• System config (Laptop) : Intel Core solo 1.8 GHz, 1GB DDR2 RAM, Intel 945GM.
• Hackintosh: Leopard 10.5.2 iAtkos.
• Windows: XP Pro SP3 with all the drivers installed.
• Arch Linux: Kernel 2.6.25 Arch with Gnome 2.22.3

And here are the numbers:

Screenshots: at Flickr

Final thoughts

Memory uses of Arch is pretty impressive even with Compiz but the CPU uses is really odd. In idle mode it is using 10% and with compiz enabled, CPU uses jumped to 21%! This is not Arch specific. All the Linux distros I tried had similar CPU use pattern. Fresh installed XP is breezing fast but start up and shutdown time is pretty high. It can be attributed to the fact that it loads couple of extra services that came along with drivers such as bluetooth, synaptic touch pad, wireless, and Intel graphics. I should have disabled them before testing. Hackintosh’s performance can not be compared with an Apple Mac but still it turned out to be fastest in terms of start up and shutdown time. I can’t say anything about memory uses. Initially it was using 290MB RAM but as soon as I pressed screenshot shortcut buttons memory use jumped to 340MB. Only if I had a real Mac to test actual performance.

And btw, this post has been made from Arch.