New Microsoft Ad Campaign Targets Mac Prices

[Anuba]

So apparently the price argument is only valid when accusing Macs of being expensive?

Oooh, I happened to mention two expensive PCs. As if R&D was exclusive to those.

Man I surely want my floppies, VGA ports, serial ports and 4:3 displays back.

I would hardly file those "breakthrough discoveries" under R&D, it's a question of simple removal of redundant legacy features. Removing buttons from a trackpad is a different beast altogether, buttons aren't outdated legacy items that will disappear. This is about Apple obsessing with minimalism at the moment and seeing how far they can take it.

 

[Boneoh]

I'm under the impression Gore's property is running carbon neutral or even negative, so he practices what he preaches. But that's another topic.

I hope he has changed since this was posted...

http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/national_world&id=5072659

 

[NT1440]

I hope he has changed since this was posted...

http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/national_world&id=5072659

To be fair, those figures were plucked from when his house was under rennovation to become more green.

 

[BongoBanger]

What's interesting to me is that, once again, an article about Microsoft's campaign to raise public perception has generated the most replies on the page, outpacing the Shuffle, etc.

Whatever your views it's got people talking which I guess is rather the point.

 

[3282868]

There are plenty of mods here who are doing a lot of work behind the scenes, all out of their own time. You are seriously advised to stop your public carping, thanks.

You get 'em girl. I got your back .

A side note, how has this thread become a political discussion about global climate change?

I applaud Apple for proving that you can be innovative and green, a lesson to be learned. However, let's try to keep this thread pleasant and out of politics.

 

[Anuba]

OK so the Apple Care is good and they actually fix their computers but doesn't that say something? It says that their products also fail. I see so many posts about this failing on this brand and that failing etc, Apple computers are possibly the worst of the lot. Look at all Rev A. Apple models, some fault or another (MacBook Moo for example, plastic coming off, Air maxing out the CPU's and shutting one down etc) and let me tell you guys something that may shock you: Apple doesn't make the components!

I believe the first 'square' iMac model (white but in the shape of the current alu iMac) had a failure rate of 30% on either the 20" or the 17". Yikes, get Guinness on the phone.

I love how fanboys spin things, Photoshop crashes on a PC and its 'OMG Windows sucks its so unstable the OS is always crashing, MS suck!' yet it crashes on a Mac and the fanboy is like 'Oh must have been Adobe's fault' Photoshop crash on Windows = OS fault, Photoshop crash on a Mac = software's fault, OS is rock solid.

Its actually amazing how things can get twisted and how we are made to believe and forget certain things.

It's fascinating, yet frightening to see how far a company can crawl into people's brains and rewire their thinking patterns. And ironic how Apple launched the Mac with that anti-conformity 1984 commercial, but now they've implanted Big Brother in the minds of the user base, made them think alike, and gather worldwide in front of their screens to watch the almighty Keynote where Big Brother Jobs delivers The Message with the mandatory Two Minute Hate speech against Goldste... I mean, Microsoft.

 

[seashellz]

hmmm....the fact that MS would even bother lifting a finger to take a swat at the tiny MAC "gnat" shows something is wrong in Redmond-you just dont bother spending money when youre on top....unless....
and since the product is flawed, so is the deeper idea behind the ads.
Like the Zune-they are DOA

Besides in the time youve owned one Mac=youve had to go thru 2-3 junk PCs and repairs, poor specs, downtime-so you come out ahead with a Mac
The 'Im not cool' thing will backfire-people will associate INC- with MS.
You watch -APPLE sales will edge up further. MS has got the stop the ever increasing hemmoraging of sales-small-but getting slowly larger-and larger
MS are so fat and lazy and run by a bunch of clueless "hip" wanna-be 50 years-olds in mid-life crisis-that they are starting to loose it-to wit: the Zune-funeral tba anytime now. You see Bigfoot more often than you see one of them in public

It would be wicked-no they couldnt-it wouldnt be fair!- a film clip of a young Bill Gates stating-*'The Mac platform is one of the most stable advanced operating systems in the world' Now that aint rocket science, either

There is a halarious YouTube video of this and the several times when BG has launched a new product in front of millions on various TV talk shows and it crashed and crashed and crashed on startup-while a BG fidgets nervously in his seat; After 3 DEMO failures within 6 minutes in front of millions, Obrien quips "who the hell runs MS..oh-yea" Conan looks over to BG as BG fidgets in his seat

And the all-must-attend company morale meetings shown look frighteningly like a hysteric SCIENTOLOGY meeting

Steve Balmer prancing around like an idiot-or more like a Wall street Banker a year or two ago

GO VIRAL!

*1:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvskEGWMLp4&feature=related BG saying Mac is superior

2:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAyEkHMA7VE&feature=related catch all of idiotic MS moments


LETS SHOVE THEIR 'IM NOT COOL' ADS DOWN THEIR THROATS!

 

[nitrofurano]

HP and Toshiba could be as cool as Mac if...

HP and Toshiba could be as cool as Mac if they wouldn't force consumers to buy and use Windows Vista (or Windows 7, or any other version of ms-Windows)

The fact is the actual OEM version of ms-Windows, any version of it, is a huge crap - and thanks God some manufacturers are starting to provide Linux instead as OEM

What makes HP and Toshiba sucks is, not only that lack of warranty issues when you completelly remove Windows Vista and install Linux on that instead, and the difficulty on installing Linux on that, and some hardware incompatibilities and lack of support

That's why Apple Mac are ruling over them - but their prices could be lower, to show customers you can buy an awesome hardware and a good operating system as Macs and MacOS-X are, at the same price, instead of being stuck on a machine with open-source unsupported hardware on a weak and bloated (and so fragile to viruses and etc.) operating system like all ms-Windows versions are.

Macs are awesome, but people are seeing paying the double for it may be not a good choice, sadly...

 

[gusapple]

It's now the all-time #2, only 1733 more posts needed.

Microsoft's hit a home run with this ad - I can't wait to see more in the series...

Maybe by 16:00 UTC tomorrow this will be the #1...

It'll take a lot more than 1733 to get there, it's gonna take about 4517 more to be #1.
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/79590/

Personally, I'm buying a Mac next time I go shopping, so this ad campaign has no effect on me. The lady was being paid the money and if cost was your only factor, then PC it is. But I, myself, prefer the Mac OS.

 

[3282868]

What do people know of the companies producing "Hackintosh" systems? Are they legally for sale and if so, what are the specs and software issues?

 

[specialbuddy]

To be fair, those figures were plucked from when his house was under rennovation to become more green.

To be fair it's still 20 times what the average person uses so he's still a giant bowl of BS. Al Gore made a documentary about himself making a documentary. Great Global Warming Swindle is better done then his movie and everyone needs to watch it. http://www.garagetv.be/video-galeri..._Global_Warming_Swindle_Documentary_Film.aspx

 

[Pika]

 

[deputy_doofy]

I am a Mac "fanboy," and yet, I like the MS commercial, because at least MS attacked the point they needed to attack. I look forward to seeing if Apple can come back with a good counter ad.

Do I know that I can buy a $1000 PC laptop that will net me most of the same specs of a MBP? Yes. Would I? Not at all.

I still liken the PC/Mac wars to the housing market. I can buy a 4 bedroom /3 bathroom house in the worst neighborhood for $50k - $150,000. A much nicer looking house with only 2 bedrooms / 1.5 bathrooms would cost me $250,000+. So, do I pay $100,000 for the big, full house in the ghetto where I need to watch my back and car and house and child on a regular basis or do I buy the nicer house? The nicer house in the nicer neighborhood will likely have less problems (from a neighborhood standpoint). It's very similar. They're both houses. The house in the ghetto even has more stuff... but it's the ghetto. Mac OS vs Windows OS - Nice vs. Ghetto. I'll choose the better "hood" any day, even if that means paying a bit more.

Back on point... The reality is, people like my aunt have no idea about an OS. All she knew is she wanted a laptop for about $700 and, too, wanted a large screen. So, I helped her buy a Sony Vaio at Best Buy. I didn't bother to try and tell her about Mac because she wanted what Lauren wanted. It's been months and she is happy still with her purchase. I'm happy for her.

 

[Sehnsucht]

Hey, did anybody notice this yet? I was on Dell's website checking out the specs on the Adamo and lo and behold:

NOW TELL ME that doesn't look EXACTLY LIKE the MacBook Air's external SuperDrive! I seriously almost s**t myself when I saw that!! At last, Dell has made something pretty! Or shall I say, ripped off!

Edge to edge glass screen with black border, DisplayPort (albeit full-sized)...this would seriously be an almost-perfect Hackinosh!

Also noticed one more thing: NO FIREWIRE!

 

[Stevamundo]

The moderators of this forum; the guys and gals who keep insanity in check.

Good luck with that in this thread.

 

[NT1440]

Hey, did anybody notice this yet? I was on Dell's website checking out the specs on the Adamo and lo and behold:

NOW TELL ME that doesn't look EXACTLY LIKE the MacBook Air's external SuperDrive! I seriously almost s**t myself when I saw that!! At last, Dell has made something pretty! Or shall I say, ripped off!

Edge to edge glass screen with black border, DisplayPort (albeit full-sized)...this would seriously be an almost-perfect Hackinosh!

Also noticed one more thing: NO FIREWIRE!

The adamo doesnt have an optic drive?

 

[specialbuddy]

Hey, did anybody notice this yet? I was on Dell's website checking out the specs on the Adamo and lo and behold:

NOW TELL ME that doesn't look EXACTLY LIKE the MacBook Air's external SuperDrive! I seriously almost s**t myself when I saw that!! At last, Dell has made something pretty! Or shall I say, ripped off!

Edge to edge glass screen with black border, DisplayPort (albeit full-sized)...this would seriously be an almost-perfect Hackinosh!

Also noticed one more thing: NO FIREWIRE!

OMG you are so right. It looks just like a external CD/DVD drive They must be copying them because no one has ever produced one of those.

 

[Sehnsucht]

The adamo doesnt have an optical drive?

Nope. Isn't that hilarious? I would have thought it had a built-in Blu-Ray drive.

 

[Sehnsucht]

OMG you are so right. It looks just like a external CD/DVD drive They must be copying them because no one has ever produced one of those.

A certain company HQ'd in Cupertino has already made one that looks exactly like this. Just change the logo from Dell to and there you have it.

By the way, I wonder if the Adamo also uses a off-spec USB port to power this thing. Or if this drive could also be used with the MBA. Anyone?

 

[Anuba]

Nope. Isn't that hilarious? I would have thought it had a built-in Blu-Ray drive.

No, for that you get a Vaio, or a Dell Studio 17", or a MacBo... oh wait.

 

[Macmel]

We have had this discussion over and over again. The point is simple:
80-90% people use the computer (at home) for: mail, watching online videos, internet surfing in general, listening to music, downloading stuff, etc.
For that, any PC will perform at least as well as any Mac. Sometimes even better: I have a couple of examples of video streaming or radio streaming where my mac, an early 2008 MBP is clearly inferior to my $600 ASUS PC in terms of compatibility or performance (the radio stream is a WMP format played with this stupid plugin that does not work properly).
Seriously, if this is what you are going to do with your computer, it is stupid to buy a mac in my opinion.
I agree that if you match the components, prices are similar, but do you really need a super processor or 8 Gb of RAM to watch youtube videos?

 

[Anuba]

We have had this discussion over and over again. The point is simple:
80-90% people use the computer (at home) for: mail, watching online videos, internet surfing in general, listening to music, downloading stuff, etc.
For that, any PC will perform at least as well as any Mac. Sometimes even better: I have a couple of examples of video streaming or radio streaming where my mac, an early 2008 MBP is clearly inferior to my $600 ASUS PC in terms of compatibility or performance (the radio stream is a WMP format played with this stupid plugin that does not work properly).
Seriously, if this is what you are going to do with your computer, it is stupid to buy a mac in my opinion.
I agree that if you match the components, prices are similar, but do you really need a super processor or 8 Gb of RAM to watch youtube videos?

Yep. For 5 out of 10 users a simple Netbook will suffice.

And yeah, streaming on Mac can be a little flakey. I use my Mac Mini hooked up to the TV and tried to connect it via AirPort to stream movies off my NAS drive like I do on the PCs with no probs, but it was so jerky I had to plug in an Ethernet cable. Took 30 seconds before it even started playing the movie and I thought it was buffering, but once playback started it was like:

PRE.............VI..........OUS.............LY...............ON..........LOST............

 

[Scottgfx]

Funny, I feel the same way about buying another Mac Apple would have to pay me to take another.

For someone who doesn't have a lot of time, you sure do write excessively long posts. Perhaps Microsoft is paying you by the word, but it's really sweet of you to defend them.

Anyway, If a $699 HP laptop does everything one wants, then by all means, that person should have the option to buy it.

How about I talk about my experience at Best Buy? I already owned the GMA 950 MacBook but needed a PC for some training I was about to do on a 3D animation system. I could have bought Windows XP and done BootCamp, but instead I bought a $1500 Gateway (Emachines) with similar specs to the MacBook, same Intel graphics. The laptop came with Vista, and the software I was learning, WOULD NOT RUN. I then went out and bought a retail copy of XP and attempted to install it on the Gateway. It WOULD NOT INSTALL. After spending a month trying to get this "solution" to work, I found out that the Best Buy return rules only gave me 14 days. I ended up selling my newer Vista based laptop for $500 to a coworker, and it had a larger screen than my MacBook.

I ended up doing the BootCamp install on the MacBook and used it to complete the training. That is real value! Had I done that in the first place, I could have saved the $1000 I lost on the Gateway computer, AND all the time I lost screwing around with the PC.

 

[ericinboston]

This is a kind of unfair image...particularly around the GeekSquad (which I will abbreviate GS).

GS provides these services:

1)general pc repair...any repair...and I believe Macs too

2)pc upgrading...more ram, bigger/extra hard drive, newer dvd drive

3)antivirus/spyware

4)home visits for most of above as well as home networking



Pretty much GS is the same as Apple's service center. Also competes with people like me who do all the above (and more) for a fee.

The only people that go to GS are people who are completely computer illiterate and oblivious to following simple installation instructions (such as memory chips or installing a new $35 dvd drive). I can't think of a pc that is shipped today that is incomplete as far as missing hardware (like no sound card)...Installations obviously scare enough people to send them to GS just like I wouldn't install a 3rd party car stereo in my car...but everything is "standard sizes" these days like 3.5" drives....you unplug the pc, take off the cover, slide in the new dvd drive, connect the SATA cable and power cable, secure the drive with 2-4 phillips screws, put the cover back on, power it up, Windows sees it. To me that is simple and I do understand that so others that is unfathomable.

The idiots that go to GS for antivirus or spyware or people who deserve the pests in the first place...you don't get spyware and viruses from normal websites...you get them from porn sites, sites that con you into believing you can get pirated software for free, and sites that con you into getting something legit for free as long as you download their toolbars. Besides, most pc manufacturers (for the past 10+ years) let you reset your computer to the day it came to your door with a few keystrokes...in the Dell world that simple keystroke is CTRL-F11, agree that you want to nuke your hard drive, and 8 minutes later you have a completely new/fresh machine with Windows on it. Sure, your data is gone but at least you didn't pay GS to press 2 keystrokes...a monkey could have done that. You didn't drive 30 miles each way nor did you wait days/weeks to have this "service" done.

Yes, any COMPUTER user should always back up their important data...but (if the desktop won't boot) it is quite easy to take a hard drive out, plop it into a USB external case ($25), copy all your data somewhere, reinstall the hard drive, and nuke it back to Day 1. That is of course unless you own an iMac or a Mini (I'm sure people will fire back on this thread) where you need a putty knife, surgical scissors, and extremely low blood pressure so you don't have a heart attack worrying about breaking the case.


As far as the Norton stuff...hey, I admit it...I have Norton Internet Security 2008 installed...cost me $28. The license is good for 3 PCs. Yup...a whopping $9.33 per pc. Every year I buy a new version rather then "renewing". A small price, in my eyes, to pay for some extra protection. So to label it "expensive" on our image is way out of line.

-Eric

 

[D*I*S_Frontman]

I am glad the MS ad hits Macs on price. Turning up the competitive heat on my favorite computer maker only motivates the company to both trim margins and out-innovate the competition to keep the platform profitable.

Before the flames come, when I say "innovate" I mean integrated hardware/software design geared towards a superior user experience, not just the latest bleeding-edge tech, where high-end PC Frankensteins rule (Alienware et. al)

Having said that, the MS add does not provide an equitable "bake-off" between even remotely comparable systems. To the surprise of absolutely no one. It's an AD, not an objective review.

A side note--in this day and age, why would you WANT a 17" screen that's only 1400x900? What's the point? You could save a lot of cash by purchasing a 15" 1400x900 version and moving it 2-3" closer to your eyes on your lap or desktop when using it--WALAAH! A big widescreen experience!

A 17" screen that has the resolution (and the GPU power) to play back true 1080p HD resolution without any glitches/slowdowns/dropouts would be worth it, IMHO. If that HP 17" SD screen were playing a movie next to a MBP playing the same one in HD, the difference would be dramatic.