Over the weekend there was another Microsoft ad released. Again it focuses on the differences between Mac and PC pricing. I could go into how this is really missing the point (in a way) and how the ads are both good and reeking of desparation, but Jeff over at the iPhone development blog has some
good thoughts on it. To quote:
Whatever the actual numbers, there's not even a close second to Microsoft in this market. Apple is a very distant second, Linux (if you lump all the distros together) is an even more distant third. There are few industries where a company enjoys this kind of lead.But, Microsoft is suffering an identity crisis because the world of computers has fractured into many components, of which the general purpose computer (laptop/desktop) is just one piece, and Microsoft has had a very hard time repeating their dominance in other sectors.
I guess my main objection or eye-roll to these ads are that people already know (at least I think they do) that Macs are more expensive. I don't see honda putting out ads about how if you went looking for a BMW under $20k you wouldn't be able to find anything, but you could get.... drum roll a brand new Civic! I've used and bought both (a) Mac and (multiple) PC laptops, and while the bang-for-buck and "apple tax" is kinda there (many people with more time on their hands than I have gone though component by component and no doubt proved that the Mac is on par price wise for the equivalently outfitted PC laptop already), the feel and quality and "vibe" of a MacBook is much higher than the $500 or $1000 laptop. Specs be damned, the light, thin, sexy aluminum case with less USB ports trumps 99% of the PC laptops that this ad portrays. Course, I'm sure I could be accused of being a fanboy :)
Alan,
It wasn't too long ago I went shopping for a Mac so I could do iPhone development. What I found was sticker shock. I always knew Apple was more expensive. And that it made sexy stuff. I never realized until I bought one jus how expensive it was. Not just in the dollars for the device. It was the cost for performance and software tools. The really tool out for MY needs for a computing platform Apple is WAY out of the range for mere mortals looking to do office or development tasks for the common marketplace. Right now I am specing out a new Dell laptop for a modified version of Windows 7 I plan to run with Hyper-V for virtualization. In the end it will be around $1500 to $2000. For it I will be getting a kick ass processor with 500GB disk and 8GB ram. This will give me the platform for demo/dev work I need at a price I can afford.
I can get nowhere near that much power on a MacBook. And the funny thing is, I don't think people see the real disconnect until they actually try to go buy it. The MacBook I bought for $1200 is really woefully inadequate for what I need. It's slow. Doesn't scale. But god... its still sexy.
The ads may seem cheesy. But to the potential "PC" users out there who are not always power players... these educate on the difference.
I'm a PC. And a Mac boy. I can get WAY more done on my PC for the same investment dollars.
I'm fairly sure that anyone that has compared the component prices sees that the macs are almost twice as expensive as an equivalent specification PC.
The style thing I'll give you; but I really don't see why I would want to sacrifice technical superiority - I can't even get some of the components I want from the PC world on a mac yet (namely the graphics cards are always 18 months behind).
Dana, I have almost the exact same opinion. I recently helped our neighbors buy a moderate gaming machine and they purchased it for $600 (total), got a 1 gig gaming card and 4 gigs of memory. It screams!
Or for $600 total I could get a purposefully-slow mac mini. [raspberry]
Or, let's trot out the example of the netbooks. The Macbook Air at $1800 is no more powerful than my Acer Aspire One netbook for $350. It has a slightly bigger screen, that's it. The APPLE CARE on the Air is as much as my whole netbook!
Take any price point and you get way more bang for the buck with a PC. That is what those ads point out, to great affect.
Arc and the blog post are both correct in many of their points, but there is always this achingly horrible Apple Strategy Tax that makes their products way too expensive (Dana: your "value for money") for what you are getting, even factoring in the sexiness of OSX.
To use and extend the car analogy: most people need a car to commute, not to serve them hot cocoa and give them a back rub. Most people need a small, dependable, good-gas-mileage car that maybe has a decent stereo system. Most people need a Civic, just as most people need a PC because Apple refuses to market to "the masses."
A sign I saw in IKEA once: Good design is useless if you can't afford it.