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Desktops (Apple) Advertising Portables (Apple) Apple

Apple Brings Back the PC Guy To Boast About M1 Performance (theverge.com) 51

Posted by BeauHD from the PC-punching-bag dept.
At the end of Apple's big event today, where it launched three new Macs powered by the company's new M1 chip, the company had a surprise guest star: actor John Hodgman reprising his role as the PC guy from Apple's "I'm a Mac, and I'm a PC" commercials that ran in the mid-2000s. The Verge reports: In the short video, Hodgman's put-upon PC reacts to the announcement of Apple's new M1-powered Macs, complaining about the improved performance and battery life that the new chip purportedly offers on the updated Macs, compared to what PCs can do. (Absent is Justin Long's Mac character, who made up the other half of the ad spots.)

The original ads -- launched in 2006, just after Apple began its last major architecture transition to Intel chips -- echoed a similar style, with Long's character extolling the virtues of the Mac while the hapless PC character would argue that the Windows side of things was just as good. It's not clear whether Apple will be resurrecting the ad campaign for the new line of M1 Macs, but it was a cute way to end the announcement as the company sets off on its next era of laptops and desktops. You can watch the clip featuring PC guy here.
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Apple Brings Back the PC Guy To Boast About M1 Performance More

Apple Brings Back the PC Guy To Boast About M1 Performance

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  • Post says Hodman; it's Hodgman

  • which is why they're putting the chips in their top of the line products. Right?
    • Its alright by me, if they put out a Mac Mini that is actually viable for iOS development. I recently replaced a Mac Mini that was pretty much unusable with a Hackingtosh box that cost only a little bit more, and that machine screams. Makes MacOS and XCode actually look good.

      • Re:Improved Performance... (Score:4, Interesting)

        by Kryptonut ( 1006779 ) on Tuesday November 10, 2020 @07:33PM (#60709574)

        I recently replaced a Mac Mini that was pretty much unusable with a Hackingtosh box that cost only a little bit more, and that machine screams

        Once the transition is complete, no more Hackintosh for you!

        Wonder what's going to happen to users of Parallels - emulation instead of virtualisation? Assuming macOS doesn't head in the direction of iOS with a walled garden approach.

        • Yes, sadly, I fully expect hackingtosh to be a thing of the past in a few years. At least Apple is decent about supporting older hardware, so we will have macOS on Intel for a while to come.

          • Yes and no....I have an octo-core Mac Pro with SSD's and 32GB RAM that Apple dropped support for a while back.

            Runs Windows 10 great though.

          • Comment removed based on user account deletion

            • Re:Improved Performance... (Score:4, Insightful)

              by Entrope ( 68843 ) on Tuesday November 10, 2020 @08:36PM (#60709796) Homepage

              Apple has never allowed its OSes to run on third party hardware. Why do you think M1 OS (or whatever they call it) will not require Apple-proprietary hardware? This might be in the form of a secure enclave, or just an external chip that provides critical functions.

              • Apple has never allowed its OSes to run on third party hardware. Why do you think M1 OS (or whatever they call it) will not require Apple-proprietary hardware? This might be in the form of a secure enclave, or just an external chip that provides critical functions.

                Exactly this.

                x86 machines have generally been open to run what you want on them and that's enabled by their BIOS / UEFI. The majority of ARM SoC boards out there with the exception of development boards have locked bootloaders. All it'll take will be some proprietary chip that contains some critical logic.

                The other thing to remember is not all ARM chips are created equally. ARM is a spec - and there's nothing stopping a licensee from deviating from the spec in some way. Given that they design their ow

              • Comment removed based on user account deletion

              • Re: (Score:2)

                by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

                Driver support will be a major issue. Hackintoshes work because you can build a very similar Intel based machine yourself and the Intel drivers are generic, as are the Nvidia GPU drivers and SSD drivers.

                ARM SoCs are a very different kettle of fish. Lots of highly proprietary stuff. You usually need a "board support package" get Linux to run and one will not be available for Mac OS.

                It might be possible to boot it on a Pi but getting everything working properly and keeping it working will not be trivial. Even

        • Yep, it sounds like Macbooks will just be iPads with desktop mode now.

        • Wonder what's going to happen to users of Parallels - emulation instead of virtualisation?

          A version of Parallels that will work with M1 is in development: Parallels Desktop for Mac with Apple M1 chip [parallels.com]

  • Sigh (Score:2)

    by slaker ( 53818 )

    I love John Hodgman to death but comparing a top-end ARM part to a Y-series Intel CPU isn't exactly a cutting edge achievement. There were not actual numbers provided at this event, but being 3x faster than a 1.2GHz CPU isn't exactly brag worthy, if it turns out to be true at all.

    Hodgman himself remains a national treasure for Gen-X nerds like me. I'm glad someone is giving him money.

  • Absent is Justin Long's Mac character, who made up the other half

    Probably too expensive for Apple. Or.... due to too many of Long's ads getting rejected, their creative opportunities were too limited working with Apple; may have converted into a full-time PC after being bootcamp'd, and/or they've done things for Huawei

    Alternatively... Well, you know Apple has obsoleted all the old Macs by now, anything released before 2015 can't really be supported, many devices can no longer run current MacOS versi

    • Comment removed based on user account deletion

    • the old device recycling program is actually a shredding/incineration program, right?

      Shredding/raw materials recycling, yes.

      If you think the price Apple offers for your old devices is insulting, keep in mind that the older models gives you a "We'll recycle your device for free" message.

      And if you think that's insulting, their menu doesn't even go lower than 2011, so I can't even reach that "recycle for free" insult for my 2010 Mac mini.

      What's even worst is that I'd need to pay an additional fee to get 16GB

  • Everything is "up to 3x faster this, up to 2x faster that". Without a live audience and actual benchmark numbers it was just a propaganda-laiden yawn fest. The PC guy was to try and spice up the end of the presentation as I was half asleep by then, but even that fell flat.

    They wanna bring iPad apps to the new Air and Pro yet there's no touchscreen?! Bruh! Dell XPS13 has had that for years! Mega fail by Apple. Also it's soon to be 2021 - and Pros need 32GB option. MacBook Pro with "up to 16GB RAM" is pret

  • If you imagine Alex Baldwin dressed as Trump, this skit is even more apropos...

  • I'm a what now? (Score:3)

    by youngone ( 975102 ) on Tuesday November 10, 2020 @08:54PM (#60709850)
    Even in 2006 the "I'm a PC" ads were kind of redundant, as Macs had stopped being "better" than PCs several years before. In 2020 it's just slightly embarrassing.
    In 1992 when I started using a Mac for pre-press work there really was no competition, but by the early 2000's anything that could run Quark Xpress and Photoshop was good enough.

  • 15% market share (Score:5, Insightful)

    by adfraggs ( 4718383 ) on Tuesday November 10, 2020 @08:58PM (#60709854)

    Macs are for a niche market. The whole thing has a sense of preaching to the converted. You're certainly not going to draw away PC owners with claims of great hardware capabilities on a virgin platform. People who want macs will buy macs and this sounds much more like a reassuring "you're doing the right thing" kind of campaign.

    • What is a Mac? Is that the same thing as a computer that the kid in the iPad advert didn't understand? For a company which makes computers they seem in an awful rush to kill their own products.

  • Comment removed based on user account deletion

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by LostOne ( 51301 )

      "You are coming to a sad realization. Cancel or allow?" ... *dejected* "Allow".

    • The "I'm a Mac, I'm a PC" ads worked due to the chemistry of the actors. You did kindof get the feeling that Mac and PC really were friends, but poor PC was kindof a sad sack that screwed up a fair amount, with Mac trying to counsel him a bit. That took a bit of the bite out of the adversarial nature of the arguments, making it a bit more chummily palatable.

  • Makes sense... (Score:3)

    by BAReFO0t ( 6240524 ) on Wednesday November 11, 2020 @04:57AM (#60710684)

    Their goals is to *literally* not sell Personal Computers anymore.

    So unlike before, where Macs were still PCs. Overpriced but PCs. Not IBM compatibles *BUT PERSONAL COMPUTERS!*! ... They will now become merely their largest iDevice. With all the condescending cumbersome locking-in not-in-control-of-you-own-devices limitedness that comes with it.

    • Does your definition of "PC" for some reason require that the device be running an x86 architecture?

      • Usually. At least in that era, colloquially "PC" meant "x86 computer running the Microsoft Windows operating system." Sure, Slashdot had other definitions, but we're talking about the terms as they were used by most people, not by computer people.

        • Yeah, I get the colloquial understanding of "Mac vs PC". What I'm poking at is that OP goes out of their way to describe Macs as having previously been "personal computers", but seems to think that isn't the case anymore with the introduction of the M1 processor.

  • ...and nobody beats me!

  • John Hodgman is as well damn good writer, check out his hilarious volumes - might be available in your local library, also inexpensive as second-hand.

  • The Windows ate her good paper and had to do it all over was priceless!
    I liked the billboard ads for "think different" in the early 2000's. Especially the Lain one.

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