Author Topic: Is it just me or are the Mac vs. PC ads getting really obnoxious?  (Read 10176 times)

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Offline Agent_Koopa

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Is it just me or are the Mac vs. PC ads getting really obnoxious?
At first, it was just the Mac being more "hip" than the PC, and the PC being a stuffy old nerd, occasionally with some computer gags. Now, the ads have taken a more aggressive turn, making John Hodgman, as PC, execute poorly-thought out plans to upstage Mac. Now PC is an idiotic jerk who tries to steal Mac's place, all the while admitting that Mac is much cooler and much more popular and much more useful than he is. In the most recent ad, PC is accompanied by a bodyguard who meets any incoming or outgoing statement with an "Allow or Cancel?" PC quickly explains that it's an annoying feature of Windows Vista that either bombards him with messages or leaves him totally unprotected. Maybe it's just me, but I find this insulting. Apple is calling my computer a jerk idiot who can be used only for business purposes, and even then doesn't work properly. Granted, these are their ads, but I can't stand them. Anyone else feel the same?
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Offline Mars

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Re: Is it just me or are the Mac vs. PC ads getting really obnoxious?
I HATE THEM ALL!!!

Yeah... you're not the only one

 

Offline Fineus

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Re: Is it just me or are the Mac vs. PC ads getting really obnoxious?
I have to admit the whole Apple vs PC thing seems to have become very elitist. If you're a PC user the trend seems to be that you're looked down upon as inferior for not having discovered the greatness that is a Mac.

Well bugger that.

I'm perfectly happy with my PC, it does what I want and doesn't crash. The whole elitist culture of the Mac is a real turn off.

 

Offline Mefustae

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Re: Is it just me or are the Mac vs. PC ads getting really obnoxious?
A company producing ads that imply their primary competitor is ****e?! The nerve! We should take this straight to the President of Television!! :rolleyes:

I like the ads. They're lighthearted and don't take themselves seriously, and they're a hell of a lot more entertaining that most ads nowadays. Don't like 'em? Quit your *****ing and just change the channel.
« Last Edit: February 28, 2007, 08:50:14 pm by Mefustae »

 

Offline KappaWing

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Re: Is it just me or are the Mac vs. PC ads getting really obnoxious?
I dont get the whole thing about Macs being seperate from PCs. PC = Personal Computer, is a Mac not an inferior PC with parts that you cant even upgrade?

They assume all "PCs" run windows, when in fact a growing number of people, even those not within the nerd community, are embracing Linux. If Apple were as trendy as they claim, they would realize this.

Thing is, they couldent sell it any other way. The only real claim they have is the lack of viruses out there for macs. But even that can be turned around, like their OS isnt even used enough for hackers to bother developing viruses for it. (IMO, the Mac OS is so frusturating, its like the whole thing is a virus in itself)

my 2 cents. :nervous:
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Re: Is it just me or are the Mac vs. PC ads getting really obnoxious?
They were okay in the beginning but now have gone too far. There are many flaws with Apple's ads. Let's go into them:

1. Webcam installed in Macbooks - okay, PCs do too....

2. Macintosh doesn't have the annoying "Allow or Cancel" option - umm, no, they don't, but they do have just as annoying messages (i.e. when using Final Cut Express my friends and I got a "general error"....umm, how do I fix a "general error"???)

3. Macintosh has IBook - yea, it has IBook so? PCs have just as usable a program as IBook, and can create a photobook just as easy...

4. Macintosh has IBook - yea, it has IBook so? PCs have just as usable a program as IBook, and can create a photobook just as easy...

5. Macintosh has IBook - yea, it has IBook so? PCs have just as usable a program as IBook, and can create a photobook just as easy... (notice a pattern in the ads?)

6. Macintosh... gave PC .... a photoalbum - Umm, I'd rather have the C++ book that PC had....oh right, Mac can't use it.... darn...wait, who are these ads promoting?



I'm rather annoyed at the Mac ads.why doesn't Microsoft do similar ads

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"Take my love. Take my land. Take me where I cannot stand. I don't care, I'm still free. You can't take the sky from me. Take me out to the black, tell them I ain't comin' back. Burn the land boil the sea, you can't take the sky from me. There's no place I can be since I've found Serenity. But you can't take the sky from me." - Ballad of Serenity

 

Offline Unknown Target

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Re: Is it just me or are the Mac vs. PC ads getting really obnoxious?
I'm quite annoyed at the Mac ads as well. What got me was the whole camera thing - OMG MAC HAS PLUG IN PLAY PC NEEDS DRIVERS LOLZ!111. Um, yea, Mac? PC has had plug and play for quite awhile, you don't need to install drivers for that sort of stuff anymore. When was it first implemented? Like 1995? 97? Earlier, even?

And I don't get why Mac users are so crazy over the damn things. It's the whole brand name bit, it's like the computing version of Abercrombie. I've only known one Mac user to intelligently defend using the damn thing, and he's like a freaking genius and uses it for working on web programming and whatnot.

But the thing is, anything a Mac can do, a PC can do better. It's the whole "in" thing to carry around an all white plastic notebook that looks like a flattened pill that's really pushing the Mac.

 

Offline Nuclear1

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Re: Is it just me or are the Mac vs. PC ads getting really obnoxious?
I have to admit the whole Apple vs PC thing seems to have become very elitist. If you're a PC user the trend seems to be that you're looked down upon as inferior for not having discovered the greatness that is a Mac.

Well bugger that.

I'm perfectly happy with my PC, it does what I want and doesn't crash. The whole elitist culture of the Mac is a real turn off.

Exactly.
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Offline Rictor

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Re: Is it just me or are the Mac vs. PC ads getting really obnoxious?
Those ads are just Apple trying to be "hip", which just serves to show for all the world to see the huge chip on their shoulder. The fact that Microsoft is ignoring them effectively says "You're so insignificant, you don't even warrant our attention or the paltry effort it would take to squash you". Five percent market share? Awww, isn't that precious.

Mac can give me a call when they start making two-button mice and maximizable windows, or when their products don't require me to sell all of my possessions to pay for a piece of shiny white plastic. Oh, and when they start supporting more than 4 games.

 

Offline Polpolion

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Re: Is it just me or are the Mac vs. PC ads getting really obnoxious?
The only ways your PC can crash are:

1) something about your drivers/hardware compatibility is screwy (This usually doesn't happen unless you build your own computer or modify it yourself) or 2) your an idiot (i.e. installing seven antivirus programs and running them all at the same time)

Other than the "I don't know how to modify my computer" complaint, crashing is the only argument that the mac lovers I know have against windows. Everything else I haven't heard.


EDIT: Just randomly...
« Last Edit: February 28, 2007, 09:52:14 pm by thesizzler »

 

Offline Mefustae

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Re: Is it just me or are the Mac vs. PC ads getting really obnoxious?
The only ways your PC can crash are:

1) something about your drivers/hardware compatibility is screwy (This usually doesn't happen unless you build your own computer or modify it yourself) or 2) your an idiot (i.e. installing seven antivirus programs and running them all at the same time)
...and running an unstable program, and getting electronically attacked, and getting a nasty virus, and incurring physical damage to your rig by any number means, and getting dodgy hardware or software, and not being a tech-oriented person and subsequently cocking something up, and... well, you see where i'm going with this.
« Last Edit: February 28, 2007, 09:52:25 pm by Mefustae »

 

Offline Unknown Target

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Re: Is it just me or are the Mac vs. PC ads getting really obnoxious?
Whereas Mac you don't have to worry about those problems, because Apple controls everything that goes in your machine, and they don't let you upgrade it - if you want to get a better Mac you have to buy a whole system. It's basically like installing Linux on the PS3, like that one article said (except the Mac is probably much less powerful).

 

Offline Polpolion

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Re: Is it just me or are the Mac vs. PC ads getting really obnoxious?
The only ways your PC can crash are:

1) something about your drivers/hardware compatibility is screwy (This usually doesn't happen unless you build your own computer or modify it yourself) or 2) your an idiot (i.e. installing seven antivirus programs and running them all at the same time)
...and running an unstable program understandable... , and getting electronically attacked If you were smart you would have the proper protection, and getting a nasty virus same thing same deal, and incurring physical damage to your rig by any number meansthats kind of idiotic, and getting dodgy hardware or softwarethats something about hardware compatibility, and not being a tech-oriented person and subsequently cocking something up  thats being an idiot(even people who aren't computer savvy know how to not kill their computer), and... well, you see where i'm going with this.


All your doing is naming the subcategories of the ones I listed ::) (bar one)


EDIT: Hmm... I seemed to have turned this thread into the very thing that it was making fun of. Not good.

« Last Edit: February 28, 2007, 10:03:14 pm by thesizzler »

 

Offline Agent_Koopa

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Re: Is it just me or are the Mac vs. PC ads getting really obnoxious?
EDIT: Hmm... I seemed to have turned this thread into the very thing that it was making fun of. Not good.



Don't you ever touch my topics again!  :D

I just don't understand why design ethics must take precedence over ability.
Interestingly enough, this signature is none of the following:
A witty remark on whatever sad state of affairs the world may or may not be in
A series of localized forum in-jokes
A clever and self-referential comment on the nature of signatures themselves.

Hobo Queens are Crowned, but Hobo Kings are Found.

 

Offline Polpolion

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Re: Is it just me or are the Mac vs. PC ads getting really obnoxious?
Quote
I just don't understand why design ethics must take precedence over ability.

People are stupid. They don't know how to do stuff on a computer, so they just go for the one that looks the snazziest.

 

Offline Falcon

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Re: Is it just me or are the Mac vs. PC ads getting really obnoxious?
I had a Mac once... then I threw it out because I couldn't find any use for it.

 

Offline Flipside

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Re: Is it just me or are the Mac vs. PC ads getting really obnoxious?
Macs have their place. Personally, I prefer Macs in the studio because they are more or less silent, and run very cheaply compared to a PC of equivalent speed, handy when you may need to leave the computers on 24/7.

Admittedly, there are silent setups for PC, but I tend to find Macs' support of music generation in general is superior to PCs.

I suppose it's the right tool for the right job syndrome. I like my PC, it's easy to use, despite common rumour, there's very few problems with the system that haven't been a result of my own tweaking or nosying about, I'd say more crashes are caused by my video drivers than by my operating system these days, and the PC will run my games quite happily.

In a way, this is Mac biting back for the PC's slow rumble into what has traditionally been a 'Mac' market, Music, CAD etc, but it's an inevitable thing to happen, with home production on the rise, people don't want to buy a different computer to make music or graphics on, and since the PC is the most commonly available, and the most flexible from a family point of view, it gets chosen.

 

Offline Stealth

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Re: Is it just me or are the Mac vs. PC ads getting really obnoxious?
well i still think this ad pretty much sums it up...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrpS9m2VF1c

 

Offline MP-Ryan

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Re: Is it just me or are the Mac vs. PC ads getting really obnoxious?
These ads aren't designed to convert PC users; they're designed to keep Mac users.

And swipe the basic PC user.

Really, Apple is digging their own grave.  If their market share increases, we're suddenly going to see Macs getting viruses and malware, crashes due to misconfiguration, and a host of other issues, not the least of which being Mac users discovering they're stuck with the hardware Apple gave them.

I would actually buy a mac notebook if I had some spare cash, but I'd never give up a PC platform.  It's much more versatile for an experienced computer user.
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Offline Ford Prefect

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Re: Is it just me or are the Mac vs. PC ads getting really obnoxious?
If this is how some of you react to a company trying to sell its product, then you really need to get high or something. They're commercials, not Consumer Reports articles. Make some peace with the universe, man.
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