During tonight's American Idol performances, people not only got to see their top-three performers in action, but also got a chance to view a three new Get a Mac ads. In the first one, Customer Care, PC tells his story of technical support to an Apple Genius while Mac looks on. There are two other ads: Elimination, and PC Choice Chat. All are funny and worth a watch.

Tonight Apple released four new Get a Mac ads that feature the same, and ever so lovable, PC and Mac characters. In the first new ad, "Time Traveler," PC travels into the future to see if PCs still crash. In the ad called "Stacks," PC is shuffling through thousands of photos to find the one he is looking for; Mac then tells him about the facial recognition in iPhoto '09.

In "Legal Copy," PC starts telling how "easy to use" he is, but as he talks, his disclaimer copy appears at the bottom of the sceen. The final new ad, "Biohazard Suit," PC explains his biohazard suit as he tells Mac about all of the recent viruses going around for Windows.

While these ads are funny, you can't help but wonder if this is Apple's response to the recent "Laptop Hunters" Microsoft ads, although with the production schedules involved it's likely that the new Apple ads were already in the can or at least well underway when Lauren and her pals hit the screen. You can watch all of these new ads by going to the Get a Mac page on the Apple site, and we'll be talking about them on the talkcast in just a few minutes.

Thanks to everyone who sent this in!

Continuing with their recent bashing of Vista, Apple has released yet another "Get a Mac" ad. In Bake Sale [direct video link], PC is selling bake goods to raise money in order to "fix Vista." Mac asks why, and PC goes on to explain that the marketing team decided to run an "expensive ad campaign instead of fixing Vista." Mac then offers to help out by buying a cupcake ... a 10 million dollar cupcake.

If there was any doubt about these ads being a response to the Microsoft ads, this one should definitely settle it. In our last post, we took a poll to see if anyone was tired of these Get a Mac ads -- currently 58.2% of the people that voted say they still like them.

You can watch this new ad by visiting the Apple website, or by using the link to the video file.

Thanks for the tip, Kevin!

With all of the political mudslinging going around this time of year, Apple has decided to add a different type of mudslinging to the barrage of TV commercials. Tonight, they released two new "Get a Mac" ads: Bean Counter, and V Word.

In Bean Counter [direct video link], PC is sitting at a desk, counting money out into two stacks. The largest stack is for advertising and the smaller stack is for bug fixes for Vista. When Mac questions him, he says that he's having to take drastic action because of the frustration of Vista users. In the end, PC gives up budgeting and puts all of his money into advertising. This commercial is no doubt in response to Microsoft's recent advertising strategies. In V Word [direct video link], PC makes every attempt to "beep out" the word "Vista" in the ad.

Sure, these commercials are well thought out and somewhat funny; but is Apple's mudslinging getting a little old? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below, and don't forget to take part in our poll. You can watch the new commercials by visiting the Apple website.

Thanks for the tip, Tony!

After canning Seinfeld, Microsoft is now starting stage two (planned all along, they say) of their campaign with a new series of I'm a PC ads by the Crispin, Porter + Bogusky ad agency. As is clear from the John Hodgman look-alike at the start of the ads, they're supposed to be a direct response to Apple's Get a Mac campaign that's been running since 2006.

It almost goes without saying that it's rather sad for one of the richest companies in the world to stoop to this level of reaction. But I think one of things that's interesting here is the difference between the central motifs of the respective ad campaigns. What Get a Mac suggests is that your Mac is your kinda cool, but laid-back and easy-going friend that'll help you get things done. In other words, your Mac is your friend, not who you yourself are.

On the other hand, the I'm a PC ads say exactly that: you (the user) are a PC. Who the heck would want to be that? What they're trying to maintain is that PC users are unfairly being stereotyped as besuited, boring, glasses-wearing losers. But with the repeated exclamation "I'm a PC," the ads actually suggest a kind of Borg-like insistence that I as a user have to be assimilated into my computer.

In short, Microsoft and its ad agency still don't get it. We Mac-heads don't see ourselves as all being Justin Long (or, heaven forbid, wanting to be Justin Long). I can proudly say I'm not a Mac, and I'm not really planning to become one either. Or to put it another way: I use a Mac in no small part because I don't want to be a computer (Mac or PC).

What's your take?

(The three ads can be seen on YouTube: Pride, Not Alone, and Stereotype.)

You'd think the "Get a Mac" series of ads would be played out by now. But you'd be wrong.

They're still funny, snide and -- if sales figures are any indication -- effective. This week, Apple launched another clever web ad featuring Mac and PC. This time, PC has written an Op-Ed piece describing why people ought to stop switching to the Mac. It's cute, and the visual of PC pulling the text of the article out from "behind" the webpage is pretty cool.

While we're on the topic, what's your opinion? Are the "Get a Mac" ads yesterday's news or still good stuff?

[Via MacDailyNews]

If you thought the new Get a Mac ads were spot-on or funny, then you will definitely get a kick out of this. On Microsoft's Photosynth website, they admit something that we've known for years: They're not cool enough to run on Macs.

Tonight, Apple released a new "Get a Mac" ad. "Off the Air" shows PC, Mac, and a Mac Genius. Mac tries to win people over on the fact that the Geniuses will transfer your files from your old PC to your new Mac.

A mad PC then announces that his "frustrated" customers don't need to hear about that and that "fear of switching is the foundation of customer loyalty for PCs." PC proceeds to shut off the commercial by pulling a curtain down.

This commercial isn't as funny, in my opinion, as the last set that came out earlier this week. You can watch all of the Get a Mac ads by visiting the Get a Mac website.

Tonight, Apple posted three new "Get a Mac" ads: Pizza Box, Throne and Calming Teas. In the Pizza Box ad, PC tries to lure college students into buying a PC by advertising as free pizza. PC notes that Mac is the number one selling computer on college campuses.

In Throne, PC notes that he is "still the king" of the OS world and then goes on to banish Mac. In Calming Teas, PC markets a new tea that calms Vista users instead of fixing the many problems with Windows. These Get a Mac ads seem to be geared towards back to school buyers and are amusing to watch (especially the Pizza Box ad).


Thanks to everyone who sent this in!

Because Apple thought that you just couldn't get enough of that "Vista blues" song that was in the latest Get a Mac ad, they posted an extended version of it that runs 1 minute, 34 seconds. PC just keeps singing, despite Mac's look of amazement that PC could sing that long. At the end, PC finishes the song by singing "... there's nothing left to do, except control. alt. delete."

You can watch this and other Get a Mac ads by visiting the Apple Get a Mac site.

Thanks to Steve and Ton for the tip!

Apple just released a new "Get a Mac" ad entitled "Sad Song." In this commercial, PC is singing a country inspired song about how Vista saddens him. This commercial was released and played during the American Idol show tonight on the FOX network. You may remember that Apple also released 2 new Get a Mac ads last night. You can watch this and other Get a Mac ads on the Apple website.

Apple just released two new "Get a Mac" ads -- Pep Rally and Group. In Pep Rally, PC tries to pep himself up despite the fact that the Mac is the "number one notebook on college campuses." Just when PC finishes his rant, the cheerleader squad starts cheering for Mac.

Last night Apple released a new Get a Mac ad showcasing Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac. Apple seems to keep releasing new ads during the American Idol shows on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. You can watch this new ad by going to the Get a Mac page on Apple's website and clicking "Office Stress."


Thanks to everyone who sent this in!

Tonight, Apple premiered two new "Get a Mac" ads: Yoga and Breakthrough. These ads where shown during tonights episode of American Idol. You can look at these and other "Get a Mac" ads on Apple's website.

These weren't the only new Apple ads to appear lately, Apple also released some new iPhone ads.


Thanks Bob!

Apple has some clever new Get a Mac sidebar ads running on various sites around the net, including ZDNet. In them, PC repeatedly hits an emergency reset lever (attempting to clear negative banners about Vista) to less than good effect. The humorless sort are quick to point out that the quotes PC resets don't come from actual reviews, but instead from op-eds and the like. Personally, this seems like a distinction without difference. The point is that Vista has not been that well-received in the tech world and Apple is right on target about that in this series of ads. (As to various problems with Leopard, well, that's for a another time).

Thanks to everyone who sent this in.

[via Gizmodo]