Intel hires Justin Long to mock Macs in light of 2000’s ads ‘I’m a Mac’

The chipmaker Intel has produced a series of commercials mocking Apple’s M1 Macs, prompting actor Justin Long, best known for his role in Apple’s 2000s “I’m a Mac” commercial for comedian John Hodgman, to To satire Apple’s own advertising campaign.

In five video ads titled “Justin Gets Real” posted on Intel’s YouTube channel, Long begins by saying, “Hello, I’m a … Justin, just a real person who’s a real do comparison between Mac and PC, “refers to the” Hello, I’m a Mac “and” I’m a computer “start with Apple’s numerous ads.

Long briefly examines a Windows laptop with an Intel processor, and then a Mac with Apple Silicon. Finally, he comes to the conclusion about how the Macs are too limited compared to what the Intel PCs can do.

It’s no coincidence that the two Macs favorably compared in the ads are Apple’s M1-based MacBook Pro and MacBook Air computers. Intel has been under siege lately, with both Apple’s M1 and AMD’s Ryzen processors constantly beating Intel in performance. The ads are apparently meant to point to other, mostly non-performance-related reasons why Intel-based laptops may offer a better experience than Apple’s recent M1 Macs.

Some of these reasons are partly true, while others are a stretch. In one example, Long examines an Intel-based Windows laptop connected to three external monitors, and then sees a Mac laptop that supports only one external monitor. It is true; the new M1 laptops only work with one external monitor by default, although the M1 Mac mini can operate two monitors. However, other Macs that still have Intel CPUs work with more monitors, just like the Windows machine in the ad does.

That being said, this is an example of one of the criticisms in the ads that may not stand the test of time. Apple was clear in interviews and statements that the first wave of Macs with Apple Silicon were cheap machines with limited features and ports compared to the higher end companies in the company. We’m not sure yet, but it seems likely that more expensive Apple Silicon Macs expected to launch in the coming months will indeed support more external monitors.

It is noteworthy that some of the original Mac ads on which these videos are viewed are equally distorted in their characterization of computers.

Other examples of Intel’s new announcements include a brief conversation with a PC player in which the PC player comments: ‘Nobody’s really playing on a Mac’, and Long quickly agrees. There’s also a series where Long is surprised and disappointed that he can not use a touchscreen on the MacBook screen. He’s rather confused by the Touch Bar (which according to some reports is expected to ship in new Macs later this year).

Intel is still providing processors for some Macs, but Apple is expected to replace them in most, if not the entire Mac series, over the next year and a half. We’ve embedded some of the ads above, and here’s the rest of the list below.

List by Intel