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It's not surprising. Most of Microsoft's attempts at advertising make them look stupid. The Gates/Seinfeld ads? They just made the company look aimless. The
by mdasen 17y ago
It's not surprising. Most of Microsoft's attempts at advertising make them look stupid. The Gates/Seinfeld ads? They just made the company look aimless. They made the company look like they didn't know what people wanted or why Apple was doing well.
These new "laptop hunter" ads hit Apple where it hurts. While one can argue that Apple's computers don't cost more than an identically spec'd PC, the problem is that very few people would spec a PC in the way Apple forces them. Microsoft highlights Apple's inflexible cost. Want a 15" laptop? Well, that's $1,700 since you need to upgrade a ton of other components to get that screen. 17" screen? $2,500!
As a Mac user who has stayed with Apple through the worst of times, it's frustrating that every time I want to buy something, I have to pay a huge premium price for stuff I don't need. Plus, PCs generally come at a discount if you shop around. It's easy to find a PC that, comparably equipped, prices out like a Mac, but it's also decently easy to find ones that are cheaper.
These ads portray the PC as the every-person computer. "The Macs are cool, but apparently too cool (read: expensive) for me. However, I can get an awesome deal on a much better PC." They move the debate from "which one is more slick" to "which one gives me the hardware I want at the price I can afford". Sure, they might be conceding the "in a perfect world, I'd get an Apple", but they're positioning themselves as practical.
And every time I need a new computer, I have that thought process myself. But I go back to Apple anyway (I figure it's my livelihood, I can justify spending more for something I enjoy). However, from that perspective, many people aren't going to make the same decision. And Apple would rather the debate be about which product is superior, not which product fits your lifestyle and budget.
- poppysan 17y agoI agree with most of your points except one: I recently switched back to PC, and am amazed at the hardware i can get for the price. I can get a superior PC (operating system preference aside) for FAR less than a MAC. But, that being said, I am so used to OSX that I prefer it over windows XP at the moment. But I have recently enjoyed the simple breadth of things I have been missing out on (gaming and game design, add-ons and free apps, etc).
- likpok 17y agoPreferring OSX to XP is somewhat of a no-brainer at this point, as XP is about 10 years old. A fairer comparison might be the Win7 RC (perhaps, I don't know about breadth of driver support).
- Retric 17y agoWin7 is not actually out yet, so really your options are Vista, XP, or CE. And most people think XP is the best of those options.
- endtime 17y ago>Preferring OSX to XP is somewhat of a no-brainer at this point, as XP is about 10 years old. OS preference is not primarily dependent on OS age.
- drewcrawford 17y agoThis is a huge sampling space fail, but anecdotally, the other day I sent my macbook into Apple care. They replaced the logic board, heatsink arm, display, and half the case (the latter for a cosmetic issue that was absolutely not under warranty). The machine was out of my hands for exactly 22 hours (fedex priority ftw). I paid $0 for this service (applecare was $300 several years ago). All of that to say, find me a manufacturer that will replace 70% of your system in 22 hours including courier time almost three years after it was sold. You can only do that if your reliability is way high, because you spent a lot of money on quality components to begin with, instead of poor-boying it with sweatshop chips.
- fauigerzigerk 17y agoSo you basically what happened is that you bought insurance from Apple for the price of a cheap PC and they actually covered you according to contract. AppleCare for a $1700 MacBook Pro costs $350. Does that mean one in every five MacBooks is broken beyond repair within 3 years? Or does it mean that you severely overpaid for your insurance? I'm aware that AppleCare doesn't just cover the parts but the labor as well, but their margin on hardware is probably somewhere around %40, so that covers the labor easily. I guess all hardware vendors would absolutely love to sell you a luxury insurance like that and if they're not idiots they treat people paying like kings accordingly (e.g by doing it quickly and not saving on shipping fees).
- drewcrawford 17y ago> but their margin on hardware is probably somewhere around %40 Maybe, but remember there's a pretty big invisible hardware R&D cost. Things like unibody, multitouch, internal battery, displayport, etc. aren't free. And Snow Leopard probably cost a bit more than $29/seat to develop.
- fauigerzigerk 17y agoOf course, but reported margins are _after_ all these costs.
- 17y ago