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Windows 7 vs Ubuntu 9.10

Tarandeep Singh

I love Windows 7 but I can’t give up by favorite Linux OSeither. So, I finally decided to do a Performance Benchmark Showdown to decide who gets to rule on my PC. Probably, everyone knows what’s new in both of them.

I’ve thought long and hard about usage comparison, Windows proves out to be higher on ease of use. On the other side I have years of Windows experience and a lot less with Ubuntu but I still can work with both without any trouble.

Software:

Windows 7

Bunded software is poor, however, lots of free software are available. But most professional (and popular ones) have to be bought at a cost. (Check Windows 7 review for details)

Ubuntu 9.10

Comes complete with an excellent array of software that you will use in day-to-day life. Access to, and installing, new software is a snap using synaptics package manager and my favorite. In fact this is the same technology that is used on Jailbroken iPhones Cydiaapp, so you know how easy it is. However, on the bad side, if you are a windows user willing to migrate, you can run most windows apps but not all using Wine.

Media Support

Both Platforms have good support for Media Formats and more codecs can be added with Ease. Playing FullHD 1080p content on both gives smooth 30fps.

Hardware support

Windows 7

On the whole, Windows 7 offers excellent support for modern hardware right out of the box. You might be out of luck with old hardware

Ubuntu 9.10

Overall, hardware support is good, and getting better. On really low-end hardware you can substitute Ubuntu for Xubuntu. There are no guarantees. Newer hardware may find incompatibilities.

No matter what we try to compare, everything on both platforms, they are more or less equal. So what could be the distinguishing point? It’s Performance and that’s what we talk about in detail.

Test System

My new Sony VAIO CW16 Notebook:

Hardware:

This is a great gaming notebook on budget, ideal for Desktop use.

Results:

1. Basic Tests- Winner: Ubuntu 9.1

  1. Installation Time (Trivial)
  2. Diskspace Used
  3. Boot Time
  4. Shutdown time

2. I/O Performance Tests – Winner: Ubuntu

  1. File Copy from External Drive to Internal 1GB in Size
  2. Bulk File copy each 10kb in size
  3. 1GB File Transfer average speed over Ethernet Network 100Mbps

3. Gaming Performance, Winner: Windows 7

Basic Tests Windows 7 Ubuntu 9.10 Installation Time (minutes) 35 24 Diskspace Used (GB) 7.9 2.4 Boot time (seconds) 45 32 Shutdown Time (seconds) 9 7 I/O (MB/s) File Copy (1GB size) 28.2 31.3 Bulk File Copy (10kb size) 5.6 5.1 Network Transfer (1GB) via 100mbps 10.7 9.2 Gaming (fps) 1280×720 UT (FPS) 165 110 Call of Duty 4 (FPS) 135 92 NFS Most Wanted (FPS) 141 95 Idle RAM Usage (MB) 120 300

Update: Compared Native Unreal Tournament  on Ubuntu to the one using Wine, FPS increased by 6-7%, the difference between Win7 & Ubuntu is still significant. Since other games are not available natively, we’ve to compare via Wine.

Clearly, except for Gaming and Networking performance, Win7 loses everywhere. There is a huge difference in frames per second (FPS) you get on Windows 7 because of Direct X 11.

Inside DirectX 11 – The Technology in Detail

Direct X11 is Microsoft proprietary and much more mature than any other graphics acceleration standard. Hence, Gaming on Windows will always be superior.

VERDICT:

All said and done, if you need performance, Ubuntu is for you. If you are looking on Gaming, and a default good Look and feel, you have no other choice than Windows.

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