Feature |
Mac OSX
Tiger/Leopard
VS
MS Windows
Vista |
Company |
Apple |
Microsoft |
Logo |
|
|
Platforms |
Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard |
Vista Home Basic
Vista Home
Premium
Vista Business
Vista Ultimate |
ITComparison Team Comments
-: Mac OSX Tiger/Leopard vs MS Windows Vista :- |
Mac OS X
10.5 Leopard:
One package
with all the features
Vista:
Product
available in four versions each with its own specific features which can
be confusing for a first time user |
Virtual Desktops |
Yes |
No |
ITComparison Team Comments
-: Mac OSX Tiger/Leopard vs MS Windows Vista :- |
Mac OS X
10.5 Leopard:
With the
help of Virtual Desktops (called Spaces) of Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard you can
have one desktop open for work and another for gaming and still another
one for multimedia, all at the same time, without having to work on one
cluttered desktop.
To see Mac Virtual Desktops (Spaces) click here
Vista:
Not
applicable |
Touch screen |
No |
Yes |
ITComparison Team Comments
-: Mac OSX Tiger/Leopard vs MS Windows Vista :- |
Mac OS X
10.5 Leopard:
Third party
applications needed to enable touch screen.
Vista:
Navigation Use is integrated |
Built-in Security
Anti-Virus
Encrypted, Signed Email
Email Filtering
Smart Card Supported
Firewall
Parental Controls
Data Safety
Default Security
Permanent Deletion |
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
|
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No, require third party |
ITComparison Team Comments
-: Mac OSX Tiger/Leopard vs MS Windows Vista :- |
Firewall:
Mac OS X
10.5 Leopard:
Firewall
not turned on by default, but when its turned on its quite efficient
Vista:
Firewall turned on by
default, but not that sufficient a third party firewall app is highly
recommended.
Data Safety - Shares:
Mac OS X
10.5 Leopard:
Shares are password protected
by default, which is a great life safer for the beginners.
Shares are turned off
by default.
Vista:
Shares require password
protection to be enabled (not enabled by default), a great hole most
newbie's fall in and make their data available to every one not just
hackers. When a data share is setup then your laptop/PC is hooked up
directly to the internet without enabling the password protection (b/c you
don't know or forgot to) your data will be open to the whole world. A
small scan on your ISP Range will show you how many of these Vista users
are there with the shares open to the public enjoy the surf :).
Some shares are enabled
by default!!!
Data Safety -
Data Protection:
Mac OS X
10.5 Leopard:
Automatic encryption of contents of home directory for data safety. A
great security major that windows still can't match.
Vista:
Allows Password-based
protection of data (not enabled by default). No encryption is done.
Security
Loopholes & Hacking:
Mac OS X
10.5 Leopard:
Mac is less prone to security loopholes and hacking. Comes with MacScan for internet security.
Although MacScan is not totally free its far better than the free Windows
Defender the come with Vista.
Vista:
Vista suffers quite more
security loopholes and hacking breach than Mac running out of the box. Comes with Windows Defender for internet security.
(Almost useless on its own third party is definitely a must)
Permanent
Deletion:
Mac OS X
10.5 Leopard:
Leopard offers Secure Erase
Trash which ensure files erased that way can't be reconstructed and
securely erased by writing over it erroneous data several times.
Vista:
Vista does not offer any similar feature by default,
but fee-based third party application are available.
|
Backup |
Time
Machine |
Backup & Restore Center.
Previous Version.
Shadow
Copy. |
ITComparison Team Comments
-: Mac OSX Tiger/Leopard vs MS Windows Vista :- |
Mac OS X
10.5 Leopard:
Time machine is quite easy
and fast to you. Its quite how backup should be.
Vista:
Vista with Backup & Restore,
Previous Version, and Shadow Copy combined usage can offer an almost
similar feature of Mac Time machine, but with the easy and efficiency time
machine offer.
|
Programs Inbuilt
|
Mail
iCal
iChat
Safari browser
iPhoto
iMovie
iLife
Sherlock
|
Windows Mail
Calendar
Messenger
IE 7 browser
Photo Gallery
Movie Maker
|
ITComparison Team Comments
-: Mac OSX Tiger/Leopard vs MS Windows Vista :- |
Mac OS X
10.5 Leopard:
More than
300 inbuilt programs according to Apple.
Sherlock allows
presentation of useful information without using web browser
Safari is a bit faster
and quite more secure than IE
Vista:
Number
of applications & features vary depending on the Vista versions. |
Command Line |
Very powerful shell, almost
as complete set of commands as Linux shell. |
Dos Command prompt. Not much
to offer. |
Programs for the disabled |
Speech-to-text commands
VoiceOver text-to-speech narration
Braille support |
Speech-to-text commands and dictation typing
Narrator text-to-speech narration
magnifier
onscreen keyboard |
ITComparison Team Comments |
Both Mac OS
X 10.5 Leopard & Vista offers Multiple
programs for use with any disability.
|
Business Tools |
Remote Desktop
Screen Sharing
iChat Theater
Apache
|
Remote Desktop
Windows Live
Meetings
Windows Live Messenger
IIS |
ITComparison Team Comments
-: Mac OSX Tiger/Leopard vs MS Windows Vista :- |
Mac OS X
10.5 Leopard:
Integrated
web server is Apache which is the most used web server on the web. Its as
well the most secure between the two.
Vista:
Integrated web server is IIS, which suffers a lot of security &
performance wholes. In the other hand, you can still install the lovely
Apache if you desire. |
Auto Updates |
Yes |
Yes |
ITComparison Team Comments
-: Mac OSX Tiger/Leopard vs MS Windows Vista :- |
Mac OS X
10.5 Leopard:
Available
out of the box.
Vista:
Registration required. Popup
gives options about downloading available updates.
|
Technical Support |
Yes |
Yes |
ITComparison Team Comments
-: Mac OSX Tiger/Leopard vs MS Windows Vista :- |
Mac OS X
10.5 Leopard:
Available
Vista:
Available
|
Hardware
Performance Tools |
No |
Yes |
ITComparison Team Comments
-: Mac OSX Tiger/Leopard vs MS Windows Vista :- |
Mac OS X
10.5 Leopard:
No inbuilt assessment tool
for optimizing hardware
Vista:
Inbuilt
hardware assessment tool for hardware optimization |
Computer
Accessories Sharing |
Yes |
Yes |
ITComparison Team Comments |
Mac OS X
10.5 Leopard & Vista offers
Sharing of computer
accessories like printer.
|
Bluetooth
Capability |
Yes |
Yes |
ITComparison Team Comments
-: Mac OSX Tiger/Leopard vs MS Windows Vista :- |
Mac OS X
10.5 Leopard:
Secure and easy
Vista:
Sometimes will not configure properly to the bluetooth even when compatible,
and less secure. |
TV |
Apple TV |
Windows
Media Center
Recording feature of TV
Shows |
ITComparison Team Comments
-: Mac OSX Tiger/Leopard vs MS Windows Vista :- |
Mac OS X
10.5 Leopard:
Leopard does not allow recording of TV shows
Vista:
VISTA
Recording feature for TV shows is only available in Premium & Ultimate |
Gaming
Gaming Network Support |
OpenGL supports 32-Bit and 64-Bit
No
|
Direct X10 APIs Supports 32-Bit & 64-Bit, Also support XBox 360
Yes |
ITComparison Team Comments
-: Mac OSX Tiger/Leopard vs MS Windows Vista :- |
Mac OS X
10.5 Leopard:
Gaming
Network Support Not
applicable
Vista:
Xbox Live |
Media |
QuickTime Player |
Windows Media Player |
ITComparison Team Comments |
Both Mac OS
X 10.5 Leopard & Vista offers a descent media player with the first one
offering a bit more secure player.
|
Parallelization |
Yes |
No |
ITComparison Team Comments
-: Mac OSX Tiger/Leopard vs MS Windows Vista :- |
Mac OS X
10.5 Leopard:
Boot Camp
(included with Intel Macs) allows 32-bit versions of Windows XP and Vista
applications to run.
Fusion or
Parallel 2.0 can be used to run Windows or Linux OS simultaneously.
Windows and Linux applications will run as Mac applications. One of the
main reason to consider Mac as you will still have all your Linux, Windows
apps running, but in addition you will get Mac apps.
Vista:
Can be used along side
many other OS in dual boot configuration. Leopard will not run on Vista |
System Requirements |
|
|
Processor |
Intel, PowerPC G5, or PowerPC G4 (867MHz or
faster) processor |
1 GHz 32-bit (x86) or
64-bit (x64) processor |
RAM |
512MB |
Vista Basic - 512MB
Home Premium / Business /
Ultimate - 1GB |
Disk Space |
9GB of available disk space |
Vista Basic -
20 GB
hard drive with at least 15 GB of available space
Home
Premium / Business / Ultimate -
40 GB hard drive with at
least 15 GB of available space |
ITComparison Team Comments
-: Mac OSX Tiger/Leopard vs MS Windows Vista :- |
Mac OS X
10.5 Leopard:
Lower
System Resources required compared to most of Vista Versions
Vista:
Apart
from the Vista Basic, the Home Premium / Business / Ultimate require a
higher amount of System requirements
|
Performance On equivalent hardware +
Stability |
Higher
|
Lower |
ITComparison Team Comments
-: Mac OSX Tiger/Leopard vs MS Windows Vista :- |
Mac OS X
10.5 Leopard:
Optimize the usage of
resource and perform quite well. Highly Stable
Vista:
Vista is a resources HOG and
will not operate well with less than 2 GB of ram. Can have few crashes
every now and then, It got better after few months with many patches being
released.
|
Pricing |
Leopard Price starts from US$110 at amazon.com |
Vista Price starts from US$150 at amazon.com
|
ITComparison Team Comments
-: Mac OSX Tiger/Leopard vs MS Windows Vista :- |
Mac OS X
10.5 Leopard:
Pricing
including all features
Vista:
Price
varies depending on the Vista Version
|