It's the online rivalry between Apple Mac fans and Microsoft Windows fans, most famously turned into a meme by Apple's 2006 'Get a Mac' ads that cast each computer as a person on a white background.

Where did Mac vs PC come from?

The rivalry goes back to Usenet arguments in the early 1990s, but the meme format took off with Apple's May 2006 'Get a Mac' campaign starring Justin Long and John Hodgman.

What does Mac vs PC mean?

It refers to the running joke that Mac users and PC users are two different tribes, often depicted as a cool young guy versus a stuffy businessman in the ad-style format.

How do you use Mac vs PC?

Set up two characters on a plain white background, give Mac the casual look and PC the office look, and have them trade one-liners about a computing topic, with PC usually as the punchline.

Is Mac vs PC still popular?

The debate itself is widely mocked as tired, with Urban Dictionary calling it 'something nobody cares about anymore', though the Get a Mac ad template still gets referenced in parodies.

Mac vs PC

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Published September 5, 2026

Mac vs PC is the long-standing rivalry between Apple Macintosh and Microsoft Windows fans that hit peak meme status after Apple's 2006 'Get a Mac' ads personified each machine as opposite characters on a white background3. The format spawned hundreds of YouTube parodies, a run of YTMND pages1, and even pushed Microsoft to shoot its own answer ad in 2008.

advertising memes console war memes tech humor memes microsoft memes ytmnd memes

Overview

The core joke sits on a plain white backdrop with two men standing side by side. Mac is a young, casual guy in jeans and a t-shirt, while PC is a stiff, older man in a suit and glasses. They trade one-liners about features, crashes, security, and cool factor, with PC almost always the clueless straight man. This simple stage made the ads easy to copy, and fan creators kept the same look while swapping dialogue and often adding a Linux character4.

The contrast built on a fight that went back decades. Microsoft and Apple developed different reputations early on, with Windows PCs pinned as office and productivity machines while Macs picked up a creative, artsy image3. Users argued about which was better in Usenet threads as far back as 1992, well before there was any meme format to hang the fight on.

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Origin & Background

Platform

TV ad campaign / YouTube (viral spread)

Creator

Apple

Date

2006

Apple first poked at the rivalry with its 2002 'Switch' campaign, which featured real users explaining why they left Windows for Mac and accidentally launched the Ellen Feiss meme3. Those ads faded from mainstream attention quickly but stayed alive online as parody material.

The real spark came in May 2006 with Apple's 'Get a Mac' campaign, starring Justin Long as Mac and John Hodgman as PC in short two-person sketches on a white background. The tone was cocky and direct, and within weeks YouTube uploaders started filming their own answer videos using the exact same setup4.

How It Spread

YouTube parodies flooded in during 2006 and 2007, often mocking both sides and sometimes adding a Linux character to the format4. Fan sites like MacSpoofs.com collected the spoofs and remixes into one archive4.

The meme jumped to YTMND in 2007, where users made roughly 13 Mac vs PC themed pages. The best-viewed was mvpc.ytmnd.com by user Feedrosie, which passed 250,000 views1. Microsoft finally hit back in 2008 with its own ad flipping the stereotype, featuring a look-alike PC character who proudly said 'I'm a PC'3.

By the 2010s the argument itself was old news online. Urban Dictionary entries dismissed it as 'something nobody cares about anymore' and 'the finest example of white people problems on this planet'2. The ad template still gets referenced whenever Apple or Microsoft ships something controversial.

How to Use This Meme

A typical Mac vs PC image or video sets up two characters on a plain white background: one casual and young for Mac, one stiff and business-like for PC. They trade one-line arguments over a single topic, like viruses, price, or design, with the punchline usually landing on PC's side of the frame. Parody creators often add a Linux figure to turn it into a three-way fight4.