CNET tests show Snow Leopard besting Windows 7 on performance and battery life
CNET went to town running Windows 7 on a Bootcamp partition of a MacBook Pro (to get exact hardware parity) and found that Snow Leopard was usually faster than Windows 7 and, at the same time, used less power.
To be fair, Snow Leopard is optimized for Apple's hardware. There is no way Microsoft can optimize Windows for all of its hardware partners' products. Get the full scoup at CNET.
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Comments (21)
From the CNET website:
"...you'll get much better battery life running OS X on Mac laptops than running Windows"
Thus, OSX is better on Mac laptops. The title should reflect this - right now it seems that OSX is better than Win7 period. Perhaps 9to5 should conduct a test with a hackintosh and Win7 to check the other side of the story.
Also, as regards to performance, from CNET:
"...performance-wise, Windows 7 is probably a better choice if you are a gamer, even on Mac hardware."
Ergo, I have no idea what your article is talking about.
Excellent point. Snow Leopard doesn't run on generic hardware; it won't even run on PPC machines. How this is fair to Microsoft. It seems like a pointless study except if you run boot camp.
Is it just me or do the MS trolls seem like they are out in force atm?
Must be the excitement of having to upgrade their PCs and getting a new OS.
Its like a kid at xmas or something.
So, their opinion that you do not like makes them a troll. I don't think so.
lol @ microsoft fanboys. this test is not biased. running windows on a mac with bootcamp is identical to running it on a dell or a compaq or whatever other brand.. a mac is the only machine that will officially and most efficiently run both operating systems.
I think you just don't get it. Os X is written to use hardware more efficiently.
Mac hardware is the same as PC hardware they only have less configurations.
And about the performance for games.
This is a non-issue: ok native support for games is not super atm.
I use bootcamp at the moment but with the new fusion (directX9 support at the moment) and future releases. It won't take very long before windowsgames run virtualised with virtually no fps-loss.
Windows 7 is to Vista what Windows XP is to Windows Millenium ...
First they sell you beta software that's unfinished/unpolished and then charge you again for the finished product...
W7 hogged a lot of power when I used to run the betas and the RC under Boot Camp. Fast, but power-hungry. Alas, SL is probably the fastest OS I've ever used, but it's power management is also awful; my batteries are performing horribly, even though one is relatively new and ran great under Leopard. Service Battery... I don't appreciate the system trying to force me to buy yet another one when there was clearly nothing wrong with the battery before I upgraded.
A Mac OS runs faster on a Mac than another OS does??? This is truly some ground-breaking journalism. Based on this remarkable story, I award CNET the Nobel Prize in Tech Journalism. Kudos CNET!
a mac is a pc like all the others, just with an apple logo. SL runs perfect on my sisters netbook (msi) and on my little quad core hackintosh. osx doesn't choose to run slower on non-apple-hardware neither does windows on macs. sl is faster and consumes less power, regardless of an apple branding or not. games are the only thing to run most times better on windows (wow btw runs better on osx) because of the horrible driver support of amd and nvidia. would be awesome if nvidia would bring their driver which is available for window, linux, bsd and solaris to osx. but that won't come true in the near future..
Strange you didn't pick up on part of the end:
"Third, if you can get by with just software designed by Apple and if money is not a big issue, you will be happy with a Mac"
No 3rd party software for the Mac? Someone Deliciously disagrees...
The two Apple applications used in the testing showed OS X performing better than Windows 7. Amazing huh? The two Non-Apple applications tested showed Windows 7 handily beating OS X. The article is misleading at best, a covert Apple ad at worst. My house is a Mac family, but my business uses Windows. I like BOTH OS X and Windows 7. I really hate to see fanboys from either camp deliberately misleading people.
I agree the article is misleading. It really should be titled: "SL is better for apps built by Apple. Win7 is better for other apps."
Why didn't they compare Office app speed? Or even use Adobe (which tends to get optimized on Apple first).
It would be like reviewing Windows vs Mac and benchmarking Internet Explorer.
"Why didn't they compare Office app speed?"
Because Microsoft has crippled it to work better with a PC than a Mac.
These kind of arguments are pointless. Its like arguing for gun control and using data provided by the NRA to show why its necessary.
Personally ive liked every MS release since 3.11. Hell i even liked ME, but that doesnt mean that im going to sing windows 7s praises.
But at the same time im not going to switch from a mac to a PC again just because games may be better etc. Thats what consoles are for.
Just take BOTH operating systems with an open mind and see for yourself. (note that this does not include beta releases because we all know betas seem to run better/faster than final releases somehow)
According to the author of the CNET article, "Finally, if money is not an issue--and it definitely is for most of us--you should get a Mac anyway. It's the only platform, for now, that can run both Windows and OS X."
What? Is CNET saying that even if money is an issue for most of us, we should still buy a Mac anyways? LOL. I don't know, cuz if money is an issue for me, I probably wouldn't go out and spend a lot of money on a computer just to have Snow Leopard. To me, Windows is a necessity because I need it to do work since my workplace uses proprietary programs that run only on Windows XP. Snow Leopard is just a "want" and I'll buy a $1000 Mac only if I have a lot of extra money and money isn't an issue.
In your face Windows 7 !
Really, sitting watching a spinning wheel all of the time is not fun....
that flash still runs like crap on SL just like it did on L and T??? oy....
I am always having this discussion with people and I think a lot of people miss the point entirely.
people say I wish Apple would let OSX run on generic PC's etc BUT BUT that the whole point of why "generally" speaking macs are better "in my opinion".
One huge reason macs run better, easier, smoother experience , other than the OS, is that Apple does control 100% of the hardware and so they can offer a better user experience from the hardware point of view ... no issues, no hardware issues .. and even with Apple controlling 100% of the hardware they still have their issues from time to time.
So how can Microsoft possible offer as good an experience with hardware and drivers etc when it has no control over what people put in their machines.
So when people say to me I wish Apple would release OSX to generic machines my response is that you miss the whole point of the product that Apple is selling.
A friend of mine tested OS X and W7 on same machine and general appearance is that windows were 'twice' faster.
It was a hackintosh but still, not something that I expected.
Of course, this doesn't mean that I'm going to switch my stuido equipment do the 'dark side' but I would like to see some more testing.
Hello from Russia!
Can I quote a post in your blog with the link to you?
this small performance gain does not justify the outlandish price difference between a pc and a mac