Google Chrome OS
Price: free
Chrome is built around the thing you use
most: the web browser. Because it’s limited to wed apps, it’s more for docs and
email than professional design work – but it stores your stuff in the cloud, so
files are accessible from anywhere.
Google
Chrome OS
Speedy start-up
Google’s minimalist architecture makes
Chrome fast out of the blacks. Today’s Chromebooks can boot up in under ten
seconds, but ‘Coreboot’ tech could soon get this down to five or even less.
Appy days
The Chrome Web Store offers a fine array of
free apps for you to download. Handily, Google has recently added a section
dedicated to offline apps, so ‘no internet’ doesn’t have to mean ‘no fun’
Safe and sound
Since it stores so little locally, anyone
who nicks a Chrome computer isn’t going to get much in the way of personal
details. Unfortunately, if your broadband goes down, you won’t be able to
access them either.
Special skill – Aura
The once painfully basic Chrome OS now
looks more like a Windows and Mac rival thanks to this new UI and window
manager. Aura brings visual treats such as a task bar and shortcuts, while a
new status area has arrived for Android-style notifications.
Pros:
Speedy; decent suite of apps
Cons: Power
limited by web apps
Apple Mac OS X Mountain Lion
Price: From $22
Every update makes the mighty OS X more
like its mobile counterpart (and one big car closer to opening a zoo). Facebook
and Twitter are now integrated, and iCloud ties all of its features together
(not literally).
Apple
Mac OS X Mountain Lion
Sending our an iMessage
Desktop Macs can now join conversations
between iThings thanks to iMessage, which replaces iChat. It collates all of
your conversations, and lets you switch to Facetime from within the app.
Play time
Another iOS staple, Game Center, has made
the leap to OS X. It’ll let you indulge in gaming tussles with friends who are
using an iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch, an sledge them over in-game chat.
This is the news
Neatly tying together all of your alerts
from Twitter, email clients and other third-party applications is Notification
Center, which is activated by a ‘right-to-left’ swipe gesture on your trackpad.
Lovely
Special skill – Power nap
Even when it’s in sleep mode a Mac running
Mountain Lion will periodically fetch new emails, download pics to your
Photostream, sync calendars, suck down software ypdates and back itself up, all
without a peep. If only our power naps were this productive.
Pros:
Simple, powerful, affordable
Cons: Only
available for Macs
Microsoft Windows 8
Price: From $23
Windows 8 is the most significant update to
the world’s most popular operating system since 1995, and it’s been remade from
the most basic level. Here’s why it’ll consign Windows Vista to the recycle
bin…
Microsoft
Windows 8
It’s brand new…
Windows 8 is designed for tablets and
Ultrabooks – touchy, swipey and live-widgets, with a tile-based, ‘Metro’ Start
menu and an emphasis on saving battery power and delivering apps.
…but still familiar
Behind that you’ll find a more familiar
desktop which allows you to install your existing software (unless you’re
running Windows RT) and so make working a reality rather than an exercise in
futility.
It’s cheap to upgrade
Buy a Windows 7 PC or laptop before 31
January 2013 and you’ll be able to upgrade it to Windows 8 Pro for $24… so you
needn’t postpone buying that Ultrabook until after Win 8’s October launch.
Special skill – Windows to go
A full version of Win 8 that resides on a
USB stick, Plug it into any PC, reboot and you can sign in as if you’re working
on your machine. It uses all the PC’s hardware apart from its hard drives, so
even if you plug it into someone’s virus-riddled machine it’ll come out clean.
Pros: Tons
of apps; touch-optimized
Cons: Dual
personalities
