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macOS slower than linux

P

project_2501

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jul 1, 2017
676
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A good set of tests here show that macOS is slower than Linux.

https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=mac-win-linux2018&num=1

What's the reason? Surely Apple can afford the very best engineers and can better coordinate OS developments better than a fragmented diaspora of volunteer developers of Linux?

Intersting also is that the tests were done on Apple hardware .. so even having the home advantage didn't work for Apple.
 
As strange as it may sound, I'd like to see someone "take Linux commercial" with a paid release to compete directly with the Mac OS.

Impossible, eh....?
 
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One could argue that Red Hat would be the one as a paid distro to compete with macOS, though they are really aimed at the enterprise market.
 
SandboxGeneral said:
One could argue that Red Hat would be the one as a paid distro to compete with macOS, though they are really aimed at the enterprise market.
Click to expand...

and not just the enterprise market but there "headless server" market

they did try a commercial "desktop" and that didn't really work out .. though they do put a lot of investment in the Fedora system which is like a testing / upstream for them.

Ubuntu and Dell worked closely and you can buy supported Dell laptops with Ubuntu .. and long term support is 5 years I believe. That's been going for several years now.

Here's a "best supported linux laptop 2018" list: https://www.techradar.com/news/best-linux-laptops-of-2018

I love open source and have done for 25 years. The problem for me us that key apps are missing in the quality I need them. It is apps like Affinity Designer, and long battery life, and the really superb MacBook trackpad .. that keep me on the apple ecosystem.
 
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I wonder if the Linux distro that was a notch quicker than Mac OS has the same functionality, software, protection level as in as the Mac OS has.
Thinking of all from protection of malware/antivirus to full functionality of the track pad and apps.

And in terms of faster, faster how, faster using the GPU, CPU, Opening office apps, browsing the web?
 
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Reverend Benny said:
I wonder if the Linux distro that was a notch quicker than Mac OS has the same functionality, software, protection level as in as the Mac OS has.
Thinking of all from protection of malware/antivirus to full functionality of the track pad and apps.

And in terms of faster, faster how, faster using the GPU, CPU, Opening office apps, browsing the web?
Click to expand...

The security record of the mainstream linux distributions is probably the best in the industry - better than Windows and MacOS. This is due to 3 main factors - the UNIX security model which macOS shares, the open source community meaning more people are looking at the code and there is no incentive to hide security issues, and the speed of development/change. I speak as someone who worked on security in major organisations (many thousand employees).

The microbenchmarks for linux have always been better than MacOS - and that goes back many years. But for most users, the difference isn't very noticeable.

What users do notice is other things - like the quality of the trackpad, the battery length, the quality of the display .. all of these are hardware related and hardware-OS integrations .. which are far superior to many other systems, windows or linux. And pf course availability of apps. That's why Apple does well.

if you're doing calculations you don't need a keyboard - you need a server - which is why linux pretty much dominates that segment.
 
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project_2501 said:
The security record of the mainstream linux distributions is probably the best in the industry - better than Windows and MacOS. This is due to 3 main factors - the UNIX security model which macOS shares, the open source community meaning more people are looking at the code and there is no incentive to hide security issues, and the speed of development/change. I speak as someone who worked on security in major organisations (many thousand employees).

The microbenchmarks for linux have always been better than MacOS - and that goes back many years. But for most users, the difference isn't very noticeable.

What users do notice is other things - like the quality of the trackpad, the battery length, the quality of the display .. all of these are hardware related and hardware-OS integrations .. which are far superior to many other systems, windows or linux. And pf course availability of apps. That's why Apple does well.

if you're doing calculations you don't need a keyboard - you need a server - which is why linux pretty much dominates that segment.
Click to expand...

Funny you would give the keyboard example. :p
 
Fishrrman said:
As strange as it may sound, I'd like to see someone "take Linux commercial" with a paid release to compete directly with the Mac OS.

Impossible, eh....?
Click to expand...
I would pay for a commercial version Linux. I tried Ubuntu a few years ago, and I just wasn't geeky enough.
 
The performance of Linux seems to depend quite a bit on the desktop environment, but I find them to be quicker than macOS. I mostly use Xfce, so the difference is massive. None of that input-blocking or animation delays.

Heck, even Windows 10 seems to get things done quicker, even on older hardware. It has many things I dislike but speed does not seem to be an issue.
 
SandboxGeneral said:
Here you are, Red Hat Desktop for $50.

https://www.redhat.com/en/store/red...t-enterprise-linux-workstation#?sku=RH0844913
Click to expand...
Thanks, I will look into that.
[doublepost=1528645410][/doublepost]
SandboxGeneral said:
Here you are, Red Hat Desktop for $50.

https://www.redhat.com/en/store/red...t-enterprise-linux-workstation#?sku=RH0844913
Click to expand...
It doesn't take much to scare me off. From your link.
"Designed for advanced Linux users working on more powerful hardware, Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation is optimized for"
 
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project_2501 said:
The security record of the mainstream linux distributions is probably the best in the industry - better than Windows and MacOS. This is due to 3 main factors - the UNIX security model which macOS shares, the open source community meaning more people are looking at the code and there is no incentive to hide security issues, and the speed of development/change. I speak as someone who worked on security in major organisations (many thousand employees).

The microbenchmarks for linux have always been better than MacOS - and that goes back many years. But for most users, the difference isn't very noticeable.

What users do notice is other things - like the quality of the trackpad, the battery length, the quality of the display .. all of these are hardware related and hardware-OS integrations .. which are far superior to many other systems, windows or linux. And pf course availability of apps. That's why Apple does well.

if you're doing calculations you don't need a keyboard - you need a server - which is why linux pretty much dominates that segment.
Click to expand...

Open source does not, and never has, equate to 'more eyeballs and better security'. glibc, MySql vulnerabilities, and who can forget Heartbleed? Not saying it's dangerous either just that it's a myth that open source inherently is 'more secure'. Many heavily used open source projects are maintained by a single person.
 
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old mac said:
Thanks, I will look into that.
[doublepost=1528645410][/doublepost]
It doesn't take much to scare me off. From your link.
"Designed for advanced Linux users working on more powerful hardware, Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation is optimized for"
Click to expand...
Well, you could go for the Workstation version with Standard Support for $300...
 
project_2501 said:
The security record of the mainstream linux distributions is probably the best in the industry - better than Windows and MacOS. This is due to 3 main factors - the UNIX security model which macOS shares, the open source community meaning more people are looking at the code and there is no incentive to hide security issues, and the speed of development/change. I speak as someone who worked on security in major organisations (many thousand employees).

The microbenchmarks for linux have always been better than MacOS - and that goes back many years. But for most users, the difference isn't very noticeable.

What users do notice is other things - like the quality of the trackpad, the battery length, the quality of the display .. all of these are hardware related and hardware-OS integrations .. which are far superior to many other systems, windows or linux. And pf course availability of apps. That's why Apple does well.

if you're doing calculations you don't need a keyboard - you need a server - which is why linux pretty much dominates that segment.
Click to expand...

I think you missed my point.
You started the thread talking about "linux" is faster than MacOS. All I did was mentioning a few reasons of why that might be, overhead in terms of having to protect the desktop OS could be one reason along with many others (as you stated as well, the hardware OS integration).
Also, this is done on a laptop where PowerManagement should be taken into consideration, and that seems to be a world of its own.

I think one answer to your question in the start could be, the Apple engineers have a different focus, to be known as the "fastest" (whatever that means) isn't a priority.
 
old mac said:
Im more interested in something I could install on a 2008 Macbook, or a 2011 MBP.
Click to expand...
Ok, so what is your level of no-so-geeky where you are comfortable with using Linux? There are several good distro's available that don't require a lot of geekiness to use.
 
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old mac said:
Thats a tough question. How about dumb ass.
Click to expand...
LOL! :p

To start off, I do not consider myself a Linux pro by any means. I'd say I'm a novice user of the platform and stick to the easy-to-use distro's mostly. Then I try new things and learn based on my needs.

I'm a sysadmin at work and I have to manage a Windows network with some Linux mixed in here and there. At home I'm 99% Apple stuff; just 1 Windows box for gaming on occasion.

Here are a few very popular distro's to try out. Most of them can be burned to a USB stick and run in Live mode. Meaning you run the Linux OS from the USB drive and never overwrite or change your computers main OS. This is great for just trying one out before committing to it and wiping an OS you're comfortable with.
Or go to Distro Watch and see all of the popular ones out there. On the right-hand side is the popularity list of the top 100 distro's.

About a month ago I wiped my Windows 10 PC at work and loaded KDE Neon on it and I've been very happy with the move.

If you want something easy to use, try any of the ones I listed. They're about as easy to setup as Windows or macOS.
 
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SandboxGeneral said:
LOL! :p

To start off, I do not consider myself a Linux pro by any means. I'd say I'm a novice user of the platform and stick to the easy-to-use distro's mostly. Then I try new things and learn based on my needs.

I'm a sysadmin at work and I have to manage a Windows network with some Linux mixed in here and there. At home I'm 99% Apple stuff; just 1 Windows box for gaming on occasion.

Here are a few very popular distro's to try out. Most of them can be burned to a USB stick and run in Live mode. Meaning you run the Linux OS from the USB drive and never overwrite or change your computers main OS. This is great for just trying one out before committing to it and wiping an OS you're comfortable with.
Or go to Distro Watch and see all of the popular ones out there. On the right-hand side is the popularity list of the top 100 distro's.

About a month ago I wiped my Windows 10 PC at work and loaded KDE Neon on it and I've been very happy with the move.

If you want something easy to use, try any of the ones I listed. They're about as easy to setup as Windows or macOS.
Click to expand...
Thanks for all of this. I will try one out as soon I make it to town to download one.
 
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