OK, the Lauren ad was a little too cute for its own good, and BoomTown has no interest in Giampaulo’s “really big hands.”

But the latest installment of Microsoft’s real-people advertising campaign, called “Laptop Hunters”–this time a mother and son named Lisa and Jackson looking to score a computer–is pretty funny and sweet, and the main theme of hefty value over too-thin hipness is really starting to kick in.

And while I cannot blame Microsoft for sticking to the Apple-Is-for-Value-Ignorant-Elites meme, I still wish that the messaging would move on from price to more important things such as how the software and hardware perform together.

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So, for the last week or so since Yahoo rejected Microsoft’s unsolicited bid of $31 a share as too low, all has been relatively quiet on the Western front.

Sure, Yahoo continued its tango with News Corp.’s Rupert Murdoch (lots of those dramatic cross-country flights to meet in secret, like they were rendezvousing at Hernando’s Hideaway, details of which somehow always get leaked to the press).

In turn, while threatening a proxy fight, Microsoft trotted out its execs–including its iconic Chairman Bill Gates–to restate that its offer was “fair” and leaked its own internal memos, including emails from top brass to company minions.

So, one wonders, what could get this party started?

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