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Dell slams MacBook Air with E4200 video

updated 12:00 am EDT, Wed September 10, 2008

Dell slams Air with E4200

Dell on Tuesday broadsided Apple's famous manila envelope commercial with its own tongue-in-cheek version, removing the Latitude E4200 from the sleeve and comparing it to the MacBook Air. A shiny Dell logo crosses the screen as the notebook is removed from the envelope, set down, and opened in the same manner as the Air in Apple's commercial. Dell highlights the E4200's thinner width and length, but negates to compare the notebook's height, which is known to be taller than the MacBook Air.

The end of the video boasts that the E4200 offers "more substance" and "less air" than its Apple counterpart.


 
Previous Comments

uh

09/10, 12:34am (1 reply) reply

More substance less air means heavier and thicker than the Air. Not exactly a good selling point.

I'm in advertising, and if I had put together a spot like that, I would have been chastised for being unoriginal and beaten about the head and shoulders for picking such a hideous song.

Tim_s

Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Jul 2006

+14

Hmmph!

09/10, 01:02am reply

One of the cheapest things to do for a rival product is to directly 'take on' the alpha product directly. It's not only an indirect admission that you treat the latter as a benchmark, it's just plain unoriginal (as Tim_s has right said).
But then it's only DELL, folks. I think that's a shade better than Microsoft trying to be 'original'.

Skanoza

Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Jun 2007

+10

It's all in the name

09/10, 01:36am (2 replies) reply

What sounds more appealing: Aston Martin Vantage? Or Ford F100?

Like the Ford, E4200 tells you nothing about the product. Dell may as well called it the "Meh" because that's the reaction you will get when you tell someone you have one of these.

Guest

Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Nov 1999

+5

Guess what

09/10, 01:39am reply

No one cared about it.

slapppy

Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Mar 2008

+2

Fail

09/10, 02:03am reply

I like the beginning where you can see the manila envelope almost bursting because the Dell is so thick. That's exactly the Air's selling point and they managed to completely miss it. Bravo.

Also they didn't manage to spell MacBook Air correctly so I'm assuming they simply didn't put much care into the ad in the first place.

At least that fits the way they do their hardware. Little attention to detail. It's all just about being cheap. Oh well. To each his own I guess.

Simon

Posting Junkie

Joined: Nov 2000

+5

Chubby

09/10, 03:24am reply

It looked kinda chubby in the envelope like Simon said. They should've taken a bigger envelope. Oh, I like the stickers on the keyboard, nice touch... and I bet there's going to be Dell logo's and sofware all over the OS, nice.

Seriously though, at least it's good to see manufacturers are trying to compete, and making notebooks smaller and thinner... I can remember my first Dell laptop, it gave me leg cramps. I won't even start about the docking station...

Nemco

Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Jul 2008

+3

Fake

09/10, 04:54am reply

That ad doesn't look real at all. It's all overexposed and yuck.

joel_v

Junior Member

Joined: Nov 2005

-2

eeeew

09/10, 05:25am (1 reply) reply

1- It's hideous looking.
2- Trackpad is tiny and I don't think it handles gestures.
3- The commercial is a total failure.
4- The keyboard looks cramped.
5- Typical ugly PC look, too complex looking.
6- It's hideous looking.
7- It looks hideous.
8- It's ugly.
9- I like the way they end with the Dell logo that visually reflects the ugliness of their hideous product.

BelugaShark

Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Aug 2007

+6

Stickers?

09/10, 08:55am reply

I can't see the ad at work, but are you telling me they left stickers on ad unit? You have to be kidding.

simdude

Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Jun 2004

0

indeed fake

09/10, 09:00am reply

Fake or not meant for broadcast. Dell would never put Appe's product name in a commercial and it looks amateurish. Laptop moving backwards when opening the lid and to shaky when holding it. If this is real then Dell is in big trouble.

Peter Bonte

Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Aug 2001

+1

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