Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

New Microsoft Ad Campaign Targets Mac Prices

Status
Not open for further replies.
Newsflash: HP can build a cheap laptop

Take a look at the specs for the HP.. It is obvious that the machine was designed by marketers and not engineers.

Let's build a cheap 17 inch laptop. What is the cheapest screen we can buy? Here is one.. the resolution is barely more than the 13 inch macbook. Who cares?

The marketers figured out what were the cheapest options on everything else.. no bluetooth. No 802.11n. FW400 not 800. Cheap battery life. Buying a PC is a pain in the ass because you need to make sure that you are getting all the features you need.

Epic Fail Microsoft
 
lol why is everybody so defensive here at Mac Rumors?

As a strategic communications major interning with an advertising agency I would say that it is a very solid campaign. I also believe the "I'm a PC" ads were more than effective.

It is not all about sales, it is also about image. Apple used its "Mac vs PC" commercials to make PC look like nerds. The "I'm a PC" ads were a direct retaliation to that.

Some of you guys won't stop with "omg Macbook is better though" "what about repair costs!" etc. That doesn't matter. That isn't what sells the product. The initial cost does in most cases. I love my Macbook, I probably will not buy any PC in the near future, BUT I can appreciate a good piece of advertising.
 
petermcphee said:
This will likely be the most effective MS advertising campaign yet. It's drawing the attention of the consumer to something that they really care about: their bottom line. As opposed to screen resolution, specs of the machines, etc, which some folks might disregard as unimportant.
Click to expand...

And you seem to think it's everyone out there that's concerned about getting the cheapest crap out there.
 
Is it safe to say that the parts and resolution of that computer the girl in the commercial bought aren't even worth 700 bucks? I'm putting the OS aside, and saying strictly the build itself.
 
tMac85 said:
actually it fits perfect.

its called build quality.
its called you get what you pay for.
and its called, apple is considered a luxury, just like bmw
Click to expand...

you don't really get what you pay for in the computer industry though. There are great deals to be had, legit deals.

So I get crap ram from Apple when I could buy name brand ram from Crucial..So I'm paying more, but is that a luxury?

It's like the black card really. You get it because you want people to see you have the money to have the card, not because it's any better than a silver credit card.
 
Set up

The ad is cute, and kinda almost makes a point, assuming it was made by HP or Dell.

Too bad MS doesn't build computers or their hardware, they make OS and other software suites. Too bad the cheapest version of their own OS is $199 and highly crippled and $319 to get something that rivals Apple's own OS which costs you just $129.

At least you can get the software suite for cheaper than apple... oh wait its $149 just for the crippled version productivity apps (Word, Excel, Powerpoint and One Note) and $399(!?!) for the whole thing ($99 for iWork, in case you forgot) and you can't even get a comparable iLife package. Hell you can get both iWork and iLife for less than just the productivity apps.

If apple cares too, they could make quite a catchy commercial showing off just what I pointed out up there.
 
hhhmmmm

Seriously. Do you guys actually have this much trouble with XP and PC's?

I've been on both for a long time and not really had much trouble from either.
I always figured that It was fairly non-tech savvy people that had trouble keeping a wintel box working fine? Is this not the case?
As for the reliability factor. with the exception on laptops, Is it not a good idea to only replace the broken part and not the whole machine?

Maybe I'm just getting to old.

(written on minefield on a Mac Pro, just to confuse things)
 
microsoft need a commerical to tell joe public that windows notebook are cheaper than apple notebook?
what does they think joe public are? stupid? of course everyone know that.
what a pointless commercial.

if they want to defeat apple, they must defeat the aura of coolness of apple notebook.

meaning they have make notebook that are cooler than apple.
 
Ubuntu said:
Once again I find myself asking what the Apple ads were. This advert is quite hostile (although I do agree with it), but personally I see it as more effective than the Apple ads, which just seemed like immature attacks.
Click to expand...

The Apple ads were terrible.

They just made you want to hug the PC guy and punch the Apple guy in the face.
 
apple will never drop there prices why would they the people that want a mac will get one the people that say they want a mac will never get one because of the price but yet every year they get a new computer? rofl :D.... why wouldn't you buy a computer that you don't have problems every month day after day.. ANSWER: B>C THERE PC USERS NEVER LEARN
 
Small White Car said:
\
The Macbook has a 256 MB NVIDIA GeForce 9400M video card while the Dell has integrated graphics using shared memory[/B]

I would consider a faster machine with better graphics and a sharper screen to be worth $300 more.
Click to expand...

You know the MacBook's graphics are integrated too, right?
 
dwd3885 said:
exactly. you can talk about the OS all you want, but the actual HARDWARE SPECS are undisputible
Click to expand...

Also, bluetooth, video processor, height, weight and build materials. Might explain some of the difference. But yes, Apple is making more profit on its machines than Dell.

Isn't odd that Apple significantly outpaces other brands on post-purchase customer satisfaction surveys? 81% versus Dell's 55% and HP's 52% [Asus had a stellar 67%.] Makes one wonder if some of the difference may be "worth" it.

Changewave Survey
 
dwd3885 said:
you don't really get what you pay for in the computer industry though. There are great deals to be had, legit deals.

So I get crap ram from Apple when I could buy name brand ram from Crucial..So I'm paying more, but is that a luxury?

It's like the black card really. You get it because you want people to see you have the money to have the card, not because it's any better than a silver credit card.
Click to expand...

the OS is the luxury. not the hardware. the build of the computer ( aluminum enclosure. design)

we all have an engine
we all have 4 wheels


then please tell me what separates a BMW from a Kia?
 
Matariel said:
Its amazing how Mac users quote things like this, despite the fact that Apple charges like 1/3 of the purchase price of their products for an "extended warranty" (AppleCare), when most PC OEM manufacturers usually have a 3 year warranty included, along with at least a year of free tech support.
Obviously it depends on who you buy from, but there's a ton of options to consider when shopping around.

For the record, Ive owned 2 Macbooks (a 2nd revision from early 2007, and the latest revision from early 2009), and both have been fine.
On the other hand, ive been building and maintaining PCs since I was about 10 years old, and not one has cost me "$1500" in the first year of owning it.
Quite the opposite, Ive been able to fix every problem myself, replace broken parts myself, and UPGRADE myself.

I should also note that my newest Macbook now has a 250gb 7200rpm HDD and 4gb of ram. To get those specs from Apple, it would've cost me twice as much, buying them myself, it cost me $200.
Click to expand...


I bought a refurb macbook for about 1,200 and then apple care, total=1,500. My macbook broke 4 times, they replaced it with the brand new aluminum macbook worth 1,600 and new applecare, total=2,000. Yea, my refurb sucked, but they definitely made it up to me. My aunts laptop broke and after 2 hours on the phone with them they told me that the Windows fire wall was fighting with the IE firewall and the antivirus firewall and i should disable my firewalls. The time and money that i have put into fixing my old compaq and my hp desktop made me switch to a mac.
 
cjm3113 said:
lol why is everybody so defensive here at Mac Rumors?

As a strategic communications major interning with an advertising agency I would say that it is a very solid campaign. I also believe the "I'm a PC" ads were more than effective.

It is not all about sales, it is also about image. Apple used its "Mac vs PC" commercials to make PC look like nerds. The "I'm a PC" ads were a direct retaliation to that.

Some of you guys won't stop with "omg Macbook is better though" "what about repair costs!" etc. That doesn't matter. That isn't what sells the product. The initial cost does in most cases. I love my Macbook, I probably will not buy any PC in the near future, BUT I can appreciate a good piece of advertising.
Click to expand...

exactly. I tried to say this as well. Most of the people here are just fanboys, and really, there's nothing wrong with that on this website. If we were in my Media advertising criticisms class, then it would be a better discussion.
 
Apple should come back with an answer to that commercial...

...you get what you paid for, Lauren! Apple should show Lauren using her new HP laptop and then its starts to crash. LOL

I think that commercial is so lame. Don't MS get it? Its their operating software product that sucks.

The funny part about that commercial should be "Lauren wonders why her new laptop doesn't come with easy to use software and then realizes that she has to pay for a full license after 30days. Poor Lauren. She's just not cool enough to be an Apple person."

You get what you paid for. :(
 
NoSmokingBandit said:
+1

I think this ad is the doing of Ballmer. He is much more aggressive than Gates.

I lol'd when the chick said "i guess im not cool enough." Apple has played the elitist card too long, and their arrogance bothers the crap out of me.

People are more concerned about price than anything right now. Sure, the already wealthy wont be affected by the ****** economy quite as much as the rest of us, but if apple wants to increase its user base they need to appeal to the average user, which doesnt work when they strut around looking down their noses at the rest of the world.
Click to expand...

Yeah she's not cool enough to own one so she goes for the alternative PC gatrbage.
 
No shes not cool enough. Lets see if she wants to DO anything with her computer. After getting virus protection, software that will let her edit videos, pictures and all the repairs shes gonna have to get she will pay well over a thousand. :apple:
 
GrnChkn said:
1) Macs are only more expensive because you are paying for way better hardware that will last longer
2) Apple doesn't bash Microsoft as harshly as Microsoft bashes Apple
3) Apple doesn't directly mention "Microsoft" in any of their adds that I've seen. I have only seen them talk about PCs.
Click to expand...


1) I would like to agree with you, but it all boils down to personal experience. If we were referring to my own experiences, I would disagree with you.
2) I will disagree here, as I mentioned, this ad is taking advantage of the bad economy, instead of just some childish adverts about how crappy PCs are (like the Apple ones). I'm sorry but have you seen all the ads Apple has even made? Thats far more bashing than MS.
3) They refer to the Vista OS, and the overwhelming majority of non-mac PCs sold to consumers will be using Windows. So yes, they don't strictly mention Microsoft, but they're still bashing them.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back