Ubuntu 11.10 Review: Benchmarked Against Windows 7
Three months have passed since the latest version of Ubuntu launched. With its classic desktop gone, Oneiric Ocelot is all Unity. The training wheels are off; no turning back now. Is Ubuntu ready for touchscreens? And how does it compare to Windows 7?
Benchmark Analysis: Windows Versus Linux
The following table groups the benchmarks into categories, lists the winner of each test, and indicates if the victory was by a significant margin or not.
| Benchmark | Winner | Significant |
|---|---|---|
| Start And Stop Times | ||
| Boot | Ubuntu 11.10 | No |
| Shut Down | Windows 7 | No |
| Hibernate | Ubuntu 11.10 | No |
| Wake | Windows 7 | No |
| File Copy Times | ||
| HDD to HDD | Ubuntu 11.10 | Yes |
| HDD to USB | Windows 7 | Yes |
| USB to HDD | Ubuntu 11.10 | No |
| Archiving | ||
| Zip | Windows 7 | Yes |
| Un-Zip | Windows 7 | No |
| Tar.gz | Ubuntu 11.10 | Yes |
| Un-Tar.gz | Ubuntu 11.10 | No |
| Multimedia | ||
| Video Transcoding (HandBrake) | Ubuntu 11.10 | Yes |
| Audio Encoding (LAME) | Windows 7 | Yes |
| Image Processing (RawTherapee) | Ubuntu 11.10 | Yes |
| System | ||
| CPU & Memory (Geekbench) | Ubuntu 11.10 | Yes |
| CPU: Single-Threaded (POV-Ray) | Windows 7 | Yes |
| CPU: Multi-threaded (Blender) | Ubuntu 11.10 | No |
| Gaming | ||
| AMD | Ubuntu 11.10 | Yes |
| Nvidia | Windows 7 | Yes |
Results
By category, Ubuntu leads with three wins (File Copy Times, Multimedia, and System), while Windows has the upper hand in none. On a per-test basis, Ubuntu wins 11 out of 19 tests and Windows wins eight. Of those, Ubuntu holds six significant victories over Windows' five. Any way you want to cut it, Ubuntu 11.10 beats Windows 7 in cross-platform performance testing.
Analysis
The speedier HDD to HDD file copy times are a major victory for Linux. Although the scale of scores in this test are fairly small, file copy operations from one section of the hard drive to another are very common, and Ubuntu displays a proportional advantage over Windows. Moreover, the notable win favoring Ubuntu over Windows in Geekbench was unexpected. The penguin's victory in gaming with an AMD graphics solution was surprising in two ways. First, Nvidia has long offered more frequently-updated Linux drivers. And second, using the AMD card allowed Ubuntu to actually beat Windows in gaming performance, albeit in very old games.
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Gamer Dude comptonThe best part of 11.10 is the renewed appreciation it gave me for Windows 7.LOL that bad uh well at leased there is an alternative if the Sopa takes awake my ripped Window 8 copy LOL.Reply -
jasonpwns That's the problem, I've always considered Windows king for gaming, but after looking at Doom 3, and the performance boost over Windows 7. Are we sure we're developing for the right platform? I mean games on Linux theoretically would run a lot better.Reply -
indian-art Happy with the benchmarks. I feel Ubuntu 12.04 will be even better.Reply
Just around a couple of months for its launch! -
malimbar One major irrelevancy in beginning of the article: while Mint overtook Ubuntu in Distrowatch, it's nowhere near the actual userbase: http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2012/02/stats-show-ubuntu-not-losing-ground-to-linux-mint/Reply
Interesting article otherwise, and very well done. I particularly like how it highlights major areas that ubuntu developers need to work on, but still gives ubuntu as a OS credit where it deserves it. It's more worthwhile IMO to review LTS releases (and one is coming up soon), but in the meantime it's great to see where Ubuntu is right now. -
rmpumper jasonpwnsThat's the problem, I've always considered Windows king for gaming, but after looking at Doom 3, and the performance boost over Windows 7. Are we sure we're developing for the right platform? I mean games on Linux theoretically would run a lot better.Reply
If you did not notice, all of the 3 tested games are OpenGL which is barely supported in Win7. How about we see some DirectX9 10 and 11 games before making silly conclusions? And in any case, who gives a rat's ass about Doom3 - 7 year old awful game? -
Gamer Dude jasonpwnsThat's the problem, I've always considered Windows king for gaming, but after looking at Doom 3, and the performance boost over Windows 7. Are we sure we're developing for the right platform? I mean games on Linux theoretically would run a lot better.To bad Microsoft has a Monopoly on DX architecture.Reply