Microsoft's latest
ad -- a companion-piece to its new "Laptop Hunters" website -- stars "real person" Lauren. Lauren's a little funky, a little folksy, and 100 percent real. She doesn't have an agenda to push, she's just out in the world, living in "reality" searching for a sweet laptop that's under $1,000. She admits to herself she's "not cool" enough for a Mac (though cool enough for a Volkswagen) and gets on with her life. She's a real American -- with an unpretentious, pragmatic life. The ad rather smartly puts the focus on our current economic climate, while expertly reinforcing that age old Apple-user-as-dick stereotype, pejoratively wielding the word "cool" as an underhanded insult -- odd, since the Microsoft portal it wants you to visit helps "socialites" pick a laptop. All in all? It's kind of a brilliantly mean piece of work -- check it out after the break.
[Via
BoingBoing]
posted Mar 27th 2009 10:58AM
I think this commercial nails the sentiment pretty well, honestly.
I also thought it was very effective. I mean, if you are normal person [read: NOT an engadget reader] who checks email, surfs abit, occasionally writes up a Word doc and looking for a 600-700 laptop/desktop - Apple has no answer.
That market is most people I think.
@Johnny5-
http://store.apple.com/us/configure/MB463LL/A?mco=NDE4Mzg4Mw
It's $600, Writes Word .docs, checks e-mail, can go on the internet, is a desktop and is by Apple.
Yeah; unfortunately, if this chick really were "real", you'd quickly find that all of her pot smoking artist friends all have macs; Apple's strongest marketing campaign. If she really needed a 17" notebook (the commercial cleverly leaves out what the hell she's using it for), I have no doubt in my mind that this chick would've put $1,000 down and put the rest on her credit card.
I'm a Windows PC user and I'm so "uncool". Nice image for PC users, Microsoft. Thanks for helping to sell more Macs.
@yopladas
You should compare it to desktops then if you take macmini, and it.s pretty hard to write Word .docs, checks e-mail, go on the internet without keyboard and monitor. The price will come to 800$ with those. (If you select apple monitor it'll come to 1500$)
If you want to bring macmini to the table you should compare it to the desktop machines. You can get a decent desktop with monitor and keyboard for 400$.
I didn't know that Volkswagen ownership was iconic of being cool, or directly correlated to Mac ownership.
I have a VW and a Mac.. so stereotypes are true.
:)
Where I live, there's a correlation between Subaru ownership a Mac users.
But then again, there's also a correlation between Subaru ownership and sexual orientation (no lie, I swear 80% of the Subarus around here have that rainbow and/or '=' sticker on their cars).
actually they are. also, owning a volkswagen beetle or jetta is directly correlated to being a girl. especially for the jetta.
Too bad Apple doesn't price their computers like VW prices their card. You know, competitively
True...VWs cards are very competitively priced, especially with easter coming up.
At one time, there were rumors swriling that Apple was working with VW, and instantly VW because the best auto manufacturer in the world, at least in the eyes of a small group of people - read the very first comment at http://www.autoblog.com/2007/08/29/apple-volkswagen-creating-the-icar/
A little related to this article, compare this ad where Microsoft shows real people living their life. Then look at http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/464/1051464/apple-redraws-world-map where Apple removes entire countries, excluding populations and manipulating the face of the earth just to make themselves look better.
Yes VW ownership has a stereotype mostly parallel with Apple users.
@ Mavrick
I find a sizable portion of lesbians drive Subaru's. Gay men have different tastes.
@Ken
You mean they are more than happy to pay more for a dolled up product of questionable reliability?
Id do her. End of Discussion.
I drive an Audi A4, have a WM phone (Sprint Diamond,) a Vista x64 computer, and a Zune 16. I guess Audis dont count in this stereotype...
"I drive an Audi A4"
I think that fits just perfect. You drive an overpriced Volkswagon to try to compensate for cool. ;)
"yet cool enough for a VW" - my thoughts exactly.
Wow, a hippie that drives a VW. I find it hard to believe she doesn't own a mac, and listens to John Mayer.
So true.
so let me get this straight, if i'm given $15,000 and i can't buy a bmw but i can buy a kia then the kia is obviously better ?
Cars != Computers
In the current economic climate, yes.
But I do understand your point of what you get is what you pay for.
You're really reaching here. The PC laptop here isn't the KIA to Apple's BMW. It has all the capabilities if not more. Probably just as much memory as most of the Mac laptops available.
If that KIA had a look just as awesome as the BMW, which all of the features, if not more, then yes, your comment makes sense. If you're trying to say that the Mac is so ahead of the laptop that is makes it budget/obselete/"just good enough" then you really make no sense.
True, some computers are cheap, but this is only half of the story. We need a follow on story when Lauren decides it's time for a new laptop. How much will she be able to get for this one in 2 or 3 years to put toward a new one? It starts to even out when looking at total cost of ownership.
Typing this on my Macbook Pro, I can only commend Microsoft for finally hitting Apple's weak spot. Expect Massive Damage.
@pavelbure
A better comparison would be if you were given 90k$ and had a choice between a 911 Turbo and a Nissan GTR. The Nissan GTR is just as good as the Turbo if not *better* but costs 25k less. The extra 25k really goes towards just a brand name, so which would you choose? I'd choose the GTR.
Same example applies with an Acura RL v. a BMW 5 series, or a Genesis V8 v. a BMW 5 series.
I looked up the specs on that HP G70t she bought:
1GB RAM, 2.0 GHZ Core2 Duo, GMA 4500 graphics, 250GB hard drive, 6 cell battery and pretty much zero warranty.
Yeah, but it has a 17" screen which displays up to 1440 x 900. Good luck running that piece of crap on Vista!
My bigger question about this ad is why she went to the Apple Store in the first place. Does Microsoft really think I'm stupid enough to believe that this chick didn't know she couldn't get a 17" laptop for under $999.
It's all in the operating system anyways, comparing Mac OS X, which is Unix BSD based, and built pretty much from the ground up, to Windows XP, or Vista (if you want to make this too easy), which is built out of a quagmire of 1,000,000 lines of code, 13 years of legacy support, shitty design practices (registry, the C:\WINDOWS\system32 clusterfuck), and crappy multi-user permissions management is like comparing a high rise condo complex to a brazillian shantytown.
And the 17" laptop she bought lacks fast wireless 802.11n, fast Gigabit Ethernet, digital audio inputs and outputs, weighs 7.75 pounds, and only features the screen resolution of Apple's 15" notebooks: 1440x900, not 1920x1200.
Lets compare apples to apples before calling Apple computers overpriced.
LOL I think the car comparison is perfectly valid. Have you ever driven a BMW? The only thing that's MILDLY superior to an average car is the turning/braking/acceleration. Even then, once your body adjusts to how your particular car should be handled, those slight differences become moot.
I'd even venture to say that the BMW is a stretch in the other direction. When you own a BMW, your repair bills, your insurance, and your gas (you need to get premium gas every time you fill) will all costs significantly more than with an average vehicle. With a Mac, the initial purchase is expensive, but much of the software that most people are looking for is MUCH cheaper than a PC. $99 for OS X, $79 for iLife (maybe iWork, too) and a developer community that is heavily rooted in freeware.
And by 13 I mean 23.
No pavelbure, it means when you go to a shop to buy a car, you MIGHT check the price of the BMW you intend to buy before saying "this one is so much cooler than that Kia shit !"
Now if you translate this into the PC world : Yes a MBA is much nicer to have than a EEE PC 901, but one costs 10 times the price of the other, and you do the exact same thing with the EEE PC than with the MBA.
It seems like a very good argument to me.
Got it ?
Unix' permissions systems cannot hold a candle to Windows' permissions systems.
In Unix, you are either no one or you have control of everything on your system. If you want to give a process the ability to kill processes, you also give it the ability to scribble all over your hard drive (on purpose or accidentally). If you want to give a process/program the ability to back up all your files, you also give it the ability to erase all your files, to create and kill tasks, and to create super user accounts.
Unix has an awful security model and permissions system compared to Windows.
Right on PAC Man! Digging into Apple's pricing in this economic climate is good marketing. It's dirty, but Apple slings mud on a daily basis. Pumping crap computers and equating them to good ones is idiocy and only seeks to exploit people who don't know anything.
That 17 inch notebook she bought will have a battery life of all but 30 minutes, especially with all those wonderful Vista features turned on. All those cheap PCs that are being churned out for $699.99 (what no taxes in the US?) list decent amounts of ram and a decent CPU... the rest are junk... and as PAC Man found out, have no battery life to speak of. I guess they give you a big enough battery to run from outlet to outlet.
Pretty lame add. Again MS shows they can not only misuse comedic genius Seinfeld, but also screw up a cup of coffee!
Wait....NO TAX.....????
Apparently, its am a PC and I smoke weed!
i giuess i touched a nerve with you felix. haha
haha
That would be correct if Mac OS X used basic Unix permissions. Which it hasn't since 10.4.
All you people complaining seem to be missing the point of this commercial. It's for everyday people. The everday people that buy computers. Do you really think she is going to notice the difference between 802.11g and n? No. She's not going to be streaming HD movies from her media server from the other room onto her laptop. Which is also why she wont notice that her screen isn't 1920x1200. What she does get, is a computer that works, for fucking cheap
@PAC
wait... I thought she bought this computer:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=9166635&type=product&id=1218041148373
it has 4 GB of RAM and is 699 just like in the ad... don't know where you were looking.
@pavelbure
Not the same, really. I'd agree with Bryant. People should definitely buy within their budget, but if I had $2000 to spend, it wouldn't be on an Apple. I don't have anything against them, in fact I would love to have one, but at the same time I could budget my $2000 better and get a laptop with comparable specs and still have money left over for a nice HDTV. Just like if I had $100 would I get an HDMI monster cable, or one from monoprice, plus the wall mount, any other cable that I want, including shipping, and take my wife out to dinner for the price of that one monster cable. Do you still believe a $100 HDMI monster cable is better than the $6 monoprice one?
Don't insult "everyday people", with that low expectations bullshit. That's like saying people in developing nations don't deserve the same quality of life as us because they're not used to it.
@ why not the LS2LS7?
I don't believe your statement is correct....if I want to give a process access to kill another process, but not allow it to wipe a harddrive, I change the group settings of the kill/killall command, and add the user executing the process that might need to kill another process to that group.....after ensuring that group level perms are set to give execute access.....Might not be as "user friendly" as windows, but most definitely infinitely scalable...you just have to think a little bit....
Ben:
There's more to permissions than file permissions (ACLs, as you refer to).
Mac OS X added "sophisticated" file permissions. But user status in UNIX is still either "user" or "superuser". If you want a process to be able to backup all your files, you must run it is superuser, which means it then can create a setuid root shell or other executable anywhere on a mounted filesystem that it wants. If you run a single program that you downloaded from the net as root once on your UNIX machine, you may have just been hacked and your machine is wide open forever.
This is not true on Windows where you can run them as a user that has permission to read any file but not permission to write any file, let alone put setuid on files or create users.
Again, UNIX permission control system cannot hold a candle to Windows', and it will remain that way until UNIX has concepts of user privilege levels other than "normal" (user) and "all" (superuser).
@Bryant
That's complete bogus.
- You don't know the specs of the two computers. You can't say that the HP and the MBP 17" perform just as well
- Apple's computers don't include the junk trialware which PC OEMs use to subsidise the hardware costs. This makes Macs slightly more expensive, but the experience is better and for people who are scared of reinstalling the OS, the Mac will work better than a windows PC full of trialware.
- Market comparisons have shown that Macs are typically only slightly more expensive than the equivalent PC. As mentioned above, the lack of trialware accounts for this price disparity.
- Apple's products tend to be better designed. Design isn't just about making stuff look nice. People who study design don't spend years learning how to make things look nice. They learn how to make things functional and intuitive. For example, the MagSafe adaptors on Apple's laptops are an example of good design. They don't make the hardware look nicer, but they make it work better. Better designed products usually are more expensive. Whatever market you're in.
- Apple's machines also tend to be made of higher quality materials. I'd bet, for example, that the price of making the aluminium unibody enclosures for Apple's laptops is far higher than what it costs Dell to mould a plastic case for one of their laptops. Higher quality materials mean higher prices, just as real leather shoes cost more in the same style than fake leather.
- Apple's customer support is also much better than PC OEMs. If I have a problem with my VAIO (and when I owned a VAIO, I had loads of problems with it), I have to call up some call centre, be put on hold, wait for them to send the box, send my laptop and wait for it to be fixed and redelivered. If I have a problem with my MacBook, I make an appointment at the Genius bar, go right there (maybe wait for 5 minutes max), and speak to somebody face-to-face. If there's a problem they can't fix for me right there, they'll take my machine right there and have it ready for me the next day. I don't pay extra for that better service - it's in the price of the machine. And it's so worth it.
- Apple provides student discounts. I've yet to see that replicated by PC OEMs (at least in the UK)
I bought a MacBook a year ago. Yes, I may have paid a bit more than an equivalently priced PC, but I really don't regret it. It was my first Mac, and it's so much better than any of the PCs I've owned. In fact, with my student discount, I managed to get the BlackBook (top of the MB line) with AppleCare for less than the base model. I certainly don't feel ripped off.
Can someone find the cache size of that HP G70t? I cant seem to find it anywhere
Let's not forget that the first thing you see on a brand new installation of Microsoft Windows (after it loads the desktop) is a balloon popup that warns you that, without antivirus protection, your computer is insecure.
That's the first thing somebody sees after Windows is installed. It's one of the great facepalms of the user experience world.
"If you want a process to be able to backup all your files, you must run it is superuser, which means it then can create a setuid root shell or other executable anywhere on a mounted filesystem that it wants."
not entirely true, you can set the permissions of the file to give the current user read but not write privileges and then run the program as the current user. That way the program won't have permissions to open the file for writing but will be able to for reading(which it will read in and copy them somewhere else)
The only valid comment in all this gumble of comment is Tim's, in my opinion. Whether Apple is overpriced is relative; there are many PC alternatives that are just as good and priced a lot better. It's all a matter of knowing how to shop and not getting influenced by trivial crap as a brand name (Like Vaio. Oh, those ARE overpriced).
The truth is, Apple products are priced above the budget of most of the world (I'm from a third world country, though I do admit my economic situation is well above the average person over here).
That's weird, somehow time machine manages to make backups without asking for system.privilege.admin.
Multi-User environments in unix are just plain better. In the lab I work in on campus, our windows boxes need to have different permission settings on a program to program basis to make sure everything works because of the way windows defaults to users as Administrators, and leads to bad programming practices by developers. Furthermore, the way read and execute are combined means that any .exe that gets on our computers can be run on our computers. So I can run uTorrent on a university computer.
Um, visual comprehension FAIL! That's not a G70t she bought. Like Kevin stated, that's clearly a midrange AMD powered machine-the dv7 to be precise.
PC stores are shit.
Seriously. They never have internet access so the PCs on display are dead in the water.
Plus, Microsoft should lobby congress and pass a law saying that no PC should be sold with under 2 GB of RAM.
For those who are whining about no tax... ya know, she could have been in Oregon, where they don't have sales tax.
I feel sad for all those people out there that aren't COOL ENOUGH to be Mac users. At least she knew she was uncool unlike so many others that buy Windows PCs. She should have traded in her VW to buy a MacBook Pro 17" so she could hang out with the really cool group. She really was basing her choice on available amount of money and that's really not a great way to decide. She should have spent a week trying out different computers. But I suppose she had a fixed time limit and price limit, so she purchased what she could afford and that's that. I don't see why she couldn't have settled for a smaller screen, but it's good she got what she wanted. No harm in that.
There is a website that features chicks with glasses and, well, take a guess what happens at the end? This "real" person would be popular on that website.
LMAO way to go Microsoft. Hahahaha. "Not cool enough for a mac".
And to the douche that says you get what you pay for... not the case here. The Apple "cool factor" increases premiums on all their wares.
I guess 'cool" is the new douche.
Whats weird though... is that she fits an apple owners profile perfectly. (VW, hippiesque, and broke.) I'd assume that's Microsofts way of trying to make it look like the average "cool" mac user could easily slip into a life of a PC owner.
Funny how, after all the picking and choosing, the "look of that one" was what made her final choice. That's top-notch research right there.
@ P.A.C. Man
Your an idiot and a troll.
First off, there are no current laptops sold in BestBuy that comes under 2gb. In fact, the ONLY laptop I found in Best Buy (when I was shopping for one a couple months ago) that had 2gb of memory was a $350 eMachine. Most current laptops come with either 3gb or 4gb of memory.
Second, even HP's website offers a FREE upgrade to 3gb of memory. I guarantee you that this model with 1gb of RAM is not sold in stores.
Third, let's see the specs on a comparitively specced MacBook: Only one I could find was $999...
2.0GHz
* Intel Core 2 Duo
* 2GB DDR2 Memory
* 120GB hard drive1
* NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics
Wow... my Dell, which was about the same price (I think it was $989) has a better processor, twice the memory, 3 times the harddrive size, and a more robust graphics chipset. Hell, her HP was probably more powerful at $699 than this Mac would be maxed out.
Yeah, I'm super cool, if anyone ever mentions how cool a mac looks I'll be sure to tell them about the importance of elegance and streamlining in program and tell them to compare the 2000+ files in C:\WINDOWS\System32\ to Mac OS X which the the Frameworks and Extensions folders in /System/Library/ range from around 70 to around 300.
Wow, I am a type machine. *programming *just one the
If you have the money i would go mac, if u don't PC. I'm almost positive i got that HP after switching to that from a mac. One week later I rushed back to Circuit City and drove to the mac store and bought myself a unibody 13" Macbook, couldn't be happier.
ben:
I don't know how Time Machine does backups. I'll try to find out today to see how it gets permissions.
Poor programs are not anything special to Windows. You've never had to have a program ask you for superuser permissions on the Mac for things you didn't think it should have to? I know I have. It happens weekly. And it happens often enough that no one ever hesitates to enter their password when asked, undercutting this security system.
Read and execute are not the same thing on Windows. I just looked at the perms for 7z.exe on my XP box. There is a separate file permission for "read" and "read and execute".
I just checked how many files there are in /System/Library on my Mac OS X machine. There are 114,226 (cd /System; find Library -print | wc -l, the Finder "only" lists 73,327 items in that folder, thanks for lying to me Finder). Of these, 63,125 are in /System/Library/Frameworks and 5375 are in /System/Library/Extensions. On my XP machine, there are 5,375 files in /Windows/System32. What were you saying about how much cleaner the Mac is?
Very good add, and yes... your not cool enough.
Hope she bought the extended warranty on that HP. The power inverter should go bad in about 15 mo, following by the logic board from excessive heating. Macs aren't perfect. I'm just saying that you're a tool if you think you can buy any laptop without an extended warranty for under $1000 that isn't a piece of shit, regardless of the manufacturer.
I liked the commercial except for the "cool" comment. She's not "cool" enough to buy a mac, but she can afford that monthly payments on that 2008 Volkwagen?
Right.
@LS2LS7: You're apparently as clueless when it comes to operating systems as you are when it comes to cars. You managed to google some buzzwords of UNIX filesystem permissions but you should have read about them a little more before you threw them into your comment. I don't think you got a single fact correct. I'm not sure whether you are willfully lying or if you are just too lazy to find out how it actually works.
UNIX was designed from the start as a multi-user environment, the access control has had decades to evolve and improve. In Windows it was thrown in as an afterthought and a band-aid on an inherently unsafe system.
My £850 Zepto 6625, bought in Nov 2007, is still spec-for-spec faster than a new base model 15-inch MacBook Pro that costs £1370. The only major difference is DDR3 RAM instead of DDR2 (which isn't actually a big deal), and the MBP has an LED-backlit screen (which is lower res than mine).
Macs are nice, but they're just too freakin expensive for normal people.
@ Ben
So fucking true I almost cried.
And fix the friggin comment system now, please?
To be honest I wasn't even thinking about the car stuff. I just meant in the economy we are in now is seeing users opting for the cost effective solutions. Heck even my friend that loves OS X opted for a PC (which he later dual booted 2 seconds after purchasing).
Also kind of happy I remembered to uncheck that "E-Mail me when someone replies to this comment" box.
MS's Ad agency is apparently using -Cuteness- for marketing now.
Apparently Vista doesn't sell machines.
+++++ What kind of Wildly Unrealistic Standards does this Redhead Have, btw??!!?
-If 13 Inches Isn't Enough for her...
Sorry, I started programming with C, and quickly moved to Java - so I expect programming to be encapsulated and modular, which is exactly what Mac OS X is. They actually use _organization_ to their advantage. Actual amount of files doesn't matter that much if you're well organized. System32 is like your friend or coworker that keeps every document they've ever worked on on their desktop. Even if they haven't done that much it gets oppressive fast.
Windows doesn't even succeed at naming objects after what they do... It's no wonder this directly translates to bugs, oversights, and the fact that a google search for "windows site:http://support.microsoft.com/kb/" has 1,770,000 results.
All these comments and no mention of when is Apple going to release a sub 1000$ laptop?... Trust me they can do it. They've been riding the gravy train for a while. The party is over. Get in line like everyone else and make affordable products.
This is brilliant!!! One little ad and now all the Mactards are falling over themselves trying to prove everything wrong.
Apple released all those lies in the Mac vs PC ads and you guys sat by all smug and pleased with yourselves. Now Microsoft give you a taste of your own medicine without having to resort to lies and your all frothing at the mouth with indignation. Suck it up guys - Windows 7 will be out soon and your numbers will be reduced to a pathetic, impotent little rump :)
Re: why not the LS2LS7? ; Premise: Unix' [sic] permissions systems cannot hold a candle to Windows' permissions systems.
I don't typically post to Engadget comments, but you seem to be spreading woefully ignorant information regarding how a UNIX system handles user access. I do not consider myself an authoritative source, but even my introductory knowledge completely dismisses your statements. Here is a quick refresher for the sake of correcting this misinformation, since I can't tell if you're just trolling:
* File permissions are a function of the file system and the kernel. The permissions set needs to be implemented in both places. The file system is responsible for keeping track of the defined permissions, and the kernel is responsible for actually enforcing them.
* The term "UNIX" is either ambiguous, irrelevant, archaic, or some combination thereof. I can't discern to what you're referring when you say "Unix' [sic] permissions systems." Do you mean all system's based on Ken Thompson's original UNIX dating back to 1969? Do you mean only the current version of UNIX (SCO Open UNIX 8.0, ca. 2001) which has almost nothing to do with Mac OS X (whose lineage split from UNIX around 1977)? Are you speaking about a file system in particular? If so, which one? Do you more accurately refer to the POSIX set of specifications to which many systems conform? Please be more specific.
* The POSIX.1e specification was launched back in 1985 and finally published in 1998. It includes a wide variety of access control methods, including Discretionary Access Control (the common user, group, and world style (what you must be referring to), and access control lists) and Mandatory Access Control (specific labeling of files by the system vs. the user, used to protect highly sensitive data, e.g. "unclassified", "confidential", "secret", "top secret").
* Mac OS X and the HFS file system have supported DAC (both flavors) for years via the external attributes data structures. Mac OS X 10.4 saw the fledglings of MAC as supported by the TrustedBSD (and later SEDarwin) project. This functionality became official in Mac OS X 10.5.
In short, most Unixes including Mac OS X have supported more thorough permissions systems than you seem to be aware. Note that I'm not suggesting recent versions of Windows and NTFS don't also have this functionality, simply that Mac (and UNIX) does, too (and for longer).
If you guys cannot understand there is more to permissions than just file access permissions, despite me explaining it 3 times, I don't know how I can help you guys out.
When you guys figure out there are such a thing as privileges granted to users and that UNIX has no concept of this (other then uid == 0 and uid != 0), we can move forward. Take a look at hardened UNIX systems where become user 0 doesn't give you complete control over everything in the system. This is what I am talking about.
In Windows, you can make users (identities) that have more privileges (like to read any file in the system regardless of owner) without having all privileges (such as to make root shells so that they can extend privileges to other users, including at a later date).
Templarian, you must be so pissed.
The whole first page is filled with replies to your simple truth.
@pacman: Seeing that you come here to Engadget, I assume that you are pretty well versed in gadgets and computers. Most people aren't. Most people honestly don't know much about the differences between a Mac and a PC except that Mac is much "cooler" to own than a PC. Not to mention that they usually hear from some Mac Fanatic that Macs are much better (for reasons unknown). So, no, I would not assume that she would know that she couldn't get a Macbook for under a grand. I agree that the HP POS that she picked up is getting what she paid for. But, also, she probably just Facebooks and Twitters all day long and doesn't play Crysis, so Vista should handle the 17" screen just fine. The marketing here was pretty on point. I just didn't think it was all that interesting of an ad. Maybe if I act stupid (read: ignorant) enough, some marketing person will give me a K to buy a laptop.
@LS2LS7: You have not explained _anything_ 3 times, just repeated your own misconceptions or lies.
In UNIX you can give users whatever rights you want I don't understand why you keep repeating over and over again that you have to be superuser to do anything, even a complete beginner knows that isn't true which is why I must assume that you are just lying for some reason.
Or possibly you may be thinking of Windows where you have to be Administrator in order to be able to do anything useful with your system.
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=9166635&st=hp+dv7&lp=1&type=product&cp=1&id=1218041148373
She bought this computer, kids.
All this Mac vs. PC stuff has been done to death about a million times before and is largely irrelevant. The most important thing is that she is smokin' hot, and I want to marry her. I wonder how I go about getting her phone number.
As a Mac user I can only say, wow, it took a while, but MS did the right thing here. Hit 'em where it hurts, and at the same time exploit old prejudices namely that Macs are more expensive. The BMW-Kia comparison is spot on even though nobody wants to hear that. Of course you get more for more money.
The ad is dumb but clever - Apple only sells one 17" machine, and it's $3000 so sending her to the Apple store first is a surefire win. Her requirements - 17" screen - are pretty arbitrary. How about if she had said "I want a laptop with a 17" screen that weighs less than 7 pounds and lasts 8 hours on battery"? Then, the answer would have been.... oooooooh, there is no PC laptop that can do that, none, not for any price.
Anyway, all in all, good effort Microsoft, now if you only made software that didn't totally suck you'd be a winner ;)
YOU'VE ALL BEEN OWNED BY MICRO$$$$$$$$OFT....
"Lauren" (if that is her real name) didn't really go into the Apple store...or Crispin Porter had a bunch of extras walking around during the filming.
How do we know? Notice at 0:13 when she walks into the store, there is a balding guy with jacket and striped shirt and camera walking by. He is still walking by when she leaves the store filmed on the other camera. That gave her less than a second in the store. She said she walked in and looked around but how could this be?.
We also know she is an actress so the rest isn't a stretch. What LA actress wants a hulking, cheap 17 inch HP Notebook over a small white MacBook?!
Not that you believed it before, right?
Disclaimer: Thanks to Fanboy for the find.
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=9166635&type=product&id=1218041148373
That laptop (which is presumably what she purchased) destroys any Mac on the planet in terms of value for your dollar.
Anyone who buys a Mac is really a sucker
a) for being a fool and being suckered into the purchase
b) for sucking Steve Jobs' ...
Well you get the picture
Nice job Microsoft for exploiting Apple's overpriced, under-performing POS systems.
This commercial was a HUGE BAG OF HURT.
I would LOVE to see the battery life on the the HP. The 17" MBP has a 8hr battery life...
A good advert but she owns a Mac as well despite what she says on camera. In fact I reckon she made and edited that ad in IMovie.
bstring, you can't be serious. We are talking about laptops, not cars. Did you really bring up resale value as a point? Many laptops (Macs included, I've seen plenty of it working at on-campus tech support) don't even last 2-3 years due to the wear and tear people put them through, and those that do survive become dirt cheap by the time their technology is 2-3 years old.
It is kind of funny though that when told she would be given money to buy a computer her first thoughts were: "Let's go to the macs store"
Microsoft think they're on to a winner playing the "we're cheaper" card.
If you are talking gardening gloves or dustbin liners, this argument is sound. A laptop will be for many, a constant companion for several years and the discerning buyer perceives the quality of a purchase as far more than simply an initial purchase price. The reality is that PCs are made more cheaply because facts show they are not as reliable. The Mac operating system enjoys customer satisfaction records that Redmond dreams of but fails to fulfil. Each Microsoft Operating system gets slower and this will be a real problem when snow leopard is released.
The longer Microsoft plays the "cheapness" card, the clearer the distinction becomes and it will serve to add yet more kudos and style points to the Apple brand. I feel sorry for Steve Ballmer he appears to have so little guile, I can't think of anywhere that I'd like to spend time with him or anyone like him. A man without charisma commenting on anyone else's brand is frankly hot air, bluster or wishful thinking. He was wrong about the Zune killing off the iPod. He was wrong about the iPhone being a joke doomed to failure. He was wrong about Vista. In terms of brand management, you'd think that Steve Ballmer secretly works for Apple. This ad campaign confirms that he's no visionary. Even if it gets some traction short-term, the long-term message is the finest PR that Apple could get, especially since they won't have to pay for it either. In years to come marketing people will look back at this and have a good giggle.
Anyone who thinks this is a weak spot is a fool.
Do some research. Macs last longer than six years, whereas PCs are normally useless to the general population after ±4 years. The total cost of ownership for a Mac is very low, and they have great resale value. Pcs, on the other hand, are like used cars. They lose half their value after unboxing.
After 1 year, a Mac will have cost you less than the PC. 2 years, far less. 1 OS upgrade later, the Mac is suddenly hundreds of dollars cheaper.
Don't believe me? Tally it up. Security software, software in general, repairs, OS upgrades, resource upgrades, and finally, resale.
The mac will come up cheaper every time.
Why the hell are people blind to this? You can buy a cheap used car for $1000, or a nicer one for $4000. Which one will last you 10 more years? And in the end, the $1000 will cost more than that in repairs.
This is why Macs are more expensive to purchase. Because in the long run, they cost less, and last longer.
Typing this on a 3 year old MacBook that runs like new.
I could have typed it on my 10 year old Power Mac G4, which also runs like new (Leopard and UT2004 run great).
FLAME ON!!
I prefer Apple computers.. even if I can't afford them anymore. But the ad is wrong, to get a 17" computer she'd have to triple her budget... they can't even get their insults right.. wtf.
"A better comparison would be if you were given 90k$ and had a choice between a 911 Turbo and a Nissan GTR. The Nissan GTR is just as good as the Turbo if not *better* but costs 25k less. The extra 25k really goes towards just a brand name, so which would you choose? I'd choose the GTR."
Hmmm. Let's see ... if they are giving away Porsches at one booth and Nissans at the other, which queue would be longer? This guy clearly never drove a 911, and Lauren clearly did not spend any significant time in front of OS X vs. Windows.
There are significant technical and user-level differences, just like there are between the over-extended Porsche vs. Nissan debate. The marketing aimed at cost is indeed clever in these hard times, but you need to balance a decision with requirements other than cost, otherwise you are throwing money away and asking for frustration down the road.
Hey, maybe we'll see the next video of Lauren editing her registry or trying to get rid of the Vista problem dialog or something, with Bryant patching his radiator in the parking lot in the background when he mistook his user-level Nissan for a race car. :-)
"why not the LS2LS7?"... You haven't the slightest clue how Unix works, do you? There's far more security customization available in the Unix family than root/user.
THis is funny - Lots of PC lovers here huh ? - I can't see how people would flock to A platform that was stolen from apple, poorly maintained, prone to Viruses and on top of that you have o pay for it ? you guys are funny - c'mon - now if you going to be a PC purist than you need to through some Linux in your discussions - other wise your just an ill informed consumer that only uses the computer for video games - and yet your all so bold to write responses ? this pretty funny - maybe im getting old ? Just remember PC nutts, Microsoft is a thieving blister of company - open your eyes up ! were are all getting hosed by their ways. its time - we shifted our interests - support Free software not expensive crapy software if your going to be a cheep skate - =)
OMG, where do I sign up to be in a commercial like this so that i can walk into my local best buy and get a new laptop on Microsoft's tab?
...why would you want to buy a BMW, anyway? Don't get me started on Nissan.. I swear, most people buy cars because they look cool and they have small peni. Buy a *good* car, depending on your budget that could be either a Jeep or a Mercedes-Benz, both way more reliable than any alternative.
@templarian:
bet your email tray is full
that chick is HAWT
Dear Lauren,
Why pay $6-10 for lunch when you can get a delicious bag of Top Ramen for 50 cents? Just add water!
People who pay more than 50 cents for lunch must be idiots.
Sincerely,
Quix
P.S. enjoy the spyware.
"Your an idiot" - Geoff Gibson
What beautiful irony.