Over a decade ago, Apple ran a marketing campaign for its Mac computers in a PC versus Mac series of ads. It starred Justin Long who was “Mac”, and John Hodgman who was known as the “PC Guy”. The series of ads basically featured conversations between Mac and PC Guy where it tried to tout the advantages of a Mac computer over a PC.
Those ads have since been retired, but during Apple’s event where they unveiled their new M1 powered MacBook Air and MacBook Pro, Apple did a little throwback (or troll-back?) by bringing PC Guy back at the end of the event, where the company could not resist trolling and making a dig at PC owners.
It sees John Hodgman reprise his role as PC Guy where despite the years, he still looks exactly the same which is kind of hilarious. In the video, it shows PC Guy trying to say that he’s still as fast as before and that he’s still “got it”. He also asks why is there a need for all these advancements, while making humming noises that mimics the sound of a fan (Apple’s new M1 laptops are fanless due to the SoC design).
At the end, Apple takes a dig at the battery life of PC-based laptops, where PC Guy claims his battery is drained and needs to “go plug in”. For context, Apple’s new MacBook Air will provide users up anywhere between 15-18 hours of battery life, while the MacBook Pro can go for up to 20 hours.
It’s a fun little ad although we’re not sure if Apple should be trolling PC owners this early, especially given that their new computers have yet to be tested in the real world.