I’m watching the NCAA Basketball Final via the internet and it is actually a stream of a CBS channel from somewhere in the USA. So, I’m getting the commercials and all.
2 of the Mac v. PC ads have shown and I love those. I like the concept and they are brilliantly done. The Mac guy is kinda slacker-ish… but I don’t have a problem with that. The PC guy is John Hodgman who is a riot in anything I’ve seen him on.
I don’t understand how Apple gets away with all the untruths in these ads. I like them… but if you are trying to sell a computer because it has a camera in it… Mac v. PC isn’t really the right format for that… IMHO.
I have absolutely no problem with Macs… I’m not a rabid Windows fan… but I’ve got a LOT of time and money invested into being an expert with Windows and I’m still at a point in life where I need the biggest bang for my buck… so I run Windows XP and have no plans to upgrade to Vista. I’ve never had any trouble with Windows versions from 3.11 for Workgroups through XP. I didn’t ever have Windows Me. I’m just trying to make it clear that I have no “axe to grind” so to speak. For the record, I haven’t run MS Office since late 2004 or early 2005 when I tried out OpenOffice.org 1.1.4 which is a free open-source Office Suite that has now been upgraded to OpenOffice version 2.2.
Apple has done an AMAZING job marketing their products… they present them as cutting edge but they aren’t always so – iPhone features have been available in Asia for quite a while already and AppleTV sounds a lot like what I’ve been running for almost 2 years now through my XBOX (XBOX Media Center) except that it doesn’t have as many features.
The 2nd “Get a Mac” ad (Tech Support) I saw today was about how Macs have a camera built in and PC’s don’t. Who says? That was strange because it would have been more appropriate to compare Macs and Dell or something… compare hardware vendors rather than OS companies. Not to mention the fact that built-in components are not easily upgraded and that people don’t want to pay for something that they don’t use.
If you want to see some BEAUTIFUL machines that run windows… check out Taiwanese hotshots ASUS. I bought an Asus S5200N back in December 2003. I bought it because it was very portable and the battery life was amazing at the time (3+ hours at full power). I didn’t really pay much attention to how it looked when I bought it, but I noticed that other people loved it and asked me about it often. Now… 3 and 1/2 years later people still comment on it.
Oh… most of their notebooks come with built in cameras… some with better specs than found in even the newest Macs.
People… please just pick the computer and OS that lets you get the most stuff done. Try them all out and buy what you like. This isn’t about Mac v. PC really… but Apple makes it sound like they’ve cornered the market on innovation, presentation, and features… their OS rocks for sure… but be sure to check out your options before you spend your money.
1 response so far ↓
1 Jon Ralls // Apr 4, 2007 at 12:31 pm
Actually, I think the commercial shows an Imac at the end of the commercial which would be consistent with the fact that there tends to not be very many all-in-one computers with a camera attached. This is especially true if you don’t go with an all-in-one option, and instead go for a traditional computer box and monitor. There are very few monitors that have the camera included which works out of the box with all the software that you would have to buy or download so that you can instant message, make movies, or burn Dvds.
If you look at laptops, then I think your point is very valid.