29th Jan 10
Windows 7 vs. Snow Leopard: Which is Best?
by David Davies
So, Apple and Microsoft are still slugging it out, duelling tirelessly to come up with the best Operating System Ever. The latest offerings – Microsoft’s Windows 7, the successor to the troubled Vista, and Apple’s Snow Leopard – both have some sparkling new features. But how can you decide which is best?
Early reviews of the two systems last year tended to exaggerate both virtues and shortcomings in one or the other. To be frank, they’re both easy to use and well resourced in the applications department. So where are the important differences between the two to be found?
Windows 7 – now with improved shiny stuff.
The first thing to note is that the Snow Leopard user interface is vastly more polished and easy to use than Windows 7. The Windows Taskbar, for instance, still has too many glitches to give it a fulsome thumbs up. It hides notification icons by default and it scales clunkily as it fills. And if you set the Small Icons option in the Taskbar, each one shrinks only minimally but becomes much more difficult to see. The Apple Dock scales much more smoothly as it fills, neatly and proportionately reducing the size of icons as it collects them. And if you run your mouse over the icon, it enlarges (you have to select this option, though as it’s not a default setting – it should be). A small detail, perhaps, but one which actually makes a big difference: Snow Leopard, in this respect, is a lot kinder on the eyes. And if you press F8 on Snow Leopard, you’re immediately presented with a feature called Spaces, giving you a choice of four desktops to mess about with, which you can configure in 16 different ways.
Snow Leopard: all the desktop space you’ll ever need.
But Windows 7 bites back in other respects, and in ways which are simply missing in Snow Leopard. The taskbar sports neat little functions like programmable preview windows and overlays, and several different locations can be merged to appear as one with the Libraries feature. Jump Lists are really zippy – they let you access songs, pictures and favourite websites with zero effort, and you can stick items to it like you do on the side of the fridge with those little magnets. The clever Aero Peek function turns all the folders and open windows on your desktop translucent, so that you can instantly see everything you’re working on and get to the document or programme you want in the blink of an eye (or the click of a mouse).
The chief gripe with Windows, however, has never really been about its ingenuity and versatility, but whether it’s reliable. It’s got a bad habit of running infuriatingly slowly, or just impulsively going on strike and failing to function. Has Windows 7 managed to overcome these irksome, not to say enraging, anomalies?
Do you detect any bias in this screenshot?
The honest answer is that Windows has to be managed properly to work optimally. A skilled, IT-savvy businessman will get a great deal more out of the Windows OS than the average Joe, who has unwittingly clogged the system with all manner of malware (Windows is the primary target of the malware spreaders). Windows 7 is far less prone to those blood-vessel bursting pauses of its predecessors. And if you right-click on a taskbar icon, a list of files recently used by the related application instantly appears. Windows 7 also beats Snow Leopard vis-Ã -vis Wi-Fi connections: it just presents you automatically with the one with the strongest signal, whereas Snow Leopard just mechanically gives you the first one on its profile list. But overall, Windows 7 boots up far more quickly than its Vista predecessor, and it will connect to a Wi-Fi network without hesitation.
The disc space requirements of the two systems are also worth reflecting on. Apple suggests that with Snow Leopard, you’ll free up 7 GB of hard disk space. Microsoft doesn’t brag like this – but you’ll see on the box that it requires 16 GB of free disk space for 32-bit, and thumping 20 GB for 64-bit (Snow leopard requires a comparatively miniscule 5 GB).
On the media front, both systems boast significant new improvements. Apple’s QuickTime X represents a major overhaul of the media player; it supports HTTP live streaming and delivers much smoother playback by using hardware acceleration. Windows 7’s Media Player supports more formats than its predecessors, including H.264 video, and the Play To feature lets you send media to devices like Xbox 360. And the HomeGroup feature is fantastic for anyone who wants to transfer files at a blink between networked PCs.
Leopard: a big cat on a big diet.
Apple undoubtedly beats Microsoft on price – Snow Leopard will set you back just £25, whereas Windows 7 snaffles a massive £64.98 out of your wallet (and that’s at Amazon, one of the most reasonable prices available).
The bottom line is that, truthfully, it’s impossible to rank one operating system above the other, although Windows 7 is a spectacular improvement on the lamentable Vista. But that’s not really saying much. Vista was dreadful – tinned Ravioli would be an improvement on it. Snow Leopard is a little better than it’s predecessor, Leopard, but that’s because Leopard was okay in the first place.
The difficult issue is trying to deliver a killer blow. My own feeling is that if you’re a Mac devotee, no amount of positive information about Microsoft will persuade you to switch systems, and if you’re an established Windows user, Bill Gates would have to be found walking down Madison Avenue in a tutu singing ‘Onward Christian Soldiers’ before you’d suspend your judgement. And even then you’d be looking for explanations (maybe someone slipped him the wrong type of mushroom in his supper last night).
But both systems are improvements. Unless you’re planning on buying a new computer, stick with the system you’re used to – just upgrade the platform you’re already using.
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