Iâ€™m just not cool enough to be a Mac person.

Abe Olandres Editor-in-chief March 30, 2009 · 2 min read

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Last week, Microsoft put out an ad about a lady who wanted to buy a 17″ laptop for under $1,000. Not finding a Mac for that price, she quipped “Iâ€™m just not cool enough to be a Mac person“. That line hit a major nerve among Mac fans for reasons I don’t really understand.

Obviously, the only Apple laptop that’s under $1,000 is the 13″ Macbook. Lauren, the girl on the commercial, ended up getting a 17″ HP Pavillion for $699.

The “I’m a Mac and I’m a PC” ads were started by Apple, depicting PC users as boring fat, bald guys in their 40s. Those were a series of ads hitting the PC population but we haven’t heard of any uproar similar to this one.

Microsoft fought back with their own “I’m a PC” ad later on and even had that one by Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld.

What’s most surprising about this ad is that it’s true — the price range for Macs ($999 to $2,799) are just beyond the reach of a lot of people who wanted laptops for simple tasks like word processing and surfing. That’s why netbooks, mostly under $500, are very hot in the market today.

The real winner here is Intel — buy a Mac or buy a PC, they both have Intel inside.

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mac vs pc

Abe Olandres

Editor-in-chief

Abe is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of YugaTech with over 20 years of experience in the technology industry. He is one of the pioneers of blogging in the country and is considered by many as the Father of Tech Blogging in the Philippines.

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94 Comments

kenshinflyer · 17 years ago

This is like adding insult to injury. We know that this planet is dominated by Windows users.

Mitch · 17 years ago

Yap mac is expensive and a lot of software’s are not compatible with it. a $600 laptop can do everything a mac can do. they just want to price it hi marketing strategy like buying expensive signature lady’s bag.

iceman · 17 years ago

mac??!! whats cool about you maclovers huh?? ur macbooks are made by asus..its like paying an expensive laptop that is made in taiwan hehehe.. jokes on you, jokes in your wallet.

rizalavenue · 17 years ago

If you want to buy loptop go to mall of Asia. I love PC. i got my PC for 10,000 only

Gee Please · 17 years ago

What’s wrong with these people, I enjoy both, they both have their strength and their weakness, but I agree Netbooks are getting the boatload of consumers. But for prosumers, nothing beats an alienware PC or the high-priced Mac…

noehms · 17 years ago

I’m not a mac person myself. More of a PC type ;)

vizu · 17 years ago

shes an actress… there is already 2nd Microsoft laptop hunter.. bothe lauren and giampaulo purchased HP machines, anyone sensing a trend?

PitOots · 17 years ago

that is if you dont know how to build your own pc for an affordable price.

Jomark Osabel · 17 years ago

Well, if you could not afford a real mac I guess you can just venture into hackintosh. It is Mac on a PCs body.

This setup gives you the best of both worlds minus the cost. The retail OSX will just cost you about 5000 bucks. Setting it up is another thing though.

Kevin · 17 years ago

If you haven’t used a Mac, your comparisons are merely based on specs.

The problem with MS and PC manufacturers is that they sell affordable laptops with substandard specs with Vista running on top. And they wonder why people complain that Vista is slow.

Look at it from this point of view:

Apple does not charge an exorbitant amount for a laptop that has very good specs. Apple is merely ensuring that at the price you get and pay for, you are getting value because it performs well enough for your tasks and does thus your computer will not slow you down.

Why should I pay for a brand new 40K PHP laptop with a generation old Core 2 Duo with only 1GB of RAM with Vista Premium running on top? That just doesn’t make sense. Everyone knows that Vista eats approximately 60% of RAM after it starts up.

At least when I buy a 71K PHP Aluminum MacBook, I am getting the newest Core 2 Duo processor with at least 2GB of RAM, iLife and a pretty looking computer that is sleek and solid – not that flimsy plastic! The OS performs as it should and does not get in the way of a user and it’s virtually a worry-free experience

LX · 17 years ago

@Anne and Abe

Sales tax is charged for internet orders if the merchant where you ordered has a business presence or is registered in the state you are getting the item shipped to.

Dell likely has presence in all 50 states.

Buy from Amazon, they only charge in WA, ID and a couple other places.

LX · 17 years ago

That’s an awesome ad! No frills, unpretentious, very real! AND TRUE!

Oh, and I’m a Mac user.

charmist · 17 years ago

It’s just all about this “packaging”…they spent millions of money for ads. That works!
I do agree, they both have Intel Inside…that’s cool!

Camper · 17 years ago

Well.. I am still a PC :D

Abe Olandres Editor-in-chief · 17 years ago

@anne, oh I thought that internet sales tax break has been extended by Congress? Or is it state by state?

Anne · 17 years ago

@ Abe –
They add sales tax to internet purchases in the U.S. these days. For example, I almost ordered a Dell Studio to have it shipped to California, and the tax is already 10% (and will rise to 12% this April).

Kuya Kevin · 17 years ago

I’m a Mac user, but I find the whole PC vs Mac debate to be quite silly.

PitOots · 17 years ago

haven’t really heard a very legitimate explanation regarding the PC problems they’re always crying about, it looks as though the user had more something to do with the problems they’re whining.

I don’t have any problems with fixing my own problems in my system. Mac are just not affordable for me. If money is not a problem, I’ll buy one. and I will not say because PC is crap,shit,virus-loaded,unstable or whatever.

mike · 17 years ago

I find this ad really effective, just hearing the reactions form the mac users is proof of it. Bottom line PC’s are much more affordable with similar hardware like the macs.

If you’ve got money to burn they good for you, I just don’t really see why mac users are hostile towards such a simple ad… which states the a fact.

Ryan Umadhay · 17 years ago

hehehehe. Great point Abe. Saw this commercial almost a week ago and had me laughing really hard.

I’m sorry to offend Mac users but I can’t really get the wisdom why you need to purchase a 50k+ laptop when you can purchase a 30k laptop with powerful specs. If you’re looking for music or video editing capability, buy a software and upgrade the laptop instead of spending tons on Mac.

Adrian · 17 years ago

I’m a mac addict :)

Ton · 17 years ago

Right. Thanks again Abe!
That kinda bottomlined to me as “RP = insubstantial market”. Sad stuff.

In which case, Im not cool enough for a Core 2 duo lappy, but just around cool enough for that purty HP 2140 you posted a few days back.

Netbooks will rule the world!
(Our your local starbucks, same difference)

Maurice B. · 17 years ago

This add is cool. Im a windows type of guy ever since my old computer it has windows the very old version, like wayback 90’s. I want simple things that can easily be fixed by me when it has problems. Thats why i prefer XP’s over vistas and win7.

Sooo… im not a mac person although I give apple a 5-star for their safari browser. I find it very easy to use compared to the buffed firefox. I love the aesthetic design of MAC note/netbooks but the OS is confusing for a windows guy.

Aloof Kid · 17 years ago

I’m a PC. But MAC product really looks hot!

Starshadow Rivaulx · 17 years ago

A few years ago, I invested in an iBook G4, 12″ monitor version. I *loved* it! So did my husband, who noted the abrupt decrease in Windows-related wailing on my end.

I bought a Blue PC last year, which came with Windows Vista Starter Edition. Know what? I don’t use Vista. First thing I did was to partition the drive, allocate the bare minimum that Vista would allow for it, and use the rest as an Ubuntu (Linux Mint distro) partition.

I keep Windows for those programs that won’t run on anything else. But otherwise, my online life revolves around my Linux partition now – the iBook works as my writing/graphics workhorse. With the recession, Apple has priced itself out of my budget, so I’m glad I have the old thing, which never gave me a minute’s trouble.

BrianB · 17 years ago

John Ray, just go the dell hong kong website.

erica · 17 years ago

*sarcasm* It’s a status symbol, that’s why Mac computers are expensive. *sarcasm*

Pink · 17 years ago

Yeah.. very true! =P

jojo · 17 years ago

modern ‘apartheid’ , tech style

how bout, Iâ€™m just not cool enough to be a PC personâ€ ?

still sticking to the bottom line of getting things done … wait for pseudo macS just like what they did to nokia cells …

it seems that the latest sony netbook here cost almost 2x compared to malaysia …

Jerome · 17 years ago

The only thing that is not cool in a mac is the price. If they can just make the white macbook to $699 and the aluminum macbook to $999. And if that happens, I will buy a macbook.

Darren · 17 years ago

damn, looks like Taiwan didn’t air the commercial film you guys were talking about. I remember there was a week last week that people pay $500(USD) for a logo~ really funny!

eMz · 17 years ago

yeah, i don’t think my wallet’s cut out for a Mac either. hehe

Mac Sucks · 17 years ago

I don’t get the idea why people are still frantic or eager to buy a Mac. Truth is, the Mac’s hardware is bullshit, overrated and overpriced. Similar PC manufacturers outdo the chassis of that so-called high-end Macintosh at a fraction of the latter’s price.

Believe me, the only good thing about Apple is their very intuitive Operating System. The rest is rich-kid crap.

I’m a PC and I’m proud of it!

eds · 17 years ago

yes I agree..intel is the winner..

Abe Olandres Editor-in-chief · 17 years ago

@Ton – the price difference can be accounted as follows:

– in US, no tax if bought online.

– in RP, add 12% VAT + other tariffs; add shipping + surcharges

aldrin · 17 years ago

I really can’t understand why Apple just have to be expensive.

Ton · 17 years ago

Note however that it is almost impossible to get a same specd model here for $699 (around PHP35k)

What really bites my buns is why the US-RP price diff for laptops so damn big.

Consider this comparison from my own Lenovo look-around. SAME models, mind you, just differently specd here and there.

1. C2D 2.0, 250gb ram, 2gb DDR2 = 55,000 PH price
2. C2D 2.5, 320gb ram, 4gb DDR3 = 32,500 US PRICE

I mean, shipping cost, I’d understand. But there is something over the frikkin pacific that just blasts these things to cost more.

Thats why here, the price diff of a similarly specd laptop (read: Vaio/Lenovo/HP) from say a macbook, just isn’t as substantial as this here ad would present. My 2 cents worth.

Olyverdigg · 17 years ago

am about to buy a macbook in days… this ad and the recession thing makes me think twice….

Gadget Boy · 17 years ago

I thought that this ad is bad when i first read about it at engadget, i didn’t even check the video. turned out to be awesome!

hey please visit my blog about mobile phone prices in the Philippines.

http://pinoygadgetprice.blogspot.com/

thanks abe! :D

John Ray Cabrera · 17 years ago

@BrianB: what exact Dell Latitude model is that. 16hours of battery life? wow, i could spend two days in a coffee shop for that.

no_label_noise · 17 years ago

ha! i just wish her luck on her new “laptop”. it has AMD and 1GB RAM on a Vista system. lol…i hope microsoft will show a “3 months after” part about Laurens experience…it would be great…

techme · 17 years ago

watch out! the apple fanboys are coming! haha

hurry hide! MS fanboys! bwahaha

techme · 17 years ago

watch out! the apple fanboys are coming! haha

hurry hide! MS fanboys!

BrianB · 17 years ago

Toshiba’s a really cheap, too. Unfortunately, no Dell center in the RP just yet. I’m looking at a Dell Latitude with up to 16 (that’s SIXTEEN hours!) of battery life with 3 year warranty and very competitive specs for under 40k php.

mike · 17 years ago

Well mac products in general are expensive, like a keyboards or mouse which will set you back around $50 already.

I think the comment “Iâ€™m just not cool enough to be a Mac personâ€œ spurred from the fact that mac’s ad are aimed at the novelty of their products. Most of the people I know who have macs mainly got it for that reason. I mean come on, you’ll buy a $2000 laptop just for word processing and surfing the net?

Hamilton Chua · 17 years ago

How can anyone find insult in a comment like “Iâ€™m just not cool enough to be a Mac person” ?

I would probably say Lauren has an inferiority complex but there’s no reason Mac users should find that offensive. I should hit the interwebs to find out what the “Mac persons” are saying.

If found the ad genuine and like Yuga says, the ad is true, well, that is until Apple decides to make their products more affordable than PC’s (yeah and pigs fly) :-)