The computer that's number one in consumer satisfaction

solo

Phew Jim, that was a mouthful....but you don't get it still

You are comparing Apples to Dells, we are talking about software not hardware.
We are talking about those negative adverts that Apple feels best sells their product.

You mention Lot's about hardware, but we are talking about software, operating systems, specifically Snow Leopard and Windows 7, I do not see the Mac ads mentioning Dell, Toshiba, Sony, Acer, etc, no, they are attacking Microsoft windows.

jeff hammond

are the ads really that offensive?
stupid? maybe but...

[edit] fwiw, that japanese version is great
i wish they'd air those ones in the u.s.

jeff hammond

haha

[flash=640,505:23i6o4bx]http://www.youtube.com/v/bm7JH1FT_yM&hl=en&fs=1&[/flash:23i6o4bx]

Ecuadorian

Wow, Tim. I didn't know you worked in electronics in the past. Care to share more details?

Mike Lucey

Okay, how about, 'Macs are for Dummies' ie. people that don't like or are not able to tweak and configure their computers also are a little tight fisted when it comes to paying for Service Contracts but don't mind paying extra for 'bling'

solo

Who has a service contract? I've never had one, never needed one either.

xrok1

well for me (and i think a lot of others) part of the joy of owning a pc is to see what you can get out of it. anyone can get a mac (or brand name pc) off the shelf and use it. so what! its like buying a hot rod and not tuning it? why? integrated graphics, integrated sound, phewey. give me upgrades or give me death.

pbacot

Xrok,

I think your rod analogy is appropriate and I assume half-serious. I have a Mac, and I didn't buy it in order to fix it. I don't want to be a computer expert. And I am not saying Macs are foolproof either. I also have it because it runs the software I use the most, mostly not available on PC.

These Mac Ads have been around a long time, not just when a new Windows product comes out. They are not getting desperate. Mac has always been desperate in the sense that they are not even close to Windows in market share. I do enjoy using Macs, but the Ads are over the top. I think the obnoxious nature is part of their humor.

Mac owners who make a big deal about it ARE posers. And Windows users who consider them posers are just jealous. Either way. It's like the saying. "Hey iPhone owners: you only bought an iPhone, you didn't invent it."

Peter

notareal

Jeff, that was great.

dacad

This is a war so old...and there's so much more, on each side, on youtube.
In my humble opinion macs have two things that make them better for people in design business, better use of ram memory and displays with better brightnesse/contrast. The bad thing: you can put it however you want it but in the end, it's not worth all the money they ask for it, especcially after win7.
I bough a pc this month for around 900 (i7 920 overclocked to 3.8gh and 6Gg triple chanel at 1600) and there's no way in hell i could buy a mac that could come close, even without the OC. And with the rest of the money i had left over i could put extra 6Gg of ram and buy a pantone colour calibrator for my display, completing putting aside 2 great beneficts of using macs, and turning a better pc even better comparing to the mac...

But this war will never end, especcially after one of the apple directors said that trying to buy an eqqual pc to mac would allways be more expensive. Why?because for him, we would need to buy a lot of software to be at par with the mac, one of them beeing PHOTOSHOP...lololol, yes because when we buy a mac, who needs photoshop, even elements version...lolol.

I even have friends that had a mac but had to run windows on it when they wanted to work...what sense does this make?
Anyway, i try to pass aside this, because i think everyone should always use what better suits them, beeing windows or mac, but that's something fanboys of each side won't ever understand.
For me, it's the better performance i can get for my money.

kwistenbiebel

I don't like Apple.
Overhyped, toy looking etc...

But fact is that my desktop is a MacPro. At the time (a year ago) the best value for money for a double Xeon rig (8 cores).
Very solid built, still very fast and a joy to work on.

Never ever used MacosX on it though, always Windows through Bootcamp.
I am pretty sure my next desktop will be a MacPro again. The Nehalem Xeons have my interest, but I think I'll wait for the next gen next year....

I don't care about the version of Windows. Every version seems the same to me.As long as things are compatible, I'm fine with it.

dacad

8 core xeon?16 threads? damn, that must be a monster render machine kwist
And the cheap xeons you found were on a macpro?that's strange...here that would be impossible. But hey i'm in a country (Portugal) where the new iphone 32Gg costs 889,90 euros (1 314.04 USD)!! for an overpriced and obsolete phone?!?!that's crazy...

kwistenbiebel

@unknownuser said:

8 core xeon?16 threads? damn, that must be a monster render machine kwist
And the cheap xeons you found were on a macpro?that's strange...here that would be impossible. But hey i'm in a country (Portugal) where the new iphone 32Gg costs 889,90 euros (1 314.04 USD)!! for an overpriced and obsolete phone?!?!that's crazy...

No, two quadcore Xeons which make a 8 core together.
And for me, yes that was the best value for money.
I would assemble a normal PC myself , but when it comes to a workstation,the components are less likely to be compatible, so I decided to go for a 'out of the box' solution.
When you compare Apple to HP or even Dell workstations, it was surprisingly the good thing to do.

Ecuadorian

So, Kwisten, you realized what none of us did in this thread: A Mac is a PC. A well-built one, but still a PC. That sounds like a very pragmatic way of thinking, you know; buy a Mac only for the hardware if and only if it's a good value compared to other PCs.

dale

There is a great show on Canadian Public broadcaster CBC called "The Age of Persuasion". It is a really thorough look at marketing. This discussion to me has driven home some of the points that the host Terry O'Rielly has made about branding and loyalty, and where a corporation puts its marketing dollars to achieve the best bang for their buck.
Since in a marketing world it costs way less to keep an established customer than lose one, these ads appeal to the Mac "tribe", (already branded loyal customers) since they get to chuckle at PC.
At the same time it hammers away at the weak points of their target opponent, (and in this I tend to agree with solo, at least recently they have been concentrating on Windows, and in particular Vista) and pick off the customers that even have a suspicion that there are problems with Vista (whether there is or not is irrelevant, it is the perception). And most of the so called "problems" hammered at in the ads are public knowledge, overblown or not.
Since for most of my life I have worked for myself, I am fascinated by marketing, and the apple marketing strategy has always been quite brilliant. For most of its corporate history apple has adhered to the strategy first developed by Regis McKenna back in 1984 or so. Here are some quotes from the original strategy:

Regis McKenna on marketing the mac computer.

"This requires defining who users are, making the case for one set of technological standards over another, constructing alliances and strategic partnerships. It also requires constructing the rules by which a product would be evaluated-- inventing the concepts, terms of evaluation, and discourse that would define a product.

Thus, high-tech marketing involves not just convincing buyers that a product is right for them; it involves convincing them to think of themselves as members of a group who would-- almost by definition-- be interested in that product. As sociologists of technology would put it, the technology and its market are co-productions.
Because high-tech products are expensive, require more support, and have longer-term impacts on customers than other consumer goods, it is also important to tell a compelling story about the company behind the technology could also help sales. An image of stability, a track record of innovation, or a reputation for customer focus can reassure customers that they are making the right choice."

The evolution of this strategy is evident in these ads.
This is about marketing and branding pure and simple. It reinforces the reasons Mac fans are mac fans, it picks off the fringe pc users, and it is inevitable that it pisses off the PC and Windows power users.

To clarify I use both mac and pc, and like them both. I regrettably don't own apple shares which contrary to the message of desperation are in fine shape driven by the following information derived from Oct 19th financial statement which indicates that: Mac computer sold 3.05 million units in the last quarter a 17% increase over the same quarter last year. ipods were down 8% selling 10.2 million units, and the iphone sold 7.4 million units a 7% increase.

tim

@xrok1 said:

well for me (and i think a lot of others) part of the joy of owning a pc is to see what you can get out of it. anyone can get a mac (or brand name pc) off the shelf and use it. so what! its like buying a hot rod and not tuning it? why? integrated graphics, integrated sound, phewey. give me upgrades or give me death.

If that's what provides fun to you, excellent. It's a harmless hobby, not terribly expensive, potentially useful to others and maybe it will even result in you (or someone you inspire) producing something we all benefit from. I used to do it too. These days I get my kicks from other aspects of building and customising and for my computer I just want a decent tool that does the job I need with the least amount of intrusion into my thought process. I find that anytime I need to have anything to do with Windows it annoys me. So I avoid it as much as possible.

None of these arguments are ever soluable because they are about what an individual likes to do and there are at least as many ways as people. Hand tools or power tools, pc vs mac vs *nix vs pencils, ford vs chevy vs real cars, biplanes vs monoplanes, gas vs electric, right vs left, stockings vs tights, blondes vs redheads and on and on.