# Is it me, or are the MAC vs IBM commercials with the two guys truly witty? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 22, 2007, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-me-or-are-the-mac-vs-ibm-commercials-with-the-two-guys-truly-witty/393232 "2007-02-22T16:15:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Phlosphr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Phlosphr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phlosphr)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2007, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-me-or-are-the-mac-vs-ibm-commercials-with-the-two-guys-truly-witty/393232/61 "2007-02-23T00:15:32Z")
[QUOTE=Lemur866] [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/N0gRgls2eYc/hqdefault.jpg "Mac PC 1-Money") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0gRgls2eYc) [/QUOTE] HAHAHA! Nice. ---
**Author:** ![Carnacki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b5e925/32.png) [@Carnacki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carnacki)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2007, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-me-or-are-the-mac-vs-ibm-commercials-with-the-two-guys-truly-witty/393232/62 "2007-02-23T00:25:13Z")
[QUOTE=slortar] Ah, that makes more sense. I only saw that one once…and to be honest, I tend to tune out mentally whenever I hear one starting up these days to avoid the inevitable brain hemorrhaging. [/QUOTE] It doesn’t make anymore sense to me. Wouldn’t a MacBook need as many cables (i.e., 0) as a non-Macintosh laptop? Or are they comparing a MacBook to a desktop PC? ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2007, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-me-or-are-the-mac-vs-ibm-commercials-with-the-two-guys-truly-witty/393232/63 "2007-02-23T01:11:11Z")
[QUOTE=KidScruffy] It doesn’t make anymore sense to me. Wouldn’t a MacBook need as many cables (i.e., 0) as a non-Macintosh laptop? Or are they comparing a MacBook to a desktop PC? [/QUOTE] They were commenting that Macbooks have magnetically attached power cables, so if you trip on it, the whole laptop won’t come crashing to the floor. ---
**Author:** ![Kevbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e47774/32.png) [@Kevbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kevbo)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2007, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-me-or-are-the-mac-vs-ibm-commercials-with-the-two-guys-truly-witty/393232/64 "2007-02-23T01:20:03Z")
[QUOTE=slortar] Because, yeah, I trip over my pc power cable **all the time**. :rolleyes: [/QUOTE] Is that a laptop or a desktop? because that one hits home for me. I tripped over a powercord and pretty much distroyed a laptop. Fortunatly it was an old, slow, piece of crap and the owner thanked me for finally giving him the ammunition he needed to talk his wife into the price of an upgrade…and it still kinda worked, so we were able to pull all the data off. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2007, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-me-or-are-the-mac-vs-ibm-commercials-with-the-two-guys-truly-witty/393232/65 "2007-02-23T02:01:54Z")
I’ve never seen Justin Long in anything else. Does he always look like he has a three-day growth of moustache? The half-assed lip hair annoys me. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2007, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-me-or-are-the-mac-vs-ibm-commercials-with-the-two-guys-truly-witty/393232/66 "2007-02-23T05:06:23Z")
[QUOTE=Lemur866] [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/N0gRgls2eYc/hqdefault.jpg "Mac PC 1-Money") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0gRgls2eYc) [/QUOTE] LOL! That was hilarious! It reminds me of a Flash animation I saw a while ago that parodied the Macsturbation mindset. The Mac user was bragging to his roomate about how Macs never crash, and of course the bomb screen appears. Then he boasts that he has “every computer game _ever made_.” He opens the game folder, and there’s like two games in it. Overall, those Apple commercials really grate on me. That guy is the perfect embodiment of why I tend to hate Mac users: the smug, condescending attitude; the tendency to exaggerate the problems that Windows users have, while forgetting that he has most of those same problems; the absolute inabilty to admit that Windows has gotten better over the years. (I mean, loading drivers? With XP, I’ve only ever needed to load drivers for one thing: my fingerprint reader. Cameras, flash drives, and even my mp3 player just plug in and are recognized right away.) Are those guys comparing their computers to Windows 3.1 or something? ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2007, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-me-or-are-the-mac-vs-ibm-commercials-with-the-two-guys-truly-witty/393232/67 "2007-02-23T05:59:51Z")
[QUOTE=DoctorJ] Style matters. [/QUOTE] No it doesn’t. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2007, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-me-or-are-the-mac-vs-ibm-commercials-with-the-two-guys-truly-witty/393232/68 "2007-02-23T06:00:52Z")
[QUOTE=Walloon] I’ve never seen Justin Long in anything else. [/QUOTE] Galaxy Quest!!! ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2007, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-me-or-are-the-mac-vs-ibm-commercials-with-the-two-guys-truly-witty/393232/69 "2007-02-23T06:02:44Z")
Was John Hodgman the original PC? I swear there was a different, older guy playing the part of PC in the very first ads. ---
**Author:** ![Grey\_area](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Grey\_area](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grey_area)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2007, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-me-or-are-the-mac-vs-ibm-commercials-with-the-two-guys-truly-witty/393232/70 "2007-02-23T06:06:00Z")
[QUOTE=Autumn Almanac] I’m a Windows user, but I have no particular aversion to Apple products. The commercials are funny, but the smugness outweighs the humor. So my overall reaction is mildly negative. [/QUOTE] Well put, my sentiments exactly. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2007, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-me-or-are-the-mac-vs-ibm-commercials-with-the-two-guys-truly-witty/393232/71 "2007-02-23T06:14:34Z")
[QUOTE=GuanoLad] Galaxy Quest!!! [/QUOTE] As well as Dodgeball, Waiting, and Accepted, and small smaller roles as well. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2007, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-me-or-are-the-mac-vs-ibm-commercials-with-the-two-guys-truly-witty/393232/72 "2007-02-23T06:15:43Z")
[QUOTE=GuanoLad] No it doesn’t. [/QUOTE] Yuh huh. -FrL- ---
**Author:** ![straight\_man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/straight_man/32/3027_2.png) [@straight\_man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/straight_man)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2007, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-me-or-are-the-mac-vs-ibm-commercials-with-the-two-guys-truly-witty/393232/73 "2007-02-23T06:16:56Z")
All right, probably too many parodies already, but [here’s one](http://www.loadingreadyrun.com/videos/view/13/Rejected+%27Get+a+Mac%27+Ads) making fun of both Macs and PCs. Personally, I kind of like the Get a Mac ads. They’re more silly than anything. ---
**Author:** ![corkboard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@corkboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/corkboard)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2007, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-me-or-are-the-mac-vs-ibm-commercials-with-the-two-guys-truly-witty/393232/74 "2007-02-23T13:49:38Z")
[QUOTE=mobo85] Other than ads for New Coke in the 1980s (back when it- “Coca-Cola”- and “Coke Classic” were both on the market at the same time), has Coke ever mentioned Pepsi by name in an advertisement? Pepsi, the perpetual #2, has had a number of ads over the years referring to Coca-Cola by name, but I can’t recall any Coke ads mentioning Pepsi by name. [/QUOTE] I don’t recall hearing “Microsoft” mentioned in any of the Mac ads. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2007, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-me-or-are-the-mac-vs-ibm-commercials-with-the-two-guys-truly-witty/393232/75 "2007-02-23T14:03:37Z")
A Macintosh is a personal computer, correct? That is what PC stands for. ---
**Author:** ![ASAKMOTSD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/919ad9/32.png) [@ASAKMOTSD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASAKMOTSD)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2007, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-me-or-are-the-mac-vs-ibm-commercials-with-the-two-guys-truly-witty/393232/76 "2007-02-23T14:16:43Z")
Might be interesting to have the PC guy try to introduce the Mac guy to a non-mac “peripheral” only to discover that Mac can’t talk to it… ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2007, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-me-or-are-the-mac-vs-ibm-commercials-with-the-two-guys-truly-witty/393232/77 "2007-02-23T15:59:07Z")
[QUOTE=McNew] I don’t recall hearing “Microsoft” mentioned in any of the Mac ads. [/QUOTE] In Mac vs PC discussions, “PC” _means_ “A computer that runs a Microsoft operating system.” So to mention PC’s is to mention Microsoft. Anyway, they do mention Windows Vista specifically in one of them. (I think.) -FrL- ---
**Author:** ![FordPrefect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e99b99/32.png) [@FordPrefect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FordPrefect)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2007, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-me-or-are-the-mac-vs-ibm-commercials-with-the-two-guys-truly-witty/393232/78 "2007-02-23T17:27:35Z")
[QUOTE=Lemur866] Are they fucking high? Walk into any game store and take a look at the rack for PC computer games. Now take a look at the rack for Mac games. Need I even point out that the store probably doesn’t even have a rack for Mac games? And if they do, it’s for games that have been out for the PC for years, and only the very top bestselling titles? [/QUOTE] There was a web video by one of the guys from Red v Blue on that very topic. Too funny and I can’t find it to share it. The premise is a guy talking about how cool the Mac is and how much better it is than a PC. The closing line was something like, “I am a gamer, well… I used to be.” 🙂 ETA: found it! > **[A Look Back: The Mac Gamer](https://www.techeblog.com/a-look-back-the-mac-gamer/)** > > Before there were Get a Mac ads, there was 'The Mac Gamer'. Video after the jump. Why we should all stop 'PCin'' and grab a mac for the newest up to date titles like half-life 2...fear and medal of honor 1-16. Are you a mac gamer? Before there were... ---
**Author:** ![Licentious\_Ectomorph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/5e9695/32.png) [@Licentious\_Ectomorph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Licentious_Ectomorph)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2007, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-me-or-are-the-mac-vs-ibm-commercials-with-the-two-guys-truly-witty/393232/79 "2007-02-23T17:49:53Z")
[QUOTE=Walloon] A Macintosh is a personal computer, correct? That is what PC stands for. [/QUOTE] I’m glad you asked this, because I was about to. The commercials never explain what a Mac _is_, and are therefore meaningless to me. Is a Mac not a computer of some kind? If it is, what’s so magical about it that it’s not subject to freezing, crashing, etc.? ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2007, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-me-or-are-the-mac-vs-ibm-commercials-with-the-two-guys-truly-witty/393232/80 "2007-02-23T19:00:54Z")
[QUOTE=Licentious Ectomorph] I’m glad you asked this, because I was about to. The commercials never explain what a Mac _is_, and are therefore meaningless to me. [/QUOTE] You seriously don’t know what a Mac is? [QUOTE=Licentious Ectomorph] Is a Mac not a computer of some kind? [/QUOTE] Oh, you _do_ know! [QUOTE=Licentious Ectomorph] If it is, what’s so magical about it that it’s not subject to freezing, crashing, etc.? [/QUOTE] Well for starters, it’s not dependent on Microsoft Windows for its operating system. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-me-or-are-the-mac-vs-ibm-commercials-with-the-two-guys-truly-witty/393232.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-me-or-are-the-mac-vs-ibm-commercials-with-the-two-guys-truly-witty/393232.md?page=5)