Snow Leopard Leaps Past Win 7 In Time Tests
8:59 am, October 16th, 2009, Ed Sutherland
Leopard “consistently outdid” Microsoft’s soon-to-be released Windows 7 operating system, according to to a head-to-head time test. Apple’s latest OS X operating system outpaced Windows in both boot-up and shutdown, according to a review conducted by CNet.
Leopard needed 36.4 seconds to boot up versus 42.7 seconds for Windows 7. The gap was even more significant in the time needed to shut down the 2008 MacBook Pro. While Snow Leopard required 6.6 seconds to shut down, Windows 7 took 12.6 seconds, the study found.
“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,” concluded the study’s author, Dong Ngo.
One area where Windows 7 came out on top was games. A test of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Windows 7 output 26.3 frames per second while Snow Leopard produced 21.3 frames per second. The key reason may be the graphics processing of Windows 7 versus Snow Leopard. The study found the Microsoft operating system made better use of the Macbook Pro’s Nvidia’s 512MB GeForce 9600M GT graphics card.
Although many versions of Apple applications, such as iTunes and Quicktime, also have Windows-based counterparts, Snow Leopard was faster. Converting a M4 Movie to iPod using Quicktime X took Snow Leopard 444.3 seconds versus 723 seconds for the Windows’ Quicktime 7. In another example, it took 149.9 seconds for Snow Leopard to convert 17 seconds from MP3 to AAC format in iTunes compared to 162 seconds for Windows.
The review seems to counter the opinion of Wall Street Journal technology columnist Walt Mossberg who earlier wrote Windows 7 made the decision between Mac or Microsoft a toss-up.
[Via CNet and AppleInsider]
Posted by Ed Sutherland in News | Comment on this article
“If you can get by with just software designed by Apple…”
hmm. So, Apple is the only party making software for Apples. that’s not what I seem to recall.
I would be just ‘getting by’ on a win machine without installing the cygwin linux emulator.
jed, on October 16th, 2009 at 9:31 am
Boot times…shut down times…meh. Find what works for you and get on with your life!
skids544, on October 16th, 2009 at 2:19 pm
The only test that was shown that showed any performance gap was testing quicktime X on mac and a older version on Win 7. Also the other tests that show win7 beating out 10.6 on 3rd party testing aren’t even shown here. Here is the real story.
http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-31012_7-10319612-10355804.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20
black jesus, on October 16th, 2009 at 3:47 pm
Strange graph; why is Multimedia (OSX) compared with Multitasking (Win7)?
TB, on October 18th, 2009 at 3:34 am
Hilarious, a post of comparisons between Mac and PC on a site called CULTOFMAC.COM
Way to invalidate everything you say before you even write it.
cixelsyD, on October 18th, 2009 at 4:16 pm
I found my move to OSX to be something you make a decision to choose, bit like when I went veggie. Almost all of us are brought up meat-eaters and use Windows. For whatever reason you choose, you have to make a decision to choose Apple over Windows, exclusive veg or meat.
Most people are not going to be swayed by timings on Windows vs OSX, average person couldn’t give a toss if it took 3 mins to start and 4 mins to shutdown, they are used to Windows, they use it at school, at work, at a mates house, it’s familiar. You have to want to try something different, for a very good reason, especially given the initial extra cost you will have to make.
Fuzzypig, on October 19th, 2009 at 7:13 am
i had to pay for something that really isnt worth it even if it was only 30 bucks.
nintendo ds lite r4, on October 29th, 2009 at 5:20 am