While the manifest message of the ad is price, the underlying message is just as significant: Apple offers less choice, which has been Balmer's thing from the get-go.
She goes to the "mac store" and finds "one computer" for under $1000. Not a lot of choice.
Then she goes to Best Buy and finds a whole lot of computers (look at all the rows you see lined up), rattles off a lot of different specs, compares how they look, and gets "just what" she wants.
And if all she wants is a 17'' screen, the pc is the better option. This isn't an evaluation of comperable products; the sole message is "get what you want; pay only for what you want." It's a message of choice versus conformity (the "mac people"), which is powerful in a consumer capitalist society based on the value of choice and free will. Her wording also subtly hints at an element of zealotry extant in Apple's marketing, positing Apple as "the conformist other:" the Communist, the blob, Foucault's Iranian muslims, what have you--things that scare choice-loving Americans.
That said, I can't even choose what kind of toothpaste I want, so I'll stick with my macs.
