OS X vs Windows - productivity performance

[Ethosik]

This is btw wrong. Java comes with no toolbar and just the same updater you see in OSX. Same goes for Flash and Adobe.
Toolbars are ask and yahoo, programs like ICQ which nobody uses anymore came with them. I don't even know what commonly installed software nowadays comes with toolbars. I never installed them but they are never really a bother if you stick to opera, chrome or FF. Most of them only install on IE which I never used anyway.

False. This still exists to this day - http://arstechnica.com/information-...mps-useless-add-ons-and-toolbars-on-pc-users/

Oh and https://forums.adobe.com/thread/985413

 

[leman]

I love that feature! Not only close it, but scroll its contents and (while holding ⌘) even moving it around and resizing it. Combine that with the option to turn off Application Frame in Photoshop (somehow weirdly absent in the Windows version) and my entire desktop really becomes like a true desk to work on.

And you're correct, that's just one of the many details I love about OS X.

Yeah, its true, its the little convenience features that make OS X a pleasure to work with. A system-wide standardised spell-check, the dictionary, the background scrolling, amazing magical drag and drop support, Quick Look — I can't imagine my professional or private computer usage without these.

 

[maflynn]

Yeah, its true, its the little convenience features that make OS X a pleasure to work with. A system-wide standardised spell-check, the dictionary, the background scrolling, amazing magical drag and drop support, Quick Look — I can't imagine my professional or private computer usage without these.

I love the quick look feature and miss that when I'm on my windows machine, as for spell checker, while its universal and useful, many apps in windows have spell checking built in anyways. From a user's perspective it doesn't matter how their spelling is corrected, just that is is.

Drag and drop is implemented so much more consistently in OSX as well, many times all you have to do is drop an application into the application folder and boom you're done.

 

[afsnyder]

I've only been a Mac user for a couple of years and got into OS X with Mountain Lion. In fact, my first OS X machine was a Hackintosh (before I got my first Mac, a 2011 iMac). I remember how OS X seemed faster then Windows in tasks I do most (Photoshop, Sketchbook). I didn't really run any benchmarks or anything, it just subjectively felt faster and the system didn't have these big lags as Windows did. I assumed OS X was a better performer - and I loved everything else about it as well. And, besides, it wasn't really about performance anyway - I liked the system more and as long as it would run at least as fast as Windows, I would rather use OS X. I became a Mac enthusiast and since then bought three Macs.

However, recently, I installed bootcamp for some PC programs and put Photoshop on it too and while most things were equally fast as in OS X, certain things felt smoother on Windows, especially moving large layers or groups of layers with the move tool, that for some reason stutters on Mac (before I tried it on Windows, I assumed that's just how Photoshop works). And it's not just Photoshop - even the little things seem faster in Windows (I could be wrong, though): while Evernote sure looks prettier on OS X, scrolling through notes with large photos also lags a bit more than the Windows version.

Also, since Yosemite lags here and there on my retina iMac and MacBook Pro, I assumed that the graphical requirements of retina displays are just too steep for the current hardware, and I really don't mind the occasional stutter. Imagine my surprise when I found out Windows 8 runs like butter. Granted, the resolution was "only" 4K (maximum for Windows/Bootcamp at the moment) and arguably Windows has less animations, effects and transitions, but still - everything, from resizing windows to opening the fancy start menu was much smoother and didn't seem to strain the hardware at all.

Now, I know a lot of people were very critical of Yosemite performance and I'm sure there's a lot of fine-tuning and fixing for Apple to do. But my question is, basically, not about the latest OS X but OS X in general. Assuming that Apple sorts out the bugs and smooths out the performance so that it's on par with Mavericks or Mountain Lion, is OS X as fast as Windows for tasks like Photoshop, Illustrator or Zbrush - or are we paying some sort of "beauty tax"?

Please note that all these performance estimates are just that: estimates. Personal and subjective. It is quite possible that things run just as fast, maybe even faster, and I just pay more attention to detail on OS X.

I would like to hear your thoughts on this, but please, no hyperboles I know some people would claim that Yosemite is a million times slower than Mavericks that was a million times slower than ML, that everything is broken and that Apple only cares about iPhones, etc. As I said, let's assume that Apple will iron out all the bugs and issues, and talk about OS X in general. Is it the best choice for Photoshop and similar apps/workflows?

Yosemite is just slow. They made it all nice and pretty but its not a great performer. They need to fix them animations. All the blur effects cause things to lag but even when they are turned off some things still lag.

When I first got my retina macbook pro it was on Mavericks and it was pretty smooth. It's still speedy just the animations can be stutter sometimes.

 

[crashoverride77]

Nowadays, I'd say Windows is the better OS. Hands down. Much faster and stable than OS X ever seems to be.

Himhhh in want universe is this? Lets see how good that windows runs after 1-2 months in standby or after 6 months in general.
Windows Vista was crap, Windows 7 was awesome, Windows 8 was super crap and Windows 10 looks alrite. Feature wise tho all 4 suck compared to OS X, not even comparable.

 

[Traverse]

Nowadays, I'd say Windows is the better OS. Hands down. Much faster and stable than OS X ever seems to be.

I have to agree, Win8.1 has been more stable for me then Yosemite. I've been happy with 10.10, I've not had to deal with the major bugs that others have, i.e., wifi bugs but I've enjoyed faster performance and more stability. Windows is not perfect by a long shot, but so far I'm happy to be running on that with one of my machines.

I agree with you both, and Windows 10 greatly buildes on Windows 8.1.

It has more straightforward search, more consistent desktop mode, and (finally) multiple desktop spaces.

 

[sjinsjca]

I love that feature! Not only close it, but scroll its contents and (while holding ⌘) even moving it around and resizing it.

OMG. In all my years of using Macs I never knew about that. Just tried it-- so cool!

Thanks!

 

[aevan]

OMG. In all my years of using Macs I never knew about that. Just tried it-- so cool!

Thanks!

Yeah, it's one of those great little things

 

[mKTank]

I have to agree, Win8.1 has been more stable for me then Yosemite. I've been happy with 10.10, I've not had to deal with the major bugs that others have, i.e., wifi bugs but I've enjoyed faster performance and more stability. Windows is not perfect by a long shot, but so far I'm happy to be running on that with one of my machines.

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The majority of people I see in my travels using Photoshop or Lightroom are on a Mac. Adobe may be developing for windows, but I think Mac users represent a huge population for Adobe. I can't answer on PS' performance but I don't find Lightroom's performance on my PC any better then on my Mac.

The chipsets are different, so its not a fair comparison, my SP3 is running Haswell but at a slower clock speed and is dual core. My rMBP is quad core and a faster clock speed, plus I have a dGPU.

Somewhat of a late reply, but which OS gives you better battery life? I think I noticed Windows 8.1 sapping slightly more battery but that might just be placebo.

 

[Roykor]

Hi Aevan,

I am in a simuler situation. As a illustrator / concept art / digital manipulation, I also work only with Photoshop, Illustrator and from time to time with After effects and Premiere pro.

I switched in 2011 from Windows 7 to OSX and it was my first Apple product. A shiny kick ass 27" 3.1ghz iMac with 12Gig mem and SSD. Sharp as a knife and lightning fast OS. A iPhone, iPad, AppleTV and Macbook Pro followed up after that.

But it is 2015 and Yoshimite feels like a heavier OS than everything before for my computer. Now my iMac is getting a bit old it is time to think about a new setup for my business. I was shopping for a iMac 5K or a Mac Pro. But for some reason i still did not pressed on the order button. There is something going on about Apple that i do not like. And there is a vibe around Windows i really do like.

Dont get me wrong, Apple is not making bad products. But I think they are focused on a different platform than the desktop users. The long waiting for a the mac pro is a good example. They big news about their stupid iWatch is irritating me as hell for some reason.

So, i started playing with Windows 10 preview build on my Macbook pro in boothcamp and simulated my daily workflow. And what a nice suprice... I liked it A LOT!! the looks, the feeling, the speed....And the tools are there to. File Hisotry to replace timemachine, multiple desktops, etc etc. Only the quickview is something you would really miss. When i returned to OSX (because i have t work u know ) it feels like OSX is just freezed in time. I can not describe it in words.. but it feels like OSX is walking backwards and Windows is catching up fast, and good this time too.

After that, i started playing with a PC build, just for fun. And ended up with a killer machine X99 plaftorm, i7-5920 SIX CORE, 32GB, 3 SSD disks, GTX 970 and much more, for just 2K. Lets say 3K including a nice good screen. And that setup is easy to upgrade and easy to repair when 1 part is broken.

This all makes me going to switch back for 90% because i can not find a good argument to stay with OSX now days. Price, performance, OS. And about the looks.. there are really great looking PC build these days too.

Sorry Apple, you lost this time!

 

[D1STORT1ON]

I decided to buy a tablet and in looking at my problems with Apple of late and the fact that the iPad is just a big iphone, I opted to try things on the other side and bought a Surface Pro 3.

I have to say that so far, I love it and it is a great machine. Yeah some stuff isn't as pretty or consistent as the overall Apple experience (although I hate the look of Yosemite), but it seems significantly faster than my almost new retina 13 inch macbook pro I just bought in November.

We'll see if it bogs down or starts to mess up after a few months, but right now it makes me want to install windows on the macbook and start replacing software with the windows versions. I'm trying not to go too overboard though, so I'll see how things shake out with just the basics for now.