Apple’s ‘I’m a Mac’ guy returns to promote Windows on Arm PCs

Former Apple “I’m a Mac” actor Justin Long defected to Intel a few years ago and is now considering switching to a Qualcomm-powered Windows PC. During Qualcomm’s Computex 2024 keynote today, Long appeared in a brief 30-second skit where he was bombarded by macOS notifications and annoying screens, causing him to start looking for a Snapdragon-powered PC.

Justin Long used to star in Apple’s “Get a Mac” TV commercials nearly 20 years ago. Long took on the persona of a Mac guy, humorously mocking the PC guy (actor John Hodgman) for getting viruses and spyware, or for not having access to creative tools and being too focused on boring work stuff.

“Things change,” Long jokes to the camera, after searching for a Windows on Arm PC following pop-up notifications on macOS. Pop-ups include warnings about app compatibility, low disk space, battery, and more.

Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon revealed the piece during the final stages of the company’s “the PC reborn” keynote today. He returned to the stage to end the talk by agreeing that “yes, things change. Things change.”

Qualcomm and Microsoft have been making a lot of noise about competing with the MacBook Air recently, with Microsoft showing off benchmarks and battery life claims that demonstrate confidence in its latest transition to Windows on Arm. The new Copilot Plus PCs, with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Elite chips, will be launched on June 18.

This latest commercial comes just a few years after Intel briefly hired Justin Long to create new ads praising PCs in 2021, mocking Apple’s Touch Bar, lack of multi-monitor support, and color options for its M1 MacBook. Intel’s announcements were a reaction to Apple’s move away from Intel processors in its Mac hardware the previous year, when Apple had John Hodgman reprise his role as PC guy so that Apple could boast about the M1’s performance and battery life. of the battery.