Applications :: Is Windows 7 Faster Than Snow Leopard?
Jul 9, 2010
I was just wondering what you guys think about this. I have both installed on my i5 Macbook Pro, and it seems that my Windows 7 installation is much snappier, especially in terms of playing video, opening and closing apps, etc, than my Snow Leopard installation is. (I installed the latest NVidia video drivers from laptop2go.) Games of course are much faster - Civ 4 is faster on Windows, but videos seem more vibrant as well.
Is it just me or have other people also noticed this?
I have a unibody Macbook Pro and I installed windows 7 64bit with bootcamp and one thing that i noticed is that windows 7 puts my macbook to sleep when I close the lid about 10 seconds faster than Snow Leopard does. Snow Leopard takes about 10 to 15 seconds to put it to sleep and Windows take 2 to 5 seconds. Is this normal? It'd be funny if windows can do things faster than mac can with apple hardware.
Okay I know this is about Windows, but I think I'll post it under the Mac OS X forum as the trouble I have is that I think my Leopard side of things is slower than my Windows side.
I recently had XP installed via Boot Camp on my MBP, and it seems to me that XP just does things pretty quickly. Firefox and MSN messenger launches very quickly and are very snappy. It also takes little to no time for XP to be responsive as it enters the desktop.
On the other hand, it takes quite a bit of time for Leopard to be usable as the desktop loads. The dock comes up, the toolbar takes a while to load, and the Airport, Volume, Date/Time etc icons take some more time to completely load. Then, when I launch OS X's equivalent of IM and browser apps (Adium and Firefox), they take some time to open, especially Firefox which can bounce for more than 8 times before launching.
I'm just wondering if XP is just snappier because it is more lightweight than Leopard? Or is it an anomaly and there are ways for me to speed up Leopard? Of course, I think that the fact that my Leopard partition dates back to about 3 years ago compared to a relatively fresh install of Windows will affect things, but the speed difference is very significant.
Also, OS X is set to the wrong time when I return to it from Windows, and it takes a good minute before it automatically adjusts itself, while Windows is always the right time. My Apple Wireless Keyboard is also usable from the get go in Windows, while it takes very long for OS X to start to use it.
Last night I installed the new Snow Leopard hoping to see an improvement in some of the programs I use (Photoshop, LR, Flash, AE etc�) but I don�t think any of these programs other than Safari, Finder and all those built-in applications in OSX benefited from this new 64-bit code, at least I haven�t seen any improvements in fact I went and checked the Activity Monitor and I don�t see the 64-bit in any of these programs.
Was this supposed to benefit all programs speed wise or the program itself should be 64-bit compatible?
As you may already know I hear a big "who ha" about snow leopard. How would I interpret the improvements coming. Would my computer be twice as fast? Or unnoticeable, like my mac would act like a 2.6mhz vs the 2.5 I experience now?
Parallels is expected to announce as early as Thursday the sixth major upgrade to its Windows virtualization software for Mac OS X, delivering a significant performance boost over its predecessor, as well as 80 other new features.
The new Parallels Desktop 6 for Mac has been shown on average to run 40 percent faster than last year's edition, according to people familiar with the matter. Those same people said that the upgrade -- expected to retail for the same $79.99 price as its predecessor -- will also feature Windows boot times that are roughly two times faster than version 3.1 of its primary competitor: VMWare Fusion.
VMware and Parallels have gone head to head in the virtualization market since 2008, when the Fusion product was first introduced. Parallels has existed since 2006, and both products retail for an identical prices. In a recent study, Parallels 5 was already found to be 30 percent faster on average than VMware Fusion 3.
Parallels 6 is also expected to showcase tighter integration with its users' natural environment, adopting support for the Mac OS X's keyboard shortcuts, Spotlight search engine, and Expose windows management features. Similarly, the upgrade will offer the option to automatically apply a Mac's parental controls to their corresponding Windows applications, according to those familiar with the product.
Another major focus for Parallels is said to be gaming. Version 6.0 will reportedly deliver up to two-fold performance improvements while adding support for Dolby 5.1 surround sound and better handling of 3G environments.
Parallels 6 will sport compatibility with an enhanced Parallels Mobile application that will offer users the option of remotely accessing their virtual machines on an iPad, as well as an iPhone or iPod touch.
Parallels Transporter, previously a standalone application that allowed users to migrate a virtual PC image to the Mac, will come built into the new release as well.
Earlier this week, Parallels Desktop 6 was spotted on the shelves of a Fry's Electronics store in California. The product has not yet been formally announced.[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]
Before some days I noticed that Snow Leopard installed its update 10.6.4.
Well no big problem but I have a sense that the time remaining without using AC adapter has slightly fell. Before, using only firefox for example I could see about 6 hours remaining (some minutes after powering on my mac). Now it hardly shows about 4+.
I remember a rumor from a while ago that Snow Leopard will run up to twice the speed of Leopard, and some older Macs that couldn't run Leopard will now be able to run Snow Leopard.
I have been experimenting with many bittorrent clients for mac (utorrent, vuze, transmision, tomatotorrent) and they are all consistently slower to download a file that the original Bittorrent client for Windows. I compared them downloading the same file at the same time (the windows client running under parallels), and always the windows client beats the hell of the others. Is there a mac client comparably fast to the windows one?
Every time Parallels 5 adds/removes Windows application folders from the Dock, my JAR files that are docked also get removed. This is obviously a bug, but I'm not sure which is to blame.
I've noticed the Battery on my 13" MBP drains much faster when using Windows in VMfusion, makes sense running two OS's.
Question:
If I installed Windows via Bootcamp instead of VM would my battery last 'much' longer? I'm only running one OS so it should.
What's the best way to run Windows so I can get the most from the battery, is there any way to get the battery to last as long in Windows as it does in Mac ...
Running OS X goes an incredibly long time compared to Windows.
I have just installed Windows 7 via bootcamp and everything went smoothly, the only problem is that i have lost my DVD of snow leopard and want to install the 3.2 drivers on windows 7, however it is to my understanding that i need to install 3.0 from the DVD first. Is there any way around this without ordering another copy of snow leopard? ?25 might not seem a lot but on a student budget i would rather not shell out.
I'm new to using Windows on a Mac but need to do it now for some video rendering applications that have transcoding, filtering, effects (like VirtualDub) that are only available on a PC.
I have a 17"MBP (3 months old), 2.8Ghz Duo, 4Gb RAM. I recently upgraded to Snow Leopard, was excited about 64-bit though I'm not an expert, I just heard it would be faster.
I didn't realize SL doesn't boot 64-bit anyhow, that you need to hold "6" & "4" at startup to get it to boot in 64bit mode. This surprised me because I figure many people assumed SL was 64bit! Just getting it to boot properly was a hassle. The 6 & 4 trick didn't work for me.
I had to edit the preference file which wouldn't save at first either because of permissions (I had to drag it to my desktop, edit it, save it, then drag it back to the folder and enter in my administrator password).
Only then did I realize my brand new eSATA Express Card didn't work in 64-bit mode. Upsetting because I just bought the hot new Sonnet Tempo card for $200 that claims to work with Snow Leopard. So until it works I'll be running 32bit mode on my Mac.
But if I want to run Windows 7, does this mean I can only run the 32bit version?
I want to know if you guys have a really slow windows 7 and/or Snow Leopard boot up time?I get a nasty white screen before the main selector kicks in.I'm using a mac mini late 2009.
I'm currently using a MBP 13 inch and am running Leopard on it.
I just bought a copy of snow leopard today but i don't know if I should do a direct upgrade from leopard to snow leopard, or wipe my MBP and do a fresh install so i have snow leopard on a clean slate.
Have any of you tried the second option before? Or do any of you have advice on which path I should take?
My father owns one of the original G5s, so its power pc not intel. Today while browsing an excel spreadsheet he says part of the screen turned black, then the monitor shut off, then the monitor came back on but not video. Mean while the fans started spinning out of control. Now when he tries to turn it on, he gets power, but all that happens is the fans spinning faster and faster and faster until he turns it off. No video or anything. Just speeding fans. He fears the CPUs died since they control the fans. Any suggestions? He also says the fans were spinning unusually fast these last few days.
So i have just installed Microsoft Flight Simulator X on the bootcamp partition on the very latest white macbook before the uni-body ones were released and i am amazed!
The games works far better than on any genuine desktop or laptop PC i have ever played it on. The graphics are smoother with better FPS and the game is generally a lot faster and generally better. My mac just keeps impressing me!
I was just wondering if anybody else on here is a Flight Simulator X fan and if you're playing it on a mac? If you are, let me know!
As the previous segment detailed, Windows 7 and Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard aren't competing directly; instead, each is part of competitive strategy to either grow the Mac user base at Microsoft's expense, as Apple has been doing, or in Microsoft's case, to stop the hemorrhaging market share losses and reclaim leadership of desktop operating system development. How big is Windows 7? Microsoft's goal with Windows 7 is to lift Vista's derailed train and put it back on the tracks. Windows 7 itself is internally called Windows 6.1, essentially Vista Service Pack 2 (Microsoft is also preparing a scaled down Vista SP2 for delivery shortly before Windows 7 is released). Microsoft's executives have made no secret of the fact that Windows 7 is an incremental improvement to Windows Vista, with CEO Steve Ballmer calling it "Windows Vista, a lot better," and saying, "Windows 7 is Windows Vista with cleanup in user interface [and] improvements in performance." Mike Nash, Microsoft's vice president of Windows product management, called Windows 7 "evolutionary" but also a "significant" improvement upon Vista. The company has oscillated between describing it as either a major or minor release, depending on who the intended audience was. In October, Computerworld wrote that at the release of Vista, the company's roadmap suggested a series of alternating releases between major new operating system developments (like Vista) every four years, and minor updates in between.
I was one of the ("new converts") XP people who got Macs for the first time because of some very fabulous advertizing and Apple's image as a company with superior products. But after 1 year of using a Mac, I have come to believe that a computer is a computer is a computer.
Latest OS whether it is windows or OSX, would always have learnt something from its predecessors and competitors and in some extent would be better. Some new OS represent a big step forward (windows XP or leopard), others a small step (vista or snow leopard). Microsoft suffered because they took a small step forward with XP when Apple took a big step with leopard and now it is Apple's turn to suffer when Microsoft takes a big step with Seven vs. Apple's small step forward with SL.
I went for a better product switching to Mac at that time when time comes around for my next computer; it won't be a Mac just because I am a Mac user. It will be whichever is a better product at that time in both features and value. Whether it is a PC or a Mac, because a computer is a computer is a computer.
I copied my disc onto my hard drive when I first installed OS X [made a 10GB partition in DiskUtility] incase I needed the disc and wasn't at home.
Well, I don't have my disc, and won't have access to it for another week. I'm trying to set up a triple boot with OSX, Ubuntu, and W7. Can I load the Snow Leopard install DVD from that partition in my hard drive, while running Windows 7?
I bought my Mac a few weeks ago, and now I have successfully installed Windows XP with Bootcamp. But what my question is, if it is possible to run both operating systems simultaneously without having to shut down computer and hold down alt to choose. For example, I want to be able to just press a key when I am in Snow Leopard, and it should take me to XP.
And of course from XP to Snow Leopard, while I still run programs on the computer. Is this possible?
is there a way I can have both OS's running at the same time, with Snow Leopard on the left monitor and Windows 7 on the right monitor, all running out from one computer rig (Mac Pro)?I've heard of ppl using Synergy to run dual monitors with dual computers and sharing one keyboard and mouse. I want to do the same EXCEPT run it all out of 1 computer.
Windows 7 is stable if you aren't running it on shoddy hardware. OSX has just as much a chance to lock up if those are the circumstances.
I've never had Vista x64 nor Windowx 7 x64 lock up even once on my desktop because of a Microsoft-related issue. The only issues I've run into, which were resolved fairly quickly, involved nvidia's driver support.
