The great netbook debate: Which OS is right for me?

Apple, PCs — By kurteng on May 27, 2009 at 1:20 pm

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been demoing different operating systems for my MSI Wind Netbook system. Back in January of this year, I brought you the exciting story of my first attempt to build a “Hackintosh” system on my netbook – something I immediately dubbed a “Macnet”. It was a successful build, and working around some of the glitches associated with running a hacked operating system on a computer that isn’t supposed to be running it (no webcam, work-arounds for wireless internet access, incomplete audio systems), the MacNet did everything I expected it to.

But two weeks ago, I heard about a new netbook-specific operating system being built by Intel and the Linux Foundation. “Moblin 2.0 Beta” became available for download last week, so I decided to give it a test run. And finally, the much anticipated release of Microsoft Windows 7 Release Candidate 1 gave me a third OS to try on my netbook system. (Thanks Gizmodo!)

What follows in this post is a recap of all three operating systems, broken down into six categories with up to five stars each: Ease of installation, Ease of use, Quality of Interface, Glitches, Cost, Overall Impressions.

Macintosh OS X Version 10.5:

Ease of Installation: If you know what you’re doing (or can follow somewhat vague directions), you should be OK on this. The installation requires some basic knowledge of the Macintosh Kernel and an idea of how to build a system off of a new image. I deducted points because the first two attempts at this install resulted in complete wipe-and-reload situations after Macintosh System Updates reduced my beautiful OS to a quivering pile of goo. Seems Apple doesn’t really like it when you use hacked versions of their software. Stars: 2 of 5

Ease of Use: The Macintosh OS has been called one of the easiest to use right out of the box. Once I got the necessary software for my everyday needs loaded on the system, not to mention an extra 1GB of RAM to make the OS run a little smoother, the operating system ran pretty well. I never experienced a legitimate crash, though the wireless drivers (direct from MSI) weren’t always stable. The system was a little bit slow, but I really only needed it to run basic office, web and photo editing applications, so it was sufficient for me. Stars: 3.5 of 5

Quality of Interface: Again, the Mac graphical user interface (GUI) is one of the easiest to use and understand. I’ve always liked using it, so this shouldn’t be much of a surprise. If you’re not used to the Mac interface, it may take a little time to get used to it, but if you’ve used it in the past it hasn’t changed much. Stars: 5 of 5

Glitches: There were a surprising amount of glitches when using the Mac OS, considering that Mac bills itself as the most stable operating system in the world. Of course, when you consider that the operating system had been modified to make it work on a computer it was never intended to run on, the glitches are understandable. The biggest problems I experienced were the stability of the wireless connection, battery life (under two hours on “High performance”, and anything less than high performance proved to be so slow as to be nearly unusable), and the occasional FireFox freeze-up, most likely attributed to the unstable network connection. I have no doubts that if I’d plugged the computer into a wall network jack I’d be OK, but that kind of defeats the purpose of a netbook. Other issues: Webcam inoperable and the Headphone/Microphone jacks were not usable, but my Bluetooth headphones connected without problem. Stars: 3 of 5 (with the understanding that the glitches are to be expected on a computer that isn’t supposed to be running this operating system)

Cost: Mac OS X is one of the cheaper operating systems on the market, with a license for version 10.5 (Leopard, the version I was using) going for somewhere around $100 – $125 on the web. Of course, if you’re running a Hackintosh system you aren’t likely to want to pay for your software (I already owned my Mac OS X license before starting this project), but legally, you’re supposed to. Just thought I’d throw it out there. Factor in the cost of additional software (again, assuming you pay for it) and the system I was running had about $1500 worth of expenses – operating system, Mac Office 2007, Adobe Creative Suite 2 for Mac. Though to be honest, the Adobe CS2 was a gift, so that takes about $1000 off my costs. Stars: 4 of 5

Overall Impressions: I built the system for three reasons. First, I wanted to see if I could do it (yup). Second, I wanted to see how it would work on a netbook, and to see if it was a viable option instead of dropping $2500 on a MacBook Pro system (eh, maybe). And finally, I was bored, so it was something to do on a weekend. Overall, I was happy with the system and it served my purposes, not to mention amped up my “geek cred” when I slapped a SkinIt customized skin on the cover to replace the MSI logo with a Mac logo. But in the end, I wiped the Mac OS off the box in favor of testing other operating systems – that’s never a good sign. When it’s all said and done, I’ll likely return to the Mac operating system, but not for awhile. Stars: 3.5 of 5

Total Score: 21 of 30 stars – Let’s call it a B-

Moblin 2.0 Beta:

Ease of Installation: The installation is probably the easiest thing I’ve ever been a part of. After downloading the image file from Moblin.org, I used ImgBurn to convert it to a CD for installation. Since not all netbooks have a CD drive, you may want to use a USB Flash Drive for installation which involves a few more in depth steps, but I have an external USB DVD Drive that I used for installation. The whole installation process took about thirty minutes, from the first boot to logged on and fully functional. Stars: 5 of 5 (4 of 5 if you try to use the USB Flash Drive boot method)

Ease of Use: It’s a Beta piece of software, something I was fully aware of going into the process. There’s still a lot of work to be done here, and if you’re not familiar with Linux (which I’m not), it’s going to look very, very different to you. However, after playing around with the options and settings, the Moblin operating system started to make some sense. It’s not as easy as a Mac, and it’s not as familiar as Windows, but it’s pretty good, nonetheless. Stars: 3 of 5 (Beta problems included. If it was a final release, this would likely be 4 or higher)

Quality of Interface: Again, it’s new and different from what I’ve been used to – it looks nothing like any Windows or Mac OS I’ve ever worked with. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing. I played with it for a week, and aside from the expected Beta glitches it was pretty easy to use. One disconcerting thing – I was never quite sure how to turn it off. I used the Linux terminal to try and shut it down, I tried just using the power button, but I’m so used to having a “Shut Down” command – both in Windows and Mac – that just closing the lid seemed a little odd to me. Stars: 3 of 5 (Again, points deducted for Beta)

Glitches: Yeah, it has a ton of them right now. This is not an operating system to be used on a primary computer anytime soon. The Google Chrome-based web browser was quite unhappy with many basic sites that I visit everyday (ESPN.com, Yahoo.com, CNN.com, this site, even the Moblin.org site crashed the browser once), and I was unable to download some necessary plug-ins like Adobe Flash for the browser. The glitches are to be expected in any Beta version of software, but after a while they became a bit annoying. Stars: 1 of 5

Cost: It’s Linux. It’s free. Hooray for open-source operating systems! Even better, I was able to download a number of programs for the computer through the Linux downloader – Word Processing, Spreadsheets, etc – that mimicked what I am used to in the Microsoft Office Suite. Of course, they crashed pretty constantly because of the instability of the OS, but free is free. Stars: 5 of 5

Overall Impressions: I think this will be a pretty solid operating system once the glitches are cleaned up and it’s released to the public in a full version. But until that time, all we have to go on is this current Beta and all its glitchiness. When it’s completely ready, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Intel push for this to be the included operating system on many retail netbook sales. It will take some getting used to, but it could be a powerful tool (and especially if retail sales start lagging due to cost – free OS licenses = lower sticker prices). Stars: 3 of 5

Total Score: 20 of 30 stars – Somewhere in the C+/B- range

Windows 7:

Ease of Installation: Once again, the installation process was pretty painless. 35 minutes from start to finish is pretty good for any Windows Operating System, let alone something brand new. Microsoft provides an “ISO” image file for download, something that most burning software (like ImgBurn) can handle without any tweaking. It does require a DVD for installation, as the image is about 2.5GB in size. Or, you can always go with the bootable USB Flash Drive method again. Stars: 5 of 5 (4 of 5 if you try to use the USB Flash Drive boot method)

Ease of Use: As long as you remember to turn all of your hardware on before installation, you should be fine. I made the mistake of having my internal Bluetooth radio disabled during installation and had to redo the process to ensure functionality. I’ve been a Windows user since the days of Windows 3.1, so I’m pretty familiar with how to get it working the way I need to. It’s more stable than Vista (Thank God!) but still not quite as easy to use as XP. Not to mention the standard hour of Microsoft Updates after installation. Stars: 4 of 5

Quality of Interface: Let’s face it – it’s a Windows World, no matter how much Mac tries to cut into Microsoft’s market share. The Windows 7 interface is pretty much what we’ve come to expect since Windows 98 – a start bar, a desktop, a system tray, etc. There are some new wrinkles – instead of having a box on the start bar to tell you what programs are open, there’s just an icon for the program. I’m sure that’s something that can be modified to look like the Windows interface we’re used to, but for now, I like the smaller icon-based program windows. The desktop themes are pretty nice too, with a lot more choices than Vista. And the Vista desktop widgets are back, though I still can’t figure out how to change the RSS feeds to display the news I actually care about. Software installation is as easy as you’d expect – most programs are written for Windows now, so there weren’t many problems with adding FireFox, Skype, Office, etc. Stars: 5 of 5

Glitches: I’ve had a problem with Bluetooth audio setup – essentially, for some reason the computer always tries to use my Bluetooth headphones to process audio output, even when the Bluetooth radio is turned off. This is relatively annoying because, even though I usually use my Bluetooth headphones to listen to music or talk to someone through Skype, I will occasionally use regular headphones when the Bluetooth batteries die. Other than that (which I think I’ve fixed…), the OS has been extremely stable. No crashes, no Blue Screens, nothing. I’m pleasantly surprised by this Microsoft operating system offering. Stars: 5 of 5 (I expect this to drop to around a 3.5 when the actual OS is released and inevitably requires fifty immediate patches)

Cost: This seems to be the biggest sticking point with Windows 7. Nobody really knows exactly how much the multiple versions of Windows 7 are going to cost, but the version I downloaded free from Microsoft (yes, you read that correctly – F-R-E-E) is Windows 7 Ultimate, which figures to be the most expensive version. Some reports had the pricing at as much as $325 per license based on the idea that initial pricing tiers will be higher than the roll-outs for Vista. This seems a wee bit ridiculous for an operating system. Stars: 3 of 5 (Let’s put it in the middle of the range until the prices are finalized)

Overall Impressions: Like I said, I’ve been pleasantly surprised by this OS. I was expecting to see multiple crashes, constant reboots, etc. But so far, it has been nothing but stable and solid. I’ll hold off giving it the ol’ two thumbs up until I see some final pricing numbers. I like it, and I think I’ll stick with it until next March when the annoying warnings start happening telling me that my free trial is about to expire. Stars: 5 of 5 (I’ve found absolutely nothing to dislike so far about this OS, and that’s saying something about a Windows offering).

Total Score: 27 of 30 stars – Somewhere in the A/A+ range

For me, the current release candidate of Microsoft Windows 7 is my preferred netbook operating system. Although I know I’ll have to either pay a ridiculous amount in March to keep it or else revert back to the MacNet system that I originally bought this netbook to support, I’m planning to keep Win7 going for as long as possible. Of course, I can always just wipe it back to the factory settings, with – gulp – Windows XP Service Pack 1. Yikes.  My Winner: Windows 7 Ultimate

I would encourage you to try each of these operating systems (at least the free ones) on your own netbook before making any final decisions.  Make sure to backup any files you might want to hang on to (I’ve made that mistake way too many times to count) and give each of these a go.  The experience of trying something new might be a little traumatizing at first, but ultimately you’ll get a lot of knowledge about something you otherwise would never get to experience.

Tags: Mac, mobline, Operating System, OS, OS X, testing, windows 7