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New Microsoft Ad Campaign Targets Mac Prices
- Thread starter donga
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Both Microsoft and Apple are right on their ads.
Windows machines are generally cheaper. Perhaps a Sony laptop costs more than an Apple laptop with similar specs. But you can get a PC laptop (other than Sony, perhaps) for less than a similar Mac laptop. It is widely known that Apple has big margins. Apple products are great, of course. But, besides that, Apple does indeed charge a premium price. Apple charges US$ 1,600 for a 13.3" MacBook with a P8600 with 2.4 GHz and a 9400M integrated graphics card, 2 GB RAM and 250 GB 5400 RPM HD. It has a great aluminium unibody, but is it a sculpture or a computer? It also has backlit keyboard and and a multi-touch trackpad, and perhaps a lot of people will notice that more than raw CPU/GPU power - a notebook designed towards non-geek consumers. For that very same price, you can have a 13.3" Dell Studio XPS laptop with a P8700 2.53 GHz, a 9500M graphics card, 4 GB RAM and 500 GB 7200 RPM HD. It doesn't come with multi-touch trackpad or an aluminium unibody, but would you lower your specs for that?
Apple used to have computers which were more powerful, although more expensive, than PCs. Now, it seems to be the other way round. Apple is focusing too much on better designs and forgetting about the raw power of their machines. Windows machines are much more flexible. I can build a powerful Windows-based Core i7 for the price of an iMac. The iMac is slim and looks beautiful in the living room, but so what? Is it a vase or a computer? You may say that a home built computer does not compete with an iMac. Perhaps it doesn't. However, Apple does not have traditional desktop computers anymore - it exchanged the power of desktops for the beauty of an all-in-one with low-power laptop parts. If you want a Mac powerhouse, you would have to buy an über-expensive Mac Pro.
Microsoft is right in this sense - you can have the Windows machine you want, for a much better price than a Mac. The girl on the ad wanted a 17" laptop. A 17" MacBook Pro costs a prohibitive US$ 2,800. Very expensive. Why can't Apple offer a sub-US$ 1,000, or even a sub-US$ 2,000 17" laptop? Macs may be great, but there are not enough options. With Windows, you can have any combination that you want.
Mac evangelists may say that Macs have the advantage of running MacOS, which is great software if compared to Windows, and especially Vista. That's an opinion, and that's on what Apple ads are based. MacOS is indeed great, and a pleasure to use. However, Windows has its own merits. Microsoft Office 2007 for Windows is a far better product than Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac. And that matters a lot, because Office is perhaps the single most important piece of software in the world today. Everybody uses Office, and it's better to run Office on Windows. Windows is a better platform for games. Windows has Internet Explorer, which is far from great, but it has the advantage of being compatible with 100% of websites out there. And the list goes on... you can't just say that Windows sucks and MacOS is perfect because that is just not true.
Windows machines are generally cheaper. Perhaps a Sony laptop costs more than an Apple laptop with similar specs. But you can get a PC laptop (other than Sony, perhaps) for less than a similar Mac laptop. It is widely known that Apple has big margins. Apple products are great, of course. But, besides that, Apple does indeed charge a premium price. Apple charges US$ 1,600 for a 13.3" MacBook with a P8600 with 2.4 GHz and a 9400M integrated graphics card, 2 GB RAM and 250 GB 5400 RPM HD. It has a great aluminium unibody, but is it a sculpture or a computer? It also has backlit keyboard and and a multi-touch trackpad, and perhaps a lot of people will notice that more than raw CPU/GPU power - a notebook designed towards non-geek consumers. For that very same price, you can have a 13.3" Dell Studio XPS laptop with a P8700 2.53 GHz, a 9500M graphics card, 4 GB RAM and 500 GB 7200 RPM HD. It doesn't come with multi-touch trackpad or an aluminium unibody, but would you lower your specs for that?
Apple used to have computers which were more powerful, although more expensive, than PCs. Now, it seems to be the other way round. Apple is focusing too much on better designs and forgetting about the raw power of their machines. Windows machines are much more flexible. I can build a powerful Windows-based Core i7 for the price of an iMac. The iMac is slim and looks beautiful in the living room, but so what? Is it a vase or a computer? You may say that a home built computer does not compete with an iMac. Perhaps it doesn't. However, Apple does not have traditional desktop computers anymore - it exchanged the power of desktops for the beauty of an all-in-one with low-power laptop parts. If you want a Mac powerhouse, you would have to buy an über-expensive Mac Pro.
Microsoft is right in this sense - you can have the Windows machine you want, for a much better price than a Mac. The girl on the ad wanted a 17" laptop. A 17" MacBook Pro costs a prohibitive US$ 2,800. Very expensive. Why can't Apple offer a sub-US$ 1,000, or even a sub-US$ 2,000 17" laptop? Macs may be great, but there are not enough options. With Windows, you can have any combination that you want.
Mac evangelists may say that Macs have the advantage of running MacOS, which is great software if compared to Windows, and especially Vista. That's an opinion, and that's on what Apple ads are based. MacOS is indeed great, and a pleasure to use. However, Windows has its own merits. Microsoft Office 2007 for Windows is a far better product than Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac. And that matters a lot, because Office is perhaps the single most important piece of software in the world today. Everybody uses Office, and it's better to run Office on Windows. Windows is a better platform for games. Windows has Internet Explorer, which is far from great, but it has the advantage of being compatible with 100% of websites out there. And the list goes on... you can't just say that Windows sucks and MacOS is perfect because that is just not true.
Windows runs great on my mac...
I used to be anti Mac ... that is until I spent good quality time with my wife's macbook air. The feel of the keyboard and the overall build quality sold me over to mac. Needless to say I ended up selling my powerful Dell XPS and purchased a new MacBook Pro 17. The MBP was about $1,700 more than the Dell. Was it worth it? Yes.
Windows XP runs great through VMWare, 7 runs great as well.
I used to be anti Mac ... that is until I spent good quality time with my wife's macbook air. The feel of the keyboard and the overall build quality sold me over to mac. Needless to say I ended up selling my powerful Dell XPS and purchased a new MacBook Pro 17. The MBP was about $1,700 more than the Dell. Was it worth it? Yes.
Windows XP runs great through VMWare, 7 runs great as well.
The only thing that it shows is that Microsoft is targetting Apple with these ads. What would be the point of showing her walking into Best Buy first and leaving with an HP?
So, obviously, she has to visit the Apple store first.
By the way, expect more of these ads.
How about:
- Find a quad core system under $800
- Find a quad core Nehalem system with 12 GiB RAM under $1200
It makes sense economically but lacks logic when you look at what has the most bang for your buck.
Yeah, OK.
I'm not going to say that Windows is the worst thing that has ever happened and that I will never like it. Windows XP was a great OS. But what really upsets me about these commercials is that people are choosing the to buy a product (HP, SONY, DELL, ECT) that will last them probably about 2 MAYBE 3 years. That is not to mention all of the extra money they will have to spend getting the daily new string of viruses removed off their computers. By the time you have had a PC for 2 years you have already put and extra 200 dollars into it, minimum. So that takes the 699.99 crappy HP running Vista up to 899.99. (Tax not included) Which brings me to where i am going with this. You could go into an Apple store, get the 1000 dollar laptop, or the 17 pro, and have the damn thing for an easy 5 years minimum. I know people who have had Macs for a long time and have never had any problems with them what so ever. (Iv'e had one for 3 years, no problems) And not to mention you wont have a sales person hovering over you trying to sell you stuff you dont need and some guy working off commission who doesnt really care how your computer is going to run after the 30 day return policy. So you pay the extra 200 bucks and get a machine that is going to last and a machine that kills in quality overall, and the peace of mind that you have bought something that will not be garbage after 2 years. I wont even get into how you can take ANY Apple computer to a retail store and they will look at it for free and tell you where you stand. (Try taking a PC to a Windows retail store......) Any ways, enough rant, people need to choose quality over a walmart computer that is a piece of ****. Oh Yeah.
I'm not going to say that Windows is the worst thing that has ever happened and that I will never like it. Windows XP was a great OS. But what really upsets me about these commercials is that people are choosing the to buy a product (HP, SONY, DELL, ECT) that will last them probably about 2 MAYBE 3 years. That is not to mention all of the extra money they will have to spend getting the daily new string of viruses removed off their computers. By the time you have had a PC for 2 years you have already put and extra 200 dollars into it, minimum. So that takes the 699.99 crappy HP running Vista up to 899.99. (Tax not included) Which brings me to where i am going with this. You could go into an Apple store, get the 1000 dollar laptop, or the 17 pro, and have the damn thing for an easy 5 years minimum. I know people who have had Macs for a long time and have never had any problems with them what so ever. (Iv'e had one for 3 years, no problems) And not to mention you wont have a sales person hovering over you trying to sell you stuff you dont need and some guy working off commission who doesnt really care how your computer is going to run after the 30 day return policy. So you pay the extra 200 bucks and get a machine that is going to last and a machine that kills in quality overall, and the peace of mind that you have bought something that will not be garbage after 2 years. I wont even get into how you can take ANY Apple computer to a retail store and they will look at it for free and tell you where you stand. (Try taking a PC to a Windows retail store......) Any ways, enough rant, people need to choose quality over a walmart computer that is a piece of ****. Oh Yeah.
Was this purchased at a Best Buy
Apple might be pissed about this now that they are selling computers there again.
I guess who cares.
It would be like a Hyundai commercial telling someone to buy a cheap car.
"well I went into a Bentley dealership and it was too expensive and I'm not cool enough to drive one"
I guess I will go buy a cheap car that isn't as great.
disclaimer: no offense to Hyundai... just mentioning a more affordable car.
They basically admit that they are not premium and offer nothing but value.
Apple might be pissed about this now that they are selling computers there again.
I guess who cares.
It would be like a Hyundai commercial telling someone to buy a cheap car.
"well I went into a Bentley dealership and it was too expensive and I'm not cool enough to drive one"
I guess I will go buy a cheap car that isn't as great.
disclaimer: no offense to Hyundai... just mentioning a more affordable car.
They basically admit that they are not premium and offer nothing but value.
Yeah, but Justin Long isn't pretending to be a purchaser of a computer. He's not even acting as if he was a Mac user. He's playing the role of a Mac that personifies the actual computer itself. It still amazes me how many people never pick up on that analogy. Even Microsoft didn't get it, as demonstrated by their whole "blah blah blah and I'm a PC". Sorry, but you're just a PC user! John Hodges is a PC. Or, at least, plays one on TV.
YES THANK YOU! Those "Get a Mac" ads are NOT poking fun at PC users, nor are they insulting anyone's intelligence. They are simply "Mac itself vs. PC itself." Or maybe in some cases, "Apple vs. Microsoft." It's Mi¢ro$oft themselves who are insulting the intelligence of Mac users, i.e. by implying that people spend money on Macs to "look cool" or "to show how rich they are."
But those Mi¢ro$oft ads! "I'm a PC." No, you're a PC user.
Watch the video- we're talking about a maximum time frame of five seconds, and after counting the time to walk in, less than three seconds talking to an Apple employee! I bet you can't even say this standard (and relatively short) dialogue in a three second time frame.
"Hi, can I help you find something?"
"What is the cheapest laptop for sale here?"
"Our white MacBook is just one-thousand dollars."
"That's too much for me, thank you, goodbye."
There is NO WAY she actually shopped, and the fact that they could have caught that very easily proves how crappy Microsoft's advertising campaign really is. For such a rich company, they sure are cheap.
I don't see how thats a big deal. They probably hire a advertising agency to shoot and cut their commercials. Microsoft doesn't have any control over it.
Yup, she's a PC and she got exactly what she wanted.. a box full of crap.
Watch after the commercial she sneaks back into best buy to return the hp for the full amount and takes the money that the commercial people gave to her to the nearest Apple Store. Then use the free $1000 + her own $1000 + the $$ that they probably paid her to be in that commercial and get a 17" 2.66GHz mbp.
That's what I would have done. And I'm sure she probably did as well. She's probably surfing the net right now watching that commercial on her brand new 17" uni mbp.
Watch after the commercial she sneaks back into best buy to return the hp for the full amount and takes the money that the commercial people gave to her to the nearest Apple Store. Then use the free $1000 + her own $1000 + the $$ that they probably paid her to be in that commercial and get a 17" 2.66GHz mbp.
That's what I would have done. And I'm sure she probably did as well. She's probably surfing the net right now watching that commercial on her brand new 17" uni mbp.
Yup, she's a PC and she got exactly what she wanted.. a box full of crap.
Watch after the commercial she sneaks back into best buy to return the hp for the full amount and takes the money that the commercial people gave to her to the nearest Apple Store. Then use the free $1000 + her own $1000 + the $$ that they probably paid her to be in that commercial and get a 17" 2.66GHz mbp.
That's what I would have done. And I'm sure she probably did as well.
ROFL
I think it's quite obvious that Lauren needs a man.
Needing customer service is an indication of being a regular person with issues operating a computer. Having your customer service outsourced to foreign countries with people who talk with an unintelligible accent due to high call volume is an indicator of major product suckage.
if i were microsoft i would throw irony at apple, show the consumer how 1984 apple has become.
with limited hardware and a "do it our way and only our way" concept. apple even went with a newspeak approach to naming hardware
ie: mac mini, imac, mac pro, macbook, macbook pro, ipod shuffle, ipod nano, ipod, ipod touch
seriously am i the only one that gets it?
with limited hardware and a "do it our way and only our way" concept. apple even went with a newspeak approach to naming hardware
ie: mac mini, imac, mac pro, macbook, macbook pro, ipod shuffle, ipod nano, ipod, ipod touch
seriously am i the only one that gets it?
Let's do some math with the numbers you provided:
Crappy HP - roughly US$ 900.00 every 2 years, computer lasts 2 years
17" MacBook Pro - roughly US$ 2,800.00 every 5 year, computer lasts 5 years
After 10 years, you have:
Crappy HP - US$ 4,500
17" MacBook Pro - US$ 5,600
I still don't see why you put an extra US$ 200 on a PC every two years. A good security suite will cost you around US$ 60. The PC is still cheaper even considering these inflated numbers. But there's no way a US$ 1,000 MacBook will last 5 years running software with its integrated graphics card... it is just not worth it to keep it for so much time.
I'm not cool enough to be a pc person.
I'm neither dull enough to be a PC person, nor gullible enough, nor masochistic enough for that matter.
psst I wont mention that there are 3 dell laptops over 5 years old that are still running just fine. Oh yeah my dells if something happened to them they come to me, my house at my convenience. for under $300 you can get a FULL 4 year warranty includes everything including spills and drops unlike apple care.
So that extra $200 easily paid for itself.
So what?
Do you think that any Apple store manager would have allowed a camera crew to come into the store?
Of course the commercial is staged. BFD. What commercial isn't?
Does it change the simple fact that the commercial is pointing out - that for many given sets of criteria that Apple is more expensive than what you can find from Windows PC vendors?
It's a simple fact.
A question for all you hard core anti-Mac Pro Windows guys here: why do you even bother coming here? I mean it's fine that you voice your opinion, it's a free country. I'm just curious, as it seems a bit odd to me. I generally expect this type of Windows vs. Mac debate on Ars, Anantech, Sharky, etc. but this is as odd as a PS3 fan going to an XBox site.
Again, all entitled to opinions, and in some instances I agree. Just weird, that's all. Oh and by the way, you're all wrong, Ubuntu 8.10 64-bit has them both beat! j/k
Again, all entitled to opinions, and in some instances I agree. Just weird, that's all. Oh and by the way, you're all wrong, Ubuntu 8.10 64-bit has them both beat!
j/k
I didn't say it was a big deal. Someone simply asked for confirmation of what another posted claimed. I generally agree with you although it is quite ironic.
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