CNET’s Hans And Franz: MacBook Pro vs. Acer.

continued from Page 1…

Round 5 - Battery Life

Hans: OK, Franz. Let’s test the battery life of the MacBook Pro and the Acer TravelMate. Battery life is important to laptop users. The Acer is recharged
Franz: I haven’t finished recharging the MacBook Pro yet.
Hans: Don’t worry, it won’t matter. The Acer is made of plastic so it will last longer than the Apple laptop.

Round 6 - Software

Hans: There is no way the Mac has more software than the Acer. There is more software for Windows, ya Franz?
Franz: Ya, Hans, but the Acer does not have iLife. This pumps me up.
Hans: iLife? What is dat “iLife?”

Franz: iLife comes on every Mac, even the low-priced Mac mini. There is iMovie, iTunes, iDVD, GarageBand, iWeb, and iPhoto. Windows on the Acer only comes with a clock and a calculator.
Hans: That’s funny, Franz. You can have so much fun with a clock and a calculator. Maybe Apple should say that in a TV commercial.

Hans and Franz: Bwahahahahaha! That pumps me up.

Round 7 - Warranty and Support

Hans: Franz, the warranty and support is about the same cost on each machine, we must call this one a tie.
Franz: Hans, ya, dat is good. Macs do not need the same support as PCs and they don’t break as much, but the Acer can only win if we call this a tie.

Hans: You have a strong brain, Franz. You pump me up!
Franz: This PrizeFight looks like a real competition, Hans. Seven rounds and a tie.

Hans: Maybe we should compare total cost of ownership, Franz. How about Windows vs. Mac OS X. Oh, we forgot to mention the keyboard lights on the Mac, and the iSight camera, and the Firewire 800 port, and…
Franz: Forget about those things, Hans. That will only confuse the editor. You know how easy the CNET editors get confused.

Round 8 - Price

Hans: Franz, this is it. Everyone knows that Macs cost more than PCs, so the Acer TravelMate will win this PrizeFight for sure.
Franz: How about this girly-man sentence, Hans: “... we return to our starting premise, which asks which laptop is better if you configure a PC and a Mac with identical components.”

Hans: Ya, dat is good. But the two are not identical. The Mac has many features not available on the Acer. Is that OK, Franz?
Franz: Hans, you must stay pumped up! CNET editors are girly men. They won’t know the difference. PC users are girly-men, too. They don’t know the difference.

There you have it. Is that a revealing look behind the scenes of CNET’s product review process? CNET jiggers with test results simply to get a multi-page article and more advertising? Say it ain’t so, Hans.