Apple debuts new ‘Get A Mac’ ad: Fastest Windows Vista notebook is an Apple Mac (with video)

Apple has debuted their latest “Get a Mac” ad in which they drive home the fact that PC World has reported that the fastest Windows Vista PC this year is an Apple Mac. In the ad, “PC” calls up PC World and claims they’ve made a “misprint, a very serious misprint” in reporting that “The fastest Windows Vista notebook we’ve tested this year is a Mac. A Mac! That’s impossible… How can a Mac run Vista faster than a PC?! It goes against the laws of nature!”

Apple Get a Mac Ad: Misprint

Direct link to video via YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87lZa8EiEqc

Watch the video in higher quality via Apple.com here.

MacDailyNews Take: Embrace first, then extinguish.

MacDailyNews Take, April 05, 2006: Welcome to ‘Embrace and extinguish,’ Apple-style. The war ain’t over, folks. It never was. Now, a new chapter begins and today’s shot will be heard around the world! Don’t you just love the smell of napalm in the morning? This doesn’t hurt Microsoft (yet), but it absolutely puts Dell, HP, Lenovo, Toshiba, etc. into a world of pain… As Windows-only users buy Macs that will provide them their ‘comfort’ of Windows, they will experience Mac OS X and use it for the excellent Mac-only applications. We all know what happens when people are given the chance to really use Macs for longer than five minutes, they usually want to buy a Mac. These new Apple Mac hardware users will start out using Windows more than Mac OS X and end up using Mac OS X exclusively. Watch and see.

29 Comments

  1. Like the other posters above, I saw this last night and all I could do was laugh. These commercials are great. I even had my PC buddy call me to ask, if that fact were true. I kindly shot him the link. All he could say was, “That’s a damn shame.”

  2. Military Police,

    I’ve been getting those ‘error’-windows for months. All the time! The only way I can post on MDN is to put the text in memory, open a new window and paste the text in and post quickly.
    It seems to be a question of how long the window is open, because this seems to work every time, although it’s infuriatingly time-consuming.

  3. No, it was not a misprint, just outdated information which was true a month ago.

    If on April 5th 2008, strange weather conditions raise the temperature in New York to 88, April 5th will be the hottest day measured so far that year. But reporting in December that 88 is the hottest temperature measured that year is not true.

    Likewise, Apple MacBook Pro scored 88 in WorldBench 6 Tests
    http://www.pcworld.com/product/specs/id,30190/apple_macbook_pro.html
    and I assume that was the highest score measured by then.

    Now in December, there are faster Vista notebooks that PC World has tested (the higher the score, the faster the notebook):
    Micro Express NP9261, Performance score 96
    http://www.pcworld.com/product/specs/id,30844/micro_express_np9261.html
    Eurocom D900C Phantom-X, Performance score 95
    http://www.pcworld.com/product/specs/id,30538/eurocom_d900c_phantomx.html

    You may try to twist it any way you wish but:
    The fastest Windows Vista notebook PC World has tested in 2007 –or for that matter, ever–is not a Mac.
    Claiming so in December 2007 is lying. Lying is wrong – even if you work in marketing or contribute to MDN.

    But there is an unfortunate misprint in the Apple ad: showing an iMac in the end. The computer that Mr PC and Mr Mac and PC World magazine are talking about is a MacBook Pro.

  4. Where is the one I saw last night where PC takes his suit coat off and admits defeat to Mac. It seems like it’s Part II of this commercial.

    It’s not even on Apple’s Ad site yet. I caught the last 2/3s if it, heard the familiar intro music and ran in from the other room.

    Or was I hallucinating?

  5. @Anders: It takes a while for ads to be made and make it to air, so it was probably true when this was created. Anyways, the fact that it was true at any point is enough of a point in itself to be worthy of the ad.

    @Ron: MDN seems a LOT slower than usual today, probably some server trouble.

  6. Sorry to go off-topic here, but the topic is “Apple on TV” so it’s close. Anyone been watching “Chuck”? A vaguely amusing show about a geek that gets converted to a resource for “secret agents” by a … never mind. Vaguely amusing. I surf by it often enough to recognize the characters and general plot outline. Last week I thought I spotted the title character using an iPhone … the image slipped away too quickly. This week I caught him in the act. Actually using it. The way it’s meant to be used. Responding in real time. I wonder if Apple had to pay for the placement or if they wanted the “gimmick” so much they bought the phone.
    Dave

  7. I think it’s a subtle adjustment they’ve made, since the first few ads had people complaining that the Mac was too “smug” and “condescending.” So they’ve toned him down. Also, Hodgman’s hilarious

  8. @iMat
    “This is too much for me. You can easily build a system, which is many times faster than a MacBook Pro??”

    Really? I would love to see this better pro laptop you can build. I’m sure it would include all the connections and have the quality build of the MBP. Go ahead, give me your list of parts (hardware and software) to build this laptop, I’m anxious to see it.

  9. Obviously Anders doesn’t quite get the idea that no one is fastest for ever. Like life everything is transitional though the transition of people from pc to macs seems to be a rather long term one.

    Personally I think I can take the fact that a few obscure transitional brands with the latest specs, but that no one actually buys, can run a little faster when the Dells, HPs, Acers, Sonys and Lenovos seem to be left in the dust.

    But maybe though this is indeed funny as well as relevant it is not as significant as the more telling test I saw last night in a TV run off where a high spec Vaio with costly HD video software was trounced by an entry level Macbook running free iMovie.

  10. If you compare a Mac running a clean retail version of Windows to a Dell, HP, Sony, etc. packed full of their bloat/crapware, I think it’s safe to say the Mac would perform better. I have a Dell that ran XP like a slug until I reformatted and got rid of the junk. Makes one heck of a difference. Just an observance.

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