Microsoft aims at Apple's aesthetic appeal with The Collection

by Steven Mostyn - Apr 20 2011, 05:45

While there’s little denying the sleek aesthetic brand appeal of Apple’s computers, Microsoft is evidently keen to let prospective hardware buyers know that supposedly clunky and dull PCs can be sexy too.

Specifically, the Redmond-based software giant has launched a handy consumer guide website that showcases 30 thoroughly sassy desktop and portable systems—all of which compete with Apple in the design stakes and are, surprise, surprise, powered by Windows 7.

Know simply as The Collection, the computers selected by Microsoft have all supposedly been “designed for individuals’ and cover a total of five different categories and nine different manufacturers.

For example, if you’ve more than a grand to invest and want a beautiful slice of desktop hardware built to handle multimedia, you’d be well advised to consider slender all-in-ones such as the HP TouchSmart 610 or Sony VAIO L—both of which pack the muscle of Intel’s Core i5 processor, 1080p screen resolution, and Blu-ray playback.

General users without quite such a lofty budget are pointed in the direction of affordable and attractive notebooks such as Packard Bell’s Easynote, the Sony VAIO C, and the HP Pavilion dm4-1300ea—the latter of which screams pocket-friendly MacBook styling.

“There has never been a more exciting time to buy a new PC,” champions Microsoft, which takes no profit from any connected hardware sales. “With touch screens and tablet that let you get even closer to your content. Whatever you’re looking for in a PC, you’ll find it in The Collection, from Windows.”

Given that most tablet devices run on Google's Android OS, Apple's iPad runs on iOS, and Windows 7 remains something of a niche platform at this juncture, Microsoft’s selection in the Mobile Companion category is predictably bare bones.

That being said, while we’re not convinced by the inclusion of Dell’s Inspiron Duo hybrid, we really can’t argue with the slinky appeal of Acer’s 10.1-inch Iconia W500, which packs a 1GHz dual-core AMD C-50 processor, a Radeon HD6250 graphics card, 2GBs of RAM and 32GBs of data storage.

Check out The Collection in full by clicking this direct link… and see if Microsoft’s platforms of choice are able to deaden the glow of temptation that shines so very brightly from Apple’s product portfolio.

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