HP Accidentally Uses macOS Screenshot in Ad for Windows Laptop - MacRumors
Skip to Content

HP Accidentally Uses macOS Screenshot in Ad for Windows Laptop

Windows PC maker HP appears to believe that "the perfect laptop" is one that runs macOS — at least according to an ad the company promoted on Reddit. The ad shows an HP laptop with a macOS screenshot in what is clearly a Photoshop job gone wrong.

HP macOS
"For the digital nomads and work from anywhere-but-home types (yeah, we see you), HP has perfect laptops for wherever you're working from," the ad says. The macOS screenshot shows a Gmail inbox in Chrome, with an Apple logo visible in the menu bar.

Apple's licensing agreements do not permit macOS to be run on PCs, but there is a Hackintosh community of users who unofficially install macOS on PCs. Apple did allow its System 7 operating system to be licensed to other computer vendors in the mid-1990s, but the program was discontinued by Steve Jobs when he returned to the company.

Update — October 21: The ad has now been deleted.

(Thanks, @aaronp613!)

Popular Stories

Four iPhone 18 Pro Colors Mock Feature

iPhone 18 Pro: Pre-Orders and Release Date

Sunday August 16, 2026 8:24 pm PDT by
Apple has yet to reveal when the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone Ultra will be announced and released, but the dates usually follow a familiar pattern. As usual, the event is expected to take place in the first half of September. Labor Day falls on September 7 this year. The last time the holiday was on that day was in 2020, but the iPhone event that year was delayed until October due to the...
apple camera airpods

Apple's Camera-Equipped AirPods Confirmed: See Them in Action

Monday August 17, 2026 6:21 pm PDT by
Apple is working on camera-equipped AirPods that appear to be nearly ready to launch, based on a video MacRumors found in the macOS Tahoe 26.7 release candidate. In a short demo, a man holds a book up so the camera in the AirPods can see the title. "With Visual Intelligence, your world becomes savable. See something you like? Just ask me to save it for later," says the voiceover text. Here ...
imac video apple feature

September 1 to Mark the End of an Era at Apple

Tuesday August 18, 2026 9:14 am PDT by
Apple in April announced that Tim Cook will be stepping down as CEO at the end of this month, after 15 years of leading the company. Cook has been Apple's CEO since 2011 Effective September 1, Apple's hardware engineering chief John Ternus will become the company's next CEO, while Cook will become executive chairman of Apple's board of directors. In his new role, Apple said Cook will assist...

Top Rated Comments

50 months ago
Personally, I find the ellipsis with only two dots far more objectionable.

But maybe the whole goal of making an ad with these mistakes is that the… uh, rather passionate people at Reddit and elsewhere would notice and talk about them, thus getting the otherwise rather mundane ad in front of more eyes than would normally see it. Mission accomplished, I suppose.
Score: 60 Votes (Like | Disagree)
CheesePuff Avatar
50 months ago
"This thread has been locked by the moderators of u/HP_Store"

lol
Score: 40 Votes (Like | Disagree)
aperfectcircle Avatar
50 months ago
Reminds me of Samsung's 'Posted from Twitter for iPhone' faux pas heh.
Score: 28 Votes (Like | Disagree)
macsplusmacs Avatar
50 months ago
Well they did say "perfect laptop"...
Score: 26 Votes (Like | Disagree)
aperfectcircle Avatar
50 months ago

Well they did say "perfect laptop"...
It's just showing its Envy ;)
Score: 19 Votes (Like | Disagree)
klasma Avatar
50 months ago
Clearly a Hackintosh.
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)