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New Microsoft Ad Campaign Targets Mac Prices

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themoonisdown09 said:
I guess you're right if screen quality, memory speed, ethernet speed, wifi speed and enclosure durability don't make a difference.
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Yea cause ethernet speed, wifi speed and memory speed are always better on a mac uh?

And as for 'enclosure durability'. The plastic macbooks are built like absolute garbage and the screen quality(viewing angle) is also pretty bad, even on the new aluminum macbooks.
 
i love the fact that at 0:33 there is an imac box in the background and at 0:36 she walks past laptops that look a bit like a macbook :rolleyes: it's like microsoft is trying to tell us something.
 
Bonte said:
the BMW/Toyota comparison is flawed, cars get better and more reliable when made in bigger numbers. The toyota corolla is probably the most reliable car ever.
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It's not just about reliability. BMWs are great performers and a sort of status symbol, even if they are a bit overpriced. I think the same goes for macs.
 
My 2 cents

Apple makes great computers with great design. That will cost you some extra cash in the end. The user must decide on what they want.

Macbook-great laptop for everyday use. Powerful enough for what it does. Great enclosure and good OS somewhat small screen to make your only computer.

Macbook pro-great laptop but to much for the average user. Only way to get dedicated graphics and larger screen. Price seems high to most and truly is too expensive for most because the components are to much for the average user. When people say wow I had no idea my computer could do that!! It shows a very uneducated owner.

Desktops--iMac is great everyday computer. No way to expand and really not using desktop components. Slower than equally priced PC desktops.

MacPro--Overpriced even for pro applications.

That is the entire line up.

Apple gets in trouble because they do not offer any real midrange computers in either a laptop form or desktop.

They have everything else covered but with a slight premium for form.
 
chroneos said:
Suffice it to say, the comparisons are fair. For years us Mac users have argued that the difference between a $600 HP and a $2000 Mac can be likened to that of cars, where that $600 HP is a Hyundai and that $2000 Mac is a Lexus. If you read auto reviews much these days, you'll find that Hyundai is getting very good reviews, even stacked up against Lexus. The same thing is happening here.
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And if I have the money, I'm buying the Lexus over the Hyundai any day. Those little Korean pieces of junk are a joke..."initial quality" from JD Power means squat to me--I wanna know where that Hyundai is (what junk yard or 3rd world country taxi service) 7 years later when the Lexus is being sold for a high clip private party because the owner wants a new Lexus.
 
In this ad they missed a bit well yea you pay less for a windows computer but they did not say it comes with vista and they did not say how non-user-friendly it is LOL. as i work in a computer shop and the amount on computer we get in were they want to roll back to xp. they did get one thing right Mac's are for cool people but any one can be cool they just have to pay that little bit more.
 
Unspeaked said:
But the ad doesn't say anything about OS or running apps or whatever.

Like I said, it says that Apple charges more for hardware than Dell, HP and company do. And that's a fact.

And Apple themselves made it much easier to draw this comparison when they moved to Intel processors.

Look, I've never owned a PC and never plan on doing so. In fact, I don't think I've ever contributed a dime to Microsoft's bottom line. But even I can clearly see that for the same exact pieces of hardware, Apple has a higher markup and greater price control. This is part of what allows them to have margins the PC makers would kill for and allows Apple shareholders (many of which post on this forum) to enjoy great returns.

It's just a fact: Apple can take the same exact box, put the same CPU, RAM and HD in it and charge a 30% premium or more.
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ok but bear in mind that

a. the margins are selectively higher not high across the board, i.e. the whitebook is a great price in anyone's view with osx and everything it contains and

b. the add can't separate the os/usability/innovation with hardware, even if it pretends to artificially..ok for the same hardware you get a worse price, but isn't the casing hardware too? Is there anyone who beats unibody nowadays? Even the most expensive sony's look like crapware of bad plastic and screws ll over the place to the beauties that are unibodies? Does anyone beat ipod/iphone/os x integration?

Like Steve says apple isn't in the business of selling crap.
 
On the merits and how good the ad is, as opposed to the endless debate on "value", I have a couple points, probably already been made.

1. If your budget is $1000 you aren't buying an Apple notebook. It's that simple. A person with $1000 is not going to walk into an Apple retail store, so you aren't gaining any additional customers.

On this point from Apple's perspective, in October, Cook made it clear they are quite happy with their ratio of dollars spent in the computer market on Macs. Apple for the time being does not want to play the low-margins game.

2. Even in this economic situation, there are still people, potential switchers who have disposable income and will buy computers. Does Microsoft really want to draw such drastic comparisons of machines that are so unequal (17" Macbook Pro and 17" HP)?

What I mean, is that if it's in my budget to own a mac compared to a vista machine and I see an ad saying that the Apple will cost me $2000 more, my first reaction is going to be "What's the catch?" Why is the Apple so much more expensive compared to the HP.

It's sort of like seeing $49 prescription glasses. You then read the fine print and you get cheap plastic frames that look terrible with thick plastic lenses.

This "What's the catch?" issue might get people to actually compare systems spec for spec, and actually research things, and realize that the HP is the $49 pair of eyeglasses with the thick plastic lenses and cheap plastic frames.

There will always be people who buy the $49 glasses because it's in their budget, just like their will be people who buy the $700 HP. At the same time, there will also be people who refuse to buy the $49 glasses and would buy the $2800 Apple notebook.

I think as a company, even if Apple loses marketshare to really cheap machines, if they maintain that percent of dollars spent on computers, they will be more than happy.
 
j5045096 said:
And if I have the money, I'm buying the Lexus over the Hyundai any day. Those little Korean pieces of junk are a joke..."initial quality" from JD Power means squat to me--I wanna know where that Hyundai is (what junk yard or 3rd world country taxi service) 7 years later when the Lexus is being sold for a high clip private party because the owner wants a new Lexus.
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This is kind of ironic because Lexus is known for extremely high maintenance costs.
 
There's cheap and then there's cost effective.

Alot of comments have stated how she probably doesn't want, need or care about viewing angles, design of the computer, internet speeds, etc. and that's a good argument.

BUT one thing people want is value for their money. It may be cheaper to buy a PC, but it's definitely not more cost effective than a mac. As stated in other comments, fixing hard drives, screens, failing fans, broken ports and taking off malware, cleaning the drives, etc. take time and money.

Realistically, if you want to be nit picky about it, the time it takes you to drive to a best buy or staples or wherever you plan to get it fixed + the cost of gas + the cost of getting it fixed + the cost of parts will eventually add up. It may not add up to the cost difference between a mac and a pc but it narrows the cost difference. While the computer is getting fixed you also have to use someone elses computer which is an inconvenience. More than likely, it will happen more than once.

Combine that with the fact that the PC will be useless within 2-3 years, and she's just going to shell out another $1000 to get the new version of what she just bought, when she could have just saved herself the money and hassle AND had a much better experience with a better OS and better hardware by INVESTING in a mac. Any smart consumer sees a purchase as an investment rather than an expense. It's just plain 'ol consumerism and good ol' fashion business.
 
bchreng said:
Because Windows doesn't require as much tinkering around as Linux does. I think it's a good compromise between support, ease-of-use and affordability.
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Putting a disk in and answering a few questions is tinkering? Me thinks you haven't used Linux lately. It takes far less effort to get a completely functional, secure Linux desktop than it does Windows.
 
Nobody chose a Mac because it would not be free, a sub $1000 laptop with 17" screen can't be a Mac so nobody chose a Mac.

I wonder what people would buy if the criteria was a $2000 laptop or a sub $1000 silent mini-PC. Does a $1200 modern all-in-one PC even exist?
 
The video spent most of the time panning back and forth in a fudging un-manned-looking computer store full of laptops covered in stickers, while she walked in and right out of the "Mac" Store.

Calling Apple Store "Mac" Store clearly aims to ensure the viewer is aware they're talking about "the place where you buy a Mac" + name dropping several laptops + super friendly gameshow-style cashier = wowza advert :(

Pretty pointless mentioning everything going around my head for this advert, so simply: urh. Indeed the "Mac vs. PC" adverts are hardly awesome.
 
applecultvictim said:
ok but bear in mind that

a. the margins are selectively higher not high across the board, i.e. the whitebook is a great price in anyone's view with osx and everything it contains and

b. the add can't separate the os/usability/innovation with hardware, even if it pretends to artificially..ok for the same hardware you get a worse price, but isn't the casing hardware too? Is there anyone who beats unibody nowadays? Even the most expensive sony's look like crapware of bad plastic and screws ll over the place to the beauties that are unibodies? Does anyone beat ipod/iphone/os x integration?

Like Steve says apple isn't in the business of selling crap.
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Hey, I'm totally in agreement, I would pay a 100% premium for Mac OS X alone even on the exact same piece of hardware, I'm just saying that in the very broad view the ad takes, everything it says is correct.

It's one of the better ads I've seen Microsoft release, and I can easily see it working on at least a few budget conscious consumers.
 
j5045096 said:
And if I have the money, I'm buying the Lexus over the Hyundai any day. Those little Korean pieces of junk are a joke..."initial quality" from JD Power means squat to me--I wanna know where that Hyundai is (what junk yard or 3rd world country taxi service) 7 years later when the Lexus is being sold for a high clip private party because the owner wants a new Lexus.
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I think the old car analogy is really false. It is obvious to most people why a Lexus is better than a Hyundai. Besides being cooler... It isn't as obvious to many consumers why a 17" MBP is better than a 17" $699 HP. Anyone who reads these forums would probably know but many consumers don't. OS X is better than Windows but many people are used to Windows and also are concerned that they can't do their work on OS X, since Windows is what they have at work... As I said earlier, the people who HP is targeting in this Ad have no idea what specs mean and sadly, this is still a big chunk of the consumer market...
 
Shiner said:
Apple gets in trouble because they do not offer any real midrange computers in either a laptop form or desktop.

They have everything else covered but with a slight premium for form.
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How exactly do they get in trouble when they are selling triple the rates of their competitors?

Midrange computers are a bunch of crap if you ask me, either ugly desktops just for the sake of what, an extra hd? Hds come in 2tbs nowadays, stick on in instead of the one you have and you are sorted? Want more? Get a nas instead of the midi tower and you are better off and all in the family can share? What else is missing in expandability, pci slots? Connect via firewire and usb. I really don't see any problems here, and to me the unibody macbook is also a great midrange computer too.
 
So of course, she didn't know **** about being part of a commercial for Microsoft, where she would get a free PC afterwards...NOT.

Although it's gonna be very difficult to find a commercial worse than the Seinfeld one (nothing surprising coming from the main actor behind the most racist TV show ever), Lauren adds nothing to the host of wannabe nonexistent PC fans.

It's OBVIOUS that will always be able to find a craPC for lower prices, just as you're perfectly able to buy a Yugo or a Renault instead of a Volvo, a Mercedes or a Maserati...just look at that fugly design, the trackpads that work like hell, the malware and viruses, the inferior OS...what else to say? To each his own.

GO APPLE!
 
neiltc13 said:
In what way? Apart from price, the machines are pretty similar.

Both have dual core processors, both have 4GB RAM, both have a 17" screen, both have a 320GB hard drive, both have a DVD-RW drive, both have built in webcams, both have a one year warranty.

The only area where the MacBook Pro will likely outperform the HP is in battery life, but then, I don't want to be one to fall for Apple's marketing garbage on that. I'm promised 5 hours on my MacBook, I get closer to 2 and a half.
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Well, there is also the fact that one runs Windows and the other runs Leopard. How about the trackpads? Do the PC laptops support multi finger zooming and such?
 
cjm3113 said:
The Sales Tax Clearinghouse notes that Alaska, Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire, and Oregon have no state sales tax.

I'm going with Oregon, definitely didn't look like Alaska.
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Couldn't be Oregon. We have 3 Apple stores in Oregon and none of them look like that out front. lol, if there's 2 things I know, it's my home state and Apple. hahaha
 
Whilst I do agree that Apple products are much nicer, I still like how the PC market is developing. I completely agree that Apple products are overpriced. E.g. take the new ipod shuffle. Have you seen what is inside and how many parts there are to it? How can you justify the price tag of £59. Completely ridiculous. Nevertheless I don't intend on switching any time soon back to PCs :p Apple can charge that amount for their products because they know people will buy it....

And I like it how they show a mac in the background when she is choosing a pc laptop :D nice.
 
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