Say what you will about Apple. About how great and solid the OS is, about how awesome everything they do makes you feel. Whatever. I have a MacBook Pro 13" and feel more than a little frustrated at the big A right now. Where to begin?
The main reason I bit the bullet and went Mac was that I was assured I'd be able to run Windows on Boot Camp just as if it were a Windows Machine. In fact, I was told at the Apple Store, the MacBook Pro was a better Windows Machine than most actual Windows Machines. How quaint a thought.
in actuality, Windows just doesn't work very well on a Macintosh. Oh, you're able to install the OS on a drive partition, a process that's actually fairly straightforward and simple. Inserting the OS X install disc, once booted up in Windows, will install all the Apple drivers needed for the machine to function. And this, in my experience, is where the Apple turns sour.
A little background. At the office, I manage five computers of varying age and running various flavors of Microsoft's OS. The main two art computers run Vista, the secondary office computers are Windows XP, and the brain of the embroidery machine is a Windows 98 system. High tech, I know. At home, my wife and I have only ever had Windows notebooks. All this to say, I have extensive experience with Windows in all its forms and know, for good and bad, exactly how it should run. And I've got to say, it runs great more often than not.
Not so running Vista or Windows 7 on the MacBook Pro. I've tried using them both and have been completely let down.
Spare me the jokes and jabs about Vista. It's a great operating system. WIndows 7 takes it a step further, adding a fine polish to an already great system. But here's the deal. I have had to format and reinstall both Vista and 7 no less than three times EACH on this expensive hunk of Apple core. Crashes, freezes, constant disc checking at startup. And finally, in the most extreme case yet, total system failure. No operating system found. Lovely.
All the while, the OS X side of my Mac continues to run quite well, smiling smugly at poor unfortunate Windows. All of my other Windows computers work fine. Very rare crashes and certainly never any system failure errors. Where am I going with this?
Drivers.
These magic little bits of code are what makes, say, a keyboard or a webcam work properly within an operating system. Typically, whatever company that makes the hardware will release the drivers to make the hardware work with the OS. So what company is it that makes the drivers for, say, a Macintosh, that would allow Windows to run properly on said system?
Why, Apple of course. And now we get to the conspiracy theory portion of my post. Why in the world would "Windows-sucks-get-a-Mac-we-run-perfectly-without-any-crashes-or-viruses" Apple want Windows to run smoothly? They wouldn't. They figure if people decide to run Windows on a Mac, the experience should only solidify the stance they've taken that Windows is a glitchy, malfunctioning, hunk-of-junk. And that is exactly what they deliver when Windows is installed using Apple drivers.
It just doesn't work. Volume on the Windows side is half of what it is in OS X. The processor gets up to about 96-100 degrees when in Windows, while in OS X it stays around a cool 60-78 degrees. Battery life is abysmal while in Windows but superb in OS X. The trackpad is jittery and far too sensitive in Windows, but smooth as glass in OS X. See how much better Mac is? The thing is, none of this is Microsoft's fault. The drivers that should make all this Mac hardware work with Windows are MADE BY APPLE.
OK, calm down, Chris.
So that's my conspiracy theory for the day. Apple could release newer and better drivers to make Windows work more smoothly on their hardware, but they won't They don't want Windows to run smoothly, and why would they? Just don't push it as a selling point if you're not going to get behind it and make it work right.
