Second-cup-of-coffee

Windows Vista – or why I am switching back

I have a Macbook Pro computer. I have been using the Macintosh off and on for awhile. As I thought about purchasing a new laptop, I really wanted a 17-inch screen. I had two 17-inch laptops previous to my Macbook Pro but I just couldn’t afford any Mac laptop with a 17-inch screen. Right now, their 17-inch model starts at $2,499. Seriously. It is a really nice laptop and if you priced out a Windows laptop with the same exact specs, it might be a similar cost. But I just could not justify spending that much on a laptop. And, I could not get that screen size in the resolution I want.

I use a computer pretty much all day and I’ve always found a 17-inch screen at 1440 x 900 very comfortable. The laptop I have now is the same resolution (1440 x 900) with a 15-inch screen and I have noticed myself getting a lot more eye strain. So, to get ready for switching back to Windows, I have installed Windows Vista, via Boot Camp, on my Macintosh and have been running that full time for about four months.

My impression is that Mac OS X is a better operating system. I have been dealing with some of the kruft that happens when you’ve installed and uninstalled and used a Windows system for some time. It definitely feels slower than when it was freshly installed. I have run registry cleaners and that seemed to help somewhat… along with killing and not letting me enter registration information for a piece of software I use daily (Navicat). It is just more to worry about with Windows – it seems like more maintenance.

I also feel like I am rewarding Microsoft for their poor software in a way. You see, as a web developer, I spend a LOT of time debugging for Internet Explorer. On the Macintosh that meant having Parallels open with Windows XP. With my machine, I have a maximum of three gigs of RAM which goes very quickly with two OSes and a couple of Adobe apps running. Also, Microsoft Office 2008 is sooooo slow. Office 2007 is very quick on Vista. Also, not Microsoft’s fault, is that Dreamweaver on Mac OS X has some very annoying bugs that made it very difficult to use.

I am hopeful that Windows 7 will address some of the performance degradation that happens over time on earlier versions of Windows. On the whole, I am happy with Vista. I actually like the interface and I think the performance for running applications is better than Mac OS X, on the whole.