New Microsoft ad finally hits Apple where it hurts: customers’ wallets
We’ve been wondering how long it would take Microsoft to kick things up a notch with its responses to Apple’s I’m a Mac smear series. Times are tough these days and it looks like Microsoft is finally starting to target cost with its latest TV ad. Titled Windows Laptop Hunters, the spot features a young woman named Lauren tasked with finding a laptop that meets her requirements — “speed, a comfortable keyboard and a 17-inch screen” — for under $1,000. If she finds one, be it a Mac or a PC, Microsoft will buy it for her. You know as well as we do that the only way anyone is scoring a new Mac laptop with a 17-inch for under $1,000 is armed robbery, so you can imagine how the commercial plays out. Forgetting the fact that the Best Buy she was shopping in apparently doesn’t charge a sales tax, Lauren ends up with an HP Pavilion for $699.99; a price even the most modest MacBook can’t come close to touching. The model she walked with features a 2.1GHz AMD Turion X2 with 4GB of DDR2 RAM, 320GB hard drive, DVD-RW drive and of course a 1440×900 17-inch display — definitely a solid system.
No, we haven’t quite stooped to the level of a local politician’s attack campaign quite yet, but it’s good to see Microsoft finally showing a little spunk with its response ads. Considering the times, we imagine there are plenty more value-centric ads from Redmond on the way; at least, we hope there are. Hit the jump to watch the full commercial.
Thanks, Don!
Take that Apple. Kicked in the JUNK!!!!
I have yet to understand how Apple can justify a $2K price tag on a laptop with less features than a $699 pc. Discuss…..
Is the $699 with or without a Microsoft Operating System?
Oh snap, here come the fanboys.
P.S. I still hate the super gloss finish on all the new consumer laptops.
agreed! I like those new ones they have also with the little kids that are like 4 and 5 doing stuff showing how easy it is. Good marketing.
Windows Vista Home Basic I think.
W/ OS, silly.
This is genius marketing…especially with the state of our craphole economy. You def get more for your money with a Windows laptop than an Apple…no matter what the fanboys says.
I’d rather be kicked in the junk once every morning than have to deal with the damned Vista pop ups every freakin 3 minutes!!
she’s cute. she should call me when she needs to reinstall her OS.
I think this is a brilliant idea with people trying to save money.
I have a PC andI’ve had an Apple Macbook for a little over a year. The Mac is decent but completely OVERRATED. Everyone told me I should get one so I spent $1,500 for something that doesn’t really work with any of my other tech stuff. Apple tries to get cute by differentiating itself from PC but ultimately it’s just annoying.
A PC desktop or laptop right now is an incredible deal.
PS she must have been in Oregon to receive that no Sales Tax crap! I love it here for that reason.
@k @azboricua The price includes Vista Home Premium Edition, 64-bit — link
Hey lady, I’d be happy to open your case and lay some more RAM in ya.
@ryan: Better a Vista pop up than 100 pop ups with porn and viruses. But that’s just me. Vista learns over time, stop using the old and lame Pop up comment. Really, its old.
I would rather pay the extra for an operating system that works and a computer that doesn’t crash, than a Vista-based P.O.S. any day. The Mac may initially cost more, but the “total cost of ownership – meaning less problems and less frustration will pay for itself.
Me – I’m in the IT field. I have an iMac at home that I’ve had for 2 years without but multiple problems and issues with the 3 PC’s in my house.
@azboricua: But Windows still sucks. How’s that WinFS going? That new command scripting shell? Oh that’s right, they were cut out for, transparent menu bars. Real useful there buddy.
Windows Vista SP1 = Windows NT SP14.
Windows 7 = Windows NT SP15.
Same old broken OS with some lipstick on it.
True, Mac OS X 10.6 is more of a “service release” except Apples idea of a service release creates a truly 100% 64-bit OS environment. Windows 7 x64? 50% of the processes are still just 32bit running in compatibility mode.
If I have to pay $2k for a computer, with an OS that isn’t half-assed done built buy a bunch of code monkeys with keyboards in a basement sweatshop in Bangalore, India, then so be it.
Not having to use Windows (Vista mainly) is worth a few hundred bucks.
Premium products come with premium prices. Too bad she left “not a piece of junk” off her list of criteria.
And if money is such a big deal why is she buying a new laptop?
If you are comfortable with a butt raping and can afford the $2k for a basic laptop, be my guest. I work hard for my money.
@ DBer
Maybe you should learn how to use a PC properly. I’m on a PC for 8 to 10 hours a day, including work. I rarely see a crash.
By the way, apple fanboys, you figure in the lack of support you get for just about anything?
Software, hardware, accessories, etc.
Yeah, $699.99 is cheap, until you consider the TCO, if you want to be fair. Re-install the OS a few times, and lose some data each time.
Ask my wife how many times she has had to do that with her Mac, or how many times she has had a virus…oh, never!
How many times have I had to re-install the OS on my Toshiba notebook, and lost data…4 times, I think.
I have had 2 viruses on my Toshiba, one of which is still on there – the one that makes it look like it is rebooting, when it is not. Just annoying, but hard to remove.
I know, the Winboys are rockin’ here, but if they are honest, they will tell you they have also had to re-install – it is a fact of life with Windows. Come on, guys…
Price better be that cheap considering PC’s crap out on you about every year. my bro is on his 3rd HP laptop all the while im using the same macbook. My mac actually preforms BETTER as the years roll on.
PC’s are worse than smartphones
For only spending $699.99 on her laptop, she’s got about $300 to hire a nice consultant to install Linux on that thing and give her a few hours of “training”. I’m available…
@justin
how do you figure? Mac has one centralized support – Software Hardware etc.
it becomes a pissing contest bw HP and MS when there is a problem. Each one blames the other.
The red head is cute, but not really sexy, which is a total shame. The reality in shopping life is that you get what you pay for and quality always trumps cost in the long run. It’s a losing strategy for Microsoft.
Yeah it’s cheap but she’s gonna have a whole lot of headaches. In my experience windows OS is built with coffee stirrers welded together with a crack lighter, something is always failing or needing to be updated or suddenly won’t connect to the interweb. I tried helping my gf install windows after her HD failed and it takes multiple discs used multiple times in no comprehensible manner. F that, my mac updates drivers and everything itself, I can plug anything in and my mac will recognize it. Leopard came on 1 disc and put it in and it takes care of itself. I have to use VMware to update my bberry and even XP pops sh1t up trying to tell me my comp is not protected. Oh and booting up on mac is less than a min, when I had a pc I could go shoot up heroin, pass out, come back and get on the porn boxxx
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