New Apple Mac ad features familiar face, Blu-ray PC adoption low

[AppleInsider]

Distinctly voiced actor Patrick Warburton plays a high-end PC in a new "Get a Mac" ad; and a new study suggests that adoption of Blu-ray players for PCs is very low.

Get a Mac with 'Puddy'

Apple this week unveiled a new "Get a Mac" ad, entitled "Top of the Line," featuring actor Patrick Warburton. Warburton is best known for playing the character David Puddy on the show Seinfeld, as well as starring in the TV series The Tick and providing voices in The Venture Bros. and Family Guy, among many other roles.

In the spot, John Hodgman's "PC" character introduces Warburton as the "top of the line PC" to a customer looking for a new computer. She wants a big screen and fast processor, which the PC says he can provide. But when the shopper asks for a computer that "just works" without viruses and other troubles, Warburton says he is unable to fulfill her needs.

The shopper, of course, chooses a Mac, but not before Warburton leaves her his card and asks her to call him when she's "ready to compromise."



Blu-ray PC adoption slow

A new study from iSuppli Corporation found that Blu-ray drives have shipped on 3.6 percent of PCs in 2009. In addition, the company predicts that adoption will only reach 16.3 percent by 2013.

"They eventually will find success," Michael Yang, senior analyst for storage and mobile memory at iSuppli, said of Blu-ray, "but during the next five years, that success will be limited in the PC segment."

The report states the two major limitations of Blu-ray are cost and a lack of a library of movies on the part of owners.

Apple's forthcoming iMac systems have been rumored to offer compelling new features, including one that would appeal to the multimedia crowd. That news has led to some speculation that Blu-ray could be coming to Apple machines. In addition, some rumors suggest iTunes 9 could have support for Blu-ray players.

[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]

[JupiterOne]

Two new ads. Both kind of lame....

http://www.apple.com/getamac/ads/


edit: First!

[skottichan]

Noooooooo!!!


Brock effing Samson can't be a PC!!


I have to admit, with all the wailing and gnashing of teeth here and on MacRumors about how Apple's hamstringing buyers with a lack of a Blu-Ray option, I'd figured the PC adoption rate would be significantly higher. Personally, it's no BFD to me since most of the Blu-Ray's I've bought recently (Coraline, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern) all came with a digital copy. I understand if people don't have any other Blu-Ray player, but I'm kinda baffled if people use their computers as their primary entertainment viewing source (although, I do understand those using things like Minis as home entertainment servers).

[joe in miami]

Originally Posted by JupiterOne

Two new ads. Both kind of lame....

http://www.apple.com/getamac/ads/


edit: First!

Agreed. No energy.

[al_bundy]

isn't apple supposed to get new tech into it's computers before Dell and HP?

[doyourownthing]

Originally Posted by al_bundy

isn't apple supposed to get new tech into it's computers before Dell and HP?

let me correct your grammar, apparently so much trolling has affected your English

isn't apple supposed to get new tech into its computers before Dell and HP?

[Pascal007]

Originally Posted by al_bundy

isn't apple supposed to get new tech into it's computers before Dell and HP?

No !

Apple’s habit is to introduce new tech after everybody else, but to do it right, the first time it does.

[ivan.rnn01]

What a rubbish that ad is! Not single one to mention since "Elimination".
OK, back to school soon, hopefully some new ideas will be here...

[Xian Zhu Xuande]

Originally Posted by al_bundy

isn't apple supposed to get new tech into it's computers before Dell and HP?

Apple usually introduces technology when the honest need, or potential use, for said technology is actually there. At this stage with Blu-Ray I imagine the only reason why it isn't available as at least an option is because of overly complicated licensing issues and digital protection requirements. The standard brought this upon itself.

I don't think there's much reason to introduce it as a standard computer feature at this point--except perhaps in high-end computers when all the planets align properly. The only great value of Blu-Ray right now is for movies. As storage it is pretty expensive, and in most cases external storage is a much more realistic option. For the vast majority of consumers an at-home Blu-Ray player is the right choice for movie watching (I have one myself) and external storage is the best choice for backup. There just isn't demand enough to warrant the price markup as a standard option. (Note that Sony, which includes it on many of their laptops, has plenty of reason to take a hit on the hardware costs).

Why do most people want this so badly on their laptops (and especially their desktops) anyway? I can see having access to Blu-Ray movies while traveling, but DVD is plenty good enough for watching a nice flick. Is it just so people can duplicate Blu-Ray movies?

[iReality85]

Originally Posted by AppleInsider

Blu-ray PC adoption slow

A new study from iSuppli Corporation found that Blu-ray drives have shipped on 3.6 percent of PCs in 2009. In addition, the company predicts that adoption will only reach 16.3 percent by 2013.

"They eventually will find success," Michael Yang, senior analyst for storage and mobile memory at iSuppli, said of Blu-ray, "but during the next five years, that success will be limited in the PC segment."

The report states the two major limitations of Blu-ray are cost and a lack of a library of movies on the part of owners.

He should be more specific than to just say Blu-ray will be limited in the "PC" segment. Notebooks or desktops? Sorry Mr. Yang, but you can find desktop Blu-ray drives from many manufacturers today starting at $80, which isn't breaking the bank especially when compared to stand-alone Blu-ray players. Blu-ray drives for notebooks are about twice as expensive as ones for desktop, due to form factor. But what nonsense to suggest that Blu-ray will go nowhere in the PC segment over the next FIVE years. Five years? That's technological eternity, practically. Obviously Mr. Yang has a distorted sense of technological progression. Blu-ray drives are the next step beyond DVD drives concerning optical mediums, and it definitely will not take five years for them to catch on.

[mjtomlin]

The new ads did nothing for me. The same can be said for Blu-Ray: Zero desire to move to Blu-Ray content. I'm still happy with standard wide-screen definition. Don't even have high-definition cable yet. I'm also just as happy buying content/movies from my AppleTV.

I figure making the leap twice was enough. (Although I did dabble in LaserDiscs)

Audio Cassette -> CD -> digital file
VHS Cassette -> DVD -> digital file

I'm done.

[Wakashizuma]

Originally Posted by Xian Zhu Xuande

Apple usually introduces technology when the honest need, or potential use, for said technology is actually there. At this stage with Blu-Ray I imagine the only reason why it isn't available as at least an option is because of overly complicated licensing issues and digital protection requirements. The standard brought this upon itself.

I don't think there's much reason to introduce it as a standard computer feature at this point--except perhaps in high-end computers when all the planets align properly. The only great value of Blu-Ray right now is for movies. As storage it is pretty expensive, and in most cases external storage is a much more realistic option. For the vast majority of consumers an at-home Blu-Ray player is the right choice for movie watching (I have one myself) and external storage is the best choice for backup. There just isn't demand enough to warrant the price markup as a standard option. (Note that Sony, which includes it on many of their laptops, has plenty of reason to take a hit on the hardware costs).

Why do most people want this so badly on their laptops (and especially their desktops) anyway? I can see having access to Blu-Ray movies while traveling, but DVD is plenty good enough for watching a nice flick. Is it just so people can duplicate Blu-Ray movies?

Instead of accusing people of being pirates in a subtle way (because god forbid they are critical of Apple), you should understand the reasoning behind it. There are people who happen to have Blu-ray players in their homes and their buy movies in Blu-ray format to enjoy it. Now, if they intend to watch that particular disc on their laptop, they cant because Steve Jobs thinks it's a bag of hurt (He should focus more on getting to know Blu-ray right instead of introducing crap like iPod HiFi) and so they are forced to either
A) Buy a DVD version of the movie which is a waste of money and space
B) Not buy Blu-ray at all because Steve Jobs doesnt personally like Blu-ray!

So yeah, it's rather simple!

[iReality85]

Originally Posted by Xian Zhu Xuande

Why do most people want this so badly on their laptops (and especially their desktops) anyway? I can see having access to Blu-Ray movies while traveling, but DVD is plenty good enough for watching a nice flick. Is it just so people can duplicate Blu-Ray movies?

See, I would think the exact opposite. Why would you want a Blu-ray drive in your notebook? So you can suck the battery life dry? So you can watch an HD movie on a non-HD resolution screen (excluding the 17" Mac Pro)? At least in desktops, power supply isn't a concern, many people (PC users, at least) have 24" HD-resolution monitors nowadays, and you can always hook your desktop (with all its horse power) up to gorgeous TV. Given that Blu-ray drives for desktops are less than half the price of ones for notebooks, why again would Blu-ray for notebooks make more sense? And have you watched a Blu-ray vs. a DVD? Maybe on itty-bitty notebook screens DVDs look good, but that's only because they sport resolutions less than 1920x1200 so DVDs "appear" to look good. 480p vs. 1080p, big difference in image quality.

[camroidv27]

I always disliked the Mac ads... even when I was an Apple fan.

They come off as demeaning to all those who use a PC. That's not the way to win customers. This set is no different. The "sleeze" feel behind the PC character is just un-inviting for Apple.
At least I see where some of the more extreme mentalities come from.


By the way, I have a PC, and haven't had a virus yet. Free software for AV and Firewall, and when I turn on the computer, "it just works". If you do it right, you won't have any problems at all.
My macs however, my permissions have gotten all screwed up multiple times. Kinda sucks when you can't get into your own files and have to go fix it in disk utility (which half the time failed, so I had to fix it via terminal). Same thing as a PC though, if you do it right, you won't have any problems.

But, a Mac can have just as many issues as a Windows based PC.

So, when is Apple going to lodge against Linux?

[teckstud]

Originally Posted by doyourownthing

let me correct your grammar, apparently so much trolling has affected your English

isn't apple supposed to get new tech into its computers before Dell and HP?

Hey grammar police- why is everyone that says anything different than what you think-called up for "trolling". Do us all a favor and save your inane comments for somewhere else. Geesh!

[teckstud]

Originally Posted by camroidv27

I always disliked the Mac ads... even when I was an Apple fan.

They come off as demeaning to all those who use a PC. That's not the way to win customers. This set is no different. The "sleeze" feel behind the PC character is just un-inviting for Apple.
At least I see where some of the more extreme mentalities come from.


So, when is Apple going to lodge against Linux?

I agree. All those "I'm a Mac" ads for how many years yielded barely double digit percentage market share?
And everyone agrees it was the iPhone and iPod that did that- not those adds no matter how entertaining Justin Long is. It's Justin Long that owes his career to Apple.

[AdamIIGS]

Originally Posted by teckstud

I agree. All those "I'm a Mac" adds for how many years yielded barely double digit percentage market share?
And everyone agrees it was the iPhone and iPod that did that- not those adds no matter how entertaining Justin Long is. It's Justin Long that owes his career to Apple.

You should have to be able to spell complicated words such as "ads" or know the difference between 'adds' and 'ads' before you can troll, won't someone think of the CHILDREN?!?!?!

Those 'ads' reflect the apple persona as much as anything teckdud.

[teckstud]

Originally Posted by AdamIIGS

You should have to be able to spell complicated words such as "ads" or know the difference between 'adds' and 'ads' before you can troll, won't someone think of the CHILDREN?!?!?!

Those 'ads' reflect the apple persona as much as anything teckdud.

OOhhh- I added an extra "d" - you're such a fantastic spellchecker.
And

"Those 'ads' reflect the apple persona".

Really? Tell us why- just don't make statements.

[Mazda 3s]

These Mac ads are getting old. All they can hammer on now is "Look, PCs have more viruses". Same old, same old.

I'm a recent PC to Mac convert (Lenovo ThinkPad X300 to 13" MacBook Pro) and I converted because of the battery life, sleek exterior design, and the challenge of a new operating system.

In fact, it hasn't really been much of a challenge at all. I've been able to pickup and learn things on my own over the past 3 weeks and **drumroll** it isn't much different than my old X300 when running Windows 7 RC. Everything just "works" as it did on my PC and of course there are no viruses -- although I've never had a virus on any of my PCs in the past (maybe it's because I'm careful about browsing the internet or maybe it's because I always used antivirus software).

To tell you the truth, the whole Mac vs PC in general is just getting old be it from commercials or from fanboys -- both are just go about different ways to solve our everyday computing problems and make life easier and both are perfectly fine.

Pick your poison and drink up, but the flames from either side at the other isn't going to get us anywhere. Ford vs Chevy, BMW vs Mercedes, Ferrari vs Lamborghini, Honda vs Toyota, pfffffff!!!!!

[webraider]

...They wouldn't be on the BluRay board. People who say Apple isn't interested are blind to that fact. Apple is interested or they wouldn't be there. No maybe that will change. Maybe Apple will leave the board but there is a reason they are there. Steve Jobs himself said Apple will be ready with h.264, when the final decision has been made for BluRay or HD-DVD. That's what he said. Just because he later called BluRay a "mixed bag of hurt" doesn't mean he doesn't want it. The reason Apple is on that board so they can help Sony market it in a way that everyone wins, including Apple.

[joelsalt]

Originally Posted by teckstud

I agree. All those "I'm a Mac" ads for how many years yielded barely double digit percentage market share?
And everyone agrees it was the iPhone and iPod that did that- not those adds no matter how entertaining Justin Long is. It's Justin Long that owes his career to Apple.

You are so the best poster on this site.

[teckstud]

Originally Posted by webraider

...They wouldn't be on the BluRay board. People who say Apple isn't interested are blind to that fact. Apple is interested or they wouldn't be there. No maybe that will change. Maybe Apple will leave the board but there is a reason they are there. Steve Jobs himself said Apple will be ready with h.264, when the final decision has been made for BluRay or HD-DVD. That's what he said. Just because he later called BluRay a "mixed bag of hurt" doesn't mean he doesn't want it. The reason Apple is on that board so they can help Sony market it in a way that everyone wins, including Apple.

Agreed. DVDs are like floppy discs when compared to Blu-ray discs in their compacity alone.

[wizard69]

Seriously the writing is on the wall here, tablets will not have optical drives, so distribution needs a new vehicle. The rational vehicle is SD memory cards. Combine that with the need to eliminate optical drives from laptops and it becomes obvious that Blu-Rays future is extremely limited.

The reliability and low power nature of SD flash storage is about to steam roll into the handheld and laptop market. Like it or not CD type drives are very legacy in nature.


Dave

[PaulMJohnson]

Originally Posted by doyourownthing

let me correct your grammar, apparently so much trolling has affected your English

isn't apple supposed to get new tech into its computers before Dell and HP?

And let me correct your grammar:

Isn't Apple supposed to get new tech into its computers before Dell and HP?

[auxlepli]

Jobs is right about Blu-Ray. With the up-converter on a DVD the quality is just as good and without the DRM.
As for the ads, if you're tired of them stop watching them.

[PXT]

Now if we really wanted to see the real picture, someone would redraw that chart with the zero % at the bottom.

[PXT]

oops .

[domerdel2]

the company predicts that adoption will only reach 16.3 percent by 2013.

That's extremely conservative. If a low end BD-ROM drive is $80 now (desktop), it's probably going to be $20-30 by 2013 at consumer price.. buy in high volume, and it's going to be even cheaper..

[camroidv27]

Originally Posted by Mazda 3s

These Mac ads are getting old. All they can hammer on now is "Look, PCs have more viruses". Same old, same old.

I'm a recent PC to Mac convert (Lenovo ThinkPad X300 to 13" MacBook Pro) and I converted because of the battery life, sleek exterior design, and the challenge of a new operating system.

In fact, it hasn't really been much of a challenge at all. I've been able to pickup and learn things on my own over the past 3 weeks and **drumroll** it isn't much different than my old X300 when running Windows 7 RC. Everything just "works" as it did on my PC and of course there are no viruses -- although I've never had a virus on any of my PCs in the past (maybe it's because I'm careful about browsing the internet or maybe it's because I always used antivirus software).

To tell you the truth, the whole Mac vs PC in general is just getting old be it from commercials or from fanboys -- both are just go about different ways to solve our everyday computing problems and make life easier and both are perfectly fine.

Pick your poison and drink up, but the flames from either side at the other isn't going to get us anywhere. Ford vs Chevy, BMW vs Mercedes, Ferrari vs Lamborghini, Honda vs Toyota, pfffffff!!!!!

Glad to hear your story. You knew that a PC could do the trick, but wanted something different and so chose Mac. You even acknowledge that the Mac performs as well as your old PC, that neither are better or worse. I like that mentality.

You are very much correct: these days it really doesn't matter which side you pick. Both do the same thing different ways. (I went from Mac back to PC. Works just fine, and my machines work just as well as my old macs.)

I definitely whole heartedly agree with the Mac vs PC thing being old. Thank you.

[teckstud]

Originally Posted by PaulMJohnson

And let me correct your grammar:

Isn't Apple supposed to get new tech into its computers before Dell and HP?

Yes- didn't you notice the SD card slots in the MacBook Pros that arrived June 2009?

Seriously- NO. Apple used to. They were in the forefront with DVD drives back in the early iMac days. But their motus operandi has changed. They have focused more their own physical design i.e. slimness and touch screen technology rather than universal add-ons. No Blu-ray, no HDMI, etc . Yet, that is.

[anantksundaram]

Originally Posted by Mazda 3s

Pick your poison and drink up, but the flames from either side at the other isn't going to get us anywhere. Ford vs Chevy, BMW vs Mercedes, Ferrari vs Lamborghini, Honda vs Toyota, pfffffff!!!!!

Many people would argue- at least on one side of the 'flames' - that it's more like Ford v. BMW, Chevy v. Mercedes, Toyota v. Lamborghini, and Honda v. Ferrari.

[KindredMac]

Holey Krap Peepel....

Wiil yuo guise pleeze turne onn speel chek oar ate leest looke ate wat yu aer typin?

You all look like complete morons in most of these posts! Right click and select CHECK SPELLING WHILE TYPING for God's sake! Then please look at the grammar you are using.

The PC users are going to have a field day with this thread if it gets out...

[Mazda 3s]

Originally Posted by camroidv27

Glad to hear your story. You knew that a PC could do the trick, but wanted something different and so chose Mac. You even acknowledge that the Mac performs as well as your old PC, that neither are better or worse. I like that mentality.

You are very much correct: these days it really doesn't matter which side you pick. Both do the same thing different ways. (I went from Mac back to PC. Works just fine, and my machines work just as well as my old macs.)

I definitely whole heartedly agree with the Mac vs PC thing being old. Thank you.

Yeah, it's pretty much an even swap IMHO when it comes to the operating system. The only thing that has tripped me up in recent days is that our wireless HP printer was acting up and was feeding an error to my wife's laptop about the ink being past its expiration date (her PC is running Windows 7 RC). The first thing I did was reach for the touchpad and try to do gestures only to start scratching my head when nothing happened

But as far as apps are concerned:

PC --> Mac

Office 2010 Beta --> Open Office 3.0.1
Paint.net --> Gimp
Trillian Astra --> Adium
Media Player Classic --> VLC Player
Firefox 3.5 --> Firefox 3.5
iTunes --> iTunes
NVU --> NVU
Thunderbird 3.0 Beta --> Thunderbird 3.0 Beta
uTorrent --> uTorrent

To tell you the truth, it's been pretty boring. I was expecting more drama or something to add a little spring in my step, but whattya know, both experiences have been pretty much the same -- solid everyday performance with no crashes.

The biggest differences I've noticed have been the much better battery life and much faster video encoding (2.26 GHz vs 1.2 GHz on my ThinkPad). Overall everyday computing has been pretty much a wash (1.2 GHz + 64GB SLC SSD vs 2.26GHz + 5400 RPM HDD).

[anantksundaram]

Originally Posted by al_bundy

isn't apple supposed to get new tech into it's computers before Dell and HP?

Punctuation, etc. aside, no.

[AppleStud]

So 3.6% of people buy a computer with Blu-ray. Interesting. So, assuming a (generous) 10% market share for Apple, then BR-equipped mac shipments would only total .036% of total US computers.

All those haters crying for BD sure do make a lot of noise.

[anantksundaram]

Originally Posted by camroidv27

I always disliked the Mac ads... even when I was an Apple fan.

What made you switch? Just curious....

[bartfat]

Originally Posted by wizard69

Seriously the writing is on the wall here, tablets will not have optical drives, so distribution needs a new vehicle. The rational vehicle is SD memory cards. Combine that with the need to eliminate optical drives from laptops and it becomes obvious that Blu-Rays future is extremely limited.

The reliability and low power nature of SD flash storage is about to steam roll into the handheld and laptop market. Like it or not CD type drives are very legacy in nature.


Dave

OMG, that's the best idea I've heard amongst all these people. Yeah, with SD cards getting cheaper by the month, I can easily see when eventually it will replace Blu-Ray. So, does this SD movie card scheme come with DRM? Well, I guess I could see that if you're renting a movie...

Give SD cards another year or two and no doubt it'll start competing on price with Blu-ray discs on both price and capacity. And it'll be more portable, since you won't have to lug around an internal/external optical drive in case you want to watch movies on the go. Then again, WHY would you want to watch HD in non-ideal circumstances... <sarcasm>hey wait, that's what everyone wants though, watching a HD movie w/ Blu-Ray in non-ideal circumstances with sunlight blocking that resolution..

Actually I wonder whether tablets will even have SD cards.. at least for Apple's tablet. The way I see the rumors is that Apple will introduce it like a bigger iPod touch. Still requires another computer to manage all the data, and of course, you're going to use iTunes for that. So I reckon it'll be Apple pushing for iTunes HD video downloads instead, thereby eliminating physical drives entirely

[MacTripper]

Originally Posted by Mazda 3s

These Mac ads are getting old. All they can hammer on now is "Look, PCs have more viruses". Same old, same old.

I agree the Mac ads in their current form are getting a bit tired.

Originally Posted by Mazda 3s

I'm a recent PC to Mac convert (Lenovo ThinkPad X300 to 13" MacBook Pro) and I converted because of the battery life, sleek exterior design, and the challenge of a new operating system.

In fact, it hasn't really been much of a challenge at all. I've been able to pickup and learn things on my own over the past 3 weeks and **drumroll** it isn't much different than my old X300 when running Windows 7 RC. Everything just "works" as it did on my PC and of course there are no viruses -- although I've never had a virus on any of my PCs in the past (maybe it's because I'm careful about browsing the internet or maybe it's because I always used antivirus software).

To tell you the truth, the whole Mac vs PC in general is just getting old be it from commercials or from fanboys -- both are just go about different ways to solve our everyday computing problems and make life easier and both are perfectly fine...

Mac's are not a challenge, you want challenge, you need Linux.

Mac's are for people with better things to do than tweak under the hood to keep it running, but if someone is so inclined to tweak, there is a lot to play with.

Anti-virus scans for known infections, it's a after thought after your already infected and your computer already pwned. It's no solution for well designed OS security, like what a Mac has.

The first thing malware is going to do is disable the anti-virus anyway, so you may have been thinking your malware free all this time and you might not be.

I had a PC guy who thought his machine was clean, I ran the Microsoft Livecare, and it found a rootkit which was using the anti-virus he had installed to keep other malware off it's bot.


It's apparent your not into the vast amounts of free pr0n that's available online, because that's a prime vector for infection.

[Gucky]

Originally Posted by AppleStud

So 3.6% of people buy a computer with Blu-ray. Interesting. So, assuming a (generous) 10% market share for Apple, then BR-equipped mac shipments would only total .036% of total US computers.

All those haters crying for BD sure do make a lot of noise.

It's bad enough that so many posters are apparently incapable of spelling common English words. It appears they also can't perform trivial mathematical calculations: 10% = 0.1, so that would make it 0.36% and not 0.036%. A significant difference! And some of us would actually like to watch our blu-ray movies when we travel. If you or others don't like it, don't select what will likely remain a custom option for 2 or 3 years. Also the average Mac buyer cares more about quality and is more affluent which might well result in a higher percentage of customers choosing a blu-ray option. And no, we wouldn't want to buy DVD versions of movies we already own like someone here seemed to suggest!

[MacTripper]

Originally Posted by wizard69

Seriously the writing is on the wall here, tablets will not have optical drives, so distribution needs a new vehicle. The rational vehicle is SD memory cards. Combine that with the need to eliminate optical drives from laptops and it becomes obvious that Blu-Rays future is extremely limited.

The reliability and low power nature of SD flash storage is about to steam roll into the handheld and laptop market. Like it or not CD type drives are very legacy in nature.


Dave

I agree, SD is going to rule.

With 2TB SDXC cards having twice the access speed of a 7,200 RPM hard drive...cheap, thin and portable. BlueRay is doomed as a storage medium for computers, even SSD and RAMs life is suddenly looking sort of bleak.

Apple has included a SD port on it's newer machines, it can access the larger capacity SD cards coming, but the speed is hobbled right now.


Apple likes thin, and SD has it.



Watching BlueRay movies on computers? Might be shifted to a third party device instead or a new kind of disk scanner that reads the whole disk without having to spin it and waste valuable space and energy.