Snow Leopard brings great news for Windows 7

By Dong Ngo on 04 September 2009

Every time I see the "I'm a Mac/I'm a PC" ads on TV, I can't help but wonder, "why not both?" And it has never been a better time for that. Overall, personally, I found that while the new Mac OS doesn't warrant a "wow", it's still definitely worth the AU$39 upgrade price.

OS X 10.6 includes Boot Camp 3.0, a new collection of software drivers that make Windows run much better on Mac hardware.(Screenshot by Dong Ngo/CNET)

Snow Leopard offers an even more streamlined Mac experience than Leopard and noticeably faster interface responsiveness. The application performance, however, is slightly slower than it is with Leopard, at least on the MacBook Pro we used as our test machine. As the OS is now a pure 64-bit operating system, expect the application performance to improve over Leopard as you add RAM or use it with a high-end desktop.

Mac users can read more about Snow Leopard in my colleague Jason Parker's full review. On the other hand, for Windows users, especially Windows 7, the release of Snow Leopard is straight-on great news.

Boot Camp 3.0 enables Windows to read files from OS X's partition.(Screenshot by Dong Ngo/CNET)

I recently blogged about running Windows 7 on a 15-inch Unibody MacBook Pro, which required some tweaking with Boot Camp 2.1. Snow Leopard comes with Boot Camp 3.0, which makes installing and running Windows on a laptop a much more pleasant experience.

First of all, the new Boot Camp includes all the drivers necessary to run both the 32- and 64-bit versions of Windows 7 smoothly on the Mac hardware.

(Note that you only need to run the Boot Camp Assistant, BCA, if you want to dual-boot OS X and Windows on the same machine. The utility will then create a new partition for the installation of Windows. In this case, make sure you run the BCA first when the computer boots up to avoid file errors. If you want to run just Windows and skip OS X altogether, you can boot from the Windows 7 install DVD and start the installation the way you would install the OS on any PC from scratch.) After the installation is done, Boot Camp 3.0 can be installed from the Snow Leopard DVD. Then, without further ado, you got yourself a great Windows computer.

The second really nice thing about Boot Camp 3.0 is the fact that it includes a software driver to make Windows able to read the Mac partition (somewhat like MacDrive minus the ability to write). This means that when you dual-boot OS X and Windows, Windows now can browse and read files that reside on OS X's partition without any extra software install.

The last major improvement of Boot Camp 3.0 that I am very happy about is the battery life. Windows 7 now has much improved battery life compared with what it had with Boot Camp 2.1. I haven't tried Windows Vista or Windows XP, but Windows 7 now has about the same battery life as Snow Leopard.

Other little things have also been improved. The double-tab right-click works right away and the multitouch pad is now less sensitive (though still a little too sensitive). With Boot Camp 2.1, it was so sensitive you just couldn't use the "tab to click" feature because of the extremely high risk of making accidental clicks. The sound and video chat are also much more stable now than before.

Apart from Boot Camp 3.0, Snow Leopard comes with tools that make a PC become part of a MacBook Air.(Screenshot by Dong Ngo/CNET)

If you want to nitpick, there are two little odd things Windows users will find on Mac hardware. First, the MacBook's keyboard doesn't have two separate Backspace and Delete keys, which come in handy when you want to remove text. Second, the Boot Camp control panel doesn't include an option to change the sensitivity of the multi-touch pad and there's no separate "tab to click" options for the right- and left-clicks, either.

Other than Boot Camp 3.0, Snow Leopard comes with two other tools that make a Windows computer work better with a MacBook Air. The first is called Remote Install Mac OS X and it allows for installing the new OS remotely onto a MacBook Air. The other is the DVD or CD sharing that allows the MacBook Air, which doesn't come with an optical drive, to use the PC's DVD or CD drive as one of its own.

Overall, I have to say Boot Camp 3.0 takes the Windows experience to a new high on Mac hardware. To me, this is about as exciting as the release of Windows 7 itself.

So there you go, Windows fanboys, don't say Apple never does anything for you. And Apple fanboys: the truth is that inside every new Mac there's a PC just waiting to jump out.

Topics: windows 7, Snow Leopard, osx, mac, bootcamp, boot camp, leopard, snow, window, 3.0

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Comments (16)

  • Unnamed. commented on 12/11/2009 18:40 Report abuse

    Does it matter?

    You may think it's **** because you don't like it, people say the same thing with another OS, just get over it, no OS is perfect, I've seen the ups and downs of Mac, Linux, and Windows.

    But to be honnest I like PCs better.

    BUT GET OVER IT!

  • keys commented on 03/11/2009 02:04 Report abuse

    You know now that Mac use the intel chips you can also install os x on a PC machine. I dual boot my Dell laptop with windows and OS X. most of the time I still use windows. It's much more versatile. Mac is great for users who are comfortable with what they see on screen, without getting to the guts of the system. Me - I like to get my hands dirty so it's windows all the way. It's so much easier to customise.

  • Alanonfire commented on 31/10/2009 19:24 Report abuse

    Well, I was googling for peeping tom photos when this blog came up. I dunno why.

    However, I would like to point out that the ability to run a large number of applications doesn't make an operating system good.

    I will only support Apple in this one sentence, "at least they were smart enough to 'go Unix'."

    The windows command line application is horrible. The command line commands are horrible. The command line in windows is to terminal emulation what the US standard is to the measurement system.

    But I guess only people who have to work with that kind of thing actually care about that.

  • martinng commented on 28/10/2009 23:32 Report abuse

    "Kris commented on 05/09/2009 21:25 Report abuse

    What!!!!!!!! Macs don't have a "Delete" key? I was planning to buy my first Mac - Macbook Air. Now I am sad :(

    Please let me know of other keys Mac is missing"
    u mean there is no back space mac has a delete KEY!you know it replaces the backspace

  • Benny commented on 06/09/2009 20:05 Report abuse

    @Greg, that was my point. I don't "feel smart" when using any computer, Mac or PC, nor do I feel dumb. I just want to get my work done with as little fuss as possible. My comment was directed at "Yawn…." who seems to think that choosing one operating system over the other is a reflection of somebody's intelligence. I don't have a problem with people who want to tweak their OS to their needs, however your ability to do so doesn't make you smart. Though it can certainly be seen as a waste of time.

  • Tim commented on 06/09/2009 17:31 Report abuse

    Care to play a game of "Spot the Fanboy?". I'll give you three guesses... ;)

    It's a pointless argument - The whole "Mac is better than PC!!!@"..."No way!! PC FTW!!!". Some people really need to get over it. When it devolves down to the level of name calling...Well...That's doing wonders for your cause. *rolls eyes*

    The truth is that now that Macs finally use Intel platforms, they are much of a muchness in terms of comparing them with PCs...Personal preference now weighs far more on the purchase than anything else.

    If you want a well build computer with all the hype and fashionable brand recognition that is (generally) rock solid, go with a Mac. And bring your cheque book.

    If you are not as concerned with owning the "in" brands and want the flexibility to run virtually any app you want, play games and have a massive array of choice on what to buy, go PC.

    If you want a rock solid system that can play games, has that fashionable brand recognition and want to play games and money is no problem for you, go buy a Mac Pro, go buy Windows 7 and dual boot the thing.

  • viclava commented on 06/09/2009 16:55 Report abuse

    @Kris - the mac keyboards also lack separate home/end and page up/down keys. Instead you have to hold down Fn and press the arrow keys. I recently got a macbook and found it pretty annoying (along with the combined delete/backspace key). I find them all really useful when typing - can't understand why apple leaves them out, there's plenty of space for them.

  • AaronW commented on 05/09/2009 23:25 Report abuse

    So many issues with Adobe still :(

    Windows is the Premier Platform for the Adobe suite by the looks. At least Microsoft retain proper backwards capability.

  • Kris commented on 05/09/2009 21:25 Report abuse

    What!!!!!!!! Macs don't have a "Delete" key? I was planning to buy my first Mac - Macbook Air. Now I am sad :(

    Please let me know of other keys Mac is missing

  • Savvy User commented on 05/09/2009 17:33 Report abuse

    Why on earth would you want to infect a fantastic Mac with a crap Windows operating system? If you want a crap OS then pay very little for the accompanying machine. If you want the best OS then pay the respective price for its machine. Keep it simple and separate.
    Let the Microserfs do their pathetic thing on their rubbish!
    For the savvy users they know what's best.

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