A new ad from Intel is trying to throw shade on Apple’s ARM-powered Macbooks, but the whole effort comes off as a bit desperate.
On Thursday, Intel posted the ad on the company’s official Twitter account with a marketing slogan that takes a direct shot at Apple’s hardware. (9To5Mac was first to report the news.)
“If you can power a rocket launch and launch Rocket League, you’re not on a Mac. Go PC,” the ad says.
In case you don’t know, Rocket League is a game that ended support for the macOS last year, but continues to run on Windows PC. So Intel is basically trolling Apple’s Macs for not offering the same software compatibility the Windows ecosystem can offer, which is really an age-old argument.
“Only a PC can power scientists and gamers alike,” Intel’s official Twitter account went on to write alongside the ad.
The ad itself then links to an Intel-sponsored video from YouTuber and tech reviewer Jon Rottinger, who goes over why consumers should consider Intel-powered laptops over Apple’s ARM-powered MacBooks.
Specifically, Rottinger talks up Intel’s new Evo branded Windows 10 laptops, which are designed to be thin and light, and have long battery life. However, he spends most of the video covering the long-established pros and cons between Windows PCs and Macs, rather than focusing on Intel’s silicon.
The ad campaign is probably geared toward mainstream consumers, who know little about the ongoing processor wars. However, Apple fans and PC enthusiasts will likely roll their eyes at the marketing spin.
For one, the marketing does nothing to address the real problem facing the US chipmaker: Apple’s new ARM-powered Macs can outperform Intel’s own CPUs in various benchmarks, especially on basic computing tasks. The speed and battery life improvements from the ARM chips inside in the new Macs explains why Apple last year announced it was ditching Intel’s silicon.
The other problem is how the ad avoids mentioning Intel’s own struggles to upgrade its chip manufacturing processes. The problems have been so bad the company is mulling whether to outsource its chip production to third-party foundries in Asia. Meanwhile, rival AMD may have a real shot to steal market share from Intel in both PCs and servers.
Intel issued the ad after it also published some questionable benchmarks from its own labs, trying to demonstrate the company’s 11th-generation Core processors beating Apple’s ARM-powered Macs. However, PCMag’s own benchmarks show the performance between the competing silicon is much closer than Intel would probably like.
Intel’s ad also arrives as the company is getting a new CEO. Pat Gelsinger, is slated to take over on Feb. 15, and reportedly told Intel employees he’s focused on creating new PCs capable of beating Apple’s latest MacBooks.
