New Get a Mac Ads

[BongoBanger]

After 3 years, these ads still piss off PC users as bad as day 1.

If Apple had an Apple logo on a blank white screen for 15 seconds, PC users would get intensely pissed. It's hilarious.

Sure, piss off the people you're trying to attract. That's an awesome strategy.

Interestingly the positive/negative vote is about 55/45 at the moment. That should tell you something about how stale these adverts have become.

Because Windows users are aching for computers that "just work"

Well Macs are going to disappoint them considering they're no better or worse than a good quality PC. Which is to say they both mostly 'just work'.

 

[*LTD*]

Sure, piss off the people you're trying to attract. That's an awesome strategy.

Interestingly the positive/negative vote is about 55/45 at the moment. That should tell you something about how stale these adverts have become.

Apple is trying to attract the average user with money.

Most of whom don't spend time on these boards arguing about who Apple is trying to attract.

Apple fan boards on some small corner of the internet are not in any way a measure of how Apple's target demographic feels about Apple. Apparenty, if we go by the numbers, which is the only real measure, they're feeling pretty damn good.

 

[KnightWRX]

Here's the thing, that's exactly the WRONG way to advertise Apple's computer products. They're not selling to the more geeky set who care about hardware and pointing out what's better in OS X just makes people think of the work they'll need to do retraining themselves to use a different OS. And they certainly can't push cost as a positive (even though in some cases they're very price competitive like for like) as there's no way to quickly sell the idea without coming off as ultra-defensive.

The current Apple advertising walks a very fine line but it's basically just a way of getting people to the store (or web site) with a good, solid reason in their heads about why they might want to switch away from Windows to something else. Once there the products pretty much speak for themselves and pretty much every Genius I've ever met is very good at carrying that message on.

Again we've got to remember that people like us that read forums and actually know the ins and outs of each hardware spec, we'll come to Apple in our own time (or not), advertising doesn't really work on us. Apple is going after the masses and it's a tactic that seems to be working. God, can you imagine how boring an ad would be targeted at the geek? 'This is why the hardware's actually reasonably priced', 'OS X, running x% faster than windows in the three top benchmark prograzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz'.

I think you're wrong. Apple has had marketing campaigns in the past that showed off their software without it being geeky. Think of iPhone ads where they show web browsing and street maps, things everybody who uses the devices does.

They could easily show off iLife and OS X as things that just work (in fact, they have done so). Things like iPhoto geolocalisation, face recognition. These are not geek toys for the forum people. These are tools that people use.

It would be much fresher and better than yet another "viruses and malware" campaign, which is getting stale and is beginning to sound like a broken record.

 

[Sonicjay]

hahaha, I love Patrick Warburton (Puddy)! He cracks me up!

 

[BongoBanger]

Apple fan boards on some small corner of the internet are not in any way a measure of how Apple's target demographic feels about Apple. Apparenty, if we go by the numbers, which is the only real measure, they're feeling pretty damn good.

A 4.5% global market share - up about 2% during the Vista debacle - is 'pretty damn good'?

I was one of those switchers and to be honest whilst the hardware is great OS X leaves a lot to be desired. A system that doesn't run a lot of the applications that I use - or if it does has poor, shadow versions of those apps - and requires a restart for just about every update isn't exactly impressive. I mean a restart for a web browser?

I think a lot of Windows switchers are coming to that conclusion and are either dual booting or we're going to see a lot of W7 installs on Macbooks as a primary OS.

Still Apple won't mind - the hardware is awesome and better than anything else out there so I'm quite content to pay for it. It's just looking increasingly unlikely that it's going to be running OS X.

 

[*LTD*]

A 4.5% global market share - up about 2% during the Vista debacle - is 'pretty damn good'?

They function at the Premium end of the market. A gain of just a couple of percent worldwide and a 4%+ gain in domestic share means a world of difference.

 

[ratGT]

Wake Up!!!

SURPRISE! I'm one here.

I don't hate it so much that I'd never touch it, I just think it's overpriced for what it is.

Here are a few misconceptions people (Die hard Apple Users and fanboys) have about Windows.

1) Windows gets lots of Viruses!
Well, that depends on who the user is. I don't get viruses, but I'm not your every day Joe that goes on porn sites or warez sites and downloads cracked software only to find that I got a virus.

2) Windows is for noobs.
This is a big one that Mac users all seem to think (mostly those who are only Mac OS X fans). Windows is not an OS that is so stuck down and makes you want to cry, etc. etc.

3) Windows is sooo buggy.
Well, did the machine you're using or fixing have Spyware or Viruses on it from you downloading something infected or someone else downloading something infected? Maybe you installed an incompatible driver or something.

1) Windows gets lots of Viruses!
Windows GETS A LOT of Viruses! How else would you explain the spawn of a whole line of 'useless' software, such as Antivirus (that more or less over-rides your system), Firewall (really nasty firewalls that blocks stuff YOU DON'T want to blocked) and Spyware (really nasty, memory-hogging and 'never-ending scanning sessions)

2) Windows for noobs.
Actually, that's YOUR OWN STATEMENT. Macs are for noobs! Try teaching a computer-illetirate person about Windows and Mac OS X - He'll prefer any Mac OS X over ANY Windows at the end of the day!

3) Windows is sooo buggy
Windows ARE BUGGY!!! I've got three (3) words for you that mess-up PCs over-time, slows them down and makes re-fromatting inevitable:
DLLs - REGISTRY - DEFRAGMENTATION !!!
Oh, and in case you weren't aware of this, NONE of this has EVER existed on any *nix system (Unix nor Linux), hence on no Mac OS X ! (While it has ALWAYS existed on Windows and ALWAYS will!)

The way I see it, Mac OS X and Windows are in two different categories which is why I think Macs will never have a majority of the userbase of computers. Why? Because Mac OS X requires an Apple certified computer... a computer that is WAYYYYYYYYYY overpriced for what it contains. The system itself is so locked down it's not even funny.

You know that you don't know jack-sh*t about Macs, don't you? Apple doesn't certify computers, it makes them!

Also, it MIGHT cost a couple of 100 bucks more than a PC (and not 'WAYYYYYYYYY' more) which ANYONE would pay for quality and for the avoidance of time-consuming task such as Virus-scanning, Spyware-scanning and defragmentation!

Finally, if you mean that Windows is not a 'locked-down OS' by keeping in mind that any visit to ANY page on the internet, an EXE file containing Spyware/ Malware can be 'forced' to be downloaded and installed on your PC, then I surely will prefer for ever the 'locked-down' Mac OS X!

I grew up on a Mac at school, and PC at home. My favorite games were games like "Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego", and "Cross Country Canada". I also loved games on the iMac like A Bug's Life or one of the games where you were a bug and had to avoid human footsteps, etc. Oh, and I can't forget Oregon Trail!

SO, I could carry on another few pages or so... but I will wrap it up now to see the user response. Sure, I hate on Mac sometimes, I don't hate it to the point where I won't use it, in fact my Mac isn't even prone to not crashing (like all Mac users claim the Macs never crash). All I do is use Safari and XCode on the Mac and sometimes it freezes or XCode crashes.

That was Mac OS 8 or 9. Give 10 (X) some time... I know that it is a pain to get 'exorcised' from Windows... I've been there myself!!!
Oh, as for the freeze-ups, just like Windows, don't install ANY 'life-saving' or multimedia utilities' on your Mac (NOT even want to mention totally useless software like Antivirus) and most importantly, DON'T install any virtualization software (such as Parallels/ VMware) and I promise you that your Mac will be integral...

 

[ratGT]

I saw that one too! Defiantly not Lauren. That ad makes no sense at all. Check our when Lauren goes into the Apple store at second 13. The guy wearing black is in the same shot when she is leaving around second 15. CLEARLY did not have time to look at ANY of the Macs to determine their prices. . . BUT totally unscripted.

WOW...DAMN!!! I always knew that Microsoft was pathetic, but never realized how low they and their advetisers could go!!!... Ha ha ha... Useless bunch of folks

 

[hashholly]

I think you're wrong. Apple has had marketing campaigns in the past that showed off their software without it being geeky. Think of iPhone ads where they show web browsing and street maps, things everybody who uses the devices does.

They could easily show off iLife and OS X as things that just work (in fact, they have done so). Things like iPhoto geolocalisation, face recognition. These are not geek toys for the forum people. These are tools that people use.

It would be much fresher and better than yet another "viruses and malware" campaign, which is getting stale and is beginning to sound like a broken record.

Fact is the general pc user doesn't care about geotagging, or making movies, etc. While it's an added bonus, i can tell you right now the general pc user is more concerned about things working when they plug them into their computer, viruses, and reformatting, Apple know's this, and thats what they play to.

As much as people say Windows 7 is the best Windows ever (which it very well may be) the taste of virus and formats with XP, and things not working with Vista are fresh in people's minds till this day, and at the end of the day people just want their computers to "work" with minor hassle. The commercials get this point across.

 

[Mainyehc]

The one thing I like about the Mac is that it's way quicker to boot up than Windows, but as far as advantages over Windows, there aren't really any advantages to using a Mac.

I hope you don't think I'm a vicious fanboy, nor do I want to start a flamewar here, but... I think you are way overlooking some of the biggest advantages of Mac OS X over Windows (and don't even try contradicting me on this one), which are maintenance, troubleshooting and a myriad of minute details that make all the difference.

- In Mac OS X, you very seldom have to enter commands in the Terminal to get anything at all fixed, but the fact that it is heavily centered on usability for computer-illiterate people doesn't preclude power users from doing so and very easily tweaking a few hidden preferences along the way.

- Because Mac OS X now has an integrated backup system you don't even have to worry with doing them, and in my book that beats having to acquire and configure third party backup solutions. Also, recovering from a backup is quick and easy; the only disadvantage of Time Machine is that the backups aren´t bootable, which is something I think Apple should try to fix, but is not enough to offset the peace of mind it brings.

- As for booting volumes, the Mac supports either Open Firmware on PowerPC Machines or EFI in Intel Macs, in stark contrast with Microsoft which, in what was probably one of the dumbest moments of their history as a company, decided not to adopt that standard and catch up with the now 21-year-old Open Firmware, sticking up only with BIOS instead.

That's why I can easily boot a Mac from an external volume if the internal hard drive fails, or boot it into FireWire Target Disk Mode so that I can either backup the data contained in its internal volumes or boot them into an external machine. Sure, on a PC you can always remove the drive without voiding any warranty (which is not the case with an iMac), but even when you can, this may come in handy in case of hardware failures of any kind, especially if you're in the middle of some job.

Picture this: I once even installed OS X into my iMac, wich has a very picky DVD drive as far as installation DVDs are concerned, by booting it into FireWire Target Disk Mode, then connecting it to an iBook which I booted with the installation DVD, and installing the new OS directly to the iMac's internal drive. I wasn't sure if that was even possible, but it seemed a logical thing to do so I tried it anyway and whaddyaknow, it worked (although being a pretty Frankenstein-ish setup )! Now try and do that with a PC...

Moreover, Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard, being a transitional operating system, is 100% universal, which means you can boot any PowerPC or current Intel Mac into a Leopard volume... I tried booting a SuperDuper bootable backup (which I had before reformatting the drive for Time Machine) of my iMac G5 in a MacBook, and it worked flawlessly. It is very unfortunate that Apple discontinued PowerPC support, especially because of that dual-boot scenario, because besides of pissing off many loyal Apple costumers who bought Rev. C G5 iMacs and Quad-Core G5 PowerMacs, they may cause many sys admins a lot of headaches. But that, coming from the same company which killed the floppy drive, ADB, ADC, Mac OS Classic, the CRT display, the iPod mini while still in its prime, etc, is no surprise at all and not really that regrettable in context.

- Finally, and probably the #1 reason for using a Mac: overall system tidyness. Face it, Windows is a total mess, a hodgepodge of bad design ideas. It seems that they tidied up the filesystem structure a bit in Vista, but they still haven't got rid of the god-awful, lame excuse of a data-base driven preference repository that is the Registry. I mean, they could (and I'm sure they must, anyway) keep supporting it for legacy purposes but should have moved away from it internally and pushed third party developers to follow oh-so-many-years-ago. It is that bad.

For fellow colleagues, I usually point it as a strong enough reason to stay away from Windows PCs and not touch them with a 10-foot pole, and with good reason. How many of us have had to, one time or another, upgrade our operating system or simply reformat our main hard drive? And why is it such a PITA to recover from that?... This is a fact, not a misconception: Windows works best after a clean install, everyone knows that. Windows and upgrades don't go very well together, and even when they do, chances are you won't fill the requirements (see the Windows 7 upgrade chart).

Now, even if you DO succeed at upgrading Windows, you may not be able to keep it in tip-top shape and have to reformat it one day. I know these are a lot of ifs, but even if you DO keep it pristine and speedy and all, you are still not immune to a hard-drive crash... or to the odd rogue program which gets its preferences corrupted for some reason.

What do you do on that situation (this is both a rhetoric and an actual question, and if indeed there is something you can do short of nixing the registry, reinstall everything and customize your programs' preferences again, one by one, feel free to enlighten me, honest)? I know what I do on Mac OS X... Each program having its discrete preference file, arranged neatly in their own folder, I can backup any of them, carry them with me on a USB-stick, delete and reset them on demand, etc. Again, now try and do that on a PC, out of the box, without having to deal with unintelligible HEX keys... The first time I did a clean reinstall of OS X on a colleague's misbehaving MacBook Pro and got it up and running, with her original preferences and all, in LESS than an hour, not only was I impressed as I also though she finally felt she was truly getting the bang for the buck with her machine.

 

[mrmayor92]

god i hate these commercials

 

[hagjohn]

*yawn* - time to come up with another type of ad. Current ads are getting pretty old and sad.

 

[mrmayor92]

*yawn* - time to come up with another type of ad. Current ads are getting pretty old and sad.

you made me yawn

 

[genovelle]

SURPRISE! I'm one here.

I don't hate it so much that I'd never touch it, I just think it's overpriced for what it is.

Here are a few misconceptions people (Die hard Apple Users and fanboys) have about Windows.

1) Windows gets lots of Viruses!
Well, that depends on who the user is. I don't get viruses, but I'm not your every day Joe that goes on porn sites or warez sites and downloads cracked software only to find that I got a virus.

2) Windows is for noobs.
This is a big one that Mac users all seem to think (mostly those who are only Mac OS X fans). Windows is not an OS that is so stuck down and makes you want to cry, etc. etc.

3) Windows is sooo buggy.
Well, did the machine you're using or fixing have Spyware or Viruses on it from you downloading something infected or someone else downloading something infected? Maybe you installed an incompatible driver or something.

If you did any of those things, yes... it will be buggy. If Macs ever take over the Windows market (which it won't, no matter how much you try and think it will... it won't), you will have this unfortunate attention of people who have no life or are very bored (which is the same thing almost), you will start getting more and more viruses. Yes, you have to hit OK to install something... but most people just hit OK without looking at what they're allowing, so you will always have a group of people who install viruses.

I could go on about misconceptions users have on Windows.

The way I see it, Mac OS X and Windows are in two different categories which is why I think Macs will never have a majority of the userbase of computers. Why? Because Mac OS X requires an Apple certified computer... a computer that is WAYYYYYYYYYY overpriced for what it contains. The system itself is so locked down it's not even funny.

I see the Apple userbase praise the fact that it is locked down, and that it allows Apple to make a better user experience. In some ways, this is true... but that also has its downside like why you won't ever have a majority userbase.

When I first got my Mac Mini, I was excited. Why? It's a new experience on a completely new system. Was I excited because I hate Windows? No! I still use Windows, and I use it as my primary machine.

I've been using Mac OSX almost everyday the last 3 or so months. I am an iPhone developer and that is the sole reason for getting a Mac. I thought to myself that I shouldn't limit my user base just because of what it is.

The one thing I like about the Mac is that it's way quicker to boot up than Windows, but as far as advantages over Windows, there aren't really any advantages to using a Mac.

I grew up on a Mac at school, and PC at home. My favorite games were games like "Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego", and "Cross Country Canada". I also loved games on the iMac like A Bug's Life or one of the games where you were a bug and had to avoid human footsteps, etc. Oh, and I can't forget Oregon Trail!

SO, I could carry on another few pages or so... but I will wrap it up now to see the user response. Sure, I hate on Mac sometimes, I don't hate it to the point where I won't use it, in fact my Mac isn't even prone to not crashing (like all Mac users claim the Macs never crash). All I do is use Safari and XCode on the Mac and sometimes it freezes or XCode crashes.

I said I was going to stop, so I will stop typing now.

That's funny. I had a similar experience when I got my first Mac in 2001. I was a PC man since DOS. I worked in IT and had designed hundreds of Windows systems for music production for a company I worked for. I talked so many people out of Macs that I now feel guilty every time I think about it. Beyond being a tech person who knew how to bring Windows back from the dead and even catching quirks early enough to fix before the blue screen of death arrived. Doing relentless maintenance is required because over time PCs will slow to a crawl and it doesn't take long. About 8 months ago my job purchase a new Dell computer for our department. It only used the internet on mainly 6 websites that were all major companies or CRM based. No one else had access to this computer so with the exception of the occasional use of Word this was it's only use. It slowed to a crawl and need to be reformated after about 3 months of use. Mainly because in this job I'm not the IT guy and I did not have time to research every glitch to avoid what was coming. It has already begun to do the same again.

I challenge U to find a name brand quality PC with the same features and standard software for less than a current Mac. I have done the comparison with Dell, Sony, & HP.

By the way I still have my Mac tower from 2001 and it runs Leopard. Try running Vista on a 8 year old Pentium III PC. Good luck with that one. Mac OS is not lock down, they just do more of the work for the developers like the coming grand central to allow all programs to better access multiple processors and cores.

I only use Windows at home in Parallels as a program to run a couple of obscure programs for work. This way when it acts up. I just use time machine to pull a older version of its folder to the present. Problem solved.

I didn't really appreciate my Mac for about 6 months, as I was still dealing with Windows all day at work in IT at the time. My mind was set for the Windows way of thinking which is more frustrating now that I know better.
One day I decided, I was going to figure out the difference. People said it just works so in stead of expecting to use the dig and hunt and learn the software approach, I decided to do what I thought made sense. It started with Mail. I wanted to send and attachment. It worked just like Windows in that I could open mail and start a message then select attachments then find the file. I thought, wouldn't it make more sense to just be able to drag the file from my desktop to the mail icon? I tried it and it worked. Most tasks on the Mac are like that. Free yourself from having to figure out how some other techie guy thinks something should work.

 

[Zimmy68]

As a power user of both systems I think these new ads just fail miserably.
It's like someone who verbally slams someone 10 out of 10 times and all they come back with is, "oh yea? well you are ugly!"

Microsoft has been very successful and smart with their ads, why they didn't think of these years ago is beyond me.

The last one I saw showed the dude really digging on the Mac Book but then back handed with, "It's all style", which I thought was brilliant.
Also, the kid one with "It has Blu-Ray!".
Someone needs to get a blu-ray brochure to Steve Jobs and show him that it does exist.

The best thing Apple could do about these ads is nothing.
You either ignore them and stay the course, which is what they were doing, or come out with a comparably priced product to counter the ads (which I doubt they will).

But hey, the got the Man, Puddy, and I like that about the ad.

I just hope their next attempt ain't... "Well sure ours is $1,000 more but it's green friendly!"

 

[*LTD*]

As a power user of both systems I think these new ads just fail miserably.
It's like someone who verbally slams someone 10 out of 10 times and all they come back with is, "oh yea? well you are ugly!"

Microsoft has been very successful and smart with their ads

No, they haven't. The Laptop Hunter ads were a complete failure. They seemed to help Apple sell MORE Macs! And they've also helped to a) lock MS out of the Premium end of the market and b) confine them amost entirely to the bottom-end. They certainly didn't help MS' image, which is now even more synonymous with bargain-bin trashiness. Yuck!

 

[kernkraft]

Not another brainless Apple-nazi!

Because die-hard Windows-sufferers posing as "objective" tech users (yeah, right) find them hurtful?

Just out of curiosity... who are you talking about?

My partner and I, for example went through the following computers during the last three years:

-2 GHz white MacBook (cracked keyboard, bezel, bottom, discolouring). After the third new keyboard and a new case, it was sold as the unibody MacBooks came out.

-2 GHz unibody MacBook (ordered on release day in the UK, Apple's website mistakenly stated that it had backlit keys, returned within 14 days. It also had fan noise problems)

-2.4 GHz unibody MacBooks ((4x (!!) all of them had either misaligned keys, and/or constant fan noise. Last one sold privately, after giving up on the exceptionally poor screen, the lack of Firewire and on the fan noise)

-1.6 GHz first generation MacBook Air (2x, refurbished) Both were so noisy, that I was asked by my peers not to use them at work. The second also had loose display and distracting CPU noise.

-2.53 GHz discontinued MacBook Pro (faulty graphics card and constant noise coming from the fan area)

-2.26 GHz unibody MacBook Pro (first one was returned as it had 'chirping' noise coming from left of fan area. Also, it had the usual constant fan noise. The second also has constant fan activity. But I'll keep it as I am not prepared to spend more of my money on these overpriced computers. Somebody just mentioned 8 hours battery life. Surely, they do not apply to these computers. Mine is out of juice in 3 and that's with moderate browsing, Bluetooth turned off and no video editing or power hungry graphic applications.



That's 11 computers and all had some quality problems. I wouldn't call myself 'die hard Windows sufferer', as you described, in fact the last PC we've had was bought in 2006 and passed on in the family. Also, my problems with these computers were more objective that you have ever intended to be in your comment.

Yet, I hate so many things about Apple as a company and OS X. I think Finder is feature-poor. I think iTunes is a waste of time and a nasty corporate-imposed limitation on iPod users. Also, I cannot remember that Windows had so many upgrades and security patches as Leopard has. Apple, as a company is a bully, a legal and marketing company that outsourced almost everything that used to make Macs worth buying.

Given the opportunity, I would not hesitate to buy a third party computer with OS X on it. In fact, if Apple will not make that possible in fear of having their computer sales collapsing, I might put Snow Leopard on a cheap hardware. I'm not talking about Apple's offering. I'm talking about one without the aluminium case and being sold cheaply by other manufacturers. Something that many would call a 'PC'. Same stuff, really.

 

[Macmoney]

These commercials still do not address the claim that Apple is overpriced.
That has been MS digging point which I think has been effective
to those on the fence as far as switching.

Everyone pretty much knows Apple is reliable they Hammer that
home on every new add. But The marketing needs to focus on
Highlighting the entry level units to offset what MS is doing imo.

 

[alent1234]

That's funny. I had a similar experience when I got my first Mac in 2001. I was a PC man since DOS. I worked in IT and had designed hundreds of Windows systems for music production for a company I worked for. I talked so many people out of Macs that I now feel guilty every time I think about it. Beyond being a tech person who knew how to bring Windows back from the dead and even catching quirks early enough to fix before the blue screen of death arrived. Doing relentless maintenance is required because over time PCs will slow to a crawl and it doesn't take long. About 8 months ago my job purchase a new Dell computer for our department. It only used the internet on mainly 6 websites that were all major companies or CRM based. No one else had access to this computer so with the exception of the occasional use of Word this was it's only use. It slowed to a crawl and need to be reformated after about 3 months of use. Mainly because in this job I'm not the IT guy and I did not have time to research every glitch to avoid what was coming. It has already begun to do the same again.

I challenge U to find a name brand quality PC with the same features and standard software for less than a current Mac. I have done the comparison with Dell, Sony, & HP.

By the way I still have my Mac tower from 2001 and it runs Leopard. Try running Vista on a 8 year old Pentium III PC. Good luck with that one. Mac OS is not lock down, they just do more of the work for the developers like the coming grand central to allow all programs to better access multiple processors and cores.

I only use Windows at home in Parallels as a program to run a couple of obscure programs for work. This way when it acts up. I just use time machine to pull a older version of its folder to the present. Problem solved.

I didn't really appreciate my Mac for about 6 months, as I was still dealing with Windows all day at work in IT at the time. My mind was set for the Windows way of thinking which is more frustrating now that I know better.
One day I decided, I was going to figure out the difference. People said it just works so in stead of expecting to use the dig and hunt and learn the software approach, I decided to do what I thought made sense. It started with Mail. I wanted to send and attachment. It worked just like Windows in that I could open mail and start a message then select attachments then find the file. I thought, wouldn't it make more sense to just be able to drag the file from my desktop to the mail icon? I tried it and it worked. Most tasks on the Mac are like that. Free yourself from having to figure out how some other techie guy thinks something should work.

unless you need garage band there is no need to pay for a Mac. Every PC comes with MS Works or you can get OpenOffice for free if you don't want to pay for MS Office. Of just use Google Docs.

these days almost every PC is cheaper than a Mac for the same performance since apple insists on using laptop parts. and my mom runs Vista on a 5 year old laptop with no problems and no complaints. She maxed the RAM to 2GB for $20 - $30 and with Windows 7 being even faster than Vista it will keep on going for another few years. Not bad for $800 including shipping and the RAM upgrade

the only people that get spyware are those that run p2p all the time, visit shady websites, download crap like the coupon printing software or the browser toolbars. and i've read comments by security researchers that Windows is now secure and OS X is full of holes and will have the same problems going forward now that hackers are noticing the increased userbase. there are even Mac botnets these days

 

[Lesser Evets]

Sure, piss off the people you're trying to attract. That's an awesome strategy.

Interestingly the positive/negative vote is about 55/45 at the moment. That should tell you something about how stale these adverts have become.

Yeah, because pos/neg votes on a third string news website = earnings.

And the Apple market share is?
And the Apple revenue is?
And Apple has been dwindling for years because of?
And Apple has made itself irrelevant because of?

Face it: if these ads weren't working, you wouldn't take the time to post. They make you angry. They shake you up. If they didn't do this, you would be complacent and never rethink anything in the slightest (part of the reason you like PCs).

 

[dwman]

Seriously, it's time they started showcasing the benefits of SL instead of the same old tired "Windows get viruses and Macs don't" commercials. Of all the ads, I think I remember one showcasing Time Machine....and that's about it. Come on, , time to step it up. From the looks of things, W7 is going to be a much bigger success then Vista.

 

[phobic99]

I just think it's funny how so many people take stuff like this so personal. I know it's a "discussion" forum but some people here act as if Bill Gates personally murdered their unborn child or Steve Jobs licks their feet with every Apple product purchased.

I mean... really?

Anyway, I do agree it's time to shift focus and show how Macs are actually better than a Windows PC. Personally, I think Windows 7 is a pretty good step for MS in the OS department. I'm even tempted to get a comparable Windows 7 based laptop to my Macbook Pro just to see if I really miss having a Windows laptop. Or maybe not... but I do like the OS quite a bit.

 

[curmi]

Just out of curiosity... who are you talking about?

My partner and I, for example went through the following computers during the last three years:

[Snip]

That's 11 computers and all had some quality problems. I wouldn't call myself 'die hard Windows sufferer', as you described, in fact the last PC we've had was bought in 2006 and passed on in the family. Also, my problems with these computers were more objective that you have ever intended to be in your comment.

Wow. That's some serious bad luck. And more computers than most people own in a life time.

For the record, we use mainly Macs for the (small) office we have. In the last 3 years we've bought 8 MacBook Pros, and 1 Mac Pro. Of those, 1 has had a faulty video card (free replacement of mother board even though out of warranty), and 1 has a bad connector to the LCD (out of warranty, so we haven't repaired it). No other issues, and everyone loves their computers.

We've also bought 6 Dell desktops/servers, one runs Windows XP, the others run Linux. We've had no issues with them, but they don't compare to the Macs. They are all noisy, ugly, and poor quality in comparison. We couldn't send them back because of quirks because they all have that sort of quality. But of course they cost half the price of the powerful single Mac Pro we have. I'd buy all Mac Pros if we had the money.

 

[mynewstar]

Has anyone ever met a PC user that switched to a Mac and didn't like it? I haven't. All of these PC users that dog on Macs probably haven't even tried a Mac. They just put up with the crappy user experience that PCs offer and assume that all computers are the same. Apple should run a campaign with interviews with former PC users. The whole pissing match gets a bit annoying, really. I'm a lifelong Mac user and, yes, a fanboy. But, it's crazy to me how many PC users dog on Macs without even trying them. I've used both and have stuck with the one that I prefer most. At least try both before you defend Windows so much, people!

Me. I do enjoy using my MacBook, but I miss some of the benefits of Windows such as more access to software and overall more variety in choices in hardware. In my opinion, I find Windows machines to be relatively cheaper. Although Macs are overall easier to use, I feel Windows saavy enough to not have to be babysat (which is how I occasionally feel when using Macs) when using a PC.

In fact, I've used Macs for a very long time. I have owned a Centris 605, PowerBook 165c, Blueberry iMac, the sunflower iMac, 12" Ti Powerbook, and now my white MacBook. I have enjoyed using Macs, but I have also owned PCs during that time and have found that despite the edge in operating system usability, Macs cannot overcome my desire to use certain Windows only software programs and the freedom of choice in hardware configurations.

Hence, I am seriously considering switching back once Windows 7 comes out. I have been testdriving it a little bit on the MacBook ironically. So once I need new hardware, assuming Windows 7 is as good as I hope it will be (and have already experienced), I intend to keep my hardware options wide open. What is the point of having multiple operating systems on a machine when you can do everything you want on just one OS?

 

[hiimamac]

This article is full of fail. Why is the 13" such a hit then?

I think the 13 has been purchased by, 1) Those that had macbooks and machines with Firewire, 2) Those that want a small form factor but can't afford the air, 3)Those waiting for the return of firewire ( I was in the camp that it had nothing to do with size and design,and there was a lot of (guessed wrong) people around that thought otherwise , so in a sense, Apple is selling these products back to most of the same people.


13" is small and if they bumped up the CPU speed, larger HD and added express slot, at least as an option, they would sell double - I think the success of the 13 should be telling apple something.

This is a machine that can be the heart of a project studio, yet portable enough to take anyway. Read this one article about a pretty famous producer that DUMPED PRO TOOLS and went Nuendo I believe, closed his studio down, saved a bundle by the way, and used his beach house and laptop to capture the bulk of the stems (tracks) and only went to the studio to master. Obviously, to have the right sound reinforcement.

I think Apple should focus on the 13 and really think about making this a strongER machine.

Peace