Watch out, Mac fans, the Borg are getting smarter. Perhaps in response to claims that a previous Microsoft ad was faked outside an Apple Store by professional actors who never entered the building, Microsoft's two latest "I'm a PC" ads (see video clips below) actually include a few seconds of hands-on MacBook time. But one of the subjects -- an eleven-year-old gamer -- turns up his nose at the "pretty" MacBook at Best Buy and instead chooses a 16-inch Sony Vaio with gamer-level graphics power for under $1,500. Take that, MacBook snobs!
You know where this is going: Mac-fan bloggers are picking apart every single word of these ads. Computerworld writer Seth Weintraub, who covers Apple, has the most concise counteargument: The cheaper Windows notebooks are not only bulkier and heavier than Apple's more tightly engineered MacBook Pro models, their 16-inch displays also have fewer pixels per inch. The lower-cost Vaios also have a "substandard" battery that runs out of juice after two hours, compared to three and a half for many laptops today. These tradeoffs, Weintruab says, are how laptop makers keep prices down.
Besides attacking the television ads, Apple fans are also picking apart a new Microsoft-sponsored white paper titled, "What Price Cool?" Analyst Roger Kay claims a family of four who choose Apple over Microsoft will spend an extra $3,367 over five years in higher hardware costs and "sotware re-buys" for programs such as iLife amd Office for Mac.
Does it cost more to stick with Apple's brand for hardware and software? In a word, Yes! But Kay's report does a lot of stretching to make the cost difference higher. For starters, he presumes that Windows buyers already have a previous version of Microsoft Office to install on their new machines, while Mac buyers will need to purchase a new copy.
If you're looking for a leisurely lunchtime read, AppleInsider runs picks apart the entire report.
Comments
Read it and weep. Or reap.
I don’t care about how much you love your ugly, unmanageable and clunky Zune.
I don’t care about the lies you write about how the Windows OS is bug- and virus- free. I’ve been in this business for some time now, so I used to it, and I’ve tired of you and people like you.
I don’t care that you’ve been brainwashed to believe that the total cost of ownership between an Apple machine and a Microsoft robot saves you so much money. Like it or not, it doesn’t work that way. Facts are facts. If you don’t like the taste of the medicine, that’s your problem, not mine.
I don’t care that you ignore the fact that Microsoft’s management is, at best, in disarray and, at worst, inconceivably incompetent.
I don’t care about your ludicrous belief that Macs don’t suffer from bugs, germs, worms, trojan horses or trojan condems just because there are fewer Macs around than there are Windows robots.
You can be as stupid as you want to be, and you can be in as much denial as you want to be. That’s none of my business.
I also don’t care that you believe that having a moron as your CEO is the best way to go. Great job on the Seinfeld ad campaign, and on the “I’m a PC” campaign. More money well lost. “We’ve got millions to spend, why not just throw it away? Who cares about stock-holders?” Oh-by-the-way…The “I’m a PC” campaign did wonders for both the company and the investors. (Great trading price for the past five years or so, by the way. Sorry you lost your house because of Microsoft. Even sorrier that you could have retired early in Costa Rica had you had any faith in a company that delivers what it promises. Your stupidity and stubbornness is not my problem.)
If I’m attempting to make any point at all, then it’s this: The stupidity and abject stubbornness of Microsoft investors and consumers has only served to place Microsoft in untenable the position in which they now find themselves. They, and you, are left with nothing else but to attack competitors in ways that only make them look foolish and weak. They and you did it to yourselves.
As an Apple user and investor, all I can say is, “Thank you very much. I no longer need to work for a living at a relatively young age, my children will be well taken care of, and I can live the rest of my years knowing that I chose the right side of the ledger.”
Here we go:
This 33-year-old company dominates the consumer market spaces it competes in… has no debt… and is sitting on a cash pile of over $25 billion. In the face of the current recession it continues to do well - unlike many of its competitors.
Back in 1982, you could have purchased 100 shares of this company’s stock for $160. Those same 100 shares would be worth roughly $92,000 dollars at today’s split-adjusted share prices.
That’s a 57,400% return, something most people won’t ever see in a lifetime of investing.
Fortunately for us, this company’s prospects are only looking brighter. In fact, it has plenty of space to grow and do it all over again. And it won’t matter whether you’ve been there from the beginning or jumping into the bandwagon today - the ride looks to be profitable nonetheless.
Let me show you a few reasons why this stock belongs in everyone’s portfolio…
Ignoring Competitors and Analysts
Today, its bewildered competitors plod along, introducing ho-hum, cheap, “me-too” products in a vain attempt to undercut its expensive prices and its ever-increasing market share.
Most of these attempts are pitifully ineffective. Regardless, this company just ignores them. Always executing from a tower of strength, it defines and controls the markets it operates in, rewriting the rules for the other players.
In addition, it creates new markets where none existed before… paradigm-shifting consumers’ lives and thought processes.
The company’s uniquely distinctive advertising and its incredibly thoughtful, aesthetic product designs give it a unique position in the consumer electronics industry. One that it’s not likely to give up anytime soon, if ever.
Numerous analysts have predicted the company’s demise over the years, saying its products are too expensive and won’t sell well in recessionary environments, that it’s a “one man show.”
The company’s response? It ignores the analysts, too. Because they just don’t get it.
You see, it has something that most analysts don’t possess and never seem to be able to put a proper value on:
· Long-term creative vision
· The will and confidence to ignore all the pundits and nay-sayers
· A first-class management team to drive the execution of its secretive plans
Apple: The Foremost Consumer Electronics Leader
If you haven’t already guessed, I’m talking about Apple, Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL), the foremost consumer electronics company in the world. And its stock belongs in everyone’s portfolio.
Granted, I’m a little biased. I’ve owned its products since the 1980s and just can’t imagine living without them.
Its customer base is made up of students, educators, businesses, government agencies and consumers of every sort. The company’s business strategy centers on its ability to design and develop not only its products, but the software operating systems they run on.
Its Mac computers are first class, easy to use and run all the popular software found on Windows machines. And they run those programs better and without all the viruses, spyware, malware and hacker attacks that constantly plague Windows users.
I’ve converted several long-time Windows users to Macs, and once they saw how easy they were to use - and how few problems they had. Afterwards, they wondered why they hadn’t switched over long before.
The company single-handedly redefined the entire music business with its iPod and its iTunes music store. And it did it in a relatively short span of four to five years, generating billions in annual revenues in the process. Its share of the mp3-player market remains well above 75%.
Now it’s doing it again with the iPhone, the slickest smartphone on the market. Sales of the device grew 245% in 2008, according to a Gartner research report. That compares to 96% for Research in Motion and a paltry 0.8% for Nokia.
While the iPhone is number three in terms of overall marketshare (8.2%), it’s clearly growing the fastest, and could easily overtake Nokia and RIM in a couple of years.
In the simplest of terms, Apple has figured out how to create products that most people would design if they could give their two cents to the Apple product development teams. They’re simple and easy to use, just like everyone wants them to be.
Apple’s Cash Cow Just Keeps Getting Bigger…
Apple’s second-quarter financials will be released April 22, in what is always a highly anticipated conference call. The company constantly downplays future expectations when talking to analysts, and then routinely beats them by a wide margin.
This quarter’s results will be particularly interesting, as it will give investors a better idea as to the effect the recession is having on the company. So far, Apple has appeared to be somewhat resistant to its effects, helped in no small way by a constant stream of new product innovations and introductions.
However, one of the major sources of future revenue is constantly overlooked by analysts. Whenever the company sells an iPhone, it only books about 10% of the money it receives as revenue, and defers the rest.
It then books this annually over a period of 10 years. This is a constantly increasing future revenue stream that’s like cash in the bank. Great for when times get a little tough.
And then there’s the “Apple effect.” This is logic that goes along the lines of: “If Apple’s (iPhone or iPod) is this good, its computers must be great, too.”
That phenomenon has analysts betting the company will sell 2 to 2.2 million Mac computers for the January-March time period. The company has plenty of room to grow here, too, as it currently has under 10% of the overall PC market.
Given how well the company has been performing so far during this recession, it appears that shares are still cheap. Investors interested in owning a few shares might want to wait until after this quarter’s results are announced on April 22, as there is generally a pullback in the stock after earnings results.
Apple is certainly on top of its game, and I believe it will continue to stay there as long as it continues to make the rules that all its competitors have to follow.
Good investing,
David Fessler
www.investmentu.com
The Mac bloggers can cry all they want about the Microsoft commercials being unfair, and sure they might be, but the fact remains there are many reasons to choose a PC over a Mac, and vice versa. These commercials just happen to show a few of them.
I just bought a laptop within the last 6 months. I seriously considered a Macbook Pro, but to get the equivalent features that I got in my $1500 Toshiba Qosmio would have cost me an additional $1000. Sure my massive beast of a 17" gaming laptop only gets an hour or two of battery time, but I'm never anywhere that I can't plug it in by the time the battery dies so that doesn't bother me.
Bulkier? Sure it is. It's huge... but that's what I wanted. I want a full size keyboard with numpad and a 17" screen. $1000 wasn't worth it to me for better battery life and weightly a pound or two less.
Vista was in fact a major turn off for me because I am a Linux guy, but if I ended up hating Vista that much I could easily purchase a downgrade of XP or just install Linux and screw Windows all together.
And if you're on a budget? Yeah... good luck finding a Mac for $1000 or less. People who want cheap laptops aren't going to care that much about the quality. They just want a cheap laptop.
The Mac crowd can complain about these commercials all they want, but the point remains... there really isn't much fabrication in the commercials themselves. I do agree they're biased, but they're commercials! Mac commercials do a damn good job of convincing people to buy mac while insulting Windows at the same time. Get over it already.
The reason I don't like Apples and prefer Windows:
1. I'm not gay!
2. I don't want to pay double for something that does half
3. I like a mouse with two buttons
4. Stability. macs are the most unstable platform. Especially in business application or graphics like CS4
5. Compatibility.
6. Software availability
7. Games
8. I'm smart, I know better.
@MacSuckAss
The reason I don't like Apples and prefer Windows:
1. I'm not gay! --Yes you are your boyfriend told me so.
2. I don't want to pay double for something that does half-- Half of what?
3. I like a mouse with two buttons--It's called a mighty mouse...
4. Stability. macs are the most unstable platform. Especially in business application or graphics like CS4--I use CS suite and it never crashes. Plus how would you know if you don't own a mac or CS suite? Did you read it on the internet? if so, number eight doesn't apply.
5. Compatibility.--With what?
6. Software availability- Like what?
7. Games--this nullifies number one, again.
8. I'm smart, I know better.--you're a dork!
Both of you are stupid for writing and responding to drivel. We, the public, have been sucked into paying our hard earned $ by Apple, Microsoft and other big brand vendors. We are paying hundreds of $ to both Apple/Microsoft when cheaper alternatives exist (read open source).
The Chinese consumers have the best deal - standardized hardware, low cost OS (customized Linux) - at a price point that we can only dream of ($150 for a PC and $250 or less for a laptop).
And please stop questioning each other "Gay" or whatever you call it - nobody cares as long as you don't harm anybody.
Just my 2c
@MacSuckAss
You obviously have little/no experience using apple products if you think OS X is unstable. Using CS4 has given me 0 problems. Granted you are right about the games...but that is slowly changing, and with an Intel processor you can use bootcamp or rEFIt as a boot manager and get the best of both worlds. I actually tripple-boot Ubuntu 9.04, OS X 10.5, and XP Pro.
I LOVE my mac but will always have a partition dedicated to windows...only because damn web coders still write stuff STRICTLY for IE.
@Major player....LOL at response to #1.
Hahaha: I love trolls and the people that respond to them.
I reminds me of when I used to live over a bar near the university. At 2:00 they'd kick out all the frat-boys who would then trade insults in the alley.
You suck.
No YOU suck.
No YOU suck.
Eff you.
No Eff You.
No Eff YOU.
No Eff YOU.
I currently have 2 PC's and a Mac. My desktop is a PC that I built about 6 months ago. I also have a Samsung Netbook and a one year old macbook. I have to say that my two PC's are much more stable then the Mac. The Mac is always hanging up...i'm not sure if its because OS X is bloated or what. I use win64 on my PC and love it. I use Ubuntu on my Netbook and love it even more.
Also I have to say, why are macs so picky with their RAM. Sure i've bought a motherboard once or twice that doesn't like a stick. When my wife fried the logic board with water I decided while getting a new logicboard i'd update the RAM. I tried booting with 3 different types and no dice...would only except the original brand of RAM.
I won't argue that Macs are underpowered because they can (in the right environment) perform equal to PCs (check out Tom's Hardware on this). However, having owned quite a few in the past I think that those Ads hit the point that $ for $ Macs aren't quite worth it...yet. They sell because of their aesthetics. The mac air is the perfect example. Super thin, super cool, super useless.
I uninstalled OS X from my MBP
:)
Just Windows and Fedora, chicas.
@DontCare
You don't know anything about China do you?
1. For the population of users that actually have computers, (and a relatively small percent overall do), they usually have a desktop that they got as a generic brand or custom-assembled in one of those tiny computer shops in what can be described as big technology malls. Laptops are relatively uncommon. Their hardware is no more standardized than your run-of-the-mill atx, pci, etc. components that you get off of Newegg.
2. By low-cost OS, you mean pirated Windows, pirated Office, pirated Adobe software, pirated games, pirated add-ons, pirated everything. The Linux OS (still rare) is something to wipe and install the pirated Windows that they sell on the streets for $0.50.
3. Price points are comparable to what you'd expect to pay on Newegg.
This is partly why Macs have failed to get a foothold in China. Their costs are high, especially when translated to Chinese consumers' incomes, and most importantly, their pirated software doesn't run on Mac. So why bother? iPods are decent enough though.
Please don't make stuff up next time.
Break it down.
Macs are so awesome looking! But to say that a mac even on the highest level can even come close to the high end pc market is retarded.
I know, you mac lovers love your mac books as well as starbucks coffee and intellectual magazines but us true nerds think all of you are liberal hippie douche bags who make trippy douche bag art in photoshop :/
Just my 10 cents
Reminds me of the Amiga vs PC days. People are passionate about what they like and will always defend their personal bias'.
For most "bit heads" if you give OSX a chance, you'll find there's a lot to like (takes awhile to get used to the difference in the UI, but once you've found all of the alternate ways of doing things, it's quite intuitive).
You can't touch everything being built under one roof in terms of compatibility.
I've been in the industry for 20 years - fully expect (at home) I'll always have my linux servers, my windoze gaming box and a macbook that shuttles between here and work.
(btw guys, you can run all of your *nix scripts at an OSX command prompt).
And for those that really want to go to OSX but are tied to their windows app's - I'd suggest you look at VMWare Fusion (and never dual-boot again).
Im sorry, i happen to work at best buy.
The eleven year old boy looking for a computer thats good for gaming, walked out with that sony vaio fw.
that particular model has an intel accelerator with 64mb graphics memory.
im sorry but there's no way in hell you can call that a gaming machine.
even the entry level macbook has a geforce 9400 on it.
just thought it was funny that nobody pointed that out.
with that being said, if macs were cheap, people would be all over them.
price is the only thing that can be argued.
Sorry buddy you got yourself wire backwards upside down and in a rats nest.
Apple would have DIED, bankrupt, belly up and been 86ed in the late 90's, Microsoft saved them.
Microsoft has over 90% of home PC's covered.
apple? 5-6%, depending on who wants to play a real game, use the majority of hardware, and got sick of the viruses that supposedly do not exist(, Apple admitted macs get viruses. It's been posted on the site for who knows how long.)
Linux 4-5% (and rising faster than mac's rate) 2001: estimated 2 million linux users, 2009: over 30 million private users (not including work stations in many large companies, governments, and most hollywood (and other big media cities) work stations and servers)
Now Apple may not have any debt currently, but they have a contract with one of the cheapest (and that's not a good thing) motherboard manufacturers around, Foxconn.
Now, I'm sorry if this rubs every mac fanboy the wrong way but this is the truth.
now read this CAREFULLY, several times, just so you slow witted mac users can get this through your lisa-loving skulls.
____----->>Mac will go belly up.<<----______ GET USED TO THAT IDEA.
They fix problems way to slow, (6 months on that Java fix, microsoft inside of a month. linux users sooner than that.) they're slow to adapt to knew thoughts and new ideas. THEY'RE OUT OF DATE OFF THE ASSEMBLY LINE.
Now as for Microsoft? they will too if they don't get back in the game, head out of their bum, face forward poker faced and act like the empire they once (and still are)
Balmer took over and it seems to have gotten slippery quickly.
Jobs is none better, he almost plunged Apple in to the red when he abused his staff back in the 80's he barely got off his feet and before one knows it, he's poking the gorilla with a sharp stick, the gate is unlocked and that big ape is mad as hell. Rumor has it (as there seems to be some big NO NO about telling anyone outside apple anything) He still does it.
Now you wanna argue against intelligence?
LPI,
A+,
Security+
Malware removal certs on all 3 major platforms, experience removing viruses off phones (the Iphone in particular, bad security from day 1)
12+ years of computer programming, on all 3 platforms.
I have had the honor of seeing some of the fastest supercomputers in america. (none of which are mac or windows)
and a Bachealors in IT security from WGU,
And am waiting on a response on my application to MIT.
I'm done with my little rant, you can have the soap box once again, mac fan boy.
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