Apple Mocks Microsoft's Laptop Hunters Series

By Jane McEntegart
published

Hot on the heels of Microsoft’s Zune Pass versus iTunes commercial, are the new Get a Mac ads, which take a swipe at Microsoft’s Laptop Hunters series as well as customer support for PCs.

Apple has released three new commercials (which are available on its website here) and the most notable is the Laptop Hunters spoof where a Lauren-a-like is looking for a laptop with a big screen and a decent processor. PC orders the slow and small PCs (played by men in similarly drab suits) to leave and it looks like “Meagan” is finally whittling the group down to something that will work for her. That is, until she says she wants something that doesn’t crash all the time, doesn’t get viruses and cause a bunch of headaches in general. Shocker, everyone leaves bar Justin Long.

The other two ads play on the fact that Apple stores have Geniuses as well as the fact that PC’s get more viruses. Check out the ads on YouTube and let us know what you think.

Jane McEntegart
107 Comments Comment from the forums
  • Apples get viruses to, and i'm on an apple now, more people try to infect apples due to the rising popularity so apples idiotic argument will have to end soon.

    BTW

    I'm on a 1500 dollar apple at school and its slower than my 750 dollar pc i have at home

    Hate this P O S
    Reply
  • gamerjames
    I agree to the post above and I use Macs at school for video editing and i agree that macs are way to overrated

    I video edit at home on a pc that is alot cheaper,faster and in general better.

    IDK, i just think apples argument is dumb

    And those "geniuses" don't help much either... i took an apple laptop i use to school at the tampa international mall to get some help with this mac ( i know how to use it, i was just extremely curious about the genius bar ), he didn't know how to fix the problem and after 45 minutes redirected me to some other punk/free spirited girl who didn't know what she was doing either... so in the end i just said "hmm, let me try this" and fixed it

    Thats enough of my rant.. just pointing out that the "genius bar" isn't good help, at all.
    Reply
  • tenor77
    I do get sick of the lie Apple promotes that they are impervious to problems.
    Plus they sweep their problems under the rug.

    Trust me, a virus, software bug or power surge will take down any computer, PC or Mac.
    Reply
  • danimal_the_animal
    "something that doesn’t crash all the time, doesn’t get viruses and cause a bunch of headaches in general"

    Well if people would stop looking at PORN and filesharing like limewire and bear share.....and stay off myspace......

    they would heve no problems.

    i work at a school and believe it or not.....the three things above are the main culprits.
    Reply
  • B-Unit
    Yea, MySpace kills.

    I cant count how much spyware I removed for friends in college because they couldnt tell the difference between MySpace and the phishing sites.
    Reply
  • Greatwalrus
    This commercial is absolute BS. Forget anything Apple vs "PC" for a second.

    There is NO WAY Apple can claim Mac has no viruses, crashing, or headaches. Every operating system has viruses (whether they are prone to them or not), every operating system is bound to crash for some reason, and if the software sucks or you are not good with PCs - you will get headaches.

    Worst Apple ad so far.
    Reply
  • kevikom
    I would love to see a spoof of theses commercials showing a PC asking mac what they are hiding behind their back and Mac saying "nothing" PC then says, "Hey, isn't that the spinning beachball of death?" and mac says"what that? no we don't ever crash" as the beachball starts spinning over him and he shuts up... fade to black
    Reply
  • joebob2000
    The other two ads play on the fact that Apple stores have Geniuses as well as the fact that PC’s get more viruses.

    For very loose definitions of "genius", but don't let that pesky English language stop you, Apple!

    Viruses on the house mac: 0
    Viruses on the house pc: 0

    Times I have complained to my wife about how my pc has problems doing x: maybe 10
    Times my wife complained to me about how her mac has problems doing x: somewhere near 10^100

    The only thing these (and all the rest of the commercials) have going for them is the talent of John Hodgman. Anyone can put on some jeans and say "well gosh isn't the sky blue" but that guy can even make Apple propaganda entertaining. Thank you, John!
    Reply
  • tonkatuffmofo
    These Ad's both Microsofts and Apples are really lowering the intelligence bar of the whole computing industry in general.

    Playing the bulls$##!t to the lowest denominator, does anyone else find this frustrating??
    Reply
  • superblahman123
    So then what will Apples defence be once Mac hackers find their way around more things? No system is completely safe which is something that everyone overlooks. Your system makes no difference. The fact that PCs hold higher representation in the market is the only reason why they get ragged on. More PCs = more PC users = more PC hackers. Once Apple gets their own version of Conficker down the road, we'll see how well they sell.
    Reply