Dell is attempting to compare their Latitude E4200 laptop (catchy name) against Apple’s MacBook Air (Dell incorrectly titles it “Macbook”).
Dell’s video begins with a familiar manilla envelope, but, boy is this one stuffed with thickness!
Direct link via YouTube here.
Nowhere in the video does Dell mention that their thicker laptop is OS-limited whereas Apple’s MacBook Air – and all Macs for that matter – are OS-unlimited. Of course, it’s not surprising that Dell doesn’t want to mention that only OS-unlimited Apple Macs are capable of running all major operating systems and offer users the ability to run the world’s largest software library.
Apple’s original MacBook Air TV Commercial:
Direct link via YouTube here.
Find out more about Apple’s MacBook Air here.
[Attribution: MacNN. Thanks to MacDailyNews Readers “Fred Mertz” and “Peter” for the heads up.]
If Dell’s following Apple, it makes Apple the leader. Nice of them to admit it.
One nice feature: the name “Latitude E4200” doesn’t exactly roll trippingly off the tongue. It’s very forgettable. Dell’s customers are probably going to ask for “that computer that’s like the MacBook Air,” meaning that every purchase of a Dell becomes an advertisement for a Mac.
At Dell Computer, only their profit margins are thin and light as air.
Macaday –
Aye, there’s value in the OS, but the new conventional thinking has been that Apple is producing superior machines at a similar price point to the Windows boxes, even before TCO is taken into account. No low-end systems, so by the time you brought the cheap Dell or Gateway up to spec with the Mac, it was the same price or more expensive.
But their new product line seems pretty clearly to be superior hardware for A LOT less cash. Certainly puts the old “it’s cheaper” excuse for not switching back into play in a big way.
I’m surprised they actually named the MacBook Air in their commercial. The first rule of advertising is that you never name the competition. And they almost seem to invite ridicule by playing lame clinky keyboard music instead of the hip techno-folk theme Apple uses.
But it’s Dell, so what should we expect? Anything other than a bad copy?
look at how THICK the doggone thing is!
<a >Pic of Dell’s BrickBook</a>
But their new product line seems pretty clearly to be superior hardware for A LOT less cash. Certainly puts the old “it’s cheaper” excuse for not switching back into play in a big way.
If that is indeed the case, Dell’s margins get worse for little to no gain/growth. They die sooner.
That Latitude E4200 is what one would call a ‘Fat Bastard.’
Anyone else see the resemblance between this and Apple’s “Better Results” spot?
http://www.apple.com/getamac/ads/
“More substance, less air” – Hey that’s pretty good! Clever. Yeah. Nice.
Latitude E4200. A name only the Pentagon could love.
Did anyone else notice how clumsily the Dell guy yanked the Latitude out of the envelope? The envelope was bursting at the seems and the whole thing looked awkward.
My PowerBook 12″ also fits in one of those envelopes.
“Did anyone else notice how clumsily the Dell guy yanked the Latitude out of the envelope?”
The actor was nervous. During the shooting, Michael Dell was hovering over him with a loaded gun pointed at his head. Dell was shoveling cream filled doughnuts into his mouth while sobbing uncontrollably and muttering “Who’s your daddy now, smartass?”. It took 14 hours to finish the video.
Good clean competition – I love it. There needs to be a lot more that in the OS domain.
P.S. I forgot to mention that Dell was wearing a schoolgirl outfit and a rainbow colored afro wig. He had bright red lipstick smeared all around his mouth. No one said a word.
for tiny people with small hands, the dell is OK, but the extra size of the macbook air, allows the rest of us to use it as a laptop. with those sub notebooks sized like the Dell, us guys have to crunch our nuts by clamping out legs together so it doesn’t slide off our laps. On the MacBook Air the wrists have a comfortable place to rest without a sharp edge, like the dell, putting pressure on the underside of the wrist causing carpal tunnel.
Too bad apple can run an ow, my nuts response to this that would appear on maxim, etc.
@ HMCIV
The Dell Latitude is awkward from removing the fat bastard from the envelope to chucking it on top of the MacBook Air and the Air almost tipping over from the weight. My perception is the Dell is one heavy SOB. Then when they don’t do a profile sweep of the Dell sitting on top of the Air it’s even more reinforcing the perception that the Dell is much thicker and heavier. Then the catch phrase seals the deal that the Dell Latitude is a heavy system with a small screen and keyboard made out of cheap plastics and full of dangerous flame retardants.
Dell Latitude E4200, Heavier, Hotter, More power consumption, More Chemicals and Less Air.
If by substance they mean stickers all over the front and back, I’ll give that to them.
It’s a 12.1″ screen
Some comparative specs:
Screen: 13.3″
Resolution: 1280 x 800 pixels
Height: 0.16″ – 0.76″
Width: 12.8″
Depth: 8.94″
Weight: 3.0 lbs.
Processor: 1.6 – 1.8 GHz
RAM: 2 GB
Battery: 37 Watt-Hours
Storage: 80 GB Hard Drive / 64 GB Solid State Drive
Price: $1,799 – $2,598
Screen: 12.1″
Resolution: 1280 x 800 pixels
Height: 0.79″
Width: 11.4″
Depth: 8″
Weight: 2.2 lbs (Referred to as “Starting Weight” on Dell’s Website)
Processor: Speed Not Listed (Intel® CoreTM 2 Duo Ultra Low Voltage)
RAM: 1 GB with expansion up to 5 GB (As stated on Dell’s website.)
Battery: 4 Cell or extended 6 Cell battery (6 cell probably looks like a tumor.)
Storage: 64 – 128 GB Solid State Drive
Price: ???
Wow, it made me think of my 12″ AluPB. Small but pudgy.
Update! After some serious Googling, I found the Processor Speed for the Intel Core 2 Duo “Ultra Low Voltage” Processors: 1.06 – 1.33 GHz.
Michael Dell, my PowerBook G4 and I will meet you out at the track! And don’t forget your Photoshop this time.
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That Dell Latitude E4200 looked absolutely gorgeous…..
Until he took it out of the envelope!
Go take a look at the gallery of images of this E4200 little laptop…. every image, even the 360 degree view, fails to show the bottom of the package. Very careful camera angles indeed.
The only clue as to what the bottom may look like, is the one image that shows the Latitude docking option. No doubt, as with just about every PeeCee laptop on the market today, with the docking connector, all the stickers, cooling vents and slots and the underside looks like the back of a microwave oven.
The MDN magic word = beyond….
It is beyond my limited intellectual capacity to imagine why anyone (other than ZuneTang) would consider such excrement.