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• Windows isn’t simply a choice for cheapskates or the ignorant. Once you set aside the security issue, Windows PCs remain one of the most technologically advanced platforms. Only Windows offers the constant evolution of new hardware and software. Want the latest Nvidia or AMD graphics card? Just plop it in. Want to activate the PhysX capabilities of your GeForce card? Just install new drivers. The 64-bit transition will also be a hallmark of the Windows platform. We’re already seeing 64-bit computing enter the mainstream. Dell and HP are now shipping notebooks and desktops with Vista x64 installed by default. For the average consumer, the transition to 64-bit means a more stable operating system. The gap between x64 and x32 driver support is quickly closing down although some popular devices such as digital cameras still lack x64 support. Mac OS X used to be the platform of choice for the graphics professional, but things may change in 2009 thanks to Adobe CS4. With professional digital still cameras producing increasingly large files, and 4K video becoming more popular, even for independent studios, the need for >4 GB support is clear. The 64-bit version of Adobe CS4 only supports Windows Vista–Mac users have to wait until CS5. In addition, Adobe Creative Suite 4 also marks the dawn of visual computing for the independent professional. Advanced effects and H.264 transcoding will all be accelerated on the GPU, and companies such as Nvidia are already developing optimized hardware for this market such as the Quadro CX. If I wanted the best system for Adobe CS4 today, I would spec a Windows Vista x64 machine with a pair of Intel Core 2 Quad or Xeon CPUs, the Nvidia Quadro CX, and an HP Dreamcolor LP2480zx running 10-bit DisplayPort. There’s nothing from Apple that can come close. The release of Snow Leopard (Mac OS X 10.6) may provide improved GPU capabilities, but that still doesn’t address the 64-bit limitation of Adobe CS4 on Mac OS X, or my ability to throw a faster AMD GPU or a GeForce “CX2” as they are released. The Windows Color System is a very sophisticated platform based on Canon’s Kyuanos technology, which improves the capabilities of color correction including expanded dynamic range (beyond 32-bits per channel) and extended gamut (beyond three-color channels). In the real-world, this is less effective because the majority of devices still run traditional color management features. Windows Vista also introduced a new printing system (XPS), which for practical purposes, means that 16-bit color processing can be achieved with Canon photo printers. Mac OS X has the edge in “real-world” color management in the sense that monitor profiles are automatically loaded and 16-bit printing support is available for both Epson and Canon printers. Windows Vista’s Future Remains Bright It doesn’t matter that some companies are choosing to stick with Windows XP, that more and more college students are switching to a Mac, or that Microsoft continues to patch critical vulnerabilities on a regular basis. For all the grandstanding, marketing, and finger pointing that exists, Windows will continue to be the dominant desktop operating system in the years to come. It covers all the bases: from the computer novice on a tight budget who walks into a Best Buy to the uber-geek who wants the more powerful system for gaming or multimedia creation. Even so, Windows will continue to see its market share dwindle over time. This is not a reflection of any inherent failure in Windows, but the simple fact that it’s virtually impossible to gain market share in a world that’s already saturated.

• Exaggerated pricing myths on Apple systems aside, Apple’s biggest selling tool is Mac OS X and the fact that you can now run Windows XP or Vista on the same machine native. With BootCamp, you can get the best of both words in a general sense. Let’s make it clear though that if you’re a serious gamer who plays games like Crysis, you would still be held back because of the lack of high-end 3D graphics support. The latest for the Mac is a Radeon HD 3780 — good but not the best available. For most other games and everything else, it really works nicely. Windows drivers for the Mac are fully provided by Apple to enable all hardware on the Mac to work in Windows. So you get a full Mac and a full Windows system. You get the best of Mac OS X and the best of Windows on one machine. At this point, some people will say something like "well the only reason why BootCamp is provided to install and run Windows is because Windows is better." This is not the point. If you already have a PC and enjoy it and find it does everything you need, stick to it. If you’re in the market for a new system to replace a main desktop, this is the article for you. If someone is insistent on one thing, there’s no reason to continue reading. If they’re open to new ideas and new ways of doing something, then read on. The operating system continually refines itself and Apple markets this OS as the ultimate desktop experience. Lest there be any confusion, Apple also sells OS X Server although the market for OS X server is admittedly very tiny. Who needs pretty graphics in a serious server environment anyway? Most of the time, there no head attached to a server — things are administered through a remote terminal. Mac OS X is also based on a very robust UNIX foundation, which lends itself to being quite secure and powerful. However, given that the market share for Macs is much smaller than Windows, its prevalence to attack ratio is also lower. There are simply a greater number of Windows machines to be exploited. If the market shares were reversed, we would see Mac OS X exploited at a far greater level. However, keep in mind that the majority of Internet websites run on a *nix back end, it demonstrates that at the core, there are fewer holes to begin with. At the end of the day, anything that’s used more will no doubt reveal more security holes. An entire in-depth review of Mac OS X Leopard is beyond the scope of this article, and would require adding more than 10 pages, so we’ll leave that for the future. In fact, Apple is preparing the next major release of OS X, called Snow Leopard and we’ll definitely look at that release when it ships. For now, I highly recommend John Siracusa at ArsTechnica’s review of Leopard for a really good understanding of why OS X is so powerful and why it’s very good at scaling into the future. Expect to see things like the new powerful ZFS file system be introduced, which will allow for such features as byte-level delta backups. The lack of a registry makes everything a bit more agile. Applications store their own settings in .plist files or within themselves, making for installs and uninstalls a snap — just drag the application over or delete it. Rarely do you have to worry about lingering or overlapping system files. In a nutshell however, OS X delivers what many Windows users have to install several utilities for — and the majority of the good ones come with a small fee. Let’s take a look at some of these features.

• Apple has come a mighty long way since the first release of Mac OS X. Things have developed nicely and the next version of OS X, Snow Leopard is being primed for release. Things I would love to see Apple do: Provide more up-to-date hardware upgrades. The Windows PC world has far better hardware than the Mac crowd and it’s frustrating. Apple needs to provide more graphics card upgrade options and be quick to make them available. This is why I still have my Windows PC on stand-by, for times when I need to take a stab at the latest games. Apple doesn’t need to support every graphics card out there on the market but it needs to make at least some of the cutting edge products available. Sound products for consumers are also very limited. I’d like to see a little more variety here. There are several options out there like the Azuntech X-Fi Prelude 7.1 which does Dolby Digital Live and DTS Interactive. Apple needs to take a step forward and start working with a select few like Azuntech to bring more flavor for its users or those considering a switch. As for processors, Apple’s selection of Intel Xeon and Core 2 processors are pretty much up there. No complaints in this department. Memory wise, Mac Pro users are stuck with using expensive ECC memory, although this is understood, Apple’s online Store prices memory upgrades at stratospheric prices. This brings us to Apple’s pricing for upgrades and options. Most people already feel that a ticket into a Mac platform is already expensive and understandably so — an equivalent Dell laptop with similar specs to a middle of the ground MacBook Pro costs significantly less. But even if a customer already wants to buy a Mac, prices for options at order-time are ridiculously insane and need to be reduced to more real-world prices. Apple’s 750 GB SATA option for a Mac Pro costs $300 compared to a Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3750640AS 750 GB which costs just $119.99 at Newegg. C’mon Apple. Apple’s got an 8-percent market share now and boasted that it’s the third largest U.S. manufacturer of computers means that it needs to get real with pricing schemes if it wants to poach more users from the Windows world.