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Head to head: Windows 7 vs Snow Leopard

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By Benny Har-Even, 6 Oct 2009

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In the second of our series of head to head reviews, we pit Microsoft’s Windows 7 operating system against Apple’s Mac OS X update Snow Leopard.

Overall Winner:

Overall then, we have a draw, two wins for Snow Leopard and three for Windows 7, meaning Microsoft wins our informal little showdown.

Of course, picking a winner in this particular grudge match is fraught with difficulties, and what you ultimately go for depends on your needs.

For serious businesses, who will continue to go with a PC, that will mean Windows 7. However for home users, Snow Leopard continues the trend of making Macs increasingly attractive buys, while the licensing of Exchange will see an increase in Macs in the workplace as business users want the elegance of a Mac while still having access to their work, without having to use BootCamp or virtualisation.

What’s also clear from this is that both are forcing the other to innovate, and that’s good news for consumers and business users alike.

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14 comments

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Compare comparable

A PC notebook with comparable specifications will cost you more than a corresponding MacBook. Comparing £300 netbook with £749 MacBook is like comparing a moped with a HD motorcycle.

Also, you can run both Windows 7 and Snow Leopard on a MacBook. You can only run Windows on a plain PC.

Windows has other advantages which article doesn’t mention, Snow Leopard has some too. Therefore I’m using both.

By Mikael on Tuesday Oct 6

Odd reasoning

Mac's interface was *already* better, so Windows "wins" for making incremental improvements which, by the way, still don't give it a clearly better feature set. How does that work?

And, while Windows is, arguably, more secure than Mac OS, Mac OS has File Vault, which is similar in function to Bit Locker: please remember that businesses are not going to be buying Ultimate.

If the Business version sports these, then yay! for Windows. However, if you want to secure files on a memory stick on Mac OS, stick them in an encrypted image. The app business is a clear win for Windows.

That said, we offer a nice, america *whatever*. The cost of migrating to Mac OS for most businesses is utterly prohibitive. Windows continues to be the business OS, and with good reason.

By credulousDolt on Tuesday Oct 6

Must a PC run Windows?

A PC doesn't necessarily need to run Windows. If a PC runs Linux, for example, it is still a PC. In fact, it has been suggested that a PC running Windows could be referred to as a WC.

By 6tricky9 on Tuesday Oct 6

Higly biased comparison

Comparing a £300 netbook with a £749 macbook is ridiculous, as the macbook will be incredibly more powerful than the netbook.

Giving security to Microsoft for having caught up to mac's already secure platform, if indeed they did, as the OS is not proven yet on the market, is also silly. Everything you describe on the windows side could be done on a mac for years.

As per business use, I use my mac for business, and recently upgraded to snow leopard, got rid of the microsoft software (Entourage, etc) that is not even totally compatible with exchange, and I'm happily running using apple mail, calendar, address book, and iwork. I have to have a VM for the badly designed websites that only accept IE, which doesn't even comply with market standards, but that is all I use windows for.

Another issue that was not considered for the evaluation, and I think is very important, is the fact that if you want Snow Leopard, you buy it, and you get everything you need. With Windows, whether it's vista or 7, you have so many options, most of which would not even compare to the most basic Snow Leopard installation out of the box, that is ridiculous. Microsoft must learn and simplify the licensing for people and businesses, they should lose points for this, and this wasn't even mentioned in the comparison.

You should only compare hardware at similar specs, which would put both PCs and Apple machines on similar price ranges. At OS level, if you use the same criteria, you should only compare Snow Leopard with Ultimate, as this is the only version of Windows that comes with similar features, and that is not a valid choice for businesses, as if you put Windows 7 professional against Snow Leopard, out of the box, Snow Leopard wins hands down.

By Ip_patriciocolom on Tuesday Oct 6

Websites and IE

@Ip_patriciocolom: "I have to have a VM for the badly designed websites that only accept IE..."

I doubt that this is still true today; Microsoft has gradually been forced into W3C compliance over time with IE8 being pretty much compliant. You could always set the User Agent Switcher to IE.

By 6tricky9 on Wednesday Oct 7

Bias?

Couple of comments here about my comparison on a MacBook to a netbook running Windows.

My intention was not to compare the products directly, but only as to how customers might gain access specifically to Windows 7 or Snow Leopard for the first time, rather than as an upgrade. Naturally, if I were reviewing the products themselves I would take the price difference into account. Disclaimer - I own a Macbook, but not a netbook.

By Ip_benny5c28a904 on Thursday Oct 8

Gradivus

Good, entertaining stuff, but with a couple of really silly remarks -

With the Interface, how can you say -
“we’d rate Mac OS X as better looking and arguably easier to navigate”

Then award the round to Windows 7 because “it’s a great leap forward from Windows Vista.”

In other words “Windows 7 is poor but not as sh!t as Vista”

And with Security -
The horrible User Account Control feature is less horrible than before, and there are two applications (Bitlocker to Go and AppLocker) that will be unknown and irrelevant to most people.

The real question is - in day-to-day use which will give the average user fewer security hassles?

By Gradivus on Friday Oct 9

Win, lose or draw??

Please define the logic of this statement from your verdict...

"Overall then, we have a draw, two wins for Snow Leopard and three for Windows 7, meaning Microsoft wins our informal little showdown."

By ccsdigital on Friday Oct 9

Two corrections

Rosetta can run in snow leopard. It is necessary for some pre-intel programs and its inclusion can easily be selected during the install. It is actually very small so the reduction in size of snow leopard has little to do with the default exclusion of Rosetta.

Second, although apple does not publicize it, my understanding is that the $29 upgrade disk will upgrade from 10.4 on an intel machine. You don't get the latest version of iLife but for many people that will not be a big deal.

By RoyBlakey on Friday Oct 9

Macfanboys are silly

If I wanted BSD I'd 'buy' freeBSD for.... FREE - yet freeBSD's interface is about 1Billion times better than OSX
Anyway,
Windows 7 wins on all accounts here
OSX interface is very ridiculous. It has a couple interesting features but those have been adopted to a part with windows 7 and many are better. Add a free program or two to Windows 7 and you've made it even better still.

The only real problem with Windows 7 is it's lack unminimizing and cascading (all with one mouse selection) - the right click on a taskbar grouping and clicking cascade.
This is by far the fastest way to go through multiple window instances above the few that will fit on the screen easily in graphic format. If I have 100 browser windows open - under vista I just click, cascade and can choose the one I want in about 2 seconds - with OSX/Win7/etc it can take 10 minutes or more.

Back to ramblings - If MS had gone from XP to Windows 7 skipping over Vista - Apple would be practically non-existent now. Instead they made good use of the worst operating system in history to gain some market share. you know that and the huge lies they spout - they are so secure, your info won't be stolen if you use a MAC ---- HAHAHAHAHAHAH
They have the Mac Genius - who know less about Macs than people who have never used a mac before. it's sad when someone who has only ever used windows can tell someone who had a mac how to use their machine or fix a problem when the Mac 'Genius' doesn't even know which end is up (figuratively)

AND PEOPLE... discussing the speeds of 300pound netbook versus 749Pound MAC lappy ----- I look at it this way, here (USA) I can get a Netbook for $150+tax if I try really hard) I can get a REAL laptop for $600 not pounds but dollars that has a fast i5 and 4GB RAM and a ____GB (whatever... 320, 500? it varies) but the kicker is 7200RPM HDD, Wifi N, bluetooth, all the goodies - not say USB 3 but what can you do. And we compare that $600 laptop to a $1200 macbook that's 1/3 the speed or less that's ONE-THIRD the speed
and in order to get anything close in mac you're looking $2500
comparing to a $600 Windows 7 machine and hey, you're getting a much, Much, MUCH better OS with Windows 7.

Ohh, you have Windows, you must get Virii - No, I have three free Virus scanners including Free Avast then I have a couple free malwares - Predominantly Malewarebytes and you're pathetic OSX is more likely to yield your information stolen that mine.
Oh, you have Windows you must be getting hardware conflicts and my mac doesn't because everything is custom spec'd. Well OSX is good if you only have to reboot a couple times a month......... or week. I can run Windows 7 for 6months with no reboot, no corruption of memory and no corruption of file systems to speak of - that is to say I can easily maintain any issues without any real degredation to performace and no reboot.
Ohh you have Windows you must have BSOD (The famous Blue screen of death) --- caused by hardware/software conflict, IRQ/IRL/etc..... and if not that then your system must have just frozen up and you had to hold down the power to hard reboot/shutdown
No, I've been running more than 20 machines from a P3 (that's a Pentium 3(III) to a i7 with Windows 7 many with the initial beta and have never once had any crash nor any freeze

Oh, it's not as fast as XP here
it's not as fast as Vista here
Well I've been comparing it to XP and Vista on most of these machines and while the 1st test has some issues here and there compared to XP and Vista - slower for this mark or that mark or every once in a while a boot --- the final is better in every way and by a LOT
About the only problem remains some items that just don't work above XP (older Canon printers/multifunctions) Microsofts own finger reader, other hardwares............ that's fine for many but if it ain't broke and I still have a use for it I get fairly annoyed when it's software prohibited. But alas --- with OSX almost all of them (printers, scanners, some external hdd/dvd/blueray, scanners, mice, monitors, yadda... yadda.......... DON'T WORK.

OSX should just DIE
it's almost worthlees
The only thing I'll give Apple is for many, many, many years it was much better with it's version of Photoshop and it's video editing.......... now though the Windows platform is better and by far in both those aspects and with for video - with cheaper software.

So..........................

in all aspects here listed Windows 7 is basically 5/5 - the upgrade price of $30 for OSX is a little misleading as the systems they run on cost 1.5 to 5 or 10 times more for the same hardware. Try it some time. Configure even an expensive Alienware with the exact same specs (say even brands and as much as can be models of HDD, Video Card, Memory, wifi card, etc.
you're going to be comparing a $1500 Win 7 to a $3000-$3500 mac

By IhamMhee on Wednesday Mar 10

Mikael - quit your job at apple

There has never been a macbook that approached even the most expensive custom PC Notebook manufacturer's pricing for a comparable unit. Spec for spec at every level of technology - you can't come close to low PC price with a mac
a $400 laptop is only matched by a $900 mac, a $600 laptop is only matched by a $1500 mac a $1500 laptop can't really be matched by mac but would cost around $3000 in attempt and a $2500 laptop would blow away a $8000 mac desktop... and that desktop wouldn't even have the display.

GET A LIFE AND GET A CLUE.
IF YOU ARE HAVING TROUBLE BUYING FROM YOU'RE LOCAL UK STORE - THEY CHECK THE INTERNET............. geeze.

By IhamMhee on Wednesday Mar 10

Don't buy MAC

Get a $600 i5 PC laptop Sure, it comes with Windows 7 but you can also DL PC-BSD _FOR FREE_ and have the best interface --- Compiz fusion, the most stable OS on the planet by far..... BSD which Apple bastardized into Darwin is not in Darwin - but in it's original iteration the most stable OS
meaning
You can practically run it forever without reboot, without memory corruption, without disk fragmentation....... with the best networking setup.

SO.......... why are people so incredibly stupid to be buying Apple and OSX

Good question I'm sure the fanboys and employees of apple will try to rebut.

And Apple is not more safe than windows....... it is in fact LESS SAFE. It's market share is just so incredibly small that there are a limited batch of intrusions/infections.

Its much easier to hack.

Now if I was a macfanboy I'd be asking Jobs why he took the world most stable, and impregnable OS and turned it into one of the worst (yes, windows 98, me, xp, vista less safe and stable but Windows 7 is more stable and if you use an good antivirus and malware protection it's as safe.

And only morons think the mac interface is better than Window 7, heck with three free programs it's not even better than vista.

Apple does counter intuitive - what's that - well how friggin hard should it be to navigate iTunes - it's worth using as it had the iTunes University but it's one of the worst navigable programs ever. How simple would it be for apple to just let you click back out one level from checking out something like a open course ware.......... not that would be simple and take 1/50th as long......... they couldn't do that because that's what Windows does............ oh yeah and it's also what BSD and Linux does.......... huh, so why is apple the only one that makes it much, much harder and slower to get something very simple done.

HELLO! I WANT TO NAVIGATE FORWARD AND BACKWARD ONE I WANT TO CLICK ONE THING - SAY MY BACK OR FORWARD ARROW BUILT INTO MY MOUSE THAT HAS TWO KEYS, A ROLL UP DOWN AND SIDE TO SIDE PLUS PUSH DOWN BUTTON AND TWO SIDE BACK AND FORWARD BUTTONS.......... not all of us want to use a slow piece of crap two button mouse.... or GASP! a one button........ WHAT THE HECK! <- substitute expletive.

By IhamMhee on Wednesday Mar 10

Desktops

And with all the notebook talk...
for desktops, get a i7-920, 8GB min ram, a medium to large solid state boot disk, 6 or so huge data drives, dual massive video cards, make sure your mb has usb3, a high fi audio card (sounblaster works nice) and for your monitor - a 55" Vizeo LED Backlit 240Hz TV and a 21-27" smaller LED w/ a high res and then buy the expensive Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit and you'll have a system that would obliterate a $30,000 Mac for $3500
Lets say you don't believe me - well you've still not bought the nice large though 25" less monitor and you can try installing a copy of Windows 7 Ultimate on the mac (cause this is alowed) and then cry when it's 1/2 the speed.
Then you can load up your OSX and cry when it's less than half the speed using the Apple's own itunes, using Photoshop, etc........ or opening many windows/tabs of apple safari - yes, compare the total possibly amount of safari instances you can open on your $30,000 apple running OSX then running Windows 7 - the windows 7 will be more..... then try your $3500 system running Windows 7 (remember $1800 of that $3500 was just for the 55" LED backlit TV) things apple-y And try not to cry how many more instances of safari you can open and just how much faster they all are. Hey, then try Firefox... more instances........ and faster then try Chrome and you're looking at 10-100 times more instances running much faster. Just remember to clear out your cached page history in Chrome..... (BAH)

Aww poor babys.
Then you can load up freeBSD or Ubuntu on the custom and use Firefox or Chrome and you'll be hard pressed to even find a limit to open instances
----and hey no cheating - we're talking fully opened page instances be them in many windows or many tabs on less windows.

By IhamMhee on Wednesday Mar 10

haha - as I'm responding I notice another article title

"Apple Snow Leopard patches a dozen security issues" And then reading the article about the 2010-001 patch and you can see while apple advertises their system is immune to all the exploits Windows PCs have - and may people responding here (probably employed by apple) --- APPLE is _Officially_ releasing a patch for exploits it's found for arbitrary code exploits.
What's that sound like - well it sounds remarkably like exactly the problems Apple doesn't have - only Windows has - it's Apples #1 selling point - why do I say that - because it's #1 priority in every advertisment.

HA
HA
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
stoopid rhabbits

By IhamMhee on Wednesday Mar 10