Today’s post will concentrate on Windows 7 and the HP Pavilion dv6-1143tx, because that’s what I felt like writing about the most today. It’s been a revealing experience – Windows 7 is actually much better than I assumed it would be and the HP laptop, well, it backed up my reasons for spending that few hundred dollars more on a MacBook Pro. It’s another really long post, so settle in, get comfy and read what this geek thinks of Windows 7 and the HP Pavilion dv6-1143tx laptop.

Things I Like About Windows 7

Snazzy Window Sizing
There’s a nice shortcut where you can pull the top or bottom of a window to the top or bottom of the screen and it will automatically maximise the height of the window, but leave the width alone. It’s great for making sure the web browser uses the full height of the screen, but leaves the window thin enough so you don’t have huge long sentences of text.

Google Chrome
By far my most favourite thing about Windows is Google Chrome – Google’s modern, standards based web browser, that isn’t available on the Mac yet. It is goddamn fast. Pages from Australian websites load virtually instantly, Javascript heavy pages load incredibly quick too. The Google sites (Gmail, Reader, Calendar, Docs etc), which I use heavily, are as responsive as native apps. This really has nothing to do with Windows, as it’s all Google’s special-sauce, but the browser is so responsive and quick, I’m going to miss it when I return to cludgy old Safari.

Flash video that doesn’t hog the CPU
This is one of my biggest whinges with OS X – Adobe’s lack of support for the Mac when it comes to Flash. The Mac OS X Flash client is unoptimised and as a consequence, slow as buggery. When watching a regular video on YouTube, CPU usage steadies at around 90%. On Windows, with a HD video, only 30-50% cpu utilisation.

Windows 7 is Quite Minimal
I am surprised at how, unbloated Windows 7 is. The interface is clean and I didn’t have to fiddle around with the default options to make the OS tolerable. Out of the box it was configured pretty much how I like it. I disabled UAC (that thing that asks you “DO YOU WANT TO CONTINUE?” after every operation) and that’s about it. Very unlike a Microsoft product.

The Windows 3rd Party App Environment
There’s just so many freakin’ apps for Windows. Chances are, if you have a need, someone else has made an app to deal with it. It’s a smorgasboard of utilities and niche products. It also means that el cheapo piece of hardware you picked up from Aldi or the Reject Shop will work too – everything has a Windows driver. The app might not be too crash hot, but it will be there. Choice is always nice.

The New Dock-Like Taskbar
The traditional Windows taskbar, a constant for over 15 years in Windows, has been banished. The Windows 7 taskbar is a mix of the OS X dock and the taskbar you knew and loved in Windows. An icon representing the application that has been launched resides on the taskbar. When clicked, if there’s multiple windows open that correspond with that app (so multiple browser windows, or a couple of notepad files), it brings up thumbnails of the open windows and then you can select the window you want to open. I probably didn’t explain it too well, but it beats having a dozen tiny items in your taskbar that all relate to the same app, that’s for sure. You can also pin stuff to the task bar, which makes it reside there permanently, like a shortcut or when you drag an item from your apps folder, to the dock in OS X.

Quick Ways to Get to the Desktop
I use my desktop as a dumping ground for all the stuff I’m working on, so I like to have quick access to it. In OS X I have an Expose hot corner to get me to the desktop, but Expose doesn’t really “hide” everything, it just shoves it all to the side and obscures the edges with the shadows of the apps pushed aside. In Windows 7, I can press Windows Key + D to hide everything and show me the desktop, then press it again to bring everything back. I can also press the side of the taskbar and it will do the same. I can even Alt + Tab to get to the desktop, as it’s one of the “apps” in the menu.

Windows search is faster than spotlight and more accurate.
Spotlight has more features (math, um, I think that’s it), but the Windows search is significantly faster and seems to provide more accurate results. I use it the same way I use Spotlight (as an app launcher and to find documents I need to work on) and it doesn’t hang up or get stuck as often. I don’t know if it’s simply because I’ve had OS X installed for close to a year and it’s all gunked up, but Windows search worked way better than I expected it to.

Setting of Default Programs
There’s an actual setting in the Control Panel where all the apps you’ve got installed are listed and you can select what type of files they open and if they should be the OS default for when other apps act on it (e.g: default browser). It’s more straightforward than OS X’s method of going to each file type individually and selecting “Open With”.

Windows Live Messenger
I still maintain relationships with a couple of people that don’t appreciate Mac OS X and stick with Windows for their computing needs. They often bug me on MSN to play games or send me drawings or ask me to audio chat with them, forgetting that none of this stuff works in the Mac version of Windows Live. It’s a shame, as all that stuff is actually quite fun and even useful. I can understand why people like it – there’s dozens of free games to play with your friends, photo swapping and even watch videos off MSN video together. There’s also drawing. That’s kinda handy. The Windows Live Messenger UI is goddamn bloated and it has ads, but it’s feature set is great and easy to use and that impressed me. It would be cool if Apple added more “fun” stuff to iChat.

Things I Dislike About Windows 7

Crapola & Too Many 3rd Party Apps
The calibre of 3rd party (i.e: non Microsoft) apps is atrocious. There’s little pride in the way the apps are made. Maybe it’s because Windows users are used to garbage, but on OS X, the third party apps are wonderful. There’s a larger selection of programs on Windows and you’ll certainly be able to find an app for your task, but it will lack the polish and the refinement of its OS X equivalent. It’s also quite difficult to judge an apps usefulness or even it’s stability – on OS X, you’re quite safe to assume that the majority of apps are going to be of a decent quality. On Windows however, a decent app is the variant. Junk freeware or crippled shareware apps are the norm. I really do miss apps lke Feeder, Tweetie, Transmit, The Hit List, Fission, Audio Hijack and heaps of other Mac apps I don’t use that often, but when I do use them, I am grateful they exist. If there’s one thing I’ve missed the most, it’s the high quality 3rd party apps of the Mac. I love you Panic, Rogue Amoeba and iSlayer!

Poor Scroll Wheel Implementation
On OS X, you can put your mouse arrow over a window area and scroll, even if the area or window isn’t selected. On Windows, you gotta have the window selected. Even then, you may have to click in the area that you want to scroll in, so Windows knows where the focus should be. I found that annoying.

The System Tray Area & Notifications
The menu bar across the top of the screen on OS X is so much more informative and reliable. You can put text up there, display notifications, have graphs and more. The system tray on Windows doesn’t really do anything and the icons are too small. It’s a poor way to monitor/notify. Same deal with the taskbar – the Mac OS X dock can display notifications (like unread mail, a progress bar, etc.), but all the Windows taskbar does is blink orange.

Lack of UI Standardisation
Many 3rd party apps like to play by their own rules. There’s no “suggested” way an app’s UI elements should behave. Take for example things like preference panes. On OS X, you know you’re going to get (most of the time, depends on the app, but we’ll assume a well made Cocoa app) will have a similar layout to each other. On Windows, it could look like any old thing. Ditto Inspectors & HUDs – in OS X they will look the same. Windows, it’s a crap shoot.

It’s also a guessing game as to where menu bars are in various apps. In OS X, you know where it is, up to the top of the screen. In Windows, particularly Vista & 7 – it could be anywhere around the top area of the app. If you look at Microsoft’s apps, the location of the menu bar is different in each one. When I use these apps, I have to go hunting for basic functions like Save and Options, because they’re different in each app.

No System-Wide Spelling System
In OS X, every app has  a spell-check facility when you’re typing in stuff. Your IM client, your text editor, your browser, your Twitter client – they all have it due to OS X’s spelling API developers can hook into. With Windows apps however, it’s up to the developer to implement spelling checking within the app itself. Many developers just don’t bother as it’s not an easy task. Some make up their own and they suck as they all use a different dictionary, or have a different UI and are poorly implemented. I liked having spell-check everywhere as it made me look smarter than I actually am, by fixing my careless typos and i-before-e rule type stuff.

No Keyboard Shortcut to Toggle an Application’s Windows
Scenario: I have 4 notepad documents open. I want to toggle between these documents with a keyboard shortcut. How do I do it? From my trial and error and brief research (which consisted of asking on Twitter), it can’t be done. In OS X, “Cmd+`” will always rotate through the windows of that particular app.

No Quicklook
I never realised how often I used Quicklook. There’s probably some app that can do it on Windows, but I haven’t found it! I would often use Quicklook to peer inside a text file, quickly check what a video file contains, pop inside a PDF or text file and with add-ons, sneek a peak inside an archive and all sorts of files. Win 7 has a preview bar/pane in the Explorer, but it’s not the same and not as useful.

Universal Access Control (UAC)
This is the thing that proclaims “OMG YOUR COMPUTER IS AT RISK” whenever you launch an app, change an option or click anything with a little shield next to it. That became real boring, real quick. Luckily, it can be disabled easily. I turned it off and now I am interruption free. I’m a smart enough user not to need this.

iLife – There is None
The tasks you use iLife for are not that hard to replicate on Windows. There are apps to edit movies, there are apps to create music, apps to create websites and you certainly can edit photos, but they all lack the class and ease of use of the iLife apps. Picasa comes close for photo editing, but for all the other areas, Apple is light years ahead at that consumer/prosumer level. There’s no integration between the apps either, which you don’t realise you miss until it’s gone. iLife may come for free with your Mac, but don’t take them for granted – they’re powerful, easy to use tools that just can’t be replicated (and never will – they’re Apple’s crown jewels IMHO) on Windows.

Dragging and Dropping to the Dock
I miss being able to drag a file onto a dock icon and having it open or process with it. A simple thing, but I miss it.

Screenshots
In OS X, screenshots are a piece of cake. Press the keystroke, select the area and away you go – the files are dumped to the desktop. Windows however, still relies on that pesky “print screen” key, which copies it to the clipboard and then you have to paste it somewhere. There are screenshot apps out there (and even Grabup), but having it built in to the OS is much nicer.

Time Machine
There’s no Time Machine here people. You have to do your own backups! There are apps like Mozy which can back up files to the net, but there’s nothing with the ease of use and peace of mind that Time Machine gives you. There’s no SuperDuper or Carbon Copy Cloner either. Windows does have a built in Backup app, and file sync app, but again, nothing with the plug and play and overall completeness of Time Machine.

Browser & Screen Font Rendering
When you read a lot of text, you want it to look nice. I can clearly tell the difference between Chrome/IE’s/Firefox’s font rendering of web pages and damn, it makes me appreciate Safari. It’s probably just personal preference, but I find Safari’s text just nicer to look at. Same deal for the OS at large. Windows 7 isn’t horrible or anything, but Mac OS X’s fonts just look nicer. I can’t explain it as I’m not a design/type nerd, but I know what I like and I like the way OS X renders its text.

Now there are many things Mac OS X does better than Windows 7 and vice-versa. I’m not taking advantage of either OS and it’s features. I’m sure Windows 7 has lots more up it’s sleeve than I know about. Ditto Mac OS X – I know I don’t use all the things in Mac OS X like I should because I’m too lazy to seek it out. The aim of this experiment isn’t to choose a winner, or declare Mac OS X THE BEST OS EVAR SCREW YOU MICRO$OFT! It’s to see what Windows is, how it works, what it does and what it does differently. Everyone’s computer use is different, so you need to make up your own mind as to whether Windows 7 or Mac OS X is for you. It’s great to have competition and choice. Windows 7 is way better than I expected and very competent. And just because I know people ask, here are the apps I am using on Windows and the OS X apps I would have used instead:

• Skitch – Skitch (Cris gave me a Windows beta as he took pity on me)
• Safari – Google Chrome
• Tweetie – Destroy Twitter
• Adium – Pidgin (Adium is built on the pidgin engine)
• Textmate – E (it’s actually a Textmate clone for Windows)
• iTunes – Foobar2000, Juice (for podcatching)
• Transmit – WinSCP, Filezilla & Couldberry Pro (couldn’t find one app to do it all)
• Garageband – Adobe Soundbooth (very different in scope, but they both edit audio)
• iPhoto – Picasa
• iCal – Google Calendar
• Address Book – Gmail
• Dropbox – Dropbox
• VLC – VLC
• Feeder – RSS Builder
• iWork – Microsoft Office
• Transmission – uTorrent
• Handbrake & RipIt – Handbrake & DVD Decrypter
• The Hit List – Google Tasks
• Preview – Adobe Acrobat & Irfanview
• Levelator – Levelator
• Net News Wire – Google Reader
• Unison – Newsleecher

For 90% of the apps I need to use this week, I was able to find a suitable replacement. Except for creating Enhanced AAC podcast. There’s just one really poor app that can do it and it needs iTunes & QuickTime to work. It looks like you will have to go without an enhanced AAC version of the podcasts this week guys.

Now onto the hardware I’m running Windows 7 on, the HP Pavilion dv6-1143tx

Things I Like About the HP Pavilion dv6-1143tx

It’s Cheap
The RRP is $2,299, but you can get this for $1,999 easy at any big box store (Harvey Norman, JB Hi-FI, etc). A refurb MacBook Pro, which is roughly the same spec, is $2,699 or $3,199 for a new one. Both have a 12 month warranty. To extend the HP’s warranty to 3 years, it is only $229 – the MacBook Pro, $450 from a bargaining reseller, or $579 RRP. Obviously, the HP is cheaper. $700 (refurb MBP vs. new HP) is a fair chunk of cash for a lot of people, for all intents and purposes, is a computer with the same or better specs. The HP even has a TV tuner, card reader, eSATA, larger HDD and more RAM, so to spec the MBP up to the same, would make the price gap even more significant.

Ports Galore
The Pavilion is loaded with 3x USB ports, an eSATA port, a card reader, HDMI & VGA, a 56k modem (lol, but still it’s there), dual headphone sockets (for if you wanna share) and a HD digital TV tuner. The modem I won’t use, but HDMI is a nice touch, as is eSATA. The card reader is kinda slow, but again, it’s handy and I have been using it often to transfer pictures across. The built in TV tuner is very interesting – it’s essentially, what an Elgato EyeTV does, but without it sticking out of a USB port. There’s a micro antenna socket on the side and an adaptor to a full size plug is included in the box. HP even sell a docking station for this laptop, something Apple lacks entirely and something actually quite important for those with strict OH&S rules in their workplace.

Doesn’t Burn Your Lap
Due to the aluminum case, the MacBook Pro gets kinda warm, hot even. The HP is plastic and doesn’t get too hot to touch at any stage. It has more vents and the fans spin up more, but my manhood is safe.

Webcam With Built in LED
It’s not unusual to want to fire up the webcam late at night, or in a poorly lit room and do a video chat with someone. HP have included a really bright LED that sits next to the camera in the top of the screen and acts as a light, that makes the immediate area (your face) brighter and more visible on the other end. I thought it’s a great little feature and it does make a sizable difference in a poorly lit room. You can’t use it as a torch to see around the room or anything, but it does well making your face brighter.

Things I Dislike About the HP Pavilion dv6-1143tx

Feels Flimsy & Looks Cheap
Pick up a unibody MacBook Pro. Then pick this up. The difference is amazing. It’s not as weak as some other laptops I’ve used in the past, but it’s not exactly durable or strong either. The whole thing is glossy black plastic that makes it look and feel and cheap. The pattern on the lid is nothing to write home about and ugh, those stickers!

Awful Trackpad
My god, is it bad. Maybe I’ve been spoilt by Apple’s trackpads, but the glossy plastic one on this HP is intolerable. There is no glide at all. Your finger just sticks to the glossyness. Did anyone at HP even use the trackpad before selling this computer? Maybe it’s a ploy to sell extra mice, but that doesn’t excuse the apalling quality of this trackpad. The side scroll feature is half baked as well – you need to be really accurate with where you place your finger – otherwise, no scrolling occurs. Also make sure you don’t tap the side by accident, otherwise it will scroll when you don’t want it to. There’s also no multi-touch gestures on this trackpage. No two finger scrolling, no three finger wipe to go back and forward in your browser. Once you’ve used them, you’d be surprised how much often you use it and then become disappointed when nothing happens.

Horrible Screen
I’m no colour Nazi and my general experience with displays is very low-end. I’ve been content with the crappy displays I’ve owned over the years, but the display on this laptop is far too washed out. There’s bugger all contrast. It’s also insanely bright. It looks disgusting. It is the worst thing about the machine. There’s also the issue of the screen resolution. It is quite low for a 16″ screen – 1366 x 768, which is great to watch HD content on, but not that comfortable for computing. If they could have bumped it up to 1440×900 or 1680×1050, it would be a much better experience.

Average Power Adaptor
There’s a saying around the Apple scene, that if you can appreciate a well designed power adaptor, you’ll love Apple gear. Well I appreciate a well designed power adaptor. The included HP one is pretty run of the mill for PC laptops, but I don’t like how it has a clover leaf power cable – why can’t it just be a regular kettle cord? I’ve got dozens of those, so if I lose the one that comes with it, I can replace it super easy. it’s also not as compact or easy to store like an Apple one, so it takes up more space in your bag. There’s no Magsafe either. Which when you’ve tripped over a cable, you’ll wish you had.

Thick & Heavy
The Pavilion isn’t huge, but it’s not as svelte as a MacBook Pro. It’s also a little heavy. I could certainly feel it a bit more in my backpack than the MacBook Pro I usually tote.

Pathetic Keyboard
First of all, the keyboard isn’t in the middle of the laptop due to the full size numpad. It’s a little disorientating not to be seated in the middle of the screen when typing, particularly with the poor viewing angle of the LCD. The keys are glossy. My fingers slide right across them, there’s no texture. They’re also very spongy and have poor rebound.

Fan Runs Constantly
The fan is always on, or at least is always audible. The MacBoook Pro isn’t as loud. The HP isn’t blaring and causing a ruckus, but it’s noticeable. The MBP can be almost silent most of the time unless you’re hammering it hard.

So while the HP is much cheaper, has better specs, a built in card reader, HDMI and digital TV, loads more ports and a snazzy webcam, it has some real livability faults. The LCD is rubbish and even a layman can tell it looks awful, it’s that poor. The trackpad is virtually useless with it’s total lack of glide. If the screen was slightly higher quality and the trackpad not so crappy, it would be a vastly better experience. I’m actually confused as to why HP sent me this laptop to replace the MBP. The MBP retails for $3,199 – you’d think they’d send something a bit more upmarket.

I will save final judgement on these products for the last day, but Windows 7 was a surprise and is quite usable. The HP laptop however, was a bit of a fizzer. I’m sure there’s better laptops on the market than this, well, I hope there is, otherwise our PC using cousins just don’t know what they’re missing out on with a MacBook.