Lauren De Long

After setting the tech world abuzz with her criticism of Apple's Mac prices, the star of Microsoft's latest Windows ad will be featured next in promotional videos for 7-Eleven, according to a public Web site where she chronicles her burgeoning acting career.

Lauren's transition from Windows to Slurpees won't exactly bolster Microsoft's assertion that its ad was a true-to-life account of her search for a new computer. Nor will her extensive acting experience, which so far encompasses more than 20 roles in television,  theater, Internet videos, and film -- including a turn as a certified terror-movie "hottie."

However, her site does at least stick to Microsoft's background story, saying she was hired for a "market and research" job involving laptops and found out only later that it was for a commercial.

"Lauren" turns out to be Lauren De Long, a Los Angeles-based actress. We contacted her via phone to ask what she actually thinks about her HP laptop -- which one critic describes as "the epitome of what people dislike about PCs." 

She declined to comment, saying she had signed a confidentiality agreement and wanted to check first to see if she was allowed to speak to the press.

Microsoft had declined to make her available last week amid questions over the company's claims about the authenticity of the ad. Anne-Marie Taylor, the wife of former Seattle P-I investigative reporter Daniel Lathrop, did some creative digging to find De Long's public Web site (which makes no secret about her identity or her role in the Windows ad) and passed the link along.

Real or not, the account of De Long's computer purchase has succeeded in highlighting the price differences between Macs and Windows PCs -- simultaneously reigniting the debate over the differences in quality between the two types of machines.

The real winner in all of this may be De Long, whose acting resume is bound to grow. According to her site, the 7-Eleven videos are for a new ad campaign to appear on flat-panel screens inside the convenience stores, promoting its products.

"This is the perfect shoot for me," she says on the site, "because I LOVE junk food."