Popular Mechanics has something to say about the Mac hardware platform and Windows Vista:
“You guys are made for each other, you should totally be BFF.”
Or something like that. The definitive guide to mechanics and technology has announced that in its benchmarking showdown the Intel-based Macintosh is likely better suited to run Windows Vista than most PCs being sold with the OS already installed. So for those Mac users who are all about dual booting MacOS and Windows Vista? You’re on to something there. Vista on the Mac performed better than several comparably priced and configured retail PCs doing everyday tasks like browsing the web, editing and opening documents, and playing music and movies.
While there were some differences, the Gateway desktop and Asus notebook were evenly matched with their Mac counterparts — an iMac and MacBook, respectively.
“In both the laptop and desktop showdowns, Apple’s computers were the winners,” the magazine said.
Surprisingly to the magazine, Apple’s user interface for its OS X Leopard didn’t outshine Vista among the testers, who liked the look and feel of both operating systems, but showed a slight preference toward OS X. The real differences were in the speed trials, where Leopard “trounced” Vista in important tasks such as boot-up, shutdown and program-launch times.
“We even tested Vista on the Macs using Apple’s platform-switching Boot Camp software — and found that both Apple computers ran Vista faster than our PCs did,” the magazine said. “Simply put, Vista proved to be a more sluggish operating system than Leopard.”
Another surprise was the price of the systems. While the Apple Mac is often seen as more expensive than the PC, Popular Mechanics found that the Asus M51sr cost the same as the MacBook, and the Gateway One cost $300 more than an iMac.
“That means for the price of the Gateway you could buy an iMac, boost its hard drive to match the Gateway’s, purchase a copy of Vista to boot — and still save $100,” the magazine said.
Ouch! That’s going to put a sock in a lot of Apple criticism. Most likely the “OMG MACS R EXPENSIV” argument, and the “WTF APPLE OS IZ TEH SLOW” argument. I’m sure there’ll be plenty of people with their panties in a bunch over it though and running their own tests; which is only a good thing – more evidence can never be bad.
In the end though, the Mac v. PC battle will rage on in the seedy underbelly of Internet flamewars, but it’s nice to know that someone serious has done some real side-by-side testing, and the old arguments used against Apple just don’t stand up anymore. Now if you want to tackle Apple on the topic of closed architectures and such, now we have a real discussion topic.
[ Information Week: Macs Run Vista Better than PCs, Popular Mechanics Says So ]