Have you seen those commercials where the young woman or the mom and her kid go into a big box electronics store looking for a new laptop, and when they go inside, they discover that PCs are tons cheaper than Macs so they end up buying the PC?

Well, if those commercials are right, Q3 should be a great quarter for computer makers like Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL).

Although PC sales have slowed drastically in the last three quarters, sales of the netbook PC have done just the opposite since the middle of 2008. These miniature notebooks -- which don't have the same capabilities as normal notebooks -- have shot up in sales and continue to ramp up at an impressive rate.

Not only is Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) feeling the hurt of the slumping PC industry, the leading chipmaker is also weathering the effect. In fact, Intel Corp.'s (NASDAQ: INTC) chip inventory has become so high that it may have to build new factories out of that silicon instead of selling those chips to, well, anyone.

Businesses have cut back spending on new gear that includes Intel processors, and consumers have flocked to bargain-priced netbook PCs since late 2008. Although Intel chips power almost all of those new machines, the Atom processor inside almost every one of them is not really a high-margin product. Nor can those sales make up for the overall downward sales trend in desktop and laptop PCs, and corporate servers.

What is a chipmaker to do? It's sort of like the inventory glut the automotive industry is facing. Large global manufacturing outfits can't just stop manufacturing nearly as fast as consumer tastes and sales dictate. So, when the economy tanks and credit lines become tight, the consumer and business money spigot can turn off almost overnight.

Those factories can't, though. Intel's sale of a lower-priced, non-advanced chip for these $350 netbook PCs won't be able to help it sell all those other higher-margin and unwanted chips. At some point, fire sales of chips will occur, and then we'll really see laptop PC prices and small servers much cheaper than they are now. Will anyone buy them then? Who knows.

This post is part of our Battle of the Brands feature. Let us know which brand you prefer, and check out other Battle of the Brands posts.

Going by ad campaigns alone, you would think that every person -- or, at least every cool person -- had abandoned their Windows PCs and hoisted themselves onto the Macintosh bandwagon. Not so. The truth is that PCs far outnumber Macs in the market. The big-business worlds of finance, law, medicine use predominantly PC, while the areas of video production, web design and art use Mac. These computers do most of the same things (play games and DVDs, word-process, create web pages, store and play music) but they are completely different operating systems. Even though Apple computers now include the Intel processor that makes it possible to use Windows-only applications, it can still be hard to compare products.

But what about the companies themselves? What does the Apple brand signify that the Dell brand does not? And vice versa.

Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL): Providing innovative products and a user-friendly interface, Apple has turned the whole computer thing into a fashion accessory. For someone who used Dell products for years and then switched to Mac, the difference is like night and day. A Mac is so easy to use. With a clean interface, a near-universal compatibility with external products and tools, these computers are a beautiful breeze. And now that Macs include Intel processors, one can switch back and forth between a Windows interface and a Mac interface, making previous incompatibilities (software, games, etc.) now perfectly compatible. And when it comes to customer service (see below) Apple really socks the house.

Welcome to the 54th installment of The Wal-Mart Weekly, a column dedicated to bringing you insight, wit, facts, results, opinions, and just a bit of everything else when it comes down to a very hot topic these days: Wal-Mart.

In this week's Wal-Mart Weekly, I'll be looking at Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) merchandising of some of its consumer electronics products. Namely: the personal computer.

Last week, I reported on some of the awesome steps the world's largest retailer has taken to merchandise its flat-screen televisions. In fact, the TV area in a few local Wal-Mart locations reminded me of a specialty consumer electronics retailer rather than a big-box discount retailer. But TVs were only the start -- the chain needs to get with the program when it comes to other consumer electronics items. Here's how.

It used to be that all tech companies wanted big footprints in the US market. Asia-based PC firms, lead by Lenovo and Acer, have been trying to get into America for years. Their efforts have been hurt by big domestic operators, especially Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ), Dell (NASDAQ: DELL), and, more recently, Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL).

Perhaps it is lucky for Lenovo that its efforts here have not worked out so well. It is set to announce profits which will be double what it did last year in the same quarter. The company should have a better year than its US rivals because of its strength in China and the rest of Asia.

"The biggest concern is the slowdown in the PC market this year, but Lenovo is best-positioned within the sector since it has the least exposure to the US market," said CLSA analyst Jenny Lai, quoted by Reuters.

The news also underscores that fact that US PC companies are still behind where they would like to be in Asia. This is especially true of Dell, which is only now making deals with retailers in the region to sell its PC.

For once, having trouble getting into the US market may be a blessing.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

Lenovo, the Chinese PC company, is known for producing good laptops for businesses. But with Mac sales moving up sharply, going after Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) seems too hard to resist.

According to The Wall Street Journal, "As with many of its competitors, Lenovo is emphasizing design and style, and trying to turn notebooks into fashion accessories that reflect individual personality." Dell (NASDAQ: DELL) and HP (NYSE: HPQ) are also coming out with fancy, feature-full PCs.

The problem, of course, is that the field for Mac-like computers will become crowded very quickly. That leads to the question of whether the PCs will be able to get some market share from the Mac or actually just compete with one another.

The success of the new computers will depend on several things. One is whether consumers are willing to use Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) Vista over the Apple OS, which has gotten very good reviews. Another is whether the new PCs can match most of the attractive design features of the Mac.

But the most important factor may be price. If PC manufacturers can bring most of the Mac's features to market for several hundred dollars less per machine, then they have a chance.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

Beginning next month Starbucks Corp. (NASDAQ: SBUX) is planning to distribute 50 million free digital songs from Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL)'s iTunes Store in promotion of the new iTunes wireless service that will be debuting in select markets, reported Billboard.biz this afternoon. Some may say that this is not a good sign, but it is certainly a logical one, at least in terms of Starbucks' move into the music business full time this year.

The step had to be expected, given the huge success Starbucks has had with its initial forays into the music business. Consider the windfall the company enjoyed with Paul McCartney, who put out his latest album on Starbucks' own Hear Music label. Hopes are high that the new Joni Mitchell album from Hear Music will enjoy similar success after it is released tomorrow.

Then the promotion begins in the wake of the recent Starbucks-Apple deal to allow "iPhone and new iPod Touch users the ability to download songs playing in a Starbucks shop directly to their portable devices." Patrons will be able to download that hot tune directly onto their laptops.

Although the service might appear to be a ploy to bring in consumers and drive coffee sales, it should also be noted for what it is: promotion of new Apple products, its iTunes Store, and Starbucks' own Hear Music. CD sales are never going to come back, and Starbucks, in all its coffee-fueled expansion, apparently can see the future of music. It's all so synergistic. Credit Starbucks with doing it right.

Some Boeing employees tonight are learning that they may be about to face one of the scariest scenarios possible in the technology age... identity theft. The company reported today that earlier this month one of its employees had their laptop stolen which contained some rather sensitive information.

What is at risk are names, social security numbers, home addresses, phone numbers and birth dates of 382,000 employees and retirees. While it is a scary thought to think what an identity theft would be able to do with all this information what is really scary is that this is not the first time Boeing employees have had to live through this scare. Nor is it the second. It is the third time over the last year that a company laptop containing employee information has been stolen. Previous thefts of company laptops occurred in November 2005 and then again in April of this year.

Boeing officials tried to offer some encouragement by stating that the computer was not turned on at the time it was stolen and that in order for any information to be retrieved from the computer someone would need the password to turn on the computer. While I personally don't have the skills to be able to crack a Boeing company laptop I think it is probably pretty foolish to assume that it would be all that hard for someone to bust if placed into the right persons hands.

Boeing has said that the previous thefts have not resulted in any wrong doing, but for the 382,000 people involved in this current theft I don't think that is really going to help them sleep tonight. Another good lesson that the more we become dependent on laptops in our lives the more careful we need to be to safeguard our machines, and the information that we store on them.