MS pours some more petrol on the ever burning flamewars.

Exactly. A couple of years ago this would not have worked; but NOW it will; with the public outcry over debt and greed; and the realisation that $$$ in bank is really important and is now the "cool" thing.

 

Somehow I think it's a stretch to assume the public will get Mac = greed as the message from this commercial.

In the end, Apple has always priced their products higher and have made good sales. Even with this economy a lot of people still have money. The advantage of Apple's strategy targeting the high-end is that in theory, the rich people are still rich even in a downturn and so they'd still spend. It's the low-end market that gets squeezed, where people already with not a lot of money are even less likely to spend. A poor economy might slow Apple's growth, which has been at record levels for the last few years anyways, but it's hardly going to cause a collapse.

 

Wait a sec! You guys have it all wrong! This is a ad for HP not Microsoft

 

It is most likely a joint advertising venture.

 

my favorite line: picking up the sony vaio tz series laptop - "it's like a phone!"

just.... bloody brilliant.

 

uh, i thought that was an Aspire One....

 

Good thing all PCs come with a 1 year warranty. For the price of a barbones Mac, you can buy a 3 yrs warranty.

The coincidence here is that you can say the same thing about Apple commercials. They "take blatantly poor shot " at PCs. The acting is "forced" and "scripted that it sticks out like a sore thumb." Yet you are outraged that PCs would use the same tactics as Apple? It just highlights the double standards.

This is also where people are willing to put up with higher markups.

 

A reminder and warning to everyone to keep on topic and stay respectful. I myself was starting to get off topic on this thread, so yeah.

 

either way....... clearly not a phone.

lol who's outraged? easy with the accusations, tiger.

maybe you should more clearly read my post and then you will realize that i essentially agree with you. personally, i loved the seinfeld/gates ads and wished that they did more with that.

 

I do admit that was kinda a "three letter internet acronym" moment. Trust me, I giggled.

 

It was a hyperbole. An outrage is an act of violence. Clearly you are not being violent.

The point of the statement was to point at the double standard people have towards Apple and PC advertisements.

 

The difference between the Mac and MS ads is that Apple makes it obvious that their ads are scripted while MS tries to say theirs is not when it obviously is scripted. Mac ads also have a clear message in each one where they point out a difference between the two instead of just taking a cheap shot, one liner.

 

Your point is well taken and makes perfect sense but sadly it's not a reality. I agree the bashing ads need to stop and each company needs to point out what they do best only. Apple should really pump out ads about the iLife suite. Regardless what people say that you can get Windows equivalents of iLife, you can't get "good" equivalents and for the price of $79 iLife 09 is a steal. Apple should advertise their "Mac only" software which will increase value and sales of the Mac.

A company with a good vision will not see installing Windows on a Mac as a plus for Microsoft. Sorry, but I find it a bit hard to believe that most of the posters on here who buy a new Mac actually "BUY" a copy of Windows. Most people don't have an extra copy of Windows. Anyone with a previous PC will have only a restore disc. Many people here complain about Apple's prices however they will buy a Mac and still allegedly buy a copy of Windows to install on top of all of that. I think many people installing Windows on their Macs are acquiring a copy of Windows the unconventional way, nobody here ever complains of having to spend more money on Windows to install on their Mac. Quite interesting.
Microsoft wants to make certain that they make money from the sale of Windows and the only way to do this is to sell PC's with Windows preinstalled like in the ad.

 

I wasn't too suprised either. I mean, Lauren walked through the doors of what seemed to be a Staples or Circuit City (notice the red), and magically ended up in a Best Buy.

Though anything is better than those Seinfeld ads.

 

I noticed that and agree, those Seinfeld ads were head scratching...

 

I don't recall anywhere in the commercial does it claim to be unscripted or "blah blah blah is a real person." For all I know, it was a commercial and a marketing tactic to spur discussion.

Oh wait, it IS a commercial and it IS spurring discussion.

A subtle characteristic of the subject is that she isn't exactly glamorous. She isn't some model out of Vogue. Her purse doesn't scream Hollywood and her demeanor is modest. The way she talks about specs sounds utilitarian and functional. And she mentions her "budget." Nowhere was the option of raising the budget even discussed, implying this is her own purchase and not a gift from her parents. While she isn't a PC geek, she sounds like she knows her way around electronics and has an independent personality. This sounds like a pretty typical buyer under 1K.

 

Great response.

Scripted or unscripted, who really cares. It is a commercial to get the American public to notice their product. The commercial hits a lot of crucial points and will be effective. To many of you all are taking this way out of proportion.

 

Which IMO is a good thing. In business, sometimes it isn't important whether they are saying good or bad things about your product. It's more important that they are TALKING about your product.

In the end, Microsoft isn't targeting people who choose a computer based on which commercial they liked. So if they don't like the commercial AND they don't buy Microsoft, its likely they weren't going to buy Microsoft in the first place.

This ad is to target those on a budget. You CAN be financially disciplined AND receive the best computer for your needs. Basically they are sending the message, "With Microsoft, you don't have to compromise between functionality and price."

 

It's a pretty poor ad. The woman first goes to the Apple store for her 'first choice', but she can't afford it.

That's like saying 'Apple is the premium machine that she REALLY wanted, but she is too broke to afford a high quality computer, time to hit the discount stores'.

It may be effective with penny pincher buyers, but they already buy PCs anyway, or build their own and run linux on em!

 

Great response, couldnt agree more.

 

I new commercials are boring...I actually liked the whole seinfeld/gates randomness ones. Those were funny!

 

No, thats like saying, Apple machines may be better, but PCs offer the same capabilities at a fraction of the cost; and that the apple premium is not worth it.

 

If you watch the ad it introduces Lauren, says "she told us she was looking for" a 17 inch notebook under $1000 and then says "we told her: you find it, you keep it". That seems to imply that the commercial is not scripted and is a documentary of her shopping experience.

 

While it is possible there was a tone of regret after she left the Apple store, I believe she got high quality machine. A machine with more RAM and more harddrive space. And money left over to buy accessories or a nice dress or a set of new tires, etc etc. Overall, she came out ahead.

You can get equally objective results from either a laboratory setting or by observation in a natural setting. Lets document you shopping for a 17" for under $1000. Results would be the same huh?


I think it is agreeable that this commercial made a message and a slash.

 

Actually the results wouldn't be the same. I wouldn't limit my spending to under $1000 and wouldn't want a 17" notebook anyway. Are you admitting now that the ad implies it was a documentary rather than staged?

I find it funny that her first choice was an Apple.

 

Lets put the techy stuff to the side and pretend you were wanting a 17 inch notebook and just a $1000. Come on where is the imagination.

Maybe it was a documentary. Realistically nobody will ever really know. You can debate this on and on and most likely never get anywhere. She could have gone to the Apple store last and it got edited to be first. Who really cares. It is a commercial and not the end of the world.

Apple commercials are full of crap but we really dont pick them apart like this.

 

this ad is for people who know nothing about computers and only care about price... Vista alone scares most technology savvy people away.. not to mention the sub par build quality on hp notebooks...

 

LOL. Vista can handle simple stuff like Bly-Ray and HDMI. Mac can almost play Solitaire at 5 frames a second.

 

LOL...did you know that SP2 will come with built-in HDMI?and that there is no solitaire in mac os

 

Wow, I was actually done with this whole ad stuff but this post makes me sad for you. Apparently you buy "bulk" over quality. Your post reminds me of customer choosing a local all you can eat seafood buffet restaurant over a restaurant on the wharf that serves fresh catch but in smaller portions.
You're choosing quantity over quality and I'm not surprised based on the hardware in your sig.

You think the girl got a "high quality" HP notebook? Really? What do you think a 17" screen with 4GB ram and 320GB for $699 is going to get you quality wise.
Please spare me the fact that Apple buys parts from the same places other companies do. Sure they do, however it doesn't mean all the parts are the same.

Hello? There's more than 1 type of 320GB hard drive, there are various qualities in ram and there's more than 1 type of optical drive and obviously there's more than 1 type of LCD. For $699 it's quite apparent her notebook is made with from the cheapest of the low end parts. It even has the low end AMD processor.
Now, I do agree that the MBP needs to be cheaper but I will not agree that she got a good quality machine.

Any smart customer should know that MORE isn't always better especially when it's MUCH cheaper.

 

Even if I wanted a 17" notebook, I would not have a budget of $1000. When I was shopping for a 15" notebook I couldn't find anything less than $1200 that I liked enough to buy. Obviously since I bought a MBP, I'm willing to save up for quality instead of buying cheap and regretting it later.

As for the Apple commercials, you may feel they are full of crap but I think they are mostly accurate. At least Apple doesn't claim their ads are documentaries when they are really scripted.

 

yeah this may qualify as the most ignorant post of the thread and clearly demonstrates your distaste of apple. my macbook pro plays both hd-dvd's and blu-ray disks (i assume "bly-ray" means "blu-ray"...) hooked up to my 50" plasma when in boot camp. just because it can't be done in osx doesn't mean it can't be done.

 

People actually buy Blu-ray still? I just download movies.

 

netflix

 

AFAIK,you can play blu-rays in OS X too-ask jj,he knows that stuff better!

also-

http://i.gizmodo.com/5190861/someone-found-microsofts-lauren-and-shes-an-actress

 

LOL at the Gizmodo article.

Also ref netflix and Blu-ray http://i.gizmodo.com/5190780/netflix-raising-blu+ray-prices-by-20-starting-april-27th

 

So far, these are the issues people have with the ad.

• It was scripted
• Lauren is an actor
• If it were me, I would not want a 17"
• If it were me, I would spend more money for less RAM
• If it were me, I would spend more money for less harddrive space
• Microsoft is using one liners!!!

On ZDnet, one writer took off points cause the HP had "Wireless b/g" instead of something newer. I guess wireless G is just not fast enough these days.

Seriously, and for the people who compare this laptop to a MacPro, it's like comparing apples to oranges. Someone here basically implied the Macs have higher quality RAM and higher quality harddrives. If my computer costs4 times more than your computer I would hope at least one component was higher quality. We shouldn't even compare a $2500 PC vs a $2800 MacPro. We would have to call mercy rule

The ad was great. The Internet is FULL of discussion about this ad. Apple loyalists are all up in arms. PC loyalists are all up in arms.

But this ad targets neither PC loyalists or Apple loyalists. It targets the the headroom, the part of the market that is loyal to neither brand, but are willing to spend their money on whoever offers them the product they need. They are "switchers" in the marketing sense.

I don't really see why Apple loyalists are all up in arms about the ad. I don't see Macs as a value purchase or a functional purchase. Apple doesn't sell hardware. They sell an "experience." I'm reminded of that scene from the first Bad Boys. Martin Lawrence is riding in Will Smith's Porsche. Lawrence asks, "Wha Wha Where is the cup holder?" Will replies that there are none. Lawrence then says "No back seat, no cup holder. Its just a 100 thousand dollar *&^% and we are the balls that drag behind it"

No one buys a Porsche cause its a smart financial purchase. There are cars faster than it. There are cars more practical than the Porsche. But no one that buys a Porsche cares about that. Its a luxury item. And thats all that matters to them.

edit:

This is the post I was referring to. If you don't want to compare the Mac to a cheap HP, lets compare apples to apples. We can compare a $2500 Macpro to a $2500 Dell Precision.

If you read the post it was in response to, you'll realize the post had nothing to do with blu-ray or HDMI. He was refering to the comparison that one laptop was less capable of fulfilling the needs of the customer over the other. If you just read one page back................

 

well, seeing as how the post he replied to was in quotes, i did get to read it, thanks. and just how is the hp better at fulfilling the needs of the customer over my macbook (prices aside)? does it cook dinner? my macbook cant do that............. (i can type dots too!)

sorry, it's still an incredibly silly post no matter which way you slice it.

 

With the money she saved vs a 17" Mac, she can go out for dinner for a whole year.

So yes, it does cook dinner.




Ok, I'll be serious here. Look at Lauren. She sure doesn't look like a high maintenance girl. Do you think her needs are any less fulfilled with an HP over a Mac? She doesn't do professional photography, otherwise she would be spending far more money on equipment. She does not do financial analyst, otherwise she would had bought a PC anyways cause Mac financial software has appcom issues. Again, read the previous post it was in response to and watch the commercial again.

 

prices aside.

i got my macbook pro for 800 bucks after selling my old macbook (which, incidentally, i got for free) so the prices are a wash for me. ergo, my macbook can cook me dinner as well. now can you tell me the benefits of the hp over the mac?

you can be as serious as you want, but i think you're trying too hard to justify getting a pc over a mac. with your reasoning, no one would ever NEED a mac. and guess what? you're right. but its great to have competition since its clear that for some people product A is much preferred while the converse is true for others, while for the majority of the population it just plain does not matter. i'd appreciate it if you told me to stop re-reading posts, its not like im going to glean some magic information that i somehow missed by staring at them for hours on end. maybe you should just do a better job of trying proving your points.

im not high maintenance, i dont do professional photography, and im not a financial analyst (frankly im not quite sure why you put this in your post... are there that many financial analysts in the world)... yet i MUCH prefer osx to windows...

*sigh* these arguments just never end.

 

I'm glad it's raining free Macbooks where you live. However, this doesn't apply to most people.

I think you've hit on one of the main points of the ad there. However, most people aren't getting free Macbooks to sell... so for those unfortunate people who missed out on all the free Macbooks, there is a big price difference.

 

well if this entire thread is about what works for LAUREN why cant i talk about what works for ME?

you're essentially agreeing with me, so thank you, even though im positive thats not what you wanted. the macbook is more expensive and people would surely get it instead of the hp if they had the money. i dont get why you're getting on my case because i got a free macbook. i couldnt care less that lauren (and others like her) can't afford a macbook pro... the reason this latest discussion was started was because the only reason anyone posited for getting the hp notebook was because of the price, even though someone suggested otherwise earlier. i have yet to hear concrete reasons to get the hp OTHER than the price.

 

They found lauren and she's quite the hottie... i mean actress.

IMDB Profile

 

How can you be so sure?

If you mean the 17" MBP, I agree. If you mean the 13-inch Macbooks... well, some people prefer the larger screens.

If I need portability, then I like the 13-inch size. But if it's just for around the house, I personally don't want to be stuck having to use a 13-inch screen all the time. (Although I realize that some people may not mind.)

I'm not getting on your case. If I got a free Macbook, I'd sell it too.

I'm just pointing out that your situation doesn't apply to most people.

But... that's pretty much the point of the whole commercial. It's saying, hey, if you want a 17-inch laptop, the cheapest one Apple has is about $2700... sorry, $2800... which may have some nice extras but it's $2100 more than this HP which may not be a "pro" machine but would suit most people's needs just fine.

Now I'm not saying that all other 17" laptops would necessarily be worse than the 17" Macbook Pro... but the one she picked out, yes, I think that's pretty basic and lacking a bunch of high-end features... and the main reason to choose that over a 17" MBP would be price. And to some people, those extras in the 17" MBP are worth the extra $2100. But... not to everybody. The thing is, she got a laptop with the criteria she wanted (17-inch screen mainly), without having to pay for other stuff she didn't care about. It's not about whether the high-end features she's missing are worth it or not. It's about that she could buy just what she wanted, and not have to choose from among the few (and mostly pricey) packages that Steve Jobs decided to sell.

I don't know if I'd go as far as to call her a hottie... but she does seem at least a little cuter in the photos than in the commercial IMO.

Well... looks like she's been in a bunch of TV movies.

Anyways I couldn't care less if she's an actress, or if it's scripted or not, or whatever... the ad makes its point pretty well regardless. Actors or not, some people will identify with Lauren or one of the other "shoppers" in their forthcoming ads, and others won't. And the people who do identify with one of them... those are the people for whom the ads will be effective.

 

ROFL!!!

 

yeah, i agree with that. good post. but i think we can both agree that the bigger the notebook, the more "pro" it is when it comes to apple. ms obviously knows that so thats why they chose to have lauren "buy" a 17" notebook... knowing that apple has absolutely nothing there for the budget-minded consumer. i dont think that ms can say the same with apple's 13" offerings.

 

You can't be serious. Lets look at businesses who are willing to shell out $4K for a laptop. You see them buying Macs? When an item is a luxury item, it is exactly that. A luxury item. It doesn't mean just cause you can afford it, you'll buy it. It means if you have nothing better to spend your money on, you buy it.


In your case, the HP would still be a better deal. Your pro was $800 after you sold your old mac. If you had bought the HP, you would have had a larger computer, with more RAM, more HD and headed to Vegas with the proceeds from your old Mac. And then gone to the Mustang Ranch. And then bought a steak to finish off the trip.

Or you could get a MacPro. And no Vegas. No Ranch. No steak.

Lets look at comparable PCs at the 13" range. You got the Dell latitudes, HP elitebooks, ThinkPads, etc etc. Heck, an Inspiron 13 can be had for less than $500. That means you can pocket $500. Or go to Vegas.

Edit:

The Mac is a luxury item. For example. Lets raise the price of MacPro to $5K and give you $5K in cash. Mac Loyalists would still buy the Mac over the PC.
Change it around.
Raise the price of all PCs to $5K. Give them $5K in cash. A PC user would choose a MacPro. Then install Windows on it.
It highlights the fundamental difference in the needs of Mac buyer and PC buyers. Mac buyer treat the Mac like a luxury item. Price is not a factor. PC buyers are far more sensitive to price changes and are only loyal to functionality.

 

Mac users will pay $10000 USD for a Mac. If Apple builds it, Mac fanboys will mortgage their house for it. The same cannot be said about Windows users.

The Mac is fairly good but it can be overrated.

 

All I can say is:

-WHY does she ABSOLUTELY need a 17"
-Who the heck shops like this!?
-Online would of been the cheapest place to get a 17" sub $1000 PC



And not to mention some guy put up a website so she can email him and he will ship his G4 to her
FOR FREE, take that PC

 

BMW Thermaltake LEVEL 10 PC Case *IF* Skull Trail [email protected] OC <60C & Dual GTX295... sorry I would sell my testicles for that thing