Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Cult of Mac
Oh no! Laptop Hunter ads return
Microsoft keeps trying, and trying, and trying. The new Laptop Hunter ad [YouTube link] features Sheila, who wants to do some video editing. She has $2000US to spend. Sounds like a natural for a MacBook Pro, eh? Nope. She settles for an HP HDX 16t.She passes on the Mac because it has only 2 GB of RAM, while the HP has 4 GB of DDR2 (slower) RAM. She gets a screen that maxes out with a video resolution of 1366x768, while the MacBook Pro has 1440x900. Worse yet, she will get Windows Movie Maker instead of iMovie, and she can never run Final Cut Pro or Express, which she may want if she goes professional or semi-professional.
Of course, the Microsoft ads are pushing price, not features and quality, and there is some talk that Apple, seeing the recession take hold, is increasingly interested in some lower priced -- but hopefully not lower quality -- products to sell.
While there are certainly millions of buyers for whom a Windows PC would be a reasonable choice of computer, it's worth noting the long-standing mild irony that Crispin Porter & Bogusky, the ad agency that created this campaign for Microsoft, is (like the majority of advertising agencies) pretty heavily invested in Macs. Chances are, for this ad, the video editing that Sheila aspires to do was completed on a Mac. If you have an idle moment, check out this profile of the agency on the web and click on the office shots. I especially like the shot of Alex Bogusky's desk with two MacBook Pros sitting there. Different strokes for different folks.
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 6)
Dave said 3:13PM on 5-01-2009
Yeah, because the "Get A Mac" ads have always been a shining beacon of truth in the advertising world.
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THJ said 4:33PM on 5-01-2009
dah doo doo da doo doo da da doo doo doo doo dah!
Mr. Fry said 8:21PM on 5-01-2009
There's so much questionable information in all of these ads. I'd be a happy man if these sorts of product-bashing computer ads disappeared.
And TUAW, you're not helping...yes DD3 ram is "faster," but the latency is higher than that of recent DDR2, so it isn't a cut-and-dry one is better than the other affair as you so quickly indicate.
jeesusfreek said 12:27AM on 5-03-2009
Mel:
As far as factual information goes, you are just about the worst.
DDR3 Memory is "faster' huh? Failed to mention the higher latency didn't you...or perhaps the fact that it is still much much faster to use 4GB of DDR2 RAM when using RAM hungry applications, rather than use smaller amounts of faster RAM, because somehow that equates to being to swap out SO fast that it doesn't matter you having to swap out. Right? ...Right?
Everyone knows that any user worth his or her salt uses a replacement RGBLED in any laptop, not just HP's and Dell's, but Mac's too. Or perhaps you forgot that review where the Dell Mini 9's screen was rated higher than a MBP's.
Also, don't bother going and talking to a real actual videographer..because last time I checked, I don't use FCP, and Avid was on PC first...dumbass.
-Proud owner of previously MBP 2.4, iBook G3, Powerbook, and now, a custom built desktop, by me, for half the price of an iMac...quad booting 7RC1, OSX86, XP x64, and Ubuntu 9.10.
Suck it mel.
VanillaSpice said 9:29PM on 5-04-2009
@jeesusfreak - what's funny, is your insinuation that you are a "real actual videographer", which provided some much-needed mirth for me this morning.
Who cares which platform a certain package was on "first" ? What does that matter? You are a "real actual videographer" only so long as real actual videographers are people who base decisions on completely irrelevant reasons.
Also - half the price of an iMac? Please. Is that the troll motto or something?
Matt said 3:18PM on 5-01-2009
If you're a true video editor (which I doubt this commercial portrays), you never make hardware decisions first. You're either an Avid or a Final Cut user and then your decision is made.
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David Hildreth said 3:41PM on 5-01-2009
Yeah, Mac. I use MC on a MacPro all day, its heaven.
macserv said 6:42PM on 5-02-2009
If you've got a small business doing media production (which I do... http://www.encoredvds.com) you would also be wise to base your decisions on total cost of ownership. No informed media pro would buy that HP if they actually took the time to consider what their time, money, and sanity are worth to them in the long run.
K said 9:30PM on 5-02-2009
Boot Camp / Virtualisation, anyone?
Erick said 3:21PM on 5-01-2009
Couldn't they find somebody with less greasy hair and has more than just eraser heads?
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Ron said 3:29PM on 5-01-2009
I read an article (originally in a magazine. And yes, people still read those) about Crispin Porter & Bogusky regarding their efforts for Microsoft. Here's a snippet about them using Macs in their office:
In April 2007, long before the Microsoft account came Crispin's way, Bogusky had told me that "Crispin sort of exists because of the revolution in desktop publishing that the Mac brought about. You could be a small shop and compete against Madison Avenue for the first time because all the tools were in your computer." That may explain why Keller and Reilly are today using their team as an early focus group for learning how to persuade Mac lovers to embrace Windows. "You've got a lot of passionate Mac people in here, and they've got to get their head around this thing -- why Windows is genius," says Keller. He and Reilly have outfitted their shared office (inherited from Bogusky) with an Xbox 360, which they've been using as a wireless hub. But their joint desk also holds two ultrathin MacBook Airs. When I ask if they're making their team get rid of their iPods and PowerBooks, Reilly responds, "It's not a matter of forcing people. It's getting them to want to use it. If you can't, you're not going to do great advertising."
The rest of the article:
http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/126/believe-it-or-not-hes-a-pc.html?page=0%2C0
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ramiltonii said 3:29PM on 5-01-2009
"she has shoulders like a man"! :)
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Joanna D said 3:36PM on 5-01-2009
Why do all of the Apple sites keep carrying this news about Microsoft?
The girl got a computer from Best Buy for less money than she would have paid for an inferior MacBook Pro at the Apple Store - that's all there is to it.
You don't need to keep defending Apple - I think we're all aware there are superior products out there.
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Mystic said 3:43PM on 5-01-2009
Why do you keep coming to tuaw if you hate Apple so bad? Go away troll.
bill cant fart is ANGRY! said 3:57PM on 5-01-2009
I agree with the first sentence of your post, but not with the last. I wasn't sure whether to up rank you or low rank you, so I clicked the couple of pixels in between the buttons.
oZ said 4:08PM on 5-01-2009
There are plenty of reasons to hate on the MacBooks and MacBook Pros, when compared to the right stuff. But give me one thing that's inferior about the MacBook Pro compared to this HP. For every one, I could give you three the opposite way. There are superior products, IMHO, than Apple's offerings. HP doesn't have one of them.
Joanna D said 4:21PM on 5-01-2009
For what she wants to do the performance between the MacBook Pro and the HP machine will be indistinguishable. The difference is that the HP gives her that performance for a lot less money.
dastranger said 4:24PM on 5-01-2009
@Joanna D The difference is that she'd be using a crappy operating system called Vista on her HP instead of OS X on the MacBook Pro.
Yazdgerd said 4:36PM on 5-01-2009
No dear Microsoft, Windows is dead.
Jon said 4:48PM on 5-01-2009
Microsoft seems so keen to sell HP hardware that it's forgotten that it is a software company. Software is the issue here.
This woman describes herself as an "artist" yet she buys no additional software or gives any indication as to what she is going to use. Is she really planning to use the hunk of junk known as Windows Movie Maker?
And she makes no mention as to what type of footage she is editing (SD or HD - it makes a huge difference) nor how the camera or external hard disk will connect to the computer (Firewire ports are less common on PCs, and a lot of them are crappy unpowered 4-pin slots).
If Microsoft wanted to make a good ad, they'd follow up with the person two months later to see how it met their needs. Just because it made sense in the shop (and I'm sure the money helped), it doesn't mean it will make sense when they actually come to use it.