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Loading ...It seems that with Apple’s move to Intel processors, the gulf that has separated Mac and PC users for decades has finally closed, with the Mac now a compelling choice whether you want to run Mac OS X, or Windows – or both. PC World magazine recently declared the MacBook Pro the fastest laptop for running the new Windows Vista operating system.
“The fastest Windows Vista notebook we’ve tested this year – or for that matter, ever – is a Mac. Not a Dell, not a Toshiba, not even an Alienware,” the magazine says.
“The . . . MacBook Pro’s PC WorldBench 6 Beta 2 score of 88 beats Gateway’s E-265M by a single point, but the MacBook’s score is far more impressive simply because Apple couldn’t care less whether you run Windows.”
Apple seized on the endorsement with a new “Get a Mac” TV ad. In the ad, John Hodgman’s PC character phones the magazine to report a misprint: “How can a Mac run Vista faster than a PC? It goes against the laws of nature!” (See the ad at www.apple.com/getamac.)
Meanwhile, Australia’s own PC Authority magazine this month gives its 2007 labs awards for both desktop and notebook computers to the Mac.
“The legacy of last year’s software award winner, Boot Camp (which enables dual-booting between Mac OS X and Windows on Intel Macs), meant that we were able to fully test every new Mac computer this year, including the new iMac and MacBooks,” the magazine says.
“By winning three awards from five appearances, and with an overall score of 4.9 stars, Apple’s overall consistency and quality makes it a worthy winner this year.”
Apple also took out the magazine’s reader-nominated PC of the year award for the new brushed-aluminium iMac, and was runner-up among notebooks. However PC Authority cautions: “While Boot Camp is now officially supported by Apple, Windows is not, and PC Authority does not recommend buying a Mac to exclusively run Windows as a direct alternative to buying a PC.”
Nevertheless, many users are running Windows on their Macs without a hitch, and are finding the experience more enjoyable than that of a PC. The catch is, you have to “bring your own” copy of Windows. Apple doesn’t offer it preinstalled.
To get the best performance of Windows on a Mac, you’ll need to natively boot into it. Apple’s Boot Camp Assistant, one of the features of the new Mac OS X Leopard, will create a Windows disk partition, walk you through the installation, and burn a CD of drivers to install so Windows has full access to your keyboard, mouse, graphics card, iSight webcam, Bluetooth and wireless networking. You can then boot into Windows as required.
But if you only need to use the occasional Windows app, you’ll probably find rebooting too disruptive. A more convenient option is virtualisation, in which Windows runs in a window within Mac OS X. Companies like VMware and Parallels offer virtualisation solutions, which run Windows almost as fast as in native boot mode. Still, as PC World says, Apple doesn’t really care if you buy a Mac to run Windows – a sale is a sale. But every Windows user who buys a Mac is one more potential convert to Mac OS X, iLife and all the other unique Mac software.
GOOGLE has joined the likes of Facebook and Sky News in launching a home page optimised for viewing on the iPhone and iPod Touch. While Apple’s mobile devices surf the regular web just fine, the experience is even better when a website has been tailored to their 320×480-pixel screen size. Google now automatically detects when an iPhone or iPod Touch loads its home page, and redirects it to the optimised version.
Google also launched the Google Mac Developer Playground, where its Mac programmers can show off cutting-edge applications they’re developing and playing with. You’ll find it at code.google.com/mac.
Source: News.com
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