MAC vs. PC Commercial

[jamesmc]

The following commercial is seen on TV as well as the Apple website.

http://www.apple.com/getamac/ads/


I'm wondering if anyone believes that propaganda anymore. The spreadsheet/database image of a PC was like from the mid-1980s.

I like MAC's, but that commercial sure is misleading.

I would think they would go more their strong UNIX based background and lack of virus exposure. But maybe that is too pragmatic to be a selling point.

[Availor]

Actually right into the point, I lOVE this commercial

[jamesmc]

The old application speed tests that Apple has on their websites don't mean much anymore. They used PC's that were 8 months to 1.5 years older than their newest MAC's and the MAC's had twice the ram.

What scares Intel (now making chips for Apple) are the new AMD chips that smoked the newest Apple in speed tests with Adobe After Affects, 3D software, photo enhancing and etc...all of those supposably Apple MAC's strong suites.

Still, with that aside, I would think the strong suit for Apple would be in their higher reliability (less down time due to repair/software issues) and the huge advantage of not having to deal with malware, viruses and trojans like the PC does.

Not sure why they are using an advertising slogan from the 80s to try and increase sales. Perhaps Apple needs to hire new advertising folks.

[Soquili]

I think the commercials are a sign of a dying last attempt to save the MAC. Their sales have been failing for months, and these commercials have made a very slight increase until the people buying them get them home. Reminds me of the 1994 Christmas sales of the MAC when they started calling it a PowerPC. It took almost 10 years before they started having much sales after the customer complaints they got from those commercials.

I think Apple is purposely not using the Unix/Linux connection. Many people were buying Linux when it was available at many stores like CompUSA, Best Buy, and Office Max. They were disappointed that it took more setup time and effort to get things working than Windows and that their Windows programs would not work. The stores mentioned and many others have pulled any Linux packages from their shelves due to customer complaints.

Unfortunately the majority of customers do not have the necessary computer skills to use Linux.

[Matt_343]

While the commercial were cute, they were not very realistic. While my knowledge of Mac is limited, I have started to look into them. We have 2 mac at my work for the graphics team, but to me with apps like Xara and others I have yet found anything that the mac does that the PC can not. Though I do like their Aqua User Interface, but I have found Aqua-Dock gives me the same feel.

Soquili is right about that the majority of those customers did not know enough about Linux to use or setup correctly. There are many flavors of Linux and I have used a few. I like Linux. I have several Live-CD for trouble shooting PCs. I also built my own PVR with Linux. I have also read where there is a flavor of OSX 10.4.4 that will run on a Intel PC. Not the Mac Intel chip but the Pentiums.

All that being said, I would not mind having a Mac to play around with at home. What can I say I am a Geek and I enjoy working with all kinds of computers.

[PsychoTeapot]

Cool commercial.

But I'm so so SO bored with everyone banging on about how Macs are better than PCs and how PCs are better than Macs. Who cares, as long as they do what we want them to do.....

We do, however, need to get our facts right. The Mac is certainly not "dying" at all, Soquili. And you certainly need to elaborate on what you mean by "their sales have been failing for months". Just what source are you using for this claim? Granted, sales will dip a little while we all wait for the bugs to be ironed out of the switch to Intel chipsets, but a dip in sales doesn't mean the company's "dying".

I think the most important point is the one you made about Linux. Imagine how Apple and Microsoft feel about an OS - and apps - which you can just download for free. Maybe in ten years time we'll all be snarfling, adapting and releasing apps for each other. Free.

[stlewis]

Just a comment on the Linux thing...

I have just *managed* to install Linux on a PC. It took half a day; Debian from a magazine CD. The key weakness was (as so often with Open Source stuff) the documentation - in this case the install dialogues. If it doesn't tell you that you need the spacebar to tell it to select packages to install, how is Joe Public supposed to guess? Only by thumping the keyboard in frustration - like I did.

It spat all sorts of scary messages along the way - meaningless to a semi-geek like me and of no use to a Windows user. And then ended up with rather weedy screen res with no clues as to how to add a new driver - or whatever it needs. Very tiresome.

...I'm back to doing useful work. Still far too steep a learning curve.

[Availor]

Well Actually MACS are so unpopular in here, and recently, few months ago they were imported to Israel. Personaly, I had a mac at work and I just love those computers. I do think Mac is better. They supply all you need so eventually it's much cheaper. Operating system, office, video, web etc... These software cost additional money when bought for pc. So I think this is something that should be considered.
Another thing: You can work with several systems in Mac. At work, we had Windows 98 and Windows XP along with the OS X. So if you like Windows' runtime enviroment applications you can. Also, in here, since Mac is very unpopular (since we are a small market conquered by Billy) they are so much cheaper. Then New is twice cheaper than a pc. When I save enough money I am so going to buy a Mac.

[remi]

It spat all sorts of scary messages along the way - meaningless to a semi-geek like me and of no use to a Windows user. And then ended up with rather weedy screen res with no clues as to how to add a new driver - or whatever it needs. Very tiresome.

...I'm back to doing useful work. Still far too steep a learning curve.

Therefore the popular Ubuntu Linux was born (see Homepage or Wikipedia article). It has a stronger focus on usability than Debian and is the best free system for Linux starters. And there are not only CD images available for download, but CDs are mailed gratis to anyone who requests them.

Remi

[Matt_343]

And Ubuntu has a live cd to run on a mac.