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Wednesday, Apr 16, 2008 6:48 PM UTC

Let’s fight: Popular Mechanics says Macs beat PCs in style and speed

Why does Windows take minutes to start up and shut down?

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Topics: Microsoft, Apple,

Hey, I’m just the messenger here: After testing Mac and PC laptops and desktops, Popular Mechanics magazine says Apple wins hands down in both user ratings and, more importantly, performance benchmarks.

In our speed trials … 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.

No doubt partisans can argue about this till Kingdom Come; people will debate the specifics of the magazine’s performance measurements.

I found the tests backed up something I’ve long hated about Windows: It takes forever — forever — to start up and shut down.

Popular Mechanics clocked a 2.0 GHz Core 2 Duo Gateway desktop computer at 1 minute, 13 seconds to start up, and 44.3 seconds to shut down. A comparable iMac started up in 28.7 seconds and shut down in only 4 seconds. There was a similar gulf between Windows and Mac laptops.

Software engineers out there, can you answer this one? Why is Windows so slow to start-up and shut down?

Farhad Manjoo is a Salon staff writer and the author of True Enough: Learning to Live in a Post-Fact Society. More Farhad Manjoo.

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