El Capitan felt fast compared to Yosemite until I used Windows 10

[Noble Actual]

Don't know if specs matter but here's mine:

- 13" MacBook Air (mid 2013)
- 1.3GHz i5
- 8GB RAM
- 256GB storage
- OS X 10.11.11
- Windows 10 Bootcamp

El Capitan is really good because it reversed much of the problems Yosemite had.
- Battery is somewhat better now
- Speed seems to be slightly better
- Air Drop works
- Split View is actually pretty good
- Wi-Fi issues were fixed

Now there's still a ton of stuff I'm not a fan about like iTunes/Apple Music, Photos app and iCloud but I'm willing to settle with El Capitan as my last OS X upgrade. It works good enough now that I really don't want to regret upgrading it again and have it run like Yosemite again.

Here's the shocker though. Some may know that Blizzard's new game, Overwatch won't be coming out on OS X. So I bootcamped Windows 10 really not expecting much. I've heard some great reviews but I've been used to Windows 7 and am not a fan of Windows 8's design.

Couldn't believe how fast Windows 10 is in everything. It just feels faster and looks smoother, its so noticeable in opening any apps. I mostly use Chrome and Spotify. Even the built-in apps.

Really I'm just shocked at how fast Windows 10 is. Maybe its some app that slowing down my Mac? I basically only use Apple stock apps and well known apps like Chrome, Spotify, Microsoft Word. Is it Dropbox?

I've rectory reset my Mac a few times usually when new OS X comes out.

I'm trying to find some sort of excuse besides maybe the fact that OS X is just not as fast anymore? Is it my MBA? I mean its not the best spec'd Mac but it should be fine, its like 2 years old.

Windows 10 makes El Capitan feel slow.

 

[simonsi]

Chrome slows everything down. You could look in Activity Monitor at the CPU tab, better than just guessing. If you can't see anything specific then boot into safe mode and see if that is faster, if so then some login or startup item is causing it.

Mine is fast as so likely to be something in your setup/config.

 

[Noble Actual]

Chrome slows everything down. You could look in Activity Monitor at the CPU tab, better than just guessing. If you can't see anything specific then boot into safe mode and see if that is faster, if so then some login or startup item is causing it.

Mine is fast as so likely to be something in your setup/config.

Should have been more specific. I use Safari. because of iCloud integration with my iPhone 6. Only time I use Chrome really is for watching Twitch or some online classes sites that require flash. Also using same apps to compare speed between the two OS.

Chrome opens faster on Windows 10 than on OS X.

But really its not about Chrome. Its literally opening anything. Any app. Its just faster. I don't know why.

And I've looked at Activity Monitor, but that's for comparing stuff when you run a lot of apps. When I bootcamp, I have to shut down my MBA and then open the other one.

 

[leman]

Really I'm just shocked at how fast Windows 10 is. Maybe its some app that slowing down my Mac? I basically only use Apple stock apps and well known apps like Chrome, Spotify, Microsoft Word. Is it Dropbox?

IMO, its a kind of optical illusion. The animation style is different which gives you the feeling that the UI somehow responds faster. OS X uses a lot of ease in/ease out/crossfade animations which may to some eyes appear like visual lag. Good example: the about this Mac and System Preferences. Windows 10 is also substantially flatter, which further enhances this illusion.

I am using Windows 10 on daily basis for development (and also gaming) and its annoying as hell. The OS still lacks basic features, the search does not work properly, the HiDPI display support is abysmal and the UI is a walking disaster. The only really good thing is that I get the licenses for free

 

[Boris-VTR]

For longtime user its shoking how slow os x is in some basic things like opening and navigating through folders, right click to open menus. Just basic things you do a million times a day when using pc in a job.

 

[KALLT]

IMO, its a kind of optical illusion. The animation style is different which gives you the feeling that the UI somehow responds faster. OS X uses a lot of ease in/ease out/crossfade animations which may to some eyes appear like visual lag. Good example: the about this Mac and System Preferences. Windows 10 is also substantially flatter, which further enhances this illusion.

I think I agree with that. My brother has a high-end PC which he set up anew only a few months ago, while keeping everything nice and tidy. I still think that it is slow. Whenever I use it I feel like I am consciously waiting for something even though the UI suggests that it is ready for use. I have a 2008 MacBook by comparison and I really ought to notice the speed differences, but I find them passable at best. Maybe it's as good as it gets, as I haven't seen a faster Linux system either.

That being said, I do think that Apple is not doing enough to optimise the system. It really shows on older hardware. Yosemite introduced (IMO) unnecessary eye candy that Apple hasn't fully mastered even on iOS. This vibrancy/blur effect introduces needless bottlenecks across the board (what people perceive as the choppiness). I actually downgraded to Mavericks last week after I admitted to myself that El Capitan, while better, just wasn't running very smoothly. Mavericks is just overall noticeably more lightweight and I actually enjoy the system much more again.

I am using Windows 10 on daily basis for development (and also gaming) and its annoying as hell. The OS still lacks basic features, the search does not work properly, the HiDPI display support is abysmal and the UI is a walking disaster. The only really good thing is that I get the licenses for free

Windows still has that tendency to frustrate me. I rarely have that with OS X. I absolutely detest the search function (which often tries to sneak Cortana back in) and the crowded and completely uncustomisable app list in the start menu. Don't even get me started about the settings that are scattered everywhere. Windows is still too oppressive, illogical and bureaucratic in everything it does. I just hate that. OS X with Homebrew is so much better.

 

[Noble Actual]

For longtime user its shoking how slow os x is in some basic things like opening and navigating through folders, right click to open menus. Just basic things you do a million times a day when using pc in a job.

I try not to crap on El Capitan too much because so far its A LOT better than Yosemite.

Air Drop for whatever reason never worked on Yosemite. I remember when I upgraded, it worked right off the bat.

 

[maxsix]

Although I'm a heavy user of El Capitan and Windows 10 I don't make a point of doing close comparisons. They're each just different enough to merit being judged on their own strengths.

Running on nearly identically specd laptops I enjoy both of them quite a lot.

 

[wksj]

Windows 10 would be the main OS on my MBP if the trackpad wasn't unusable on Windows.

 

[Fancuku]

For longtime user its shoking how slow os x is in some basic things like opening and navigating through folders, right click to open menus. Just basic things you do a million times a day when using pc in a job.

I have only been using a Mac since February and I notice the things you say. Finder is painfully slow compared to Windows Explorer. It takes too long for a folder to show its contents after you open it. And if a folder happens to have RAW images, it means it's time for a water break. lol

W10 is silly fast in my mid 2014 15" rMBP.

 

[Fancuku]

Sorry, double post.

 

[SoyCapitanSoyCapitan]

Windows doesn't have that overhead of trying to render everything in Quartz so it has been and always will be faster, and then it alway has up-to-date APIs and mature drivers.

 

[ABC5S]

I have only been using a Mac since February and I notice the things you say. Finder is painfully slow compared to Windows Explorer. It takes too long for a folder to show its contents after you open it. And if a folder happens to have RAW images, it means it's time for a water break. lol

W10 is silly fast in my mid 2014 15" rMBP.

Finder for me pops right up fast on all folders, no delay. RAW images is fast also. Don't know what is happening with your System. Of course I don't put any "Windows" programs on my system, just APPLES

 

[Fancuku]

What are you talking about? How can I put a "Windows" program on OS X? Any program run on OS X is a Mac program. It can't be "Windows" because otherwise it wouldn't run.

 

[jeanlain]

Windows doesn't have that overhead of trying to render everything in Quartz so it has been and always will be faster, and then it alway has up-to-date APIs and mature drivers.

Quartz (core graphics) is an OS X API that can only be used in OS X and iOS. Windows uses its own APIs, but it doesn't mean that Quartz causes an overhead that has no equivalent in Windows. What makes you think that? You may refer to the old Windows xp (and older) model where the desktop wasn't even composited. Lacks of compositing makes drawing faster but with lots of artifacts (including tearing) and it prevents GPU acceleration, which forbids any credible equivalents of exposé.
Now Windows uses desktop compositing (since Vista) and new drawing APIs that are equivalent of those used in OS X. I'm not sure the overhead is lower. And Windows APIs are always a mess, because MS' raison d'être is backward compatibility. So a lot of old stuff from last century is maintained. Some apps will use modern APIs like direct write, while other will retain some old APIs and don't antialias their text. So I'm not sure which OS have the most up-to-date APIs, but I doesn't look like it's Windows.
Core Graphics gets updated at every OS X version. It can get new functions and/or be revamped under the hood. With Le Capitan, Core Graphics is built on Metal, so GUI applications benefit from it "for free".

Note that technically, OS X apps can use Quick Draw instead of Quartz 2D for drawing. Or at least they could until recently.
And you can still write to the screen directly with Metal or OpenGL thus bypassing Quartz 2D if you wish.

 

[jeanlain]

IMO, its a kind of optical illusion. The animation style is different which gives you the feeling that the UI somehow responds faster. OS X uses a lot of ease in/ease out/crossfade animations which may to some eyes appear like visual lag. Good example: the about this Mac and System Preferences. Windows 10 is also substantially flatter, which further enhances this illusion.

I also wonder if Windows handles all clicks like OS X. On OS X, most buttons (and tabs) are activated only after the mouse button is released. It is also the case on Windows?

 

[dark_knight177]

Chrome slows everything down. You could look in Activity Monitor at the CPU tab, better than just guessing. If you can't see anything specific then boot into safe mode and see if that is faster, if so then some login or startup item is causing it.

Mine is fast as so likely to be something in your setup/config.

When was the last time you used chrome? Google did under the hood performance improvements to Chrome in October, it runs just as efficiently as Safari now. But yes, before then, Chrome was a hog in OS X.

 

[wksj]

When was the last time you used chrome? Google did under the hood performance improvements to Chrome in October, it runs just as efficiently as Safari now. But yes, before then, Chrome was a hog in OS X.

"just as efficiently as Safari"

Are you sure?

 

[dark_knight177]

"just as efficiently as Safari"

Are you sure?

Yes, I am getting similar battery life with either Chrome or Safari

 

[SoyCapitanSoyCapitan]

Quartz (core graphics) is an OS X API that can only be used in OS X and iOS. Windows uses its own APIs, but it doesn't mean that Quartz causes an overhead that has no equivalent in Windows. What makes you think that? You may refer to the old Windows xp (and older) model where the desktop wasn't even composited. Lacks of compositing makes drawing faster but with lots of artifacts (including tearing) and it prevents GPU acceleration, which forbids any credible equivalents of exposé.
Now Windows uses desktop compositing (since Vista) and new drawing APIs that are equivalent of those used in OS X. I'm not sure the overhead is lower. And Windows APIs are always a mess, because MS' raison d'être is backward compatibility. So a lot of old stuff from last century is maintained. Some apps will use modern APIs like direct write, while other will retain some old APIs and don't antialias their text. So I'm not sure which OS have the most up-to-date APIs, but I doesn't look like it's Windows.
Core Graphics gets updated at every OS X version. It can get new functions and/or be revamped under the hood. With Le Capitan, Core Graphics is built on Metal, so GUI applications benefit from it "for free".

Note that technically, OS X apps can use Quick Draw instead of Quartz 2D for drawing. Or at least they could until recently.
And you can still write to the screen directly with Metal or OpenGL thus bypassing Quartz 2D if you wish.

Quartz has a lot more compositing going on than Windows, certainly more before than now. They methods they use for displaying content or resizing a window is also different.

Example, native Windows 10 apps will launch an empty frame and then load the content. It does so quite quickly but it gives the user the illusion it was all instantaneous. OSX attempts to display content at the same time that an app launches or window opens, but this means it takes longer to launch the process.

Resizing wise it's the same. In Windows you resize first and then it redraws content. You can see it doing so. But it hides the process cleverly. OS X attempts to keep almost everything drawn and scaled in real time, which is more demanding on the system. Hence the noticeable lags.

And of course Windows lets you turn off a lot of those effects, even in Windows 10 you can disable transparency everywhere.

 

[psik]

Windows 10 might be fast for the first week or two, but then its a downhill from there. I Will never go back from Microsoft, unless Apple abandons say for ex, MAC OS X, for another OS which lacks such functionalities...

Don't know if specs matter but here's mine:

- 13" MacBook Air (mid 2013)
- 1.3GHz i5
- 8GB RAM
- 256GB storage
- OS X 10.11.11
- Windows 10 Bootcamp

El Capitan is really good because it reversed much of the problems Yosemite had.
- Battery is somewhat better now
- Speed seems to be slightly better
- Air Drop works
- Split View is actually pretty good
- Wi-Fi issues were fixed

Now there's still a ton of stuff I'm not a fan about like iTunes/Apple Music, Photos app and iCloud but I'm willing to settle with El Capitan as my last OS X upgrade. It works good enough now that I really don't want to regret upgrading it again and have it run like Yosemite again.

Here's the shocker though. Some may know that Blizzard's new game, Overwatch won't be coming out on OS X. So I bootcamped Windows 10 really not expecting much. I've heard some great reviews but I've been used to Windows 7 and am not a fan of Windows 8's design.

Couldn't believe how fast Windows 10 is in everything. It just feels faster and looks smoother, its so noticeable in opening any apps. I mostly use Chrome and Spotify. Even the built-in apps.

Really I'm just shocked at how fast Windows 10 is. Maybe its some app that slowing down my Mac? I basically only use Apple stock apps and well known apps like Chrome, Spotify, Microsoft Word. Is it Dropbox?

I've rectory reset my Mac a few times usually when new OS X comes out.

I'm trying to find some sort of excuse besides maybe the fact that OS X is just not as fast anymore? Is it my MBA? I mean its not the best spec'd Mac but it should be fine, its like 2 years old.

Windows 10 makes El Capitan feel slow.

 

[Fancuku]

Windows 10 might be fast for the first week or two, but then its a downhill from there.

No.

 

[Noble Actual]

What are you talking about? How can I put a "Windows" program on OS X? Any program run on OS X is a Mac program. It can't be "Windows" because otherwise it wouldn't run.

What?

I'm comparing doing stuff/opening stuff on El Capitan vs Windows 10.

 

[Noble Actual]

Windows 10 might be fast for the first week or two, but then its a downhill from there. I Will never go back from Microsoft, unless Apple abandons say for ex, MAC OS X, for another OS which lacks such functionalities...

That's what I thought but its been about a month now.

 

[SoyCapitanSoyCapitan]

Windows 10 might be fast for the first week or two, but then its a downhill from there. I Will never go back from Microsoft, unless Apple abandons say for ex, MAC OS X, for another OS which lacks such functionalities...

Silly myths. It's not 1995.