This article was published on August 29, 2016

Microsoft (rightly) thinks your MacBook Air is as useful as “a hat for your cat”


Microsoft and Apple publicly beefing through TV commercials is nothing new. The latest salvo in this war comes from Microsoft, which just released a new TV spot touting the credentials of its Surface Pro 4 computer. You can watch it above.

The video features the same talking points from earlier Surface commercials, with Microsoft eager to emphasize the detachable keyboard, pen, and high-resolution touchscreen. It also takes shots at the MacBook Air, labeling it”slower, heavier, and a bit square,” and being “less useful, like a hat for your cat.”

Ironically, between 2006 and 2009 Apple aired a series of commercials which stared John Hodgman and Justin Long as Mac and PC respectively, and portrayed the Windows world as stuffy and uncool. Now it seems like the shoe is on the other foot.

Maybe Microsoft has a point. When it comes to its computer line, Apple has coasted. It is yet to embrace things like touchscreen technology, which is increasingly becoming a standard feature among even the cheapest Windows-powered laptops.

It’s hard to get excited about the incremental updates to the Mac laptop lines when Microsoft is doing such incredible things with Surface.

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