Intel is trolling Apple’s M1-powered Macs once more in new advertisements starring Justin Long, who is now defending PCs with Intel processors. Long featured in a series of Apple commercials in the mid-2000s, pitting Apple Macs against actor John Hodgman, who defended PCs. Long presents himself in front of a white backdrop, close to that seen in Apple Mac vs. PC advertisements from the 2000s. In three separate commercials, the actor mocks the Touch Bar on the MacBook Pro, the M1 chip’s lack of support for several monitors, and Mac’s restricted colour options.
In another advert, Intel pokes at Macs with M1 processors for their lack of gaming options. “No one really games on a Mac,” the ad says, echoing a Microsoft ad from January 2021 that compared the capabilities of the Surface Pro 7 and the M1-powered MacBook Pro 13. After ending its 15-year relationship with Apple in February, Intel launched a social media campaign supporting “Go PC” on various social media platforms. The company had published benchmark results comparing the Apple M1 chipset to the Intel Core i7 processor from the 11th generation.
In a commentary posted on the website, Six Colors, Apple columnist Jason Snell criticised the benchmarks as “M1-unfriendly,” claiming Intel used inconsistent test platforms and omitted data.
“Today’s M1 processor is a low-end chip for low-end systems, so Intel only has a small window to compare itself favorably to these systems before higher-end Apple silicon Macs ship and make its job that much harder,” he stated.
Apple had also hired actor John Hodgman, who had previously played PC in the Apple vs. PC commercials. Hodgman, who still manifests PC, reacts to the launch of Apple’s M1-powered Macs in a short video posted in November 2020, and further complains about the former’s battery life and fan noise. Apple, on the other hand, restricted its retaliation to the company’s keynote to launch Arm-based M1 MacBooks. Intel has obviously taken the initiative by retaliating against Long, who now works for the Cupertino-based tech giant.
Last year, Apple launched the MacBook Air 13, MacBook Pro 13, and Mac Mini with the latest custom ARM-based M1 chipset. The company stated that the same (or upgraded) proprietary chips will be used in future Mac devices.