“As someone who uses both platforms for work and personal entertainment, I’ve been wanting to do a performance comparison between Windows 7 and Mac OS X… The right time seems to be now, as Snow Leopard has been out for a while and has even been updated to 10.6.1, and Windows 7 has been at the OEM (original equipment manufacturer) vendors for almost three months and has also had a few updates. Furthermore, Boot Camp 3.0 seemed to make Windows run better than ever on a Mac,” Dong Ngo reports for CNET Reviews.
“There’s no rocket science involved here; all you need is a good stopwatch, a MacBook Pro, and a lot of time,” Ngo reports. “I chose Windows 7 64-bit as Apple claims Snow Leopard is now a pure 64-bit OS with most of its built-in applications being constructed with 64-bit code.”
Ngo reports, “In time-based tests, Snow Leopard consistently outdid Windows 7… Windows 7 on the MacBook Pro still has a significantly shorter battery life than Snow Leopard… Windows 7’s battery life is just about two-thirds of Snow Leopard’s on the MacBook Pro.”
Ngo reports, “Cinebench R10 showed that Windows 7 was better than Snow Leopard in 3D image rendering–with a score of 5,777 vs. 5,437 for the OS X (higher is better). In gaming, Windows 7 also offered higher frame rates. In our Call of Duty 4 test, Windows 7 scored 26.3 frames per second while Snow Leopard got 21.2fps.”
Ngo writes, “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.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Spending money wisely is the actual issue, not what the sticker price reads. Look at spec for spec comparisons and consider Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) and the Mac is always less expensive than a comparable Windows PC over the life of the machine.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Jersey_Trader” for the heads up.]
Altivec Guru,
You have no idea what you’re talking about. Don’t try to pretend there’s a difference in rendering when there isn’t any.
What you are describing are V-synch artifacts. If you don’t want tearing, turn on V-synch (which is on by default). Has absolutely no relevance to which OS you use.
I only have one word to say to PC users:
Registry.
Windows = fail, there is no debate. Apple has really got it right with the OS and hardware combination, and this shows in their ever-increasing market share.
I find that people who say that Macs are better than PCs are just as wrong as those that say the PC is better than the Mac. They both have areas where they each excel and it is a personal decision.
I know you all probably know this as I just started playing with my new mack today but if you goto “about this mac” click “more info” then click “software” you’ll most likely see ” 64-bit Kernel and Extensions: No” as most, if not all 10.6 default to 32 (except 10.6 server)
Not sure if you did your testing in 32 or 64, but windows 7 might of had that edge.
To boot in 64 hold down the “6” and the “4” keys during boot up.
It will reset to 32 on reboot.
cheers