Giving Microsoft Bad Ideas

Doh! I feel so responsible. Or is that irresponsible? Did my article about not being able to afford Macs when on a budget inspire Microsoft's latest ad, which is about buying a 17" laptop for under $1000?

That was the premise of my article. Sure Macs are better specced blah blah blah, dollar for dollar, and have better total cost of ownership (TCO), but when you bring a budget into the picture, you can't compare a PC to a Mac, you have to compare a Mac to a PC. That is, you find the PC that fits your budget and then find an equivalent Mac. That becomes difficult if you budget isn't around the price of the Mac you want.

This was the premise of the advert too. Set a budget and often you can't afford a Mac. It becomes pointless to argue that the Apple 17" is soooo much better. Lauren, Microsoft's new heroine, can't afford it. You can blather on as much as you like about the Macs real cost but it doesn't change her budget.

If you want to get her to get a Mac in her budget, you've got to get her to change her specs, convince her that it's not all about the size of the screen, there are other more important specs. Though I do think you'd struggle, she seemed very setting on a 17" screen.

Of course, it's unlikely MS got the idea from me. However, and I'm sure we all think this, it was a bit of a set up. Why a 17 inch? How long did it take MS to find someone who wanted a cheap as 17" laptop?  Apple was never going to stand a chance of competing as it only has one 17" in its product range. And how long until she gets sick of lugging that? And the price point? Why $1000? Just so one Mac laptop could fit in but no others? Which is meant to give the impression of fairness. And why didn't she spend the whole grand?

Lauren, I know it's a nice computer and a Macbook with a 17" screen wasn't in your budget, but you could have spent 40% more stayed within budget and gotten yourself something much better which would have been a better long term investment. Wonder how long before she gets jack of the 2.5 hour battery life, especially when you consider battery life figures are often exaggerated.

Looking at Best Buy, it has a $999 HP laptop with better wifi, better battery, better networking, better audio, better graphics and still within budget and looks exactly the same.

She also proved a point of my article, that is, many people shopping for computers are irrational and emotional - and not to mention uninformed. TCO doesn't come into it, which is reasonable when you're on a budget, but again, spending the whole grand woulda given her better TCO. And she obviously didn't understand the specs of what she was buying.

I am a bit... um... no, a lot skeptical about just how good a 17" laptop you can get for $1000, let alone $699. If a junk desktop is $499 (if you'd believe SJ and co), then a 17" laptop at $699 sounds like the dregs in the bottom of the barrel.

When I wrote my piece, I said you didn't have to buy junk (unless that really was your budget), and that someone on a budget like Lauren's could still buy a reasonable machine, not as good as a Mac, but still quite reasonable.

Microsoft, it kinda devalues the whole exercise of showing folks can't afford a Mac on a budget when your client is happy to buy the cheapest and well under budget. That's going to exclude anything half decent. So really, she wanted a bottom of the barrel, cheapest big screen laptop she could get. In the end, all you did was prove some people will buy a crap even when they don't need to. Maybe next time at least maybe prove you can get a decent computer on a reasonable budget. Ooops, I must be careful, I don't want to give Microsoft any more ideas.

It's funny isn't it? We keep talking about the computer here, not the OS. Apple's ads regularly attacked Windows, especially Vista. Microsoft's comeback in all its ads has been defending the "PC guy/girl", no defense of Windows at all, despite Apple taking repeated digs at it. It's like someone calling you ugly and stupid and you saying, "Hey, that's not true! I'm not stupid." By implication, you admit you're ugly. By implication, Microsoft admits Windows is crap.

So here's an idea though you can use, Microsoft - if you've got the intestinal fortitude: mention the "W" word, or if you're really brave, the "V" word.