First impressions are, it is faster, but it’s not the huge gap I was expecting.  Apple have re-written the entire operating system to run natively in 64 bit.  Good news since Apple have been pushing 64bit Core 2 Duo processors out for a few years now.

I was teetering on the edge of swapping back to a dedicated Windows machine.  Those who read my last post would have seen me surprised to see how well Vista runs through Bootcamp.  Well, I decided to run a little test.

Photoshop CS3, 141 JPG images and an automated action with the following commands:

1. Auto levels
2. Auto colour
3. Resize to 50%
4. Save for Web
5. Close

So, Snow Leopard was first, and completed the test in 6:55.  Windows was booted up, and I opened the images.  I wish I had timed the opening of the 141 images, as Windows was considerably slower.  Once it finally opened, the action was run.  Windows completed in 7:45.

Both tests were run from a folder on the desktop, both from the same hard drive.

I think if the RAM was upgraded, the Mac would have steamed ahead thanks to it’s 64bit-ness.

So, for now, I’m back on the Mac side of the fence…

Previous readers will have read my opinion of Vista and Microsoft in general since I became a Mac user.

So, what happened?  Well, a friend sent me a link detailing the upcoming release of a new series of Monkey Island games.  To your average nerd, this is the best news since, well, the last Monkey Island game!  This presents a problem to the Mac user.  A productive, stable machine it is, but a games platform it isn’t.

So, Bootcamp was installed, and then Vista was dusted down and installed.  I am slightly concerned to say, that Vista appears to run quicker and more efficiently that Leopard.  I know that I need to install Anti-Virus etc, but I was expecting to install a great big turd of an operating system, as I remember it on my laptop, but it just doesn’t seem to be.  Maybe the service packs and general updates have improved it, but I am actually enjoying using it again.  Plus, I much prefer Photoshop and Dreamweaver on the PC.  They just seem to work nicer, however I’ve been using video capture recently, and also iDVD, and these run nicer on the mac than the PC…

It’s something I’ve always been against, but I’m finally about to make the move to Apple.

I’ve been comparing it to ‘getting old’ in the computer world.  Gone is my desire to play games on the PC, I just want a computer to do what I need it to, without any issues.  I think this has come about due to Windows Vista.  On XP, making a computer do what you wanted was easy.  It’s (comparatively) simple and streamlined.  You put hardware in, you download the latest drivers, and you play your games, or do whatever you need to do.  Vista just seems to complicate things, for no good reason.  All the programs you might have got used to don’t seem to work the same, and due to the way technology is going, it’s even more difficult to build a futureproof computer.  Also, I HATE, when you buy a new windows machine, and it has been customised for the manufacturer, and there’s rubbish software all over it.  Dell for instance, you buy a new work machine, and the first thing you need to do is uninstall more than half of the software that comes on it.

So, enough about Windows…

I’m looking at the higher specced of the 20inch iMacs.  I had a play with the 24inch the other day, and while it would be nice, I can’t really justify the extra money for a very similar spec machine but with a bigger screen.  I’m currently selling anything in the house that’s not been used in a couple of days to buy it.

I can’t wait!