i prefer windows 7 as well....but this still be a nice os but not enough to switch me over to apple completely... i use a mac at times.... but a windows pc i use a whole lot more.
I dunno, I'm dual booting both on a home built hackintosh.. Both have their pluses and minuses. I'd say for built in, company supported software, apple wins hands down. But, for overall usability and customization options (not to mention gaming) Windows takes the cake.
I enjoy using Mac OS X Snow Leopard mainly because as advertised things just work (even on a hackintosh.. mind you it took a lot to get it going). The software is really easy and attractive.
Going off on a bit of a tangent, what the hell is up with missing crap from windows 7? I can't even properly quick-fix my photos from windows image viewer anymore... I have to get live photo gallery or some crap? Why remove stuff?
It's a whole online eco-system that Microsoft is creating, Windows Live, such as tagging people in photos and everybody can see them and stuff. I'm sure it has has to do with the EU, as well all know they like to try and destroy Microsoft by making them remove components of the OS.
er..... really. What does this review have to do with Windows 7? Yes, they are competitors, but so what...
There is a fair and ample amount of coverage of Windows 7 on Engadget. Personally, I've ran Win7 RC on my PC for awhile, and I won't be giving Apple $30 to upgrade my Mac to Snow Leopard. But talking about Windows 7 is mere fodder for flame-bait; and irrelevant to the subject at hand.
I've been running Snow Leopard for about 2 months now. using my developer build. Overall i really like it but i will agree for the geek Windows 7 is almost on the same level as OSX. I lean to OSX for things like Adium, Growl, aperture etc.. Mostly software. Games though... thats what Windows 7 is for and well yeah... Visual Studio lol.
@Temple: How is talking about Windows 7 irrelevant? A new product comes out and people automatically compare it to what it's competing against. Do you expect people in a post about the Zune HD to say nothing about iPods? A X360 post to have nothing about the PS3? Do you not understand anything about personal opinions?
It's 'irrelevant' because Windows vs Mac 'personal opinions' have never amounted to any level of intellectual conversation and always degrade to fanboi stupidity. Using your example. How often are Xbox vs Playstation fanboy conversations worth reading, or iPod vs Zune conversations? Never.
Why can't we talk about the product or review at hand for once without obvious stealth trolling. And this goes for both sides.
So basically we get the same UNIX security (I hate UAC) with a zippier, more optimized graphics and codecs (it actually comes with a DVD codec out of the box, no thirdparty powerDVD or cyberlink crap crashing which is nice). Still has a universal spell checker in application windows from Safari to Mail, just faster. I like TimeMachine, it sure beats Microsoft's now dead OneCare.
Thats nice.
At $30, you can't even buy the extra crap needed to get other UNoperating systems to actually operate day-to-day with simple out of the box features humming along in 64bit mode, less you go Linux, but then again where's the support. I'll have to compare with Ubuntu's latest offerings. But $30 bucks!? Antivirus or (you can only pick one) EZ backup software addons aren't even that cheap.
yeah, it has a lot to do with the EU. it's not a big deal though, i think they're all included in a Live Apps package that gets picked up by Windows Update.
I also prefer Windows 7, though I've already preordered Snow Leopard.
Once Windows 7 is released, I'll have a full retail copy of Windows 7 running under boot camp with Snow Leopard running as the normal OS on my Unibody MacBook Pro. It'll be nice to have both.
i agree i love windows 7 the one thing i wish windows had tht mac did was tht dock with all your applications on it tht seems very handy and more ideal than cluttering the desktop with icons. just my 2 cents tho....
you know... you can delete those icons on your desktop. and if you've ever bothered to look a pic of Win7, you will see that you can load up the new taskbar with a larger version of all your program icons (just icons, no text), it's pretty similar to how OSX does it. of course you can turn that off and use the taskbar the old way too.
It does look nice, however I to prefer Windows 7 which is what will be getting installed on my Macbook as its primary OS. That doesn't mean OS X is bad - far from it - just that after using it for about six months it's really no better than Windows and less familiar.
LOL, you have a MBP, but your going to forego the Optimized OS and Optimized Drivers for your hardware: read OpenGL drivers 'that just work' for Microsoft/thirdparty drivers.
Its pretty sad if Bootcamp driver's do a better job then the native OS drivers. But thats Windows, 'its open'. LOL
Windows Vista and 7 both come with DVD codecs out of the box. I haven't used a third party DVD player software in years. If you choose to get Windows Live Mail, that come with spell checker as well as IE 8 and pretty much any other browser. Windows 7 Home Premium will also have Shadow Copy and it's own back up system software. So all the features are there. The one thing I would say is restoring files is not as easy with Shadow Copy than Time Machine simply because it isn't as easy to get to. However, once you know what to do it is pretty easy.
Exactly what 'optimised drivers' are required for a Foxconn (or is it ASUS?) board, a standard Core 2 Duo, DDR3 RAM and an nVidia 9400M? You know, the same components you get in most high end notebooks?
Oh and it's a late 2008 unibody Macbook, not an MBP, plus, since we're being pedantic - and as you're the guy who always bitches about the lack of a spell checker in Windows I think we should be - it's "you're going" not "your going". Shame your platform doesn't have a grammar cheker, isn't it?
Agree. I have pretty much the same stance, except I prefer this to Windows 7, but I still admit that Windows 7 is a great operating system, and that Macs aren't the best computers ever.
I don't know why all the windows lovers are saying "lol 29 dollar for a upgrade release". I mean if you've used Windows 7 and Windows Vista its the SAME THING. Windows 7 is not a new OS, it is a service pack for Vista (the real Vista SP2). It is no more different from Vista SP1 then XP SP2 was from XP SP1. It is slightly less bloated, more stable and has a few visual changes but overall Windows 7 is the same OS as Vista (the control panel is the same, the underlying kernal is the same, the drivers are the same ect ect ect.)
This means for Vista Ultimate (the full featured MS OS which is the only one comparable with the full featured Mac OS which everyone gets) you have to pay over 200 dollars to upgrade. You HAVE to pay the 200 and not just the home premium deal price because you can only do like to like upgrades. Ultimate to Ultimate is the only choice.
In effect then, for a similar minor upgrade (with slightly more cosmetic changes and less bloat reduction) Microsoft is charging almost 10 times as much depending on where you buy. Apple is admitting it isn't a huge upgrade because most everyone who used 10.5 liked it, Microsoft is pretending Windows 7 is a whole new beast, because very few liked Vista and they need to rebrand. In reality Windows 7 and 10.6 are similar incremental changes, its just Windows 7 costs a LOT more (and still is a worse OS after the changes, especially efficiency wise).
"I mean if you've used Windows 7 and Windows Vista its the SAME THING. Windows 7 is not a new OS, it is a service pack for Vista (the real Vista SP2)."
Except it isn't.
"This means for Vista Ultimate (the full featured MS OS which is the only one comparable with the full featured Mac OS which everyone gets)"
In what way? OS X is a consumer grade OS. Home Premium would be the equivalent.
I have used the PC for years and finally bought a macbook pro. I find the mac has more useful features than windows and yes that includes windows 7. You just have to dig a bit deeper to find what you are really looking for in OS X. Of course there are somethings that windows does better. In the end though, if you spend the time to really understand the OS X I'm sure you will find it has many more useful tools than the PC has for productivity and workflow. There will always be something one OS does better than the other, just has to be up the the individual to decide which works best, but don't sell OS X short because it is unfamiliar.
" the underlying kernal is the same," kernel. Also, it's not the same. Do some research before you make claims like that. : )
"(and still is a worse OS after the changes, especially efficiency wise)." Wrong again! Windows 7 made great strides in efficiency over Vista, especially while retaining and adding more features. Why do you think it's the next netbook OS instead of Vista?
You know, It's almost as if you think you've used Windows 7 but instead started using Vista SP0. Are you sure we're talking about the same OS here?
The Galaxy Tab 10.1, much like its Limited Edition sibling that we reviewed last month, is ever-so-slightly thinner than the iPad 2, a slate that most sane individuals (and competitors, for that matter) would confess is the market leader today.
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Nice OS! I prefer Windows 7, but good OS none the less.
You are a rare individual indeed, we need more like you on Engadget. +1
I prefer Windows 7 too.
Well heres #2, hey, maybe we could start a cult :-P
i prefer windows 7 as well....but this still be a nice os but not enough to switch me over to apple completely... i use a mac at times.... but a windows pc i use a whole lot more.
I dunno, I'm dual booting both on a home built hackintosh.. Both have their pluses and minuses. I'd say for built in, company supported software, apple wins hands down. But, for overall usability and customization options (not to mention gaming) Windows takes the cake.
I enjoy using Mac OS X Snow Leopard mainly because as advertised things just work (even on a hackintosh.. mind you it took a lot to get it going). The software is really easy and attractive.
Going off on a bit of a tangent, what the hell is up with missing crap from windows 7? I can't even properly quick-fix my photos from windows image viewer anymore... I have to get live photo gallery or some crap? Why remove stuff?
@ ZZMitch
I was actually about to say the same thing. It's a great operating system....but it's still just not for me. Maybe. :P
@Andrei:
It's a whole online eco-system that Microsoft is creating, Windows Live, such as tagging people in photos and everybody can see them and stuff. I'm sure it has has to do with the EU, as well all know they like to try and destroy Microsoft by making them remove components of the OS.
er..... really. What does this review have to do with Windows 7? Yes, they are competitors, but so what...
There is a fair and ample amount of coverage of Windows 7 on Engadget. Personally, I've ran Win7 RC on my PC for awhile, and I won't be giving Apple $30 to upgrade my Mac to Snow Leopard. But talking about Windows 7 is mere fodder for flame-bait; and irrelevant to the subject at hand.
I've been running Snow Leopard for about 2 months now. using my developer build. Overall i really like it but i will agree for the geek Windows 7 is almost on the same level as OSX. I lean to OSX for things like Adium, Growl, aperture etc.. Mostly software. Games though... thats what Windows 7 is for and well yeah... Visual Studio lol.
@Temple:
How is talking about Windows 7 irrelevant? A new product comes out and people automatically compare it to what it's competing against. Do you expect people in a post about the Zune HD to say nothing about iPods? A X360 post to have nothing about the PS3? Do you not understand anything about personal opinions?
I love Win7 too, but I'd still like to try it out on a hackintosh partition. I already got 10.5.8 there :P why not 10.6
@cmsb55
It's 'irrelevant' because Windows vs Mac 'personal opinions' have never amounted to any level of intellectual conversation and always degrade to fanboi stupidity. Using your example. How often are Xbox vs Playstation fanboy conversations worth reading, or iPod vs Zune conversations? Never.
Why can't we talk about the product or review at hand for once without obvious stealth trolling. And this goes for both sides.
I really like the cover-flow preview feature in Finder. I wish MS would fix up their Explorer preview feature =(.
So let's say Win7 and 10.6 are equal. How much sway will a $29 price tag have?
$29 for a tiny upgrade...?
What the hell?
I like Win7RC but I missed the $50 upgrade window. I'm not paying full price for new OS. I may have to go back to my WinXP :(
So basically we get the same UNIX security (I hate UAC) with a zippier, more optimized graphics and codecs (it actually comes with a DVD codec out of the box, no thirdparty powerDVD or cyberlink crap crashing which is nice). Still has a universal spell checker in application windows from Safari to Mail, just faster. I like TimeMachine, it sure beats Microsoft's now dead OneCare.
Thats nice.
At $30, you can't even buy the extra crap needed to get other UNoperating systems to actually operate day-to-day with simple out of the box features humming along in 64bit mode, less you go Linux, but then again where's the support. I'll have to compare with Ubuntu's latest offerings. But $30 bucks!? Antivirus or (you can only pick one) EZ backup software addons aren't even that cheap.
Sounds nice over all.
@andrei & jordan
yeah, it has a lot to do with the EU. it's not a big deal though, i think they're all included in a Live Apps package that gets picked up by Windows Update.
I also prefer Windows 7, though I've already preordered Snow Leopard.
Once Windows 7 is released, I'll have a full retail copy of Windows 7 running under boot camp with Snow Leopard running as the normal OS on my Unibody MacBook Pro. It'll be nice to have both.
i agree i love windows 7 the one thing i wish windows had tht mac did was tht dock with all your applications on it tht seems very handy and more ideal than cluttering the desktop with icons. just my 2 cents tho....
You'll never get me using a Mac as my main OS, but I'll say this, this looks a fine bit of kit.
@win ftw?????
you know... you can delete those icons on your desktop. and if you've ever bothered to look a pic of Win7, you will see that you can load up the new taskbar with a larger version of all your program icons (just icons, no text), it's pretty similar to how OSX does it. of course you can turn that off and use the taskbar the old way too.
It does look nice, however I to prefer Windows 7 which is what will be getting installed on my Macbook as its primary OS. That doesn't mean OS X is bad - far from it - just that after using it for about six months it's really no better than Windows and less familiar.
Hey, it's me, not OS X.
@Mark Anderson
LOL, you have a MBP, but your going to forego the Optimized OS and Optimized Drivers for your hardware: read OpenGL drivers 'that just work' for Microsoft/thirdparty drivers.
Its pretty sad if Bootcamp driver's do a better job then the native OS drivers. But thats Windows, 'its open'. LOL
@ Steveorevo
Windows Vista and 7 both come with DVD codecs out of the box. I haven't used a third party DVD player software in years. If you choose to get Windows Live Mail, that come with spell checker as well as IE 8 and pretty much any other browser. Windows 7 Home Premium will also have Shadow Copy and it's own back up system software. So all the features are there. The one thing I would say is restoring files is not as easy with Shadow Copy than Time Machine simply because it isn't as easy to get to. However, once you know what to do it is pretty easy.
@Steve
Actually I'm going to forgo the 'optimised drivers' in favour 'applications I use that run better or indeed at all' under Windows.
Oh and, Steve, while we're at it...
Exactly what 'optimised drivers' are required for a Foxconn (or is it ASUS?) board, a standard Core 2 Duo, DDR3 RAM and an nVidia 9400M? You know, the same components you get in most high end notebooks?
Oh and it's a late 2008 unibody Macbook, not an MBP, plus, since we're being pedantic - and as you're the guy who always bitches about the lack of a spell checker in Windows I think we should be - it's "you're going" not "your going". Shame your platform doesn't have a grammar cheker, isn't it?
@Mark Anderson
If OS X is not as good as Windows then why buy a Macbook in the first place when you could buy a PC. You always keep saying how Mac are expensive.
@adrian
Because the hardware and build quality is excellent. The OS, from my perspective, is not.
Apple won't care - they make their money from hardware sales.
"If you choose to get Windows Live Mail, that come with spell checker as well as IE 8 and pretty much any other browser."
Hah, that just mildly ironic.
@ Mark Anderson
Fair Enough. It's whatever you're happy with at the end of the day.
Agree. I have pretty much the same stance, except I prefer this to Windows 7, but I still admit that Windows 7 is a great operating system, and that Macs aren't the best computers ever.
I don't know why all the windows lovers are saying "lol 29 dollar for a upgrade release". I mean if you've used Windows 7 and Windows Vista its the SAME THING. Windows 7 is not a new OS, it is a service pack for Vista (the real Vista SP2). It is no more different from Vista SP1 then XP SP2 was from XP SP1. It is slightly less bloated, more stable and has a few visual changes but overall Windows 7 is the same OS as Vista (the control panel is the same, the underlying kernal is the same, the drivers are the same ect ect ect.)
This means for Vista Ultimate (the full featured MS OS which is the only one comparable with the full featured Mac OS which everyone gets) you have to pay over 200 dollars to upgrade. You HAVE to pay the 200 and not just the home premium deal price because you can only do like to like upgrades. Ultimate to Ultimate is the only choice.
In effect then, for a similar minor upgrade (with slightly more cosmetic changes and less bloat reduction) Microsoft is charging almost 10 times as much depending on where you buy. Apple is admitting it isn't a huge upgrade because most everyone who used 10.5 liked it, Microsoft is pretending Windows 7 is a whole new beast, because very few liked Vista and they need to rebrand. In reality Windows 7 and 10.6 are similar incremental changes, its just Windows 7 costs a LOT more (and still is a worse OS after the changes, especially efficiency wise).
"I mean if you've used Windows 7 and Windows Vista its the SAME THING. Windows 7 is not a new OS, it is a service pack for Vista (the real Vista SP2)."
Except it isn't.
"This means for Vista Ultimate (the full featured MS OS which is the only one comparable with the full featured Mac OS which everyone gets)"
In what way? OS X is a consumer grade OS. Home Premium would be the equivalent.
I love my macbook pro but ever since I installed windows XP via bootcamp, I find myself rarely using osx...I don't know why
I have used the PC for years and finally bought a macbook pro. I find the mac has more useful features than windows and yes that includes windows 7. You just have to dig a bit deeper to find what you are really looking for in OS X. Of course there are somethings that windows does better. In the end though, if you spend the time to really understand the OS X I'm sure you will find it has many more useful tools than the PC has for productivity and workflow. There will always be something one OS does better than the other, just has to be up the the individual to decide which works best, but don't sell OS X short because it is unfamiliar.
windows 7 +1
Impulsivity @ Aug 28th 2009 7:40PM
" the underlying kernal is the same,"
kernel.
Also, it's not the same. Do some research before you make claims like that. : )
"(and still is a worse OS after the changes, especially efficiency wise)."
Wrong again! Windows 7 made great strides in efficiency over Vista, especially while retaining and adding more features. Why do you think it's the next netbook OS instead of Vista?
You know, It's almost as if you think you've used Windows 7 but instead started using Vista SP0. Are you sure we're talking about the same OS here?