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Mac vs. PC: The Ultimate Lab Test for New Desktops & Laptops
This computer rivalry has been elevated to a cultural divide on par with Pepsi versus Coke. Taking it beyond personal taste, PM crunches the numbers—with some surprising results (and detailed benchmark scores).

We all know the stereotypes. Apple’s popular commercials have painted the picture in stark terms: There are two types of people, Mac people and PC people. And if the marketing is to be believed, the former is a hip, sport-coat-and-sneakers-­wearing type of guy who uses his computer for video chatting, music mash-ups and other cool, creative pursuits that starchy, business-suited PC users could never really appreciate unless they tried them on the slick Apple interface. Then again, Windows PC enthusiasts probably think that Mac guy is a smug slacker with an overpriced toy that can’t do any serious computing anyway. Funny thing is, both stereotypes are wrong. With a 7.5 percent market share, Macs are no longer just the computer choice of artists and unemployed writers. (Apple is, in fact, the fourth largest computer manufacturer in the world.) And now, more than ever, the guts of both platforms are remarkably similar. Both types of machines use Intel proc­essors (although some PCs can be configured with processors from AMD). Both buy memory, hard drives and graphics cards from the same small pool of suppliers. The underlying operating systems have distinctly different flavors, but in terms of functionality, Microsoft Windows Vista and Mac OS X Leopard have surprisingly similar built-in multimedia, Internet and productivity applications.

Yet what makes the platforms feel so dissimilar is their approaches to these applications. Internet Explorer versus ­Safari, Windows Media Center versus Front Row, Photo Gallery versus iPhoto, Backup and Restore Center versus Time Machine—these system components from Microsoft and Apple are designed to accomplish essentially the same goals. To users, however, the position and movement of the virtual knobs and levers make all the difference.

These things are largely matters of preference and style, but you can still make a reasonable attempt to quantify them, and we did. We tested two all-in-one desktops and two laptops—one Mac and one PC per category—and assembled a panel of testers with a range of experience and preference that ran the gamut from expert users to my wife’s stepfather, who, by his own account, had never actually turned on a computer. Our testers were asked to set up the computers right out of the box and explore the machines through everyday tasks such as Web surfing, document creation, uploading photos, downloading Adobe Acrobat files and playing music and movies through Media Center and Front Row (the entertainment software suites integrated into Vista and Leopard, respectively). Our testers were instructed to divorce themselves as much as possible from their previous technological preferences and rate their experiences with each computer’s software and hardware.

Usability surveys are like taste tests—a useful look at the subjective appeal of a device. (Is it fun? Is it easy? Would I be happy to live with this thing?) But beneath their packaging, computers are data-crunching machines that can be run like racehorses. So the second component of our test regimen was about pure performance.

Our computers were closely matched, but in the interest of full disclosure, we’ll spit out the caveats: The Gateway One PC had a processor that runs 400 MHz slower than its iMac competitor (not a heck of a difference in this age of dual-core chips), but it also had two extra gigabytes of DDR2 memory. In the laptop category, our Asus M51 had a 2.2 GHz processor, compared to 2.4 GHz for our MacBook. But the Asus had a larger screen, a more sophisticated graphics card and an extra gig of RAM.

All that extra RAM may seem to give an advantage to the PCs. Vista, however, is a noted memory hog, so throwing more RAM into PC computers is probably less of a perform­ance booster for manufacturers than it is a new baseline hardware specification.

Before we pulled out our stopwatches, we turned to two industry-standard, cross-platform benchmarking tools—Geekbench from Primate Labs and Cinebench from Maxon—to get third-party results. We ran both benchmarking programs on our Mac and PC desktop and laptop computers before our testers got their dirty little hands on the equipment to ensure that no confounding software could poison the results.

These benchmarks are reliable indicators of performance, but the numbers feel somewhat meaningless to ordinary users. Which is why we created our own suite of tests to meas­ure the speed of everyday tasks. We logged boot-up and shutdown times, and launch times for the Internet browser and media player built into each operating system, as well as for common applications such as Microsoft Word and Adobe Photoshop. We tested how long it took for each computer to rip a CD and install a few big software suites. The laptops were forced to play the longest movie we could find (Saving Private Ryan—2 hours, 49 minutes) until they wheezed, sputtered and shut down. Finally, we put all four computers through a stress test. We ran three video sources (a YouTube clip, a DVD and an .avi file), DivX encoding, instant messaging, Word, Adobe Acrobat and a spyware scan simultaneously—then retimed our launch of Photoshop.

The results gave us a clear winner in the performance categories, but the big surprise was how little difference we found in user preferences. Turns out, both platforms are capable and easy to use, but only one was the victor.

iMac | $1499























































iMac

SPECS


Hardware
20-in. screen, 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 1 GB DDR2 RAM, 320 GB hard drive, built-in Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, 8x CD/DVD burner, remote control, ATI Radeon HD 2600 graphics card.

Software
OS X Leopard, iLife \'08 (iTunes, iPhoto, GarageBand, etc.), Front Row, iWork (30-day trial).

USER RATING


Design
TKTKTK

Ergonomics
TKTKTK

Internet surfing
TKTKTK

Digital photo management
TKTKTK

iWork
TKTKTK

Front Row (movies, music, etc.)
TKTKTK

Overall
TKTKTK










































SPEED TEST | Click here for detailed benchmark scores



Boot
Average startup28.7 sec.
Average shutdown4.0 sec.

Install
Microsoft Office4 min. 17 sec.
Adobe Creative Suite 331 min. 44 sec.

Program Launch
Safari (Internet browser)3.3 sec.
Microsoft Word4.2 sec.
Adobe Photoshop4.0 sec.
Stress-launch Photoshop (w/ 8 apps running)21.36 sec.
CD rip3 min. 35 sec.







Gateway One | $1800





















































Gateway

SPECS


Hardware
19-in. screen, 2.0 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 3 GB DDR2 RAM, 500 GB hard drive, built-in Wi-Fi, 8x CD/DVD burner, remote control, ATI Radeon HD 2600 graphics card.

Software
Windows Vista Home Premium, Microsoft Works 8.5, Media Center, Microsoft Office (60-day trial).

USER RATING


Design
TKTKTK

Ergonomics
TKTKTK

Internet surfing
TKTKTK

Digital photo management
TKTKTK

Works
TKTKTK

Media Center (movies, music, etc.)
TKTKTK

Overall
TKTKTK










































SPEED TEST | Click here for detailed benchmark scores


Boot
Average startup1 min. 13 sec.
Average shutdown44.3 sec.

Install
Microsoft Office6 min. 25 sec.
Adobe Creative Suite 325 min. 45 sec.


Program Launch
Internet Explorer6.3 sec.
Microsoft Word5.2 sec.
Adobe Photoshop5.5 sec.
Stress-launch Photoshop (w/ 8 apps running)40.0 sec.
CD rip3 min. 35 sec.







MacBook* | $1299


* As tested on an Apple MacBook containing an Intel Penryn processor. Because the new Penryn version of the MacBook was not available at press time for the May 2008 print edition of PM, the test results appearing in the magazine reflect the previous version of the MacBook. Click here to see the non-Penryn MacBook results that appeared in the magazine.































































MacBook

SPECS


Hardware
13.3-in. screen, 2.4 GHz Core 2 Duo (Penryn); 3GB DDR2 RAM, 160 GB hard drive, 8x CD/DVD burner, built-in Bluetooth and Wi-Fi.

Software
OS X Leopard, iLife \'08 (iTunes, iPhoto, GarageBand, etc.), Front Row, iWork (30-day trial).

Weight
5 pounds

BATTERY TEST


With the DVD drive spinning and screen at full brightness, the MacBook made it through our movie, but fell short of Apple\'s stated 6-hour battery life: 3 hr. 34 min.

USER RATING


Design
TKTKTK

Ergonomics
TKTKTK

Internet surfing
TKTKTK

Digital photo management
TKTKTK

iWork
TKTKTK

Media Center (movies, music, etc.)
TKTKTK

Overall
TKTKTK







































SPEED TEST | Click here for detailed benchmark scores


Boot
Average startup41.6 sec.
Average shutdown3.9 sec.

Install
Microsoft Office2 min. 57 sec.
Adobe Creative Suite 334 min. 54 sec.

Program Launch
Microsoft Word5.3 sec.
Adobe Photoshop4.1 sec.
Stress-launch Photoshop (w/ 8 apps running)16.2 sec.
CD rip5 min. 49 sec.







Asus M51SR | $1299































































ASUS

SPECS



Hardware
15.4-in. screen, 2.2 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 2 GB DDR2 RAM, 250 GB hard drive, ATI Radeon HD 2400 graphics card, 8x CD/DVD burner, built-in Bluetooth and Wi-Fi.

Software
Microsoft Vista Home Premium, Works, Media Center, Office (30-day trial).

Weight
6.5 pounds

BATTERY TEST


Many users liked the Asus’s 15.4-in. screen, but that large display is a drain on the battery. The Asus couldn’t make it through our 2-hour, 49-minute movie: 1 hr. 30 min.

USER RATING


Design
TKTKTK

Ergonomics
TKTKTK

Internet surfing
TKTKTK

Digital photo management
TKTKTK

Works
TKTKTK

Media Center (movies, music, etc.)
TKTKTK

Overall
TKTKTK







































The Verdict: Apple



Mac: In both the laptop and desktop showdowns, Apple’s computers were the winners. Oddly, the big difference didn’t come in our user ratings, where we expected the famously friendly Mac interface to shine. Our respondents liked the look and feel of both operating systems but had a slight preference toward OS X. In our speed trials, however, Leopard OS trounced Vista in all-important tasks such as boot-up, shutdown and program-launch times. We even tested Vista on the Macs using Apple’s platform-switching Boot Camp software—and found that both Apple computers ran Vista faster than our PCs did.






PC: Simply put, Vista proved to be a more sluggish operating system than Leopard. Our PCs installed some software faster, but in general they were slower in our time trials. Plus, both PCs showed weaker performance on third-party benchmarks than the Macs. Our biggest surprise, however, was that PCs were not the relative bargains we expected them to be. The Asus M51sr costs the same as a MacBook, while the Gateway One actually costs $300 more than an iMac. That means for the price of the Gateway you could buy an iMac, boost its hard drive to match the Gateway’s, purchase a copy of Vista to boot—and still save $100.







Detailed Benchmark Scores: Desktops


SPEED TEST | Click here for detailed benchmark scores


Boot
Average startup1 min. 51 sec.
Average shutdown25.4 sec.

Install
Microsoft Office4 min. 46 sec.
Adobe Creative Suite 321 min.


Program Launch
Microsoft Word6.2 sec.
Adobe Photoshop5.2 sec.
Stress-launch Photoshop (w/ 8 apps running)25.5 sec.
CD rip3 min. 9 sec.


























































Benchmark Test iMac 20-in screen; 2.2 GHz Core 2 Duo; 1GB DDR2 Gateway One 2.0GHz Core 2 Duo; 3GB DDR2
Geekbench
Overall 3180 (2651) 1903
Integer 2766 (3398) 2324
Floating Point 4460 (2675) 1713
Memory 2299 (1720) 1597
Stream 1916 (1819) 1707
Cinebench
1 CPU 2619 (2429) 1979
2 CPUs 4840 (4641) 3739
Graphics 4819 (3834) 2913

*Scores in parentheses are for Macs running Vista in Boot Camp.





Detailed Benchmark Scores: Laptops








































































Benchmark Test MacBook 2.2 GHz Core 2 Duo; 1GB DDR2 (Out of production) MacBook 2.4 GHz Core 2 Duo (Penryn); 3GB DDR2 Asus M51 2.2 GHz Core 2 Duo; 2GB DDR2
Geekbench
Overall 2885 (2465) 3156 (2657) 2445
Integer 2536 (3099) 2734 (3421) 3102
Floating Point 3959 (2429) 4395 (2660) 2444
Memory 2156 (1730) 2378 (1785) 1636
Stream 1809 (1850) 1853 (1717) 1772
Cinebench
1 CPU 2409 2741 (2561) 2214
2 CPUs 4468 5216 (4838) 4198
Graphics 2027 2040 (835) 2495

*Scores in parentheses are for Macs running Vista in Boot Camp.
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