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Apple released four new ads in its “Get a Mac” campaign that address several selling points for Macs vs. PCs, but do not directly respond to Microsoft’s campaign highlighting how expensive Apple computers are. Why? Because Macs are undeniably more expensive than PCs, and Apple cannot claim otherwise.

The new Apple ads deal (again) with the PCs susceptibility to viruses (”Biohazard Suit“); the complicated legal nature of PCs (”Legal Copy“); the facial recognition software included in iPhoto ‘09 (”Stacks“); and (again) PC reliability issues (”Time Traveler“). Besides a brief mention of expensive-sounding iPhoto software included in a Mac’s base price, none of these ads even attempt a counterattack in Microsoft’s price wars.

While Microsoft’s ads claim Apple relies heavily on a “coolness” factor (even at a price), the real issue, as Apple sees it, is reliability and innovation. What’s the value of purchasing a laptop on the cheap only to see it run the maintenance gambit due to a Conficker attack? Despite the recent outbreak of a Trojan horse turning Macs into zombies through a vulnerability in iWork ‘09, Apple computers are more reliable machines.

Avoiding the price wars is a smart move on Apple’s part. If major companies began refuting every claim made against them in advertising, we’d be inundated with catty, whining 30-second clips that serve no function for the consumer beyond annoying us to death. This kind of offensive/defensive campaigning would cease to highlight a product’s positive qualities, leaving consumers ignorant as to why they should purchase anything at all.

Microsoft has unveiled its latest “Laptop Hunter” ad, throwing back a powerful punch against Apple’s long-running (and, by most counts, long-winning) campaign on coolness. Unlike Microsoft’s past attempts, this new line of marketing has many ad experts taking note — and saying maybe, just maybe, Microsoft has finally hit the mark.

Microsoft’s Laptop Hunter Ad

The new “Laptop Hunter” spot, the third in Microsoft’s latest ad series, shows a mom and son trying to find a laptop for less than $1500. Microsoft offers to pay the price of the computer if they can find one within that range.

Will the cellular service business model work for laptop computers? AT&T seems to think so. The wireless provider is offering subsidized netbooks for as little as $49.99 in two markets, Atlanta and Philadelphia. The catch is that buyers must sign a two-year contract for an AT&T data service plan, which starts at about $60/month. As usual, the devil is in the details, and these low-cost netbooks, despite their tempting price, may not be a good buy for everyone.

AT&T says the offer is “promotional,” which suggests it may boost hardware prices or even drop netbook sales altogether if experiment doesn’t work out. And since it’s launching the plan in just two markets, the company seems to be testing the waters here. The move makes sense, though; subsidized netbooks provide a low cost of entry for consumers, and they draw new users to the vendors’ expanding high-speed networks.

What does $49.99 get you? An Acer Aspire One with an 8.9-inch display, 1GB of memory, and a 160GB hard drive. A quality netbook, certainly, but the catch is that you have to sign a two-year deal for AT&T’s Internet at Home & On the Go service, which starts at $59.95 a month. My gripe with this plan is that its home service is DSL at a poky 768Kbps. Besides, if my netbook has built-it 3G mobile broadband, why should I bother with DSL at all?

The package also includes 3G wireless, but the monthly data limit is just 200MB — fine for occasional remote access, but not enough for full-time use. Need more 3G? You can upgrade to a two-year DataConnect plan, which ups the monthly data cap to a healthy 5GB. Ah, but doing so doubles the Aspire One’s price to $99.99. (Each plan also includes wireless access at AT&T’s thousands of Wi-Fi hotspots.)

AT&T sells the Aspire One with no plan for $449.99, and it has similar subsidized plans for other netbooks. The Dell Mini 9, for instance, starts at $99.99. At the high end, a Lenovo Thinkpad X200 starts at $749.99.

The move to cellphone-style pricing for netbooks has been in the works for some time. Radio Shack already offers a $100 Aspire One with a two-year mobile broadband plan, and Verizon is reportedly working on similar deals.

So will your next computer come from your wireless provider?