A Mac user reports after one year on Windows 7

It was on Februay 15, 2010 that I ordered both my wife and myself HP laptops running Windows 7.  About a week later I reported my first experiences with Windows 7. 

I actually was pretty surprised with the hostility that showed up in some of the comments to that post. I did not intend to offend the Apple world by once again purchasing some Wintel gear.

I wanted a fast processor in a laptop and had gotten tired of waiting for Apple to deliver one. 

It has been a year since I placed the order, so do I regret not waiting for that MacBook with an I7 processor?  Actually I do not have any regrets about my decision to spend money on non-Apple products.

My wife really needed a new laptop.  Her old Mac laptop had gotten so slow that even she had noticed. Initially I was going to buy just her a new Mac laptop, but in February 2010 I just could not see laying down good money for outdated processors from Apple.

When I found out that with rebates we both could get new laptops with the latest processors for less than the price of one Mac with an outdated processor, it did not take me long to place the order.

I was surprised that I got accused of being a shill for Microsoft especially considering that I had called Vista a Quagmire in a not very old post.  And just because I bought HP laptops for us, did not stop me from using Macs.  In fact this fall I ended up buying an I5 iMac because much of my work is still done on Macs.

I continue to use my old dual G5 tower and an even older Dell Pentium 3 desktop that runs Ubuntu Linux. I am pretty pleased with my technology set-up, but I think some of my observations on Windows 7 might be of interest to Mac people who would never consider dabbling in the world of Windows.

First off Windows 7 is an exceptionally reliable operating system. It is just a few days shy of a year since my wife and I both started using Windows 7. There have been no problems either hardware or software related with the systems.  That is no as in none. That is a pretty heady accomplishment for a brand new operating system running on new processors.

The systems have not crashed, locked up, or misbehaved in way that I have been able to determine.

In the year's time I have migrated my dedicated Mac using wife to the Windows world.  Would she still like to be using a Mac?

The answer is probably yes, but she also realizes a bargain when she sees one, so she is very happy with her HP laptop and saving some money.  She does claim to still miss her Apple address book, but her real problem is that she doesn't use an address book enough to really remember it in the Windows world.  She had years of hardly using her Mac address book for it to become second nature.

Our systems are set up very similarly.  My primary browser is Firefox, but I also use Chrome, and once in a while I have to use IE to print some GIS maps that our county has posted.  We both use Microsoft Security Essentials which is free, less intrusive than Norton, and also less of a resource hog.

Neither my wife or I have been bothered with viruses or any malware in the last year.

We use Thunderbird for email, Picasa for photos, Snagit for image captures, Word 2007, PowerPoint 2007 and Excel 2007.  I also use RealFast for my real estate forms.

Since I have dual Gmail personalities, Firefox is logged in under one ID and Chrome under the other.  The reasoning behind this is keeping alive separate photo storage that I maintain in Picasa Web Albums.

I share files with Dropbox as does my wife.  Dropbox is actually part of my workflow since I will often first download my photos from SD cards to my HP I7 laptop. 

Any that I want to use in a post that need only minor editing I will fix in Picasa and save in my Dropbox which also puts it on my three Macs, the dual G5, my 2006 MacBook, and my new I5 iMac.

If there is a file that needs more work than I like to do in Picasa, I will save it in another Dropbox folder and work on it with Pixelmator then save it back to Dropbox.

Much of my work is writing or web pages. I do a lot of my writing in the mornings at the kitchen table.  The HP I7 laptop is my favorite machine for that since it has a 15" screen and a full sized keyboard.

I often do my web site work in the afternoon or evening.  Then I usually retire to my upstairs office and also download any photos to my I5 iMac where I might take another look at several of the best ones.  My new iMac has iPhoto 09 on it.  I made a mistake and put iPhoto 10 on my MacBook so I am not fond of doing iPhoto work on it.  I also have Aperture on the iMac but I rarely use it.  I have pretty well quit using Photoshop.

All of the blogs that I work on are done through a browser interface.  With a browser as an interface, it really doesn't matter to me which system does the writing.

However, I am working on a book which I write on the iMac using Nisus Writer Express.  When I finish a section I do take the time to open it in Word 2010 on the Mac and save it also as a Word document.  I have enough effort into the book that I don't want to take any chances of losing it.

Our Windows laptops seem to perform just as well on our networks as my Macs.  I certainly haven't seen the problems that I had with Vista.  The HP laptop also gives me the ability to print double-sided brochures on our color laser printer at the real estate office.  Unfortunately when they installed new software, it locked out Macs.  With no new drivers readily available and with me as the only Mac user, no one was interested in fixing the problem.  I finally removed the old Mac desktop that I had in the office last fall.

One measure of the success of moving my wife to Windows is that it has been months since she started her old lamp shade iMac. It was the system she used in our second home. I have started it a couple of times just to make sure it works but that is it.  She now prefers to carry her HP laptop.  Her old Mac laptop had not been travel worthy for a long time due to its battery.

I still prefer using a Mac over a Windows machine for most things.  And there is some software on the Mac that I think is better than what is available for Windows computers.

However, there is no doubt in my mind that Windows 7 is a very good operating system and that you can find a very decent computer for much less than what you can in the world of Apple.

If you just want email, browsing, and sharing basic pictures, I would have a hard time recommending a Mac purchase unless you just want a Mac or have been using one for a long time.

We have no trouble printing to our wireless network of HP and Brother printers. In fact I think I have more trouble with my MacBook printing than I do the Windows laptops. Sharing files with DropBox is a piece of cake.

While I haven't timed it, I believe that my I7 HP laptop will boot more quickly than my I5 iMac but the difference is hardly worth arguing.

Those who said that my I7 HP Windows 7 laptop would slow like a typical Windows machine were wrong.  It has turned out be a very good experience.  I have actually helped a couple of people buy HP laptops identical to my wife's I5 machine.

I would never suggest that anyone who is happy with their Mac go out and get rid of it and buy a Windows 7 machine, but if you are faced with aging Macs and a limited budget, you might be surprised at how far your dollar will go in the Windows world.

Switching one machine to Windows does not mean that you have to start hating Macs or stop using them, it just means that you have a few options that you didn't have when you were only using a Mac.

I do find wireless networking still something more of a pain on Windows computers, but it has improved greatly even with the not so new networking gear that I run.  Even my aging MacBook has a habit of deciding that it does not have an Airport card once in a while when changing network locations.  I have to pull the battery and generally reconfigure the Airport card.

I long ago got to the point that computers are tools to get my job done and not part of a religious experience.  Apple makes very good but sometimes very expensive computers.  If you can afford to live in an all Apple world, I am happy for you.

For the rest of us, you can find happiness in a mixed platform world. Sometimes success is measured by keeping old gear going long after the manufacturers would have us retire it.

We are finally into some great weather on the east coast. After some cold damp weather along the ocean shores, the sun feels great.  It is really nice to have afternoon temperatures into the sixties and see some signs of spring even if we might face a little more winter.

Unfortunately there areas in North Carolina and Virginia where the lack of winter snows and rain have made for very dry conditions.

As the weather gets warmer and the boat rides longer, I might just have to forget about computers for a few days.  I hope everyone get their needed rains, but I sure hope there is some sunshine for a few winter busting days on the water.

 

Comments

[twitter.com/batess]

David, I strongly concur. I was issued a Dell D620 Core 2 Duo 60GB HD running XP for grad school in Jun of 2007.

Several months ago, I upgraded the RAM from 2GB to 4GB for maybe 60 bucks. Another 54 bucks bought me a 360 GB, 7200rpm HD. Two screws and the new HD fit in the sled.

Installed Windows 7 Professional, recognized ALL hardware and downloaded ALL necessary drivers and patches.

Admittedly subjective, but I'd say my 4 year old Win7 machine is just as reliable and a bit faster than a 2 year old 13" Macbook Pro, both with 4GB of RAM. I suspect the 7200rpm HD in the D620 laptop has quite a bit to do with it, however.

But the bottom line is Win7 is boringly reliable and fast, and I will say Office on Windows is MUCH better than the Mac.

I use Postbox for email on Windows, I like the social media integration and Thunderbird extensions to sync with Google's address book.

[bevo]

I use Windows 7 at the office when I need to use the network machines. Otherwise, I use my white MacBook with XP running when I need it.

I do not notice a performance difference between 7 and XP.

I am probably a year away from getting a new laptop and am not completely sold on Windows (too many bad OS products). I am waiting to see what Android can do on a laptop.

I doubt Apple listens or cares about its laptop users. As hardware goes, they are simply terrible.

[shawn]

I would expect someone with your history to know better then to call a processor outdated. A processor is not outdated until it doesn't do what you need it to do. A core 2 duo from two years ago will function as fast as the i series stuff on 80% of work. Customers kill me with the "Why should I buy that its just going to be outdated in six months". I don't know when that started but we need to do a lot better in educating people on this matter.

[mhikl]

I will eventually be buying my last laptop ever and it will be the MacBook Air. I will wait for the next incarnation and go for the top dog. I write a lot so the iPad 2 won't do; but eventually it (or iPad3) will join the family.

I have every Mac I ever bought except my Pismo which went to a third world country. It worked fine, the last time I used it.

I have recently transferred all my Excel files to Numbers and have been using Pages for over a year. No M$ applications will taint my Air.

Being M$ free makes me feel like a freedom fighter. I feel clean and at peace with the world and full accolades go to the two great Steves, Jobs and Ballmer. I suspect Ballmer has been undermining M$ for some time and that he has been selling and replacing his M$ shares for Apple stock.

I am thoroughly been joying the decay and slow death of M$ and have been plotting its stock decline against the meteoric rise of Apple for two years. I hope it is a long slow, slow, slow squeaky death. A gasp here. A sputter there. And then, like the odour of a terrible fart, dissipates into the ethers and quickly forgotten. The epitaph will be a moment to relish.

Then I can concentrate my mean side to Google and its Android foray. It's the little things in life that bring the most delight and that warm feeling to heart.

Bill should sell his dilapidated interests in M$ and buy Apple stock if he wishes to continue paying his way into history books.

Namaste,
mhikl

[ocracokewaves]

Shawn, I guess we will just have to disagree on this one. We pay premium through the nose prices for Apple laptops. Essentially the same design as my 2006 MacBook is still on the market for $999. Mine has a 2 Ghz Core Duo. The current model has a 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo.

You don't buy a processor or a laptop for what it is today but for what it will be tomorrow. I can guarantee you that the Core 2 Duo will be outdated in four years. However, an I3 or I5 processor has far better odds of still being useful.

I am still using a dual G5 processor tower that I bought over six years ago. I can tell you G4s are not nearly as useful.

My opinion (and it is my personal opinion only) is that if Apple is going to demand premium prices, they should sell the latest and greatest.

My 15" I7 HP laptop with a 500 gig drive and 4 gigs or ram cost less last year than the current MacBook with a 250 Gig drive.

Surely Apple with all their technical resources could figure out in well over a year how to get a MacBook out with an I3 processor for $999.

Well at least they could if they cared about giving customers the best value for their money.

If you feel comfortable recommending people buy Core 2 Duo system for a product that should last at least five years, go ahead and do it.

I am steering people to products that I think are good values and will still be able to meet their needs a few years from now when even I can't predict what they might be doing with their computers.

[Shawn]

I don't disagree with your over all statement. Just that the average person does not do anything on their computer that needs current lvl stuff. The majority of people check email and Facebook now a days. Customers come in all the time and one of the first things out of their mouth is "I'm not a gamer" meaning they don't want current lvl tech or what they perceive as to much computer. I work for apple now in their little known ASC sales division and almost all of your post are spot on about the company.

[ocracokewaves]

Shawn, I might have agreed with you a couple of years ago.

My wife was happily puttering along with her G4 laptop. Then I noticed that she often had trouble playing video that people sent to her and that her Washington Post homepage took a long time to load.

It turned out that the world was passing by the G4. She doesn't demand a lot of her computer but some of the stuff that she receives does require more computer resources than one would imagine. She really liked Macs, and I was hoping that I could spend $1200 or so on a nice I3 MacBook for her.

The truth is that Apple did not deliver as fast as others, and I got tired of waiting. The fact that I could get two computers for the price of one MacBook Pro still amazes me..

Even today one 13-inch: 2.66GHz Core Two Duo MacBook Pro costs more than both her 14" I5 and my 15" I7 HP laptops once all the rebates were in and done. The two HPs have been very reliable.

I think it is more about doing what is right for the customers, and the right thing for the pricing that Apple charges is that at least an I3 should ship in their systems if technically possible.

While the customer might not need it today, why should they pay a premium price and get less than a premium product?

[Thomas Elam]

I just bought the wife a $375 (on-sale) ASUS that she will use primarly for email, web browsing and light duty document creation. It came with 64 bit Windows 7, 15" display, 250 GB drive, and 4 GB of RAM. It is a full featured machine with HDMI-out, SD card reader, DVD, etc. It is far from a stripped down machine, and the price was remarkable. The processor is an Intel dual core P6100, a 2 ghz entry level chip. Nonetheless, it is a very quick machine for the tasks at hand.

For the most part it will be used on a desktop. Battery life is not a huge concern.

Unfortunately, I must report that the ASUS was purchased to replace a 3 year old HP that refused to boot. The motherboard had failed, well out of warranty. The repair estimate was more than the price of the new ASUS. However, the hard drive was still good, so we lost no data or documents.

From what I hear, Windows 8 will run just fine on it too.

My point is simply this: Buy a machine that fits the intended use. The wife was no desire to run apps that will ever stress this hardware. I could have easily spent twice or three times as much money, and it would have made no difference to her level of satisfaction.

Why Apple can get the prices it does for a 13" machine that are basically at the ASUS entry level of performance and features must be due to fanatics that refuse to look at alternatives. The Apple may look nicer, and run longer on a charge, but is that really worth 2x-3x more money?

[Longtime Reader]

Not to jump on the Microsoft bandwagon too much, but after you mentioned the browsers you use, David, I really think that you should give the Internet Explorer 9 RC a try. I had been using mostly Chrome and Safari for the last several years, but now that I've given IE9 a chance it has really impressed me. It's just as fast as Chrome and the hardware acceleration comes in handy as well. Just my two cents, since you're becoming more open to alternatives to the Apple world. Don't get caught up in the brand fanboyism, just use the best technology that works for you no matter who makes it.

[SLmanDR]

Wow, a year ago. So hard to believe. And Apple have only just put the i7 and i5 in a laptop.
Let me know if you need a proof reader.