This took 10 seconds of googling - I’ve seen it as low as $ 649.00
Beyond this IMO the ad is pure genius. This is one of the the biggest reasons why PC still predominate. (ie Macs are pricey) and the manage to package it as an empowering statement for a young woman. Beautifully done concept. Perfect jujitsu on Mac.
The one DMC linked to has Works - frankly, I’m not sure what is needed nowadays for the “average non-gamer” other than the OS, a browser, and Works (or OpenOffice or some other open source productivity package).
All I did was search Yahoo! Shopping. :o The only thing I found in that admittedly narrow search was a refurb from Overstock or something.
I know that computer deals like that can be had, but something about the commercial didn’t smell right, is all. The fact that she’s an actress (I saw that article before is what got me thinking about this), etc. is what got me on the trail. That and “Hmmmm… a 4gb laptop w/ a 17” screen seems like a fairly nice deal, where can I get me one of those?" 
Those “I’m a PC” commercials might be helping MS, but it surely hasn’t cut into the lines waiting outside the Apple Store just to go in and fondle/buy their stuff. :dubious:
I’ll take the hit and point it out.
13-Inch MacBook (NOT Pro, that one is $2,000 base - 15") costs $1,300 base for the following:
Intel Core 2 Duo
2GB DDR3 Memory
160GB hard drive1
NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics
Standard keyboard
Aluminum unibody
So lets be honest, you’re not paying for the hardware, you’re paying a premium to use OSX. The hardware is shit for the price, I don’t think anyone can disagree here. So what’s left? The OS, and the logo. That’s what you’re buying. Not sure what OSX can and cannot do vs. a PC, but I’m betting for 95% of Mac users, they’d be just fine with a PC, and can usually double their hardware performance under or at the price of a top of the line Mac.
For Loren to get a 17-inch, the base price is $2,800. I know what I’d do if I was a poor kid in school, I’d do the real hip thing and go for a PC, and save the rest for something else I’ll need.
And since we’re in the pit, fuck Macs. 
It doesn’t matter. If she’s an actress, I don’t see anything wrong with her playing the part of the ‘average consumer’, whom would be looking to save on costs and stay within a reasonable budget.
Good ad by Microsoft.
Or maybe she has an old version of Word. I still run Office 2000.
Besides, you need software for Macs, too.
Up to this point, that appears to be a coincidence, i.e. she was recruited to do this without the ad firm being aware that she studies acting.
As for software, aside from Google Docs and the various other free options, even the retail version of Office Home and Student 2007 is available for under $100, and since your typical home user doesn’t really need Access, that should cover their initial needs. That still leaves her with plenty of cap space. The Macbook Pro doesn’t exactly come with CS4 Master Collection preloaded either.
One huge factor you’re missing, among others, is the actual design of the object (durability, ergonomics, heat dissipation, aesthetics, craftsmanship). The disparity in that department is particularly striking with laptops.
I agree with this the MacBook build quality and ergonomics are not matched by many PC companies. A fair comparison would be between Leonovo and Apple. In my experience Leonovo is the only company that matches Apple in build design and durability. And, their prices reflect that. You can usually grab a leonovo a bit cheaper than a MacBook, because of sales. But, for the most part they have similar pricing.
And, not to get into Forbidden Topics, but how many college kids have actual licensed, paid-for versions of Office and the like?
-Joe
I’m sure Macs are better than PCs. However, every Mac I’ve ever seen was at least 50% more expensive than a comparable PC, so I guess the question is, are they 50% better?
If anyone can show me a commercial where the “real life person” isn’t actually an actor, I’ll eat my hat.
(Excluding commercials with explicit disclaimers like “this person is not an actor.” Although I believe that 99% of those people are actors too, based on my experience seeing my old acting friends appear in commercials behind such disclaimers.)
So the commercial is basically true?
QFT
I just QFTed brazil84, that’s gotta say something about this thread.
After giving OS X a chance to learn it’s configuration inside and out. It had some good ideas, but a lot of stupid things too. It feels like trying to use a control freak’s computer. You can’t customize a lot of things, you can’t browse certain folders without hacks or 3rd party software. The search was worse then Vista’s. I found that to be truly amazing. All and all I find windows, KDE, and Gnome to be much more usable then OS X even after the learning curve.
On the flip side, I could see how someone for certain tasks could find OS X more usable.
There’s nothing special about overpriced apple hardware either. Modern IBM style PCs can run easily OS X too.
With a little homework to check parts for drivers, and a little hacking you can easily build yourself a hackentosh for $500 or less, something that would cost $1,000 from Apple. A friend of mine got OS X running beautifully on a $450 Acer Aspire laptop.
Feeling the love yet?
Yes, enveloped in warmth… 
Eh, I already know I’m a d/a, which is half the battle, anyway.
Well, even as a Mac guy, I agree with the gist of the commercial which is that Apple’s high end laptops are absurdly overpriced. They are very * good * laptops and they’re quite reliable – the one I’m using now is 4 or 5 years old and works fine except for the brain damaged power adapters that have to be replaced about every year because someone at Apple is in love with invisibly thin power cables – but there’s nothing particularly special about them. Apple could drop the price of the 17" by about $1000.00 and still make a significant profit. And maybe in doing so, they’d tempt me into buying a new one instead of using my current machine for another couple of years.
I will note that Lauren bought an HP laptop, and HP just instituted a mandatory 5% pay cut for all employees. So perhaps selling $699.00 laptops isn’t paying off as well as they might have hoped.
Compare the points made here to some of the pro-Apple ones made in this Slashdot thread, weigh and judge for yourself.
Why does slashdot make my head throb? It’s like /b/ without the charm and good manors.