, but with extend I can. The only way to disable the built-in display is to sleep the system by closing the lid and then wake it via an external keyboard and mouse or remote control. Then I can use the external display properly. But thanks to Apple's nvidia drivers, I have vsync issues with flash video content on the external display.

Windows XP on the MacBook behaved nearly the same way as Vista did on the PC. It didn't give me a display prompt, but I was able to disable the built-in display via software without having to sleep the system.

Now let's talk about other things. System stability. I've been using Vista on multiple PCs and Macs since launch and I've never had an issue with stability with it. The only stability issue I ever had with XP was back when it first launched and I tried to connect a parallel port scanner that the manufacturer specifically stated was supported on XP. Naturally that caused a BSOD. Funny enough, I was able to install the drivers in Safe Mode and it functioned just fine after that.

With OS X on various Macs and various minor and full revisions, I've had random instability no matter what I've done. It wasn't until recent updates to Leopard could actually say its almost as stable as Vista. I've had it crash doing everything from emptying the trash to burning data to DVD.

Theres also a lot of other nice little things about Windows that OS X can't do. For instance, gaming. I like to play the occasional game. Windows let's me do that. Apple has largely ignored game developers, so game support on the OS is largely half-assed. You get poor Cider ports or ports from Aspyr that don't run half as good as their Windows counterparts despite both using OpenGL (Doom 3 is a good example of this).

Another thing would be video support. With a PC you can have multiple HDTV tuners connected, WMC (a far better interface than Frontrow) will control them all. Not only that but I can get blu-ray support and watch my movies with twice the resolution and nearly 10x the bitrate of Apple's iTunes "HD" movies. The difference between the two is staggering.

I'm a big A/V person, so OS X just literally fails in this department. Frontrow is disgustingly limited compared to Windows Media Center in Vista (and XP, though XP MCE is ugly). OS X can't do half of what I want it to do when it comes to playing back video (DVD, blu-ray, recorded TV), and it can't play my games. It can do music great, but unfortunately it doesn't have Milkdrop 2. I'm not about to give up the best visualizer on the market just because iTunes has a prettier interface for keeping my music all in one spot.

I'll go on more later..
 
So basically they give them enough money to get a Mac, but give them whatever money they don't spend. That's like giving someone $50,000 to get a new car that can get them to and from work and allowing them to keep what's left over. Of course they are gonna take the Toyota over the Lexus so they can have the extra money.

Now switch it up, give someone that $50,000 or $1,500 and tell them to buy the car/computer they LIKE the most and would rather use and then see how many still pick the Toyota or the cheap HP.
 
So basically they give them enough money to get a Mac, but give them whatever money they don't spend. That's like giving someone $50,000 to get a new car that can get them to and from work and allowing them to keep what's left over. Of course they are gonna take the Toyota over the Lexus so they can have the extra money.

Now switch it up, give someone that $50,000 or $1,500 and tell them to buy the car/computer they LIKE the most and would rather use and then see how many still pick the Toyota or the cheap HP.
 
yossim said:
You are not the only person out there that uses vista. Everyone that I have talked to that uses/used vista tells me that it is garbage (except for you). So I'm doubtful of it running "better" than Leopard and tiger. Besides, even if they did run better, Apple did design bootcamp.
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Vista certainly has its flaws, but for someone who has worked with it daily for 2+ years they're entirely different flaws that the FUD will have you believe.

The real problem with Vista isn't the supposed "driver hell" or the tired old "malware/viruses/trojans" and "registry" stuff that's still being tossed around 10 years after it was relevant. The problem with Vista boils down to this: There's too much going on, on many levels. Visually, there's too much distraction, too many strong colors that clash with eachother, overdone transition effects, translucency effects and whatnot. On the system level, there are too many background processes (SuperFetch, ReadyBoost, Defrag, Defender, virtual memory, Search Indexer etc) competing for system resources. But in spite of these flaws it is very stable, and the stability is inherent. It's not like XP which for some reason is considered the epitome of stability among Windows versions by some people -- XP is stable only because after 8 years, 3 service packs and countless minor updates, there's really nothing left to fix.

Win7 addresses pretty much all of my major gripes with Vista, except the visual part which IMO should have communicated a departure from the Vista look rather than building on it.
 
Ever since I moved to United States I was a PC person until I bought a 17-inch iMac in 2006. I loved it at the time and recently was deciding to buy a new model.

Unfortunately I could not accept paying so much for weak hardware. I love and acknowledge Mac OS as a better OS but in the end I decided to buy components and build my own Core i7-based PC. I am running Vista x64 and beta of Windows 7.

Perhaps once iMacs get the i7 chips I will buy a 2nd Mac but until then - no way. People may say that I am stuck with Windows but with all honesty.. at this point I have no issues with it.

I think this ad is a good strike at Apple, even if some may argue it is an unfair one.
 
meh....

i don't think you can just compare tech specs and act as if that's the definitive factor on what is better. it seems like those folks that try to sell you the super high megapixel camera while ignoring other important factors like lens and optical zoom. throwing out some tech specs just doesn't really do a lot for me.

that being said, i think folks that like apple should just ignore these commercials. the fact that they cause so much discussion and even uproar is kind of a small victory for microsoft. they don't deserve the attention that they are getting. i'm done with them...
 
yossim said:
You are not the only person out there that uses vista. Everyone that I have talked to that uses/used vista tells me that it is garbage (except for you). So I'm doubtful of it running "better" than Leopard and tiger. Besides, even if they did run better, Apple did design bootcamp.
Click to expand...

Actually in our case, the deployments of Vista (on Bootcamp) seem to have less problems than the Leopard. Hardware such as WiFi NICs fail to function under OSX, but work flawlessly in Vista. Go figure.
 
chr1s60 said:
So basically they give them enough money to get a Mac, but give them whatever money they don't spend. That's like giving someone $50,000 to get a new car that can get them to and from work and allowing them to keep what's left over. Of course they are gonna take the Toyota over the Lexus so they can have the extra money.

Now switch it up, give someone that $50,000 or $1,500 and tell them to buy the car/computer they LIKE the most and would rather use and then see how many still pick the Toyota or the cheap HP.
Click to expand...

If someone was to give me $50,000 to spend on a new car, I would have a nice brand new full size truck for work. Oh and the left over money would be used for a Mac Pro!:D:apple:
 
blastair said:
i don't think you can just compare tech specs and act as if that's the definitive factor on what is better. it seems like those folks that try to sell you the super high megapixel camera while ignoring other important factors like lens and optical zoom. throwing out some tech specs just doesn't really do a lot for me.

that being said, i think folks that like apple should just ignore these commercials. the fact that they cause so much discussion and even uproar is kind of a small victory for microsoft. they don't deserve the attention that they are getting. i'm done with them...
Click to expand...

Well, you see, specs are important.

In reality, there isn't anything OS X can do that Windows can't. Thats not true when you flip things around, there are a lot of things Windows can do that OS X can't. Like play games and watch blu-ray movies.

These ads are pointing out the fact that you're getting a lot more for less money.
 
Ms is just trying to jab at Apple's weakest point: their price. that is why they don't go very far when mentioning the mac in the ad.

but I guess it wouldn't have helped their cause had they gone any further. commercials have to be one-sided.
 
mosx said:
Well, you see, specs are important.

In reality, there isn't anything OS X can do that Windows can't. Thats not true when you flip things around, there are a lot of things Windows can do that OS X can't. Like play games and watch blu-ray movies.

These ads are pointing out the fact that you're getting a lot more for less money.
Click to expand...

wait a second, did you just say that macs can't play games?:eek:
 
mosx said:
Well, I've been using OS X since 10.4.8 and I have a UniBody MacBook now. Been using Vista since before retail launch, XP since retail launch, and Windows since 3.0. I also used Macs back in the System 7 days.

Why do I like Windows better? Lot's of reasons.

Here's a perfect example. Today I bought an external display. It has HDMI, VGA, and DVI inputs. All it took was an HDMI cable to connect it to my PC. Upon first connection, Vista asked me if I wanted to clone or extend my desktop, or use the external display only. I clicked external only, it choose the right resolution and refresh rate and shut off the built-in display. That was it. I didn't need to do anything else.

Now with the Mac. Of course I had to buy a silly adapter. I plug the adapter plus the cable in. Upon first connection Mac OS X extended my desktop. Okay I don't want that. My only options in software are to clone or extend. With clone I can't pick the proper resolution, but with extend I can. The only way to disable the built-in display is to sleep the system by closing the lid and then wake it via an external keyboard and mouse or remote control. Then I can use the external display properly. But thanks to Apple's nvidia drivers, I have vsync issues with flash video content on the external display.

Windows XP on the MacBook behaved nearly the same way as Vista did on the PC. It didn't give me a display prompt, but I was able to disable the built-in display via software without having to sleep the system.

Now let's talk about other things. System stability. I've been using Vista on multiple PCs and Macs since launch and I've never had an issue with stability with it. The only stability issue I ever had with XP was back when it first launched and I tried to connect a parallel port scanner that the manufacturer specifically stated was supported on XP. Naturally that caused a BSOD. Funny enough, I was able to install the drivers in Safe Mode and it functioned just fine after that.

With OS X on various Macs and various minor and full revisions, I've had random instability no matter what I've done. It wasn't until recent updates to Leopard could actually say its almost as stable as Vista. I've had it crash doing everything from emptying the trash to burning data to DVD.

Theres also a lot of other nice little things about Windows that OS X can't do. For instance, gaming. I like to play the occasional game. Windows let's me do that. Apple has largely ignored game developers, so game support on the OS is largely half-assed. You get poor Cider ports or ports from Aspyr that don't run half as good as their Windows counterparts despite both using OpenGL (Doom 3 is a good example of this).

Another thing would be video support. With a PC you can have multiple HDTV tuners connected, WMC (a far better interface than Frontrow) will control them all. Not only that but I can get blu-ray support and watch my movies with twice the resolution and nearly 10x the bitrate of Apple's iTunes "HD" movies. The difference between the two is staggering.

I'm a big A/V person, so OS X just literally fails in this department. Frontrow is disgustingly limited compared to Windows Media Center in Vista (and XP, though XP MCE is ugly). OS X can't do half of what I want it to do when it comes to playing back video (DVD, blu-ray, recorded TV), and it can't play my games. It can do music great, but unfortunately it doesn't have Milkdrop 2. I'm not about to give up the best visualizer on the market just because iTunes has a prettier interface for keeping my music all in one spot.

I'll go on more later..
Click to expand...

I got sick of Windows, after a decade of using the platform, not because of viruses or spyware, but because of the way the OS works. I always felt like the OS was working against me, not with me. Windows simply crashed too often for it's own good to make it productive for me, and then there was the systematic slowing of the system as it aged, meaning further action was required to ensure it ran quickly.

With a Mac I feel like the entire computer works for me and allows me to work in confidence. Some people will say Windows never crashed on them once, and I applaud them for having such a reliable computer. I just wish me, my family, my friends, their friends, etc could have found out the store these people bought from because I've not witnessed a single Windows user not complain about a crash or fault.

Basically, I got fed up of feeling like a Windows Beta Tester and my switch to Mac came long before the whole "mainstream Mac" audience got introduced to how "cool" Macs are.

You've had some pretty bad luck with your Macbook, but that's hardly any consolation. I've had four iMacs, including this one I bought last month, and the only issue I had was the SuperDrive in my last iMac failing. Upon researching it, it turns out the Matshita drive I had is one of the worst Apple used, and the brand is no longer used in any line of the Mac. Thankfully, a simple USB disc drive will work fine, but the repair bill quoted to me of £440 was a hard pill to swallow.

Gaming, which you mentioned, is of no importance to me since I ditched gaming due to becoming bored of the repetitiveness of titles being released. However, console gaming has now surpassed PC gaming, which is fine if you only play the "odd game" I suppose. Personally I find PC gaming to be a little too underground and in denial for my liking, most of those who stick to PC only gaming are too fickle to even try a console.

The part of your post which stayed with me was the part about being a big A/V person. Personally, I wouldn't consider either FrontRow or Windows Media Center to be perfect additions to a high end A/V set up. The components I have in my home cinema room at home mean I never even use FrontRow. I guess I'm just old fashioned, but when you buy high end speakers and invest in a proper setup I don't see why you'd want to put your MP3 collection through it ... I'll stick to CD's and, of course, some classic vinyl. ;)
 
yossim said:
Ms is just trying to jab at Apple's weakest point: their price. that is why they don't go very far when mentioning the mac in the ad.
Click to expand...

And a weak point it is. While Apple is slowing the production and expects up to 60% drop in sales, others are enjoying increased demand primarily due to the low cost Netbooks.
 
blastair said:
i don't think you can just compare tech specs and act as if that's the definitive factor on what is better. it seems like those folks that try to sell you the super high megapixel camera while ignoring other important factors like lens and optical zoom. throwing out some tech specs just doesn't really do a lot for me.

that being said, i think folks that like apple should just ignore these commercials. the fact that they cause so much discussion and even uproar is kind of a small victory for microsoft. they don't deserve the attention that they are getting. i'm done with them...
Click to expand...

The "folks that like apple" will ignore these commercials anyway. I do not think Microsoft is trying to get people to convert back to Windows. They are trying to prevent their current userbase from switching.

This ad is aimed at people who look at price before anything else and in today's world most consumers do just that.
 
ivladster said:
what a sad ad. Majority of public doesn't understand half of what he's sahying. Ghs, MBs, GBs, processor, speed. WTF?

Apple should made an ad:
MAC-no headache
PC-headache

lol
Click to expand...

It should be

Mac OS X: No headaches
Windows Vista and earlier: Lots of headaches.

As Apple's hardware selection has narrowed considerably and features have disappeared to make things smaller, I've had a lot of headaches about things that previous Macs could do that the newer ones cannot. Also, what I've seen of Win7 so far is very surprising Mac-like in the hassle free department.
 
Yet another poor advertisement from Microsoft. They are definitely marketing towards the wrong crowd in this case. They should be marketing towards to the more intellectual, money wise crowd rather than the dumber, trend looking crowd where Apple finds it's biggest success.

The guy easily fits into the "non-techy, computer newb" crowd, perfect for an Apple buyer and not a PC buyer. What they should be advertising is the specs of a 1599 computer completely blowing away a 2799 computer or that people having much more fun using the 1599 computer whilst spending the savings on something like a vacation whilst having the same computing power.

In the end however, these ads only serve to be market news generatings for a much bigger Windows 7 advertisement campaign. I feel like these "viral" type ads will be much more successful once we see their full advertising campaign fold out.

There is really no point in trying to argue what, how or why this ad works. There are merits to this ad and demerits, most of which we cannot fully understand yet.

As for the actual content in the ad, it was poorly placed. From what the person was describing, he obviously didn't want a 16 inch 1.7inch thick 7 lb laptop. He wanted portable power. A macbook fits right into that stage quite well. You really can't complain to me that a 9600 is that much better than a 9400, I will still be able to play the same games you play, albeit on much lower settings.

As for what Apple can do to completely wipe away any sentiments of price competition is to standardize 4gigs of ram for all laptops and at least a 250gig harddrive for all laptops (which they have already)
 
You're a PC because you're really anti-intuitive, cumbersome and filled with malware! But most of all, it is the interface, stupid!
 
WeegieMac said:
The bottom line is that you are here to stir the pot, nothing more and nothing less.
Click to expand...
Wrong (and that's not a question of opinion). I can see why you would interpret it that way, though, since you're one of those people who desperately want to protect the happy little Apple bubble where everyone is dancing hand in hand and the big bad PC universe cannot hurt them. Anyone who doesn't join the dance is out to "stir the pot".

Fortunately a lot of Mac users are not like that, preferring instead to live in the real world.

To stir pots doesn't interest me in the least. I'm here because I'm a Mac user, an iPhone user, an iPod user and a graphic designer, all of which are topics that are discussed here. I think Apple is a fascinating company and I'm drawn to their hardware designs (not so much the OS or the software). And my comments are far from one-sided, which you would know if you had read more than a fraction of them. I'm way down on the PC and dual-platform user list in terms of bias. Sometimes I defend Apple, sometimes I diss Apple, sometimes I defend Microsoft, sometimes I diss Microsoft. I have no loyalties either way. The only reason I end up defending PC/Windows more often is that there are so many outright lies, misconceptions and borderline insane comments about everything non-Mac here that it would take a massive dose of Valium to be able to put up with such madness without reacting.
 
But really who cares about Blu-ray DVD's? Playing movies on my Mac Book Pro looks great anyways. Why in the world would I want a Blue Ray DVD player in my Mac? The display is so much better than what I had before. Apples display is way better than that HP, or any other laptop. Thats another point why I did buy my mac over a PC laptop.
 
mosx said:
Well, you see, specs are important.

In reality, there isn't anything OS X can do that Windows can't. Thats not true when you flip things around, there are a lot of things Windows can do that OS X can't. Like play games and watch blu-ray movies.

These ads are pointing out the fact that you're getting a lot more for less money.
Click to expand...

Again, buy a standalone player for the best Blu-Ray results.

The idea that a PC can be used as the complete hub of your home entertainment comes across as incredibly "cheap".

I like a proper set-up, with a proper Blu-Ray player, dedicated CD player, dedicated A/V amplifier, etc. The thought of hooking a PC up to an amp and into a Home Cinema style set-up takes me back to when I tried it in my last teens and early twenties and thought I was "cool".

Dedicated set-up is the only way for a true A/V buff, sorry.
 
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