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.
New Microsoft Ad Campaign Targets Mac Prices
- Thread starter donga
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
- Status
My nephew asked me for help in purchasing a laptop. I naturally pointed him at a MacBook, because of the build quality, lack of viruses, excellent free software (iLife, etc).
His response was essentially "I don't like OS/X and I would rather use Windows XP" and I see no reason to pay for it (Parallels or VMWare) in addition to paying for the computer.
He initially pointed at $499 pieces of junk and asked "what about these"? My response was to have him notice those cool looking plastic flanges hanging off the thing? I hope you don't plan on tossing this thing in a backpack too often, because I bet those become non-functional in a week. Notice how the screen is hinged? When the hinge wears out, it will no longer stay in position correctly. Feel the keys, is nice to type on or annoying? Do you get a backlight on the keys so you can watch a video in your bed at night without having some light on somewhere so you can type? Pick up the laptop and see if it "flexes" in your hands easily or not. If it does, you better be treating it with kid gloves or it won't last you past 2 years. Does it ship with Bluetooth and WiFi or do you need dongles for all that stuff? Dongles break if you aren't careful.
He ended up buying a nice Sony (I believe) for about the same price as a Macbook. Not saying he made a bad decision - but it wasn't any cheaper.
The ads will work because most people don't think of that stuff when they buy a laptop. They look at the price, and figure everything else is the same.
Desktops are easier to forgive poor build quality on, but not laptops. The ad would have rung truer if it had been for a desktop system.
His response was essentially "I don't like OS/X and I would rather use Windows XP" and I see no reason to pay for it (Parallels or VMWare) in addition to paying for the computer.
He initially pointed at $499 pieces of junk and asked "what about these"? My response was to have him notice those cool looking plastic flanges hanging off the thing? I hope you don't plan on tossing this thing in a backpack too often, because I bet those become non-functional in a week. Notice how the screen is hinged? When the hinge wears out, it will no longer stay in position correctly. Feel the keys, is nice to type on or annoying? Do you get a backlight on the keys so you can watch a video in your bed at night without having some light on somewhere so you can type? Pick up the laptop and see if it "flexes" in your hands easily or not. If it does, you better be treating it with kid gloves or it won't last you past 2 years. Does it ship with Bluetooth and WiFi or do you need dongles for all that stuff? Dongles break if you aren't careful.
He ended up buying a nice Sony (I believe) for about the same price as a Macbook. Not saying he made a bad decision - but it wasn't any cheaper.
The ads will work because most people don't think of that stuff when they buy a laptop. They look at the price, and figure everything else is the same.
Desktops are easier to forgive poor build quality on, but not laptops. The ad would have rung truer if it had been for a desktop system.
I believe in "You get what you pay for"
I've owned several PCs and after I "paid double" for a Mac I decided never to go back. They are built better than PCs, offer more hardware and flexibility than PCs, and not to mention the wonderful customer support I have received from Apple. Not like HP...I mean HP India.
This ad sucks, get original Microsoft.
Thats the funniest thing I've heard today hahaha
Exactly!
People get fooled by the way Dell (and other PC assemblers) present their merchandise. They use the well known sales tactic that basically claims "prices start at $XXX" and then, when you start customizing the machine, the price goes through the roof.
Don't forget that Ballmer is a used car sales guy. He "forgets" to mention key details too. If a Mac is too expensive compared to a PC, then, why do people need to get a PC with Windows in the first place? Just get a netbook at $300 and put a Linux distro on it. It's even cheaper than this piece of crap HP laptop.
People get fooled by the way Dell (and other PC assemblers) present their merchandise. They use the well known sales tactic that basically claims "prices start at $XXX" and then, when you start customizing the machine, the price goes through the roof.
Don't forget that Ballmer is a used car sales guy. He "forgets" to mention key details too. If a Mac is too expensive compared to a PC, then, why do people need to get a PC with Windows in the first place? Just get a netbook at $300 and put a Linux distro on it. It's even cheaper than this piece of crap HP laptop.
I disagree. I think Apple's Mac vs PC commercials are extremely ineffective. Besides the fact that a few were funny, they all got annoying and for the most part only appealed to people who were already choosing Mac over PC.
Microsoft's utter fear is clear here
Notice how they don't dare show the gorgeous interior of the Apple store. They show plenty of that Best Buy (or wherever) interior, which looks crappy by comparison!
Also note that Microsoft -- the 90+% marketshare leader -- is going to all this effort and expense to attack the tiny minority Apple brand!! (And they're doing it by literally promoting their partners’ products, and only their own product by association!)
This would be unheard of in another industry.
Why could that be?
(They be scared.)
Notice how they don't dare show the gorgeous interior of the Apple store. They show plenty of that Best Buy (or wherever) interior, which looks crappy by comparison!
Also note that Microsoft -- the 90+% marketshare leader -- is going to all this effort and expense to attack the tiny minority Apple brand!! (And they're doing it by literally promoting their partners’ products, and only their own product by association!)
This would be unheard of in another industry.
Why could that be?
(They be scared.)
From Apple's MacBook specs webpage:
"NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics processor with 256MB of DDR3 SDRAM shared with main memory3"
You want to try another one?
having a great experience because she's driving to different locations to find one that a MS ad campaign will foot the bill for.
How many other prospective laptop purchasers are in the same boat?
probably not many. a good amount of shoppers these days compare stats at home on the internet before making a purchase.
Doesn't best buy carry apple products? Curious she didn't look at both in the same location.
How many other prospective laptop purchasers are in the same boat?
probably not many. a good amount of shoppers these days compare stats at home on the internet before making a purchase.
Doesn't best buy carry apple products? Curious she didn't look at both in the same location.
Hey, any chance you're a student at Columbia? I noticed your username, it reminded me of my cubmail UNI idea.
you dont get it.
some of us are not trying to JUST get to work
get a bike then. or hell walk
I think the ads will resonate with some people, but it is still a sad move for Microsoft. They have determined they are unable to market their product (Windows) based on it's own merits, so have resolved to selling hardware. But they don't even do that well.
The only benefit they mention is the low cost, which is a great strategy if you are selling toilet paper or dish soap, but on high-dollar items where there are a lot of variables, it's not a good approach.
People will know there are a lot of differences between the cheap computer and the Mac. While most people may not understand the differences between things like 802.11B and 802.11N, they do get that "Macs just work" and this cheap PC very often won't.
I suppose the campaign is the least Microsoft could do, as the bad press surrounding Vista didn't do much to help PC sales.
The only benefit they mention is the low cost, which is a great strategy if you are selling toilet paper or dish soap, but on high-dollar items where there are a lot of variables, it's not a good approach.
People will know there are a lot of differences between the cheap computer and the Mac. While most people may not understand the differences between things like 802.11B and 802.11N, they do get that "Macs just work" and this cheap PC very often won't.
I suppose the campaign is the least Microsoft could do, as the bad press surrounding Vista didn't do much to help PC sales.
Right, real workstations for production companies, etc. Point is, Apple has one price range, while PC's have many different varieties and offerings.
Let's look at something similar to the macbook
Dell Inspiron 13" $830 after $139 instant savings, so $969 regularly.
2.1GHz/800Mhz FSB/3MB cache
Vista Premium
1280x800 Resolution with webcam
X3100 graphics
3 GB Memory
320 Hard Drive
Bluetooth 2.0
I would happily bet that if you were to grab ten random people and asked them which one is overpriced, most - if not all - would say the mac. You only need to look @ the threads about the recent mac releases to see this.
Well, if you up the RAM memory to 4 GB and hard drive to 320 GB, the Mac costs $1275:
http://store.apple.com/us/configure/MB881LL/A?mco=MzE2NjMyOA
that almost $600 more. You can almost buy a SECOND Dell for that price.
Tony
there is silverlight for mac???
Just comparing the specs for the HP to an Apple machine... I pick Apple.
Its like buying a tv, there are 2 62" plasma screens. One is 5000$ and another is 7000$. Im getting the 7000$ one, because the more you spend for a product, the better the quality is. Does not work for everything like that, however, for computers it does...
Just comparing the specs for the HP to an Apple machine... I pick Apple.
Its like buying a tv, there are 2 62" plasma screens. One is 5000$ and another is 7000$. Im getting the 7000$ one, because the more you spend for a product, the better the quality is. Does not work for everything like that, however, for computers it does...
It may be cheaper but you certainly get what you pay for:
Apple's quality and build of the 17" UMBP is much better than the HP showcased.
That computer is 7.8lbs, the MBP is 6.6lbs.
It's brown, enough said.
It has an AMD processor with only 2.1GHz, the MBP has either a 2.66 or 2.93 Intel Core 2 Duo.
Cache Memory is only 1MB, MBP has 6MB.
It uses DDR2 memory vs DDR3.
It has an ATI Radeon HD3200 Graphics RS780M vs NVIDIA GeForce9400M AND NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT.
It does not support wireless N, nor bluetooth, MBP does both.
It does have 4 USB ports but no FireWire. MBP has 3 and 1 FireWire.
The battery life is ONLY 2 hours and 30 minutes vs 8 hours
The screen resolution is only 1440 x 900 vs 1920 x 1200 high resolution.
And lastly, it has Windows. I'm pretty sure they forgot to mention a few things in the ad.
Most people will easily be fooled by it has a 17" screen, 4GB memory and a 250GB HDD and think it's the best thing ever.
That computer is similar to a White MacBook with a 17" screen, but the MacBook still has better specs in my eye.
Apple's quality and build of the 17" UMBP is much better than the HP showcased.
That computer is 7.8lbs, the MBP is 6.6lbs.
It's brown, enough said.
It has an AMD processor with only 2.1GHz, the MBP has either a 2.66 or 2.93 Intel Core 2 Duo.
Cache Memory is only 1MB, MBP has 6MB.
It uses DDR2 memory vs DDR3.
It has an ATI Radeon HD3200 Graphics RS780M vs NVIDIA GeForce9400M AND NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT.
It does not support wireless N, nor bluetooth, MBP does both.
It does have 4 USB ports but no FireWire. MBP has 3 and 1 FireWire.
The battery life is ONLY 2 hours and 30 minutes vs 8 hours
The screen resolution is only 1440 x 900 vs 1920 x 1200 high resolution.
And lastly, it has Windows. I'm pretty sure they forgot to mention a few things in the ad.
Most people will easily be fooled by it has a 17" screen, 4GB memory and a 250GB HDD and think it's the best thing ever.
That computer is similar to a White MacBook with a 17" screen, but the MacBook still has better specs in my eye.
As a commercial, I think it works. It makes a valid point (that you can buy a Windows machine cheaper than a Mac, if your demands are "screen size"). And if people are looking for a 17" computer on a budget, they're not Apple customers anyway. So yes, they'll win customers, but these are customers that wouldn't have bought a Mac anyway because Apple doesn't compete in their market...
And does anyone else find it deliciously ironic that Microsoft is buying people computers in order to convince people to buy its computers?
And does anyone else find it deliciously ironic that Microsoft is buying people computers in order to convince people to buy its computers?
Apple does overcharge
Im glad that someone is finely poking fun at this. Despite the difference in quality in the computers from an Apple to a HP (HP having one of the worst quality records in the industry when it comes to computers), not to mention the differences between Apple OS and Vista (Vistas poor performance has steered so many people towards the Mac that it doubled Apples market share). I agree with the comments people have made that for an HP running Vista I should be paid to carry the thing away.
However: Apple does massively over price their products.
For an example:
Slamming the RAM out for any computer in the Apple store. In the case of my (now older) iMac they wanted $500 to max it out. I got the computer with the minimum RAM and ordered the RAM from Newegg.com for $100 and sold the original RAM on eBay for $25.
$50 for a mouse that is the biggest peace of junk in the market. I replaced my Apple mouse with a third party mouse for $25. Then there is the $50 junk keyboard. I have been buying up all the older keyboards I can find since I hate the new ones.
Apples iMac Mini: $600 for the base unit, is this a joke or an insult? Try selling it for $349 (With a decent keyboard and mouse) and watch Apples market share explode.
I can go on and on but the bottom line is that Apples prices are on an average 30% over what they should be. If Apple were to change that (even for a short while) Apples market share would most likely triple (Factoring in the unpopularity of Vista). I understand that Apple is also the leader in any new technology so in the end we are paying a 30%+ premium for Apples R&D while all everyone else does is copies Apple's ideas and does not need a R&D budget.
Im glad that someone is finely poking fun at this. Despite the difference in quality in the computers from an Apple to a HP (HP having one of the worst quality records in the industry when it comes to computers), not to mention the differences between Apple OS and Vista (Vistas poor performance has steered so many people towards the Mac that it doubled Apples market share). I agree with the comments people have made that for an HP running Vista I should be paid to carry the thing away.
However: Apple does massively over price their products.
For an example:
Slamming the RAM out for any computer in the Apple store. In the case of my (now older) iMac they wanted $500
to max it out. I got the computer with the minimum RAM and ordered the RAM from Newegg.com for $100 and sold the original RAM on eBay for $25.$50
for a mouse that is the biggest peace of junk in the market. I replaced my Apple mouse with a third party mouse for $25. Then there is the $50 junk keyboard. I have been buying up all the older keyboards I can find since I hate the new ones.Apples iMac Mini: $600 for the base unit, is this a joke or an insult
? Try selling it for $349 (With a decent keyboard and mouse) and watch Apples market share explode.I can go on and on but the bottom line is that Apples prices are on an average 30% over what they should be. If Apple were to change that (even for a short while) Apples market share would most likely triple (Factoring in the unpopularity of Vista). I understand that Apple is also the leader in any new technology so in the end we are paying a 30%+ premium for Apples R&D while all everyone else does is copies Apple's ideas and does not need a R&D budget.
- Status