I'm sure you've all heard it at some point "Why use a Macintosh? Get
Windows! That Mac won't run any games."
Windows users seem to find great pleasure in picking on Mac users.
They claim that their operating system is the best and that it is a lot
faster and more stable than Mac OS X.
Is that really true? As a daily user of both Windows and OS X,
I've decided to find out.
First of all, I'm not going to be one of those Mac users who strike
back at Windows really hard. Truth is, Windows is a good operating
system. I use it every day.
I'll be comparing Mac OS X 10.4 "Tiger" to Windows XP for everyday
use.
Startup Time
While both systems generally start fast, OS X can sometimes
take a lot of time to boot. I have no idea what it's doing behind that
pretty white Apple logo, but it obviously takes a long time.
My 1.42 GHz
eMac (2005) with 1.25 GB of RAM and a 80 GB 7200 rpm Western
Digital Caviar hard drive takes 1.45 minutes to boot, and my 350 MHz Power Mac G3
(1999) with 512 MB of RAM and 1 12 GB 5400 rpm hard drive takes 2
minutes to boot Panther (Mac OS X 10.3).
Intel Macs boot a lot quicker, but PowerPC is what I own, so it's
the platform I'm testing.
Windows XP boots very quickly on a 2.0 GHz Sempron 3500 (2006) with
1 GB of RAM and a 60 GB hard drive.
Outcome: Windows XP wins, at least against older PowerPC Macs.
Browsing the Web
Windows XP comes with Internet Explorer 6 (upgradeable to IE7 or a
beta of IE8), which is a crappy browser. Most websites are supported,
but its weak spot is loading times - they are quite long.
It is, however, the best browser for low-end Pentium II systems.
But I'll be talking about IE7, which is a decent browser (the GUI is
mostly a rip-off of Firefox and Safari), but it hasn't fixed those
loading times. It's supported by all websites out there, save for a
lucky few.
Mac OS X ships with Safari 3 and it is, as I wrote in an earlier
article, the best browser
ever. It has a great GUI, loads pages quickly, and is supported by
most websites like Google (duh!), Low End Mac (duh! again), Yahoo!, and
YouTube.
Its only weakness lies in somewhat bad website compatibility.
Outcome: It's a tie. Both browsers are good. Safari however, has a
much better GUI and font rendering. It also loads pages faster.
Working with Documents and Spreadsheets
Both operating systems ship with a word processor: Windows has
WordPad and OS X has TextEdit. TextEdit is a lot better than WordPad,
but to get real work done, you need an office suite.
While Office is available for OS X, I'll be comparing iWork on the Mac and Office 2003 on
the PC.
Microsoft Word is compatible with a lot of formats, but it has a
pale, slow, and ugly interface and brings you back to the age of
Windows 98 - and Excel is even worse.
iWork, on the other hand, has a sweet Apple-style GUI (duh!) and
works very quickly on most Macs. Well done, Apple. Office suites have
to be user-friendly.
Outcome: Mac OS X and its faithful companion iWork win this
round.
The GUI and Desktop
Windows XP uses a GUI that dates back to 1995 with some slight
improvements. I am very comfortable working in Windows XP and, overall,
it's a great GUI.
In Vista however, Microsoft destroyed the beloved familiarity of
Windows and replaced it with the brand new GUI named Aero (also known
as Apple Rip-off 2.0), making it even harder for John Doe to use his
Dell.
Mac OS X has the best GUI of operating systems so far. It combines
speed, ease of use, and some sweet looks. The Desktop is very clean,
even when it's full of icons.
OS X also has the Dock - it's like Windows' Quick Launch, only
better. That's where you can store shortcuts to frequently used apps
for easy access.
Outcome: OS X wins, with XP not far behind. Remember: Say No to
Vista!
Email
Windows XP ships with Outlook Express (replaced by something similar
called Windows Mail in Vista), which is a very good mail program. It's
just easy to use. No need to say more. It just works.
Mac OS X has Mail.app, which is a great mail program, but it
sometimes experience crashes and bugs.
Sorry Apple; I'm sticking with Outlook Express on this one.
Outcome: Windows XP wins.
General Speed and Overall Stability
Mac OS X is rock solid and never crashes.
This is a hard one: Mac OS X is rock solid and never crashes.
However, sometimes applications may crash, such as Mail.app or
certain games that don't minimize properly (there are a lot of
them).
Windows XP is not as stable, but applications generally experience
few crashes, save for certain pieces of Microsoft software.
Both systems run fast. OS X has a speedy desktop and Finder; XP's
Explorer is decent, and so is the desktop experience.
Outcome: Both operating systems are equal on this point. Vista,
however, might as well be renamed "BSOD 2.0: Biggest Virus of
2007".
Gaming
There are a lot of good games for Mac OS X, but most of the "big"
games out there are Windows only.
I guess we all have to accept that a PC is just better for gaming.
I'm sure some of you have a PC for gaming only.
Outcome: Windows XP wins.
Bundled Software
Microsoft includes a very small selection of software with Windows
XP, including Outlook Express, Internet Explorer, Windows Media Player,
WordPad, Calculator, and Notepad. That's about it, I believe.
Apple thinks different. They include a ton of software like iChat
for messaging and video conferencing, TextEdit for writing small
documents, Photo Booth (on Leopard and iSight Macs only) for taking fun
pictures, Safari for web browsing, Mail for email, QuickTime for
watching movies, and iTunes for managing music - no need to say
more.
Outcome: Mac OS X wins, with XP far, far behind.
Hardware Compatibility
This won't be easy.
First, let's start with computer system compatibility: Windows XP
runs and installs decently on any x86 PC with at least a Pentium and 64
MB of RAM. Mac OS X 10.4 requires a G3 (a G4 is highly
recommended) and at least 256 MB of RAM.
Keep in mind that OS X is a huge hog on my G3 with 256 MB RAM. If
you have 1 GB of RAM and a 500 MHz or faster G3, it's very
speedy.
Most peripherals - such as mice, keyboards, and game controllers -
work fine with both platforms.
Outcome: It's a tie. XP however, has better compatibility with
low-end computers. (I'd still recommend Windows 98 on a 200 MHz Pentium
with 64 MB though).
Conclusion
Overall, it's a tie. Both operating systems are good; however, OS X
is slightly better on most points IMO.
So Windows fanboys, stop picking on us! We can say that your
operating system is decent (Windows XP, not Vista), so I hope
you can accept our OS as well. :-)
