February 21, 2007 4:59 AM PST

Amazing Fact: In 1996, PCs were cuter than Macs

Posted by Caroline McCarthy

(Credit: Scootinger.net)

Okay, this is officially the coolest thing I've seen all week. A blogger managed to dig up a 1996 issue of MacAddict magazine that features a Mac-PC personification from the day. If you're a fan of the Apple ads, you'll love this pseudo-predecessor. Click here for the big printable version. You know, for your cubicle.

The main difference here, at least to me, is that in the "vintage" Mac/PC ad, the "PC" is actually a good-looking, vaguely Jude Law-ish character (he's got that "sinister Wall Streeter" look, it's very American Psycho) while the "Mac" pretty much looks like a pre-bust dotcom dweeb who would've fit right into a sidekick role on one of the corny sitcoms of the day. So, yeah, if I had to go out to dinner with one of these young fellers, I'd have to choose the well-groomed PC over the sloppy Mac who thinks he can look swanky by tucking his T-shirt into his jeans. Let's hope the intended "nerd/cool guy" dynamic of John Hodgman and Justin Long has better lasting power than that of the guys in this predecessor. Do you think Justin's garage-band haircut will one day look just as ridiculous as the '96 Mac's?

Priceless bits:

--"The casual 'Seinfeld-cut' is in. Of course, Jerry would never use a PC."

--"The denim shirt is standard issue. Get one."

--"Power tie: all the color he requires."

Wow, was 1996 really that long ago?

(Digg via Cult of Mac.)

UPDATE: Crave reader EmmaFrost has alerted us to the fact that the original blog hosting the MacAddict image appears to be down. If you want to check out the full-size scan, Gizmodo has it.