Microsoft ads hit out at Apple hardware prices

by Stevie Smith - Mar 27 2009, 16:30

With its recent “I am a PC” advertising campaign confusing many when it was meant to showcase the market-leading usage attributed to the Windows platform, Microsoft is now looking to focus consumer attention on the PC hardware that carries its operating system by kicking Apple squarely betwixt the legs.

More pointedly, the Redmond-based software titan has launched a new campaign highlighting the cheaper prices and recessional advantages that generally accompany PC systems when directly compared to Apple-branded computers.

Microsoft has once again employed the services of ad agency Crispin Porter + Bogusky (the Gates and Seinfeld campaign) in order to pose as a market research firm and recruit unsuspecting Craigslist users for a veiled notebook hardware study.

Once signed on to the study, participants were then given up to $2,000 USD and tasked with purchasing a computer system that ticked a number of boxes on a predetermined list of specification requirements.

All accepted participants were of course filmed during their subsequent hardware hunts – for later use during the official ad campaign – and told they could keep their new computers upon completion of the study.

One particular hunter, Lauren, was handed a cool $1,000 USD and told to secure a 17-inch notebook below that price point. Heading straight for an official Apple Store, Lauren emerged empty handed due to not being able to meet the screen-size requirement. She then tried retail outlet Best Buy and quickly selected a HP Pavillion (equipped with Windows Vista) that met all the study criteria and cost only $699 USD.

While Microsoft’s ads are clearly meant to polish the worth of PC systems carrying the Windows OS in these testing times, the diligent tech ferrets at Apple Insider are quick to note that the price difference between Lauren’s HP notebook and Apple-branded alternatives hides a sizable shortfall in specification.

“Best Buy actually does sell the DV7-1245DX, an HP notebook with a 17” screen, but it lacks fast wireless 802.11n, fast Gigabit Ethernet, digital audio inputs and outputs, weights 7.75 pounds, and only features the screen resolution of Apple’s 15” notebooks: 1440 by 900.” the site explains.

“Technically, it is a 17” notebook in terms of size,” it adds, “but it doesn’t have the 17” resolution of Apple’s MacBook Pro, which is 1920 by 1200.”

Of course, a great many prospective computer buyers won’t look beyond the ‘wow, that’s a bargain’ value of Microsoft’s partner-endorsing commercials, but it’s good to see sites such as Apple Insider (while clearly biased), reminding consumers that Vista has the lowest satisfaction value according to representative ChangeWave ratings.

Unsurprisingly, Apple’s Mac OS X Leopard and Tiger systems head the ratings list, with open-source Linux and Windows XP following not far behind.

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