“The complaints about sluggish performance in Windows Vista keep growing. While it’s unfair to point to beta software apps—or whatever Microsoft wants to call them—the warning flags are already evident,” David Morgenstern writes for eWeek.
“A batch of complaints reached my inbox following my recent column looking at Apple’s Mac OS X Leopard and Vista. One message, from reader Randall Asato, warned that folks thinking they can run Aero on older hardware will be out of luck,” Morgenstern writes.
Morgenstern writes, “He said he expected that most upgraders will be at the least forced to purchase a new video card with sufficient VRAM (video RAM)… There are signs that the base performance of Vista on almost any hardware configuration may disappoint. Or at least concerns that Vista will run sluggishly on the system configs that Windows buyers are accustomed to.”
“At the same time, performance may be hindered by the traditional thin configurations offered in the Windows market. Many machines ship with 512MB of RAM, and in the mindset of the market this is sufficient.
For example, the software industry still maintains the fiction that a Windows XP machine with 256MB of RAM can do all the tasks that need to be done, or that users might want to get done. Look at almost any piece of software and 256MB is listed as the base system requirement,” Morgenstern writes. “But that amount has little to do with usability. It’s a joke.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: First of all, 99% of Windows users have no idea what a video card is, much less the ability to upgrade it. Let’s face it, these people bought their personal computer at Wal-Mart. So, when Joe and Jane Sixpack are faced with the idea of having to buy a new computer to run “that there great new Winduhs they got out now,” wouldn’t it be nice if they knew there was a better way this time around? The more ads Apple runs for the Mac right now, the better. Get a Mac.
Related MacDailyNews articles:
a href=”http://macdailynews.com/index.php/weblog/comments/10688/”>Apple’s Boot Camp 1.1 runs Microsoft Windows Vista Pre-RC1 – August 28, 2006
Apple’s Mac OS X Leopard is 64-bit done right, unlike Microsoft’s Windows Vista kludge – August 14, 2006
Microsoft Windows Vista: If you can’t innovate… try to impersonate Apple’s Mac OS X – August 10, 2006
Analyst: Apple’s new Mac OS X Leopard sets new bar, leaves Microsoft’s Vista in the dust – August 08, 2006
Windows Vista rips-off Mac OS X at great hardware cost (and Apple gains in the end) – June 13, 2006
Computerworld: Microsoft Windows Vista a distant second-best to Apple Mac OS X – June 02, 2006
CNET reporter: Apple Mac mini is my most ‘Vista Ready’ PC – May 24, 2006
What’s the difference between Mac OS X and Vista? Microsoft employees are excited about Mac OS X – March 22, 2006
Analyst: Windows Vista may still impress many consumers because they have not seen Apple’s Mac OS X – January 05, 2006<
Wow. Make Windows users sound like Larry the Cable Guy. I thought we wanted these people to convert to Mac. Insulting the platform is one thing, insulting the individuals suffering through it is another. MDN usually is the one to point out that “PC” is the computer, not the user, then turns around and mocks out the users.
Not cool, MDN. Most of us were lost little Windows sheep before we saw the light.
Tiger runs adequately fast on my Imac G3.
That little beast is 8 years old.
Okay, let’s face it: it doesn’t run photoshop CS2, although it could.
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As Slayer said it, and it counts for many windows users:
“You have to die to see the light”
I’m not making excuses for Windows or PCs in general, but the platform requirements to effectively run MacOS X have also increased over the years if you want to take advantage of the full OS functionality. I recall many complaints lodged in this forum regarding the inadequate base RAM and video RAM installed in new Macs.
Apple’s computer hardware seems to generally enjoy a longer usable life than Windows PC’s, but I do not take any joy in finding out that many PC users will find themselves stuck with XP, or worse, in a nightmare of an upgrade cycle trying to run Vista because they hope to escape the virus/trojan/malware problem.
MW “job”…I got the Steveness on my side!
why is it that every Mac upgrade seems to get quicker?
is it just wishful thinking on my part?
every Windows upgrade seems to need new hardware.
I second Akido and I have made the same request in the past to MDN. It serves no constructive purpose to ridicule the eductation level, socioeconomic status, intelligence or other personal aspects of PC users. It makes us Mac users sound like a bunch of egotistical, elitist a$$holes.
Remember the old saying about honey…?
“Many machines ship with 512MB of RAM, and in the mindset of the market this is sufficient.”
Some PC people are afraid to add more than that because of the cost – and fear that the PC won’t last long enough to recoop their expense of the add on.
In a recent conversation with an about to be switcher, I recommend maxing out a MacBook on RAM if possible but get at least 1G RAM at minimum. Their next two statement took me by surprise: “How long do you Mac people expect your Macs to last?”
Me: 5 to 10 years. I have a 10 year old 8600 still performing Photoshop graphic enhancements. My daughter has my almost 6 year old Pismo.
PC User wanting to switch: So that is why you Mac people don’t mind maxing out your computers – you expect them to last long enough to get your money’s worth out of them and for any added upgrades too.”
But of course!
PC’s in general don’t last long enough for them to justify adding MORE RAM and upgraded Video Cards.
The reason why Vista is a bloat hog is that it’s SUPPOSED to force a hardware upgrade.
M$ is going to sell
1: Better security
2: Better looks
3: More features
4: Trusted Computing
5: HDCP
Since most PC users will just get Vista with a hardware upgrade (2 years on average with Dell) it really makes it irrealevant to make it run on older hardware. Actually M$ doesn’t really want it to, because older machines don’t have the TPM chip.
Microsoft is looking at trying to get 100% Vista purchase compliance.
Of course Apple is locking Mac OS X to their Intel hardware the same way, with a TPM chip.
Which later on Apple can start restricting the per seat licensing, all in the grand scheme of one day being able to sell Mac OS X seperatly from Apple hardware.
It’s coming, trust me.
The new Mac ads are amusing but eliteist. When the nerd guy talks about the malware etc., the least the ‘cool’ guy could do is ask how much in time and money, all that crap costs.
MW–still–as in– Apple still doesn’t cut to the chase with their ads.
MDN: First of all, 99% of Windows users have no idea what a video card is…
If 99% of Windows users have no idea what a video card is, then 99.99% of Mac users have no idea what a video card is, considering that most Mac users never had to deal with video cards.
I think there are more than 1% Windows users with some idea of what the video card is. They need to run Windows.
Apple’s give us knowledge that we would have never dreamt about, and they taste great too!
Akido is right. Tone it down, MDN.
I gott agree with the general concensus. I was a winblows guy a long time ago. I have since seen the light, but didn’t have to die first. Just because I didn’t know any better does not make me a trailer trash tee shirt wearing, no teeth, car up on blocks in the yard next to the old refrigerator, cashing my paycheck at the bar kinda guy.
Those were the daze of os9, and osx has changed everything. Most people who are stuck in the myopic mindset of winblows cling to the FUD that surrounded os9, and just don’t know.
There is no reason to be snobbish, yes we have better toys, but that doesn’t mean we cant get more market share.
Asato and Morgenstern are mistaken on one basic premise – that generic Windows users ever upgrade their OS. Most don’t even apply security patches! The people most likely to consider upgrading from XP to Vista are the corporate types, and they are already buying “Vista-ready” hardware where they anticipate they will want to upgrade. Many will test in-house, then push to all “applicable” systems over a period of a few weeks – to keep a single, standard ‘platform’ on the majority of systems.
Joe and Jane Six-pack will need to be sold on the need for any such upgrade … seriously, seriously SOLD! We’re not talking about a banner in the WalMart computer aisle, we’re talking about radio, newspaper and tv execs making payments on their yachts! That banner in WalMart might convince them to pay a bit extra for their next computer (because the old one is so slow, now that it’s caught a ‘bot) and get a Vista model, but that isn’t hardly the same thing as buying a Vista distro and trying the install themselves.
What Vista users are they talking about?
Can I go buy Vista at CompUSA?
How can the performance of a non-existant product be sluggish and cause consumers to complain?
I do not understand why so many bytes of a pro Mac web site are spent on non-existant M$ OS’s. If M$ wants us to talk about their products and how they compare to Macs, they can finish them, release them, and sell them. STOP HELPING M$ HYPE THEIR POORLY MADE WARES.
After reading MDN’s snipet at the top my first question was the same as Ray’s, “…what VISTA users?”
Obviously we’re being referred to beta testing or preRelease trials, but the tone of these critiques sounds like its [VISTA] out there now, and its falling short as a final product release. Talk about WWII style propaganda…
Sometimes making a thing or event seem worse than it really is has the net effect of making the reality not seem as bad as its really going to be. (I think Confucius said that somewhere.)
So my advice to MDN (not that anyone asked of course) is to maybe lay low and let VISTA be whatever VISTA is going to be – let it speak for itself. An objective, sans rhetoric, reference to an article from time to time would be ok, but anything more might just be a mistake. I live in rural southern IL (I was born and raised in the “big city”), and I can tell you that calling people stupid, directly or indirectly, has the strong tendency to make people even less prone to any positive change. Just FYI.
I used DOS and Doze for 20 years before I switched. I was the office geek/tech advice guy, and built more top of the line Dozers than I can count. I will argue that the average (I said AVERAGE) Mac person probably knows no more about Vcards than the average PC person does. I’ll bet the top Doze gamer subset would blow away the equivelent Mac subset as far as box mods and upgrades go. It’s the gamer PC way of life.
But, having said all of that, any non-gamer who doesn’t seriously consider OS X just hasn’t been paying attention. I just finally got tired of Doze and was ready for the change. I’ve never ever regretted my move to the light.
You guys complaining about MDN’s take are being far too sensitive. First of all, they’re joking. Way back before the the world became a bastion for political correctness, there used to be this thing called HUMOR, where you could make fun of something, and people weren’t afraid to laugh, sometimes even at themselves.
Second, regardless of whether you used to be a PC user or not, if you’re hanging around these boards, you are not the type of person MDN is talking about. The truth is, most of the population is extremely ignorant when it comes to computers. They are the people who think a 3.5″ floppy disk is a hard disk, that their monitor is the entire computer (and they don’t own iMacs), and that the operating system they run is Microsoft Word. We see these people everyday. In fact, you might very well be sitting next to one of them right now. If you’re reading this post, on a Mac-centric website, chances are, you are not one of them.
PC folks also criticize the Mac for not being upgradeable, but the truth is, very few PC users ever upgrade anything.
Remember the old saying about honey…?
what kind of idiot spends his time trying to catch flies?
That should read: what kind of hillbilly spends his time trying to catch flies?
Ask Bill McNeal
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To ndelc: Just because an insult doesn’t directly insult me, doesn’t mean it’s any less wrong. In our case, why would we expect PC users to discard their preconceptions that us Mac users are snobs when we resort to such tactics? We get all bent out of shape when people want to “put a lit cigarette” in our eye, yet we feed the fire that caused those feelings.
Also, in my experience, those who bash political correctness are often doing so to cover their own racism. Unlike some, I do not fondly look back on the days when racial slurs were uttered as a matter of course. The world is better now than it was, but obviously we have a long way to go.
Well, I had to replace my Radeon 9800 Pro (128 megs RAM, stock) on my ’03 dual 2Ghz G5 to make it work with Aperture. So this is hardly a major complaint about Vista. After all, you’re happy with what you got? Don’t upgrade!
Dude man
Akido,
They need to be slapped awake, anything less won’t accomplish the task. Here’s why:
Defending Windows over Mac a sign of mental illness
Akido, first of all, it’s unlikely that the type of people who MDN is talking about would ever visit MDN anyway, so I doubt that they’d ever see it to be offended. Second of all, what we’re talking about here is the purchase of a product. I would question the common sense of anyone who would decide not to buy a superior product that would make their life easier just because they regard others who use it to be snobs.
“Also, in my experience, those who bash political correctness are often doing so to cover their own racism. Unlike some, I do not fondly look back on the days when racial slurs were uttered as a matter of course. The world is better now than it was, but obviously we have a long way to go.”
At what point did I mention anything regarding racism? I don’t appreciate you putting words in my mouth. I don’t tolerate racism, but I also believe that going to the point where you cannot even acknowledge differences in people is equally as damaging. How will we learn about other types of people if we can’t talk about what makes us different? Political correctness has been taken to the extreme in this country, to the point where you basically can’t risk offending anybody. Forget race, you can’t make a joke about hair color, or style of clothing, or apparently, what computer one uses. That’s ridiculous. Life is funny. There’s nothing wrong with pointing that out. My favorite comedians are Dennis Miller, Chris Rock, and Bill Maher. What they have in common is, they’re honest, and they don’t apologize for offending anyone with their honesty.
Take a step back and look at this discussion. You’re all bent out of shaped because MDN joked that most computer users in the world don’t know much about their computers. Sorry, but I find it ridiculous. No offense ; )
Bloke — geek test!