My beef with “Laptop Hunters” is they pit apples (Apple hardware) vs “PCs” but are pimping oranges (Windows software). Fair? To be clear, these are not Dell or Lenovo or HP advertisements. These are Windows ads from Microsoft. Let’s not forget that any Intel Mac can run Windows.

I’d had a hunch these ads were a little fishy, so i finally looked it up: How the Web Deconstructed Microsoft’s Latest Campaign. It turns out ad agency Crispin Porter + Bogusky used SAG actors for their heroes — not real people off the street — in what appear to be completely staged scenarios. I’ve never seen Best Buy so empty.

In all the spots Apples are shortly dismissed with offhand remarks like: “It seems like you’re paying a lot for the brand.” Mac OS X costs $129, and Windows Vista ranges from $200 to over $300 depending on the edition. And if you really want to read into it, law-school Lauren appears to be driving a BMW in the commercial. So she should know about paying for a brand name — especially when it comes to hardware. But that’s not what these commercials are about, right, Microsoft?

And to throw another fruit into the salad, Dell’s Mini Netbooks can run OS X (bananas?).