"Not cool enough to be a Mac"

In this new ad for Windows, we meet Lauren -- a girl on a mission to buy a laptop for below USD 1000. The Microsoft guys tell her if she finds one at that price range, they'll give her the cash for it for free.

Obviously, it's anti-Mac and focuses like a laser on the fact that Macs are quite expensive.

The thing is, from my experience using both Macs and Windows machines, the Mac is really worth the price. I've been using the same Mac iBook G4 for the last FIVE years, and it still works well, still does impressive stuff, and -- get this -- still has a battery life of almost three hours.Other people on Windows machines would have gone therough two laptops in the same timespan. In addition, software for it is cheap too, compared to the stuff Microsoft releases.

So which is really the cheaper --- and COOLER --- machine in the long run?

These are things you only realize when you've actually been on a Mac and have the benefit of a real comparison -- one that goes beyond price and focuses on all the other things that ought be considered when buying a laptop.

(Oh, and I'm not being a snob, alright? I also use a cheap Windows machine -- an Asus eee PC. It's decent enough for internet, chat, and Skype but it kind of chokes on Powerpoint though it does ok with Word and Excel. I love it too.)