Ubuntu 10.10 Vs Windows 7 Vs Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard)

Posted on 26 May 2012 at 10:32

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The new Expert Reviews benchmarks, which can be downloaded for free, are designed to be run natively on Windows 7, Ubuntu 10.10 (a Linux distribution) and Mac OS X, so we decided to find out which operating system is the fastest.

We installed all three operating systems onto a 27in iMac with a 128GB SSD and a quad-core Intel Core i5-760 processor. The 64-bit versions of the operating systems were installed each time, and we used Bootcamp to load both Ubuntu and Windows 7 onto the iMac. All scores are recorded in seconds and normalised against a PC with an Intel Core i5-2500k processor running Windows 7. This PC scores 100 in each test.

Image Editing

Our image editing test uses the ImageMagick command-line Convert tool to change 24-bit TIFF files to PNG format. It runs with the auto-level, auto-gamma, antialias and contrast options, simulating common operations performed on image files.

As you can see from the graphs, Ubuntu 10.10 is the stand-out performer in this test. Its score of 102 is faster than our reference Core i5-2500K-based PC running Windows 7. We suspect that this performance is due to the fast ext4 file system that the OS uses. Windows 7 is the second fastest, with Mac OS X bringing up the rear in last place.

Video Editing

Our video editing test uses Handbrake to convert a 1080p, 50fps AVCHD video file to iPhone 4 format. This test is multi-threaded and the number of cores a processor has makes a big difference to the conversion speed.

In this test, the differences between the operating systems is smaller, as the processor speed is the real decider for this test. Even so, there are some differences. Ubuntu 10.10 is, once again, the fastest, but Windows 7 is a close second. Mac OS X comes in last again, a way behind the other two.

Multi-tasking

Our multi-tasking test runs the video and image-editing tests together, plus it uses Mplayer to play the AVCHD file at the same time.

Ubuntu 10.10 loses its lead here, dropping a fair way behind Windows 7 and Mac OS X, which produced the same score. The Linux distribution really struggled with this test and we suspect that less-mature AMD graphics drivers are to blame for the performance hit when playing our AVCHD test file.

Overall performance

All results are normalised against our reference Core i5-2500K PC, which scores 100 in all tests. Finally, we calculate an overall score by using a weighted average (3 for multi-tasking, 2 for video editing, 1 for image editing). This, surprisingly, compresses the results, giving Ubuntu 10.10 and Windows 7 the same overall score, while Mac OS X is just a couple of points slower.

Ubuntu is by far the fastest OS in our tests, until multi-tasking is brought into the picture, where it becomes a lot slower. Windows 7 isn't too far behind, but is better at multi-tasking; and the same goes for Mac OS X. In general, it appears that Mac OS X holds back some system resources, making the OS feel more responsive under heavy load, but reducing performance slightly for the rest of the time.

Author: David Ludlow

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User comments

Fantastic & Objective Review

This will objectively break the myth & misconceptions people have you get what you pay for. Sometimes, as in here, the best things are free. I use Windows & Ubuntu, but I like Ubuntu a lot more and use it most of the time. I wish more people come to know about this fantastic OS.

By Paul007 on 24 Mar 2011

From Mac OSX to Ubuntu

I have both Mac (Snow Leopard) and Ubuntu (10.10) both at work at home. I find myself using Ubuntu 90% of the time. I find Ubuntu superior in providing excellent development enviornment while Mac gives more refined multi-media/entertaining experience.

By interlee on 26 Mar 2011

Speed improvements in latest Ubuntu

I would be very interested to see the results if you were to re-do the test using Ubuntu 11.04. With the latest 2.6.28 kernel it is much faster at certain tasks - including multitasking.

By Jimmydoug on 27 Mar 2011

Include XP in the benchmarking!!!!!

I'm seriously thinking of upgrading from XP to Ubuntu, which I've dabbled with in the past. It would be very helpful to see XP included in benchmarking as so many people still use it. (I suppose there's a case for including Vista too!)

By JohnKemp on 28 Mar 2011

Ubuntu 11 testing coming

We'll be testing Ubuntu 11.04 vs Ubuntu 10.10 once there's a beta version, and we'll update for the final release.

By dcludlow on 28 Mar 2011

XP benchmarking

John, we'll look into this, but currently the benchmarks only work on Windows 7, OS X and Ubuntu.

By dcludlow on 28 Mar 2011

Bring on the wonder patch!

Jimmydoug is correct. It will be very interesting to see how Ubuntu does at the multi-tasking test after the eagerly anticipated "Linux wonder patch" goes in (Google it). It is meant to improve exactly this kind of thing by as much as 10 times.

By esqobar on 28 Mar 2011

Indeed 10.10 is better than Win 7

Mostly I used Windows OS, but not any more! This is the first time I am using any of the ubuntu OS and honestly, don't feel like using Windows any more. Also, I would like to add, installation of ubuntu is not only easy but it's much faster than any other (Win or Mac) OS, keeping in mind it also install drivers and S/Ws like office packages.

By abhishekn on 29 Mar 2011

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