Apple’s new ads for the world’s “greenest family of notebooks” had all the appeal that comes with a Mac ad–minimalism, background music and a sleek, shiny electronic item. But not everyone was buying it.

On December 19, 2008, Bob Pearson (Vice President of Communities and Conversations at Dell) posted an entry on the Direct2Dell blog titled “The Real Meaning of Being Green” and it bit into the Apple ad with statements about the importance of making green changes instead of just claiming things. While some readers took the post as a desperate attempt by Dell to try and sully Apple’s claims, others wondered about the truth to the topic and whether Apple was all talk. Since Mac versus PC has long been a favorite argument for computer-lovers everywhere, techies everywhere jumped at the chance to enter the ring once again.

The reality is that the claim Apple has made is a hard one to prove; while they’ve removed mercury from their displays and are making MacBooks with recyclable aluminum casings and recyclable glass screens, there are many more components to what really constitutes a green laptop. Like whether the computer contains brominated flame retardents (BFRs) or polyvinyl chloride (PVC)–and the MacBooks do, although in reduced quantities. Of course, a huge element of a green laptop happens at the company. Carbon sensitive operations help, as do thorough and consumer-focused take-back programs for recycling old computers, and while these may be areas where Apple is working on improvement, it would be tough to prove them as the industry leader (Dell achieved carbon neutrality in 2008, although it was met with skepticism).

Perhaps the most disconcerting part of Apple’s big green claim is that independent eco-focused review scores don’t seem to add up. Climate Counts has given Apple its lowest rating and Greenpeace placed them in 13th place (out of 18) in its 2008 Greener Guide to Electronics, and although Greenpeace was pleased with Apple’s recent announcement of eco-activity, they stated the action was a little short of what would make Apple an industry leader (Greenpeace was also less than thrilled by a promise to be BFR- and PVC-free by the end of 2008 that went unfulfilled).

Before you start thinking of Mac as a rotten Apple, however, you should know that if you analyze just the physical laptop itself, the MacBooks may be the greenest notebooks available. But with other computer companies, including Dell, putting the environment as a bigger priority, it may not be that way for long–even now Dell is researching the use of recycled plastic for its notebooks.

To find out more about the battle to be green and whether Dell or Apple really reigns, check out our Apple vs. Dell Face-Off.

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