Microsoft has put out the second ad to its controversial Laptop Hunters series. Many articles do not know how to address these ads that include specific call outs to the apple value proposition. They have either focused on the bottom line price of the pc or the hardware specs of the apple – in defending one side or the other. Let me throw my hat into the ring.

The point of these ads are about choice. A consumer can say I have x amount of money and I want these 3 features, what laptop best fits my needs. As Lauren pointed out, for her there were no apple options available from which to choose from. This approach is a real world approach. I remember buying my first computer for college in 2002 and I had a $2000 budget and a set of minimum features as a baseline that I had written down on a piece of paper. I ended up buying a dell dimension, which I really enjoyed for the next 5 years.

Where I feel some people are getting confused is starting the conversation with an apple laptop and then asking people to find a pc equivalent. This makes for a good discuss but is not how people buy computers. It is not fair (or helpful) to start with a macbook laptop and twist around asking for a pc that matches this specific laptop. When one cannot find an apples to apples comparison (pun) – an apple user might declare victory.

The real value of these commercials are that they work through the buying process the way most other people do, with a set of relevant criteria and an open view to all laptops. The person’s specific budget and feature needs will begin to narrow down the selection to just a few laptops to choose from. The conversation should not be skewed by authors and bloggers that if only he/she had a bigger budget they would have picked an apple or if only this person wanted x feature rather than y feature they would get an apple.

The purpose is choice that allows you to buy a product that meets all of your individual needs. If someone has a specific budget of $1000 then don’t show me a $2500 laptop and say it is better. Of course a higher priced laptop will have better components. But I may not need all those components. That is like buying a jaguar to commute 10 minutes to work – it would be nice – but I don’t need it (iLife). In the end I want to choose and define my features rather than having someone else do that for me.

Aaron