Microsoft continues ad assault on Apple's MacBook Air, features Lenovo in latest spot
Apple's wildly popular MacBook Air remains in Microsoft's crosshairs as the Windows maker seeks to break Apple's stranglehold on the premium laptop market, this time compared to Lenovo's Yoga 3 convertible PC in Microsoft's latest television advertisement.
Both devices start the ad -- dubbed "Let's Dance -- in the standard laptop form factor, before being turned to profile and the Yoga 3's 4-millimeter thickness advantage called out. The Yoga 3 is then shown in a series of different physical configurations, which the MacBook Air "struggles" to match via animation.
The MacBook Air tremors when attempting to stretch to match the Yoga 3's tablet mode, for instance, before plopping down on the edge of the keyboard and display as it fails to replicate the Yoga 3's "tent" configuration. Back in laptop mode, the MacBook Air's lack of a touchscreen is then called out, with a disembodied arm poking the ultraportable Mac hard enough that it rocks backward on its feet.
The MacBook Air then closes its own lid, seemingly in shame, as the words "game over" appear on screen.
It is worth noting that the spot features OS X Mavericks, despite airing weeks after the release of OS X Yosemite, Mavericks's successor.
The new spot is similar in composition to a series of previous ads that compared the MacBook Air to Microsoft's own Surface 3. Those ads focused primarily on functionality, though they also included jabs at the MacBook Air's perceived lack of physical flexibility.
Both devices start the ad -- dubbed "Let's Dance -- in the standard laptop form factor, before being turned to profile and the Yoga 3's 4-millimeter thickness advantage called out. The Yoga 3 is then shown in a series of different physical configurations, which the MacBook Air "struggles" to match via animation.
The MacBook Air tremors when attempting to stretch to match the Yoga 3's tablet mode, for instance, before plopping down on the edge of the keyboard and display as it fails to replicate the Yoga 3's "tent" configuration. Back in laptop mode, the MacBook Air's lack of a touchscreen is then called out, with a disembodied arm poking the ultraportable Mac hard enough that it rocks backward on its feet.
The MacBook Air then closes its own lid, seemingly in shame, as the words "game over" appear on screen.
It is worth noting that the spot features OS X Mavericks, despite airing weeks after the release of OS X Yosemite, Mavericks's successor.
The new spot is similar in composition to a series of previous ads that compared the MacBook Air to Microsoft's own Surface 3. Those ads focused primarily on functionality, though they also included jabs at the MacBook Air's perceived lack of physical flexibility.
Comments
LMAO! Welcome to 2010 MSFT.
Sounds like MS is behaving like the 1990's apple to me
They should start an ad campaign with Jon Hodgman and Justin Long but this time do 'I'm a PC, I'm a Mac' and see how that works out for them.
Times have changed, never thought I'd see Apple being portrayed as the top dog by others in ads. The funny thing is the Mac is no where near top dog in the (shrinking) PC market, and iOS is most likely not the top selling phone OS. I believe it is in the tablet world. When the I'm a Mac commercials aired Apple was the underdog.
This is all a little surreal! has anyone turned one of these tablets into a hack-intosh yet?
[IMG]http://forums.appleinsider.com/content/type/61/id/51891/width/500/height/1000[/IMG]
This would make more sense if the iPad did not exist.
the surface is several hundred $ more expensive! than the $799 mac book air
Sounds like MS is behaving like the 1990's apple to me
It is cheaper that the cost of a Macbook Air and an iPad which would be required to gain nearly the same functionality.
What I want to know is why no one is putting cellular capability into notebooks. That would be a selling point for me.
The reason Microsoft is running hardware ads is that they could never, ever run an ad comparing operating systems and ease-of-use. Rather pathetic.
Why are they targeting the MacBook air? Is it really their biggest problem right now?
Because Macs soak up most of the PC industry's profits, despite the fact that they aren't the market leader in unit sales.
Moreover, who else would they use to represent the competition? Certainly not one of their own Windows hardware vendor partners like Lenovo, Dell, HP, Toshiba, etc. Heck, they can't go after Chromebook. Those devices are manufactured by the same Wintel hardware partners.
Turn on the Air and you are ready to go. Turn on a MS notebook and life is tedious.
Apple's and Orange's.
Microsoft is comparing a two in one hybrid (I.E a tablet with a flappy keyboard) to a notebook.
The Lenovo sports a hugely under performing processor and less than half the battery life. Oh, and Windows. Game Over.
Heres an interesting review of this machine:
http://www.extremetech.com/computing/192893-the-first-core-m-laptop-paints-a-depressing-mediocre-picture-for-intels-broadwell
Not really, for a laptop it is slower with shorter battery life than the Macbook Air and for a tablet it is heavier and bigger than the iPad Air. It's just like a child from Albert Einstein and Megan Fox, with the body from Albert Einstein and the intellect from Megan Fox.
- sigh -
They just don't get it, do they?
The i3 Surface starts at 800, with the keyboard it's 910, Amazon sells the blue keyboard now for 110, i5 version costs 200 more. The MacBook Air starts at 900 not 800, so it's not a several hundred, it's 210, minus 50 with the included rebate for MS accessories, it's 160. For the difference in price your getting a 2160 x 1440 display vs. 1366 x 768, touch screen and an active digitizer stylus so it's not like Microsoft is overcharging. Though the keyboard really should be included, pretty tacky if you ask me.
They should start an ad campaign with Jon Hodgman and Justin Long but this time do 'I'm a PC, I'm a Mac' and see how that works out for them.
Times have changed, never thought I'd see Apple being portrayed as the top dog by others in ads. The funny thing is the Mac is no where near top dog in the (shrinking) PC market, and iOS is most likely not the top selling phone OS. I believe it is in the tablet world. When the I'm a Mac commercials aired Apple was the underdog.
This is all a little surreal! has anyone turned one of these tablets into a hack-intosh yet?
In my experience working in an IT department and going to numerous conferences of the past 5+ years (technology, privacy, big data, XML standards, education), Apple completely dominates the market for business laptops. Nowadays, if you look around the room at conference sessions, the distribution of attendee devices are iPads and MacBooks each with 30-60% of the crowd and the rest have other laptops (often with inventory stickers indicating they are company property) and other tablets. And these are conferences that have absolutely no Apple corporate presence and aren't about consumer electronics. MS is rightly scared. Desktops are now the preferred platform for only 2 groups: businesses and gamers.