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Better Business Bureau Targets Apple's G5 Ads

deathazre writes "The Council of Better Business Bureaus has suggested Apple Computer withdraw its claims of the world's fastest, and first 64-bit, PC after a complaint by Dell. However, even having one of their ads banned in the U.K. didn't stop them here in the States."

23 of 595 comments (clear)

  1. Am I remembering the ad wrong? by The+I+Shing · · Score: 5, Funny

    Now, to be fair, Apple's ads said that the G5 was the fastest and first 64-bit PC that wasn't made by a company that isn't Apple.

    Or maybe I'm remembering it wrong.

    Where'd I put my darn bong?

    Oh, here it is, hidden behind my G5.

    Hey, when did I get a G5?

    Who am I, again?

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    1. Re:Am I remembering the ad wrong? by linuxpng · · Score: 5, Interesting

      First, the process is NOT tedious, at least in North Carolina. You fill out a form online, and mail it in. Also, our BBB shows how many complaints the company has had total, how many resolved, and how many unresolved. That tends to show people what type of business is being run. For example, our local Compusa has over 1000 complaints. 'Bout 1/2 of those are actually resolved.

      I know this because I had to file a complaint against a local company. They were pretty upset to have any mark on the BBB site.

  2. Dell?? by chunkwhite86 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Now whay would Dell of all people make this claim? Dell doesn't even offer a 64 bit PC??

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    1. Re:Dell?? by ScottGant · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I must have missed that story where the 3rd fastest super computer in the world is made up of Dell computers.

      Oh right, silly me!

      But seriously, if Dells are faster, and cheaper...why didn't Va Tech use those instead? They didn't get a deal from Apple you know...they bought them all right through the online Apple store.

      I'm not trying to confront you or anything, I honestly don't know. I hear claims of faster and fastest all the time from people, but when it comes down to people using them in applications, it kinda goes out the window.

      So why didn't VA tech use Dells or simular?

      --

      "Music is everybody's possession. It's only publishers who think that people own it." - John Lennon.
    2. Re:Dell?? by w3weasel · · Score: 5, Insightful
      Please know what you are talking about... OSX is and always has been a 64 bit enabled os, by virtue of the availability of the appropriate libraries for use with a 64 bit processor (<cough>BSD</cough>). Why would anyone want a 64 bit os? At least, not untill the average joe needs to move, copy, and edit terabyte sized files.

      what we want, and are starting to get, is 64 bit applications that run on these 64 bit platforms... the OS is just the host, not the workhorse.

      --

      Just as irrigation is the lifeblood of the Southwest, lifeblood is the soup of cannibals. -- Jack Handy

    3. Re:Dell?? by mabhatter654 · · Score: 5, Interesting
      At the time the ads were published Apple's G5 WAS the fastest PC on the planet. True, Dell has some models NOW that are faster...but they're not "PCs" that's the key difference. At the time of the G5 release even the PC sites backed up that claim. Sure it was close, and didn't win every benchmark against DUAL XEONS or OPTERONS, but again the G5 is sold as a desktop PC...not as a server or workstation class PC.

      Apple had the claim to fame for a few months fair and square. They don't run those commercials anymore anyway...and again why does Dell care...they don't sell AMD chips either!!!

  3. selective truth in advertising by ruprechtjones · · Score: 5, Funny

    Yeah, because Intel's new chips really speed up your internet downloads...

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    1. Re:selective truth in advertising by cioxx · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Yeah. I especially like the Intel Centrino laptop commercials where someone is in the middle of the fucking ocean or on the airport runway surfing the internet.

      "Intel Centrino Lets You Unwire Your Life. Now you can enjoy a truly mobile lifestyle!"

      Unless Intel advocates wardriving, I don't see how it's truly mobile. This is far more deceptive to me than G5 ads, which were just designed to let people know that Apple isn't behind times with its processor speed anymore, albeit the wording was amplified to drive the point home.

  4. Where else? by rickst13 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Hmmm... In the UK, TV regulators banned the ad. In the US, the Better Business Bureau could ban the ad. Apple should take their business to Russia. In Soviet Russia, the ad bans you.

  5. Plausable Ambiguity by arashiakari · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Fastest at what? (No, seriously...)

    Fastest selling? TRUE!

    Fastest falling? Maybe (Looks aerodynamic...)
    Fastest obsolescence?
    Fastest at one particular kind of mathematical operation?
    Fastest mobo latency?
    Fastest design and fab process?
    Fastest repairs? (Easy access panel...)

    Heh. Who the hells knows what any ads are REALLY about these days. Lies, Damn Lies, and Advertising. I'm not a Mac-hater, writing this from my lovely 12" iBook G4.

  6. Does anyone ever actually believe advertisers? by froschmann · · Score: 5, Insightful

    While truthfulness in advertising is important, this is one of those times where an advertiser made a claim that is kind of hard to prove. A computer that is faster at one thing is not necessarily faster at another. Besides, when you hear "world's best hamburger," you don't automatically believe them solely based on the ads, do you?

  7. Re:What about... by Jexx+Dragon · · Score: 5, Funny

    I've been wondering about the new McDonnalds comercial here thats says "Nothing is better then a McDonnalds' burger." Really, everything is better then a McDonnalds burger, well, except egg nog.

    --
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  8. There's a first.... by skidde · · Score: 5, Insightful

    A company making misleading claims? That's never happened before.

    --
    For every karma whore there are four more people with mod points to kill.
  9. Why should Dell care? by thefinite · · Score: 5, Interesting

    As the Apple Turns has an insightful take on the whole thing. I had never heard of the Dell cluster in Buffalo. Bummer for Buffalo.

    --
    Boom Shanka
  10. Re:Old news by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Made out?

    Hmm.

    While Apple's iPod sales remain strong -- the company sold 730,000 iPods in its last quarter and had pre-release orders for 100,000 iPod mini music players -- Bachman said the company's G5 sales could turn out to be disappointing for the second quarter in a row.

    For its fiscal first quarter, which ended Dec. 27, Apple shipped 206,000 G5 computers, short of many analysts' estimates. Bachman has estimated that Apple would ship 195,000 G5s in its current quarter.


    Sounds like it didn't work to me. They hardly 'made out' on that one.

  11. Re:I have an easy test. by petabyte · · Score: 5, Funny

    "Apple, the most powerful, lowest priced 64bit based PC available. That is true."

    *Looks at DEC Alpha in corner running NT*
    *Looks at UltraSparc running Linux in other corner*
    *Looks at reciept for both of them*

    So where can I get a G5 for 300 dollars. I could use the upgrade :)

  12. no pain...no gain by djupedal · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Whatever gain/loss there was from the ad is water under the bridge. It's too late now, since it can't be taken back. Surely we don't have to remind...

    "Any publicity is good and good publicity is even better"

    This news is just more publicity...and they didn't have to pay a dime to get it in front of you today. I'd call that making out :)

    1. Re:no pain...no gain by MBCook · · Score: 5, Funny
      Ford: The car for the suicideal maniac in you!
      Ford: A car so hot it BURNS.
      Ford: Keeping your hands warm when starting the car in the winter.
      Ford: At least we fixed the tire problem!
      Ford: Because there is such a thing as too safe.
      Ford: Because we all love pyrotechnic shows.

      It's called spin baby. It's only bad because they haven't thought of a good spin yet.

      --
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  13. I'm suing Dell by MacFury · · Score: 5, Funny

    Everytime I see their ad where the guy says, "Dude! You're getting a Dell!" I wait patiently by my door for the FedEx guy. He hasn't showed up yet! I'm awfully disappointed by their lack of honesty in their advertisements.

  14. And Microsoft..... by ericdano · · Score: 5, Insightful
    And Microsoft says it's operating system is safe and secure and the best. I don't see anyone taking issue with that when it's totally not true.....

    Apple makes excellent computers.

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  15. It might be fast, but is it 64-bit? by VojakSvejk · · Score: 5, Informative

    I have a G5.

    For my code, it's faster clock-for clock than a Xeon, and (usually) slower clock-for-clock than an opteron. Benchmarks can be made to say just about anything, but I bet the G5 is the fastest thing around for some people running their software.

    To date, Apple has not released a 64-bit OS for the G5, and not only has not announced any intention to do so, but simply avoids admitting this to be the case. Think what you like, but even if you think "64-bit" doesn't mean "a single application can access more than 4 GB of RAM", you certainly have to be perplexed by the sense in which Apple claims to have "broken the 4 GB barrier", given that their latest OS provides your app access to the RAM just the way an Intel-based 32-bit system can.

    Since there is not 64-bit OS for this machine (although Linux is very close), I cannot prove that my G5 has 64-bit hardware, tho I guess I believe it.

    I will now accept my troll-mod, since I have posted this atrocity in an apple.stlashdot.org story.

  16. Re:Old news by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    The other big problem is that there is no opening at the bottom, so once you have finished grating your parmesan you have to open it up and dump the cheese out. Very inconvenient, especially with something that heavy.

  17. nitpicking by zpok · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I think that it'd be a nice waste of time to take some of Dell's claims under consideration and report any false information. After all, they've been "first" in so many things Apple actually beat them to, that it shouldn't be too hard to find something to report.

    I'm not especially vexed by Dell's move, Apple's claim is dubious, although I personally think they make their point: they've got the fastest personal computer you can buy off the shelve. OK, maybe not anymore, next month maybe again, etc etc, who cares, they still make the most pleasing computer afaic, and I don't mind it being fast.

    I am however surprised America reacts to this type of hyperbole. Your presidents get elected on this, all the goods you buy are sold on this, your news is full of it ... Maybe we should be pleased that there's at least some regulation in place.

    Me, I'm still waiting for the "I can't believe it's not Windows" campaign for Linux ;-)

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