Apples to Apples

Microsoft is continuing to try to respond to the "I'm a Mac, Your a PC" ads that came out of Chait Day for Apple. After the Jerry and Bill ads - which most viewers thought were bizarre - this is their second buy in their $100 million campaign. The young lady in the ad seems intent on getting a 17" laptop. From my perspective that seems odd. Ultimately, the first thing I would ask is why 17" - the tradeoffs for getting that size machine are huge - especially in weight. As Walt Mossberg has pointed out frequently in his WSJ technology column - if you want a really large screen unit a desktop machine will pack more power for the price.

The crux of the question here is a real comparison. Admittedly the Apple ads left some things out too. Each one concentrated on a weakness that was understood in the marketplace about Windows based computers. The two characters became icons. This ad seems to concentrate on one of two themes. A) Price or B) Cool.

The price argument is absurd. For under $1000 in a WIndows based laptop you get an inferior processor and video chip. Most people who use a 17" laptop want blazing speed. When you look at the two choices for under $1000 on a site like Best Buy - you find that either Dell or HP supply the unit. The Dell gets pretty lousy customer ratings. The HP gets better. But when you shop feature to feature Apples are very comparable in price. The Apples are consistently rated very high in consumer ratings.

The cool argument is even more off. "I'm not just cool enough to be a Mac person." seems especially odd. It assumes that people will not do the real comparisons and have a very clear idea of why they want a computer. That may be true for some buyers but many want a mix of features and when one goes to the next level the quick comparison just might not make the sale.