Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Microsoft Remains on Offensive with 'Apple Tax' Report and Latest Laptop Ad
- Thread starter Eidorian
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
I can kinda see that....at least based on what I've seen in real life, the mom would have, in all probability, made a beeline straight for Lauren's HP. Or something even cheaper like an Acer.
Moms typically say they don't give a rat's ass what a computer's specs are, as long as it's shaped like a computer and cheap. That is if she were spending her own money. However, she was GIVEN free money, which is the only reason she decided to splurge on a much nicer Sony VAIO. I've seen this scenario hundreds of times: People dismiss expensive things with "Oh, I don't need that," when what they actually mean is, "Oh, I can't afford that."True life scenario:
My store carries 2, 4, 8, and 16 GB flash drives.
The 8 GB flash drive used to be $50. "Oh, I don't need 8 megagigs or whatever."
Now the same 8 GB flash drive is $19.88. Couple that with the magical sticker that says, "WAS: $49.88 NOW: $19.88" and a WHOLE LOTTA people suddenly decide they sure do "need" one after all.
I think this is the third of these kinds of ads to date?
Now, i could tolerate the first two, and i thought they had a point, but now its starting to be too much of the same thing and really boring. OK, they are picking the price points but i think people also want to know what they are getting for their dollar. If they are also trying to advertise other brands then they are not doing a good job of it. A little info on the Sony: remote (mac has it), 16" screen (mac has 15.4&17), Bluray (Ok... win here). Is that all they are gonna say and show?
Contrast the 'Get a Mac' ads. You have developed characters, and new stories each time. And they are funny, clever, and in good taste. Nuf said.
Ok guys, this is 3 commercials so far, anyone willing to take a stab at how many more ads to come before they trashcan... oops! i mean 'recyclebin' this concept?
I say 2 more. lol
Now, i could tolerate the first two, and i thought they had a point, but now its starting to be too much of the same thing and really boring. OK, they are picking the price points but i think people also want to know what they are getting for their dollar. If they are also trying to advertise other brands then they are not doing a good job of it. A little info on the Sony: remote (mac has it), 16" screen (mac has 15.4&17), Bluray (Ok... win here). Is that all they are gonna say and show?
Contrast the 'Get a Mac' ads. You have developed characters, and new stories each time. And they are funny, clever, and in good taste. Nuf said.
Ok guys, this is 3 commercials so far, anyone willing to take a stab at how many more ads to come before they trashcan... oops! i mean 'recyclebin' this concept?
I say 2 more. lol
I guess you enjoy using maintenance utilities a bit too much then or are obsessive compulsive.
Yeah, because Windows isn't where it is today because of unfair business practices, monopoly abuse and vendor lock-in
I think you've just made your official coming out as a Microsoft astroturfer with this post AidenShaw. You can stop pretending to "like" Macs now.
So you can only acknowledge MS dominance in the PC market if you really don't like macs and are a closet MS fanboy? Thanks for clearing that up.
Related to the MAC, sounds like user error. Related to Vista, I am not surprised as post SP1 implementations of Vista are extremely solid. It got such a bad rap at the beginning that it has never recovered. That being said, what none of these commercials talk about is quality of components. Last November I bought a top of the line Dell Studio. The first one arrived with a manufacturing defect and wouldn't power up. The second one arrived and worked fine....for about 2 weeks. After 2 weeks of heavy use I had a hardware failure. Sent it back for a refund and paid the few hundred bucks extra for a new Apple instead. Ultimately I got what I paid for...in both instances. This doesn't even include the consideration for the time I spent removing crapware and optimizing Vista.
There is much more than just the applications you use, although I'm sure you know that. As a web designer it is a case of using 3/4 different applications and the way they work together. Using those applications in conjunction with one another is where the OS comes in.
I say keep them coming
I think these ads are funny. It makes Microsoft look like tools. What I want to see is what happens next. Four hours of startup installing updates, installing drivers, and installing virus/internet security software. If people are dumb enough to use these commercials as a basis for buying a PC, let them buy Vista. My relatives have 3 Vista PC's and regret the decisions.
I think these ads are funny. It makes Microsoft look like tools. What I want to see is what happens next. Four hours of startup installing updates, installing drivers, and installing virus/internet security software. If people are dumb enough to use these commercials as a basis for buying a PC, let them buy Vista. My relatives have 3 Vista PC's and regret the decisions.
So you can only acknowledge MS dominance in the PC market if you really don't like macs and are a closet MS fanboy? Thanks for clearing that up.
His point wasn't that MS has market dominance, it was that this dominance was somehow achieved through shipping a good product (hey, there's a lot more Windows user than OS X user, that must meant something right ? :rolleyes) My point was that Microsoft achieved their market dominance through unlawful ways and have been convicted of this. They got away with nothing thanks to the Bush's administration policies on non-interference.
The EU is in the process of giving them their just desserts right now, showing that things haven't gotten much better.
AidenShaw is a closet MS Fanboy. He never posts anything remotely positive about Apple and always makes sure to prop up Windows at every chance he gets. Like Anuba, like mosx, like whitefang if you've been following these Ads threads.
Look at how many defective mac posts there are. One poster returned his mac over 4 times!
And how can OS X crashing be a user error? If this was vista, you would immediately start bashing vista. It's evident from your post, that you are pro-apple instead of neutral.
Good Commercial
Finally Microsoft got one right. I think Apple needs to be more competitive in price and feature set. There should be a "techie" option so user can modify their macs more than they can now. I think that we're going to see price drops on macs with lower end components and better pricing. I know that I would buy a cheap mac laptop made a plastic case (still cool looking) and comparable components that you see in PC laptops. The bonus is you would have the mac reliability. YAY It would be the "honda" fit of the the Apple brand. Give us more variety and styles that are classic and cool. I do think they would sell more Macs with this model and make more revenue.
Finally Microsoft got one right. I think Apple needs to be more competitive in price and feature set. There should be a "techie" option so user can modify their macs more than they can now. I think that we're going to see price drops on macs with lower end components and better pricing. I know that I would buy a cheap mac laptop made a plastic case (still cool looking) and comparable components that you see in PC laptops. The bonus is you would have the mac reliability. YAY It would be the "honda" fit of the the Apple brand. Give us more variety and styles that are classic and cool. I do think they would sell more Macs with this model and make more revenue.
Rules for Radicals
Sounds to me like Microsquish has read "Rules for Radicals". Pick the target: Apple. Personalize it: Everybody hates taxes. (hmm...people think they won't be able to afford a Mac. Guess they're worried about having a job and being overly taxed). Demonize it: Associate taxes with Macs.
The point many people will miss is that the commercial is a contest. "If you can find a computer for under a thousand dollars, we'll buy it for you." I'd be like "Cool...here it is. Thanks for the grand. I'll be logging on to Ebay later. Then I could actually buy a Mac for a grand. Brilliant!"
Sounds to me like Microsquish has read "Rules for Radicals". Pick the target: Apple. Personalize it: Everybody hates taxes. (hmm...people think they won't be able to afford a Mac. Guess they're worried about having a job and being overly taxed). Demonize it: Associate taxes with Macs.
The point many people will miss is that the commercial is a contest. "If you can find a computer for under a thousand dollars, we'll buy it for you." I'd be like "Cool...here it is. Thanks for the grand. I'll be logging on to Ebay later. Then I could actually buy a Mac for a grand. Brilliant!"
So then, let me see if I get this straight, we shouldn't buy 8GB flash drives at $19.88 because they "used to be" sold for almost triple that price?My store carries 2, 4, 8, and 16 GB flash drives.
The 8 GB flash drive used to be $50. "Oh, I don't need 8 megagigs or whatever."
Now the same 8 GB flash drive is $19.88. Couple that with the magical sticker that says, "WAS: $49.88 NOW: $19.88" and a WHOLE LOTTA people suddenly decide they sure do "need" one after all.
I don't think he pretends. He's always made his disdain for "Apples" very clear. Every last cottonpickin' thread, it's always:
"Apples are overpriced."
"The Imac [sic] is a laptop on a stand" (i.e. you're stupid for buying one)
"Apples are purchased by insecure people to look cool"
"You're a fanboy."
"You can get a Dell that does every thing the Macpro [sic] does plus wash your car, mow your lawn, paint your house and at less than a third of the price. Can the Apple clean bird sh*t off your windshield? Didn't think so."
"Apples are overpriced."
"You're a fanboy."
"Apples are overpriced."
"You're a fanboy."
"Check out this Dell!!"
"Apples are overpriced."
"You're a fanboy."
This post below has to be the most outrageously biased of them all:
He probably sacrificed it on an altar to The Other Steve.
No, my point is that Vista is much better than its reputation, particularly with folks who seem to have learned everything they know about Vista from the MAC Vs. PC ads.
Hundreds of millions of people are using Vista. If you believed most of the anti-Vista comments here - that would seem impossible.
But, continue with your desperate strategy of ad hominem attacks on people who disagree with you.
I was giving him the benefit of the doubt, because he said it wasn't a Apple hater and said he liked some of their products. Of course, that was about the only positive things I've seen him post, so he's now officially in the Microsoft club as far as I'm concerned.
How can it be user error? 90% of crashes are related to the apps installed on a given system, the way they are being used, the amount of system resources being utilized by said apps, and other factors such as files, usage patterns, etc. You may find this hard to believe, but I got my first PC in 89. It was a 386 with Windows 3.1. I have been a heavy user ever since of both Windows and Apple and I have never had a system crash to the point where it had to be restored. I have gotten a few blue screens of death on occasion, and I have voluntarily re-installed many times to improve performance and fix other issues but have never had an all out crash. In regards to neutral, what do you mean exactly? I have an equal preference for Apple and Windows? Show me someone else who fits that description and I will show you a 3.00 bill.
Yes, because I have never had to restore from Time Machine since its inception. Unless an update is pushed that requires every user receiving the update to restore there are factors related to that specific machine causing the issue. Since OSX is exactly the same on every machine in its purest form, it is modifications the user has made such as files modified and apps installed that cause the issue.
Frankly, I get tired of having blissful Windows users tell me I misuse(d) my computers - I am technically experienced and have worked on both the software and hardware sides of computers. Granted I exaggerated in the post above because I was being sarcastic (I guess the sarcasm was lost), but please don't tell me I have OCD when I - and my family and several of my friends - have had these same problems consistently across every version of Windows we've had installed (from 98 through XP SP2). I don't wantonly speak negatively of a product unless I speak from experience.
No offense, but don't tell me I'm obsessive compulsive just because I've experienced the same consistant problems with Windows.
When I dug for info, I didn't get a couple of things. First of all, this computer isn't even listed for sale at bestbuy.com. All the models there were only 15.4" screens. You'd figure the Web site would have more than a single store.
Also, at least these people got a decent set of hardware. The screen isn't junk, there's a flappin' Blu-ray Disc player, and it's not an HP. However, Sony still goes cheap on the RAM (DDR2 instead of DDR3), and I'm not sure how good the video adapter is.
Someone should also point out that this computer weighs seven pounds. SEVEN POUNDS. If a computer isn't engineered to be lighter than that, it's probably also going to be NOISY.
LOL about the "we're always looking stuff up and then running out the door to a baseball game." Those people need better time management skills. They could also use an iPhone, but that's another story.
Also, at least these people got a decent set of hardware. The screen isn't junk, there's a flappin' Blu-ray Disc player, and it's not an HP. However, Sony still goes cheap on the RAM (DDR2 instead of DDR3), and I'm not sure how good the video adapter is.
Someone should also point out that this computer weighs seven pounds. SEVEN POUNDS. If a computer isn't engineered to be lighter than that, it's probably also going to be NOISY.
LOL about the "we're always looking stuff up and then running out the door to a baseball game." Those people need better time management skills. They could also use an iPhone, but that's another story.
Forget this, I am never buying a PC again anyways. Microsoft is just wasting their time.... and they need to remember that nothing beats a Mac.
No, no, I'm saying is that back when the same flash drives were fifty bucks, people would say, "Oh I don't need that much storage." But now that the same drives are 20 bucks, they're flying off the shelves because, "by golly, maybe I do need that much space after all." My point being that people claim lack of necessity (i.e. "I don't need that") when in reality they don't have the money. Simple as that.