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Windows 7 May Not Be Much Faster Than Vista
PC World ^

Posted on 05/07/2009 8:03:40 PM PDT by Gomez

Improving performance is one of Microsoft's design goals with Windows 7, and many early reviewers (including ours) have said that the new OS seems peppier than Vista. But tests of the Windows 7 Release Candidate in our PC World Test Center found that while Windows 7 was slightly faster on our WorldBench 6 suite, the differences may be barely noticeable to users.

We loaded the Windows 7 Release Candidate on three systems (two desktops and a laptop) and then ran our WorldBench 6 suite. Afterward we compared the results with the WorldBench 6 numbers from the same three systems running Windows Vista. Each PC was slightly faster when running Windows 7, but in no case was the overall improvement greater than 5 percent, our threshold for when a performance change is noticeable to the average user.

The largest difference was 4 points--102 for Vista versus 106 for Windows 7 on an HP Pavillion a6710t desktop. Our other two test machines showed similarly minor performance improvements: A Maingear M4A79T Deluxe desktop improved by 1 point (from 138 on Vista to 139 on Windows 7), and a Dell Studio XPS 16 laptop improved by 2 points, from 97 on Vista to 99 on Windows 7.

(Excerpt) Read more at pcworld.com ...


TOPICS: Computers/Internet
KEYWORDS: lowqualitycrap; microsoft; windows
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1 posted on 05/07/2009 8:03:40 PM PDT by Gomez
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To: Gomez

I’m a Mack but my husband is a PC.....

He has no desire to try Windows 7, he is real happy with Vista...


2 posted on 05/07/2009 8:06:37 PM PDT by Kimmers (Be the kind of person when your feet hit the floor each morning the devil says, Oh crap, she's awake)
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To: Gomez

Vista is crap.


3 posted on 05/07/2009 8:10:56 PM PDT by allmost
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To: Gomez; ShadowAce

God, I hope Windows 7 isn’t just a repackaged Vista.

(I haven’t tested it yet)


4 posted on 05/07/2009 8:11:10 PM PDT by KoRn (Department of Homeland Security, Certified - "Right Wing Extremist")
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To: Kimmers

“That answers that question.”


5 posted on 05/07/2009 8:11:15 PM PDT by savedbygrace (You are only leading if someone follows. Otherwise, you just wandered off... [Smokin' Joe])
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To: KoRn
Unfortunately for the MS faithful, I've heard from some tech analysts that Win 7 is basically Vista SP3. Me, I'm an admitted Linux guy. Actually, I give MS kudos for not making W7 slower than Vista. I can't remember MS ever releasing an OS that was faster and/or less resource hungry than its predecessor. But Linux is still my OS...and less resource hungry than even XP.

I've mentioned this before, but I'll repeat it because it is so remarkable. I have a 3 year old Dell that I just put Ubuntu 9.04 on with the new ext4 filesystem. It now boots from the bios to a sign-on in 15 sec, and from password to usable screen in another 10. I'm amazed.

6 posted on 05/07/2009 8:21:08 PM PDT by CodeMasterPhilzar (I'll keep my money, my guns, and my freedom. You can keep the "change.")
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To: Gomez

I’ll stick with my Kubuntu....


7 posted on 05/07/2009 8:22:01 PM PDT by Born Conservative (Bohicaville: http://bohicaville.wordpress.com/)
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To: Gomez

It is however Much much lower on resource usage.

So netbooks that barely crawl in tortured agony under Vista function fine with windows Seven,

Expect it to take over from Windows ME, err Vista fairly quickly.


8 posted on 05/07/2009 8:22:12 PM PDT by MrEdd (Heck? Geewhiz Cripes, thats the place where people who don't believe in Gosh think they aint going.)
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To: Kimmers

Have you seen this? Make sure you click on the “close to play” and not the “click here” area as that will take you to advertisers.

http://www.wimp.com/newfight/


9 posted on 05/07/2009 8:34:53 PM PDT by uptoolate (Shhh. If you listen real hard, God is speaking to America.)
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To: CodeMasterPhilzar

“I can’t remember MS ever releasing an OS that was faster and/or less resource hungry than its predecessor. “

Windows XP is faster than Winows 2000. There were serious enhancements to the kernel in XP over 2000.


10 posted on 05/07/2009 8:36:27 PM PDT by CodeToad (If it weren't for physics and law enforcement I'd be unstoppable!)
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To: CodeMasterPhilzar

Ext4 doesn’t seem all that much faster for reads. But sequential writes are impressively fast.

http://www.linuxinsight.com/first_benchmarks_of_the_ext4_file_system.html

Speedboot can make quite a difference, but it is unfortunately disabled on my laptop for some reason. Many users report similar. Machines that can use it see an improvement of say 7 seconds out of 20 (around 30%).


11 posted on 05/07/2009 8:37:37 PM PDT by steve86 (Acerbic by nature, not nurture)
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To: Kimmers

I always hear complaints about Vista, but it works great on my computer.


12 posted on 05/07/2009 8:41:52 PM PDT by Infralutheran
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To: Gomez

It appears these tests were run without the multiple or the humongous, all-encompassing-bloatware antmalware programs running that the typical windows user installs to somewhat protect a system. Expect significantly slower benchmarks in the real world.


13 posted on 05/07/2009 8:47:03 PM PDT by Gomez (killer of threads)
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To: Gomez
People who say that Windows 7 is just Vista SP3 are either ignorant or liars. I've been using pre-beta or beta versions since last year, and it is just amazing. It's so good, I installed it on a bootcamp partition of my macbook pro, and I've been using that as often or more often than I use OS-X. I use it every day on my work computer, and I have yet to encounter a serious problem. I recently installed the Release Candidate, and I haven't found any issues with it at all.

It runs great on much less hardware than Vista requires. It launches apps faster, starts and shuts down way faster then even XP did. It's better with power management. My laptop docking/undocking issues are gone finally. It isn't prone to those weird freezes (with the little spinning icon) that I get with Vista. It's rock solid and uses the existing Vista drivers just fine. The UI is improved, and there are lots of little improvements too numerous to recount here.

I listened to people who said "I don't see any big changes, why should I upgrade?". Then these people tried it, and they all, without exception, love it.

People like to bash Microsoft, but Microsoft is just an organization made up of regular people. The engineers, once unencumbered from the bad management that led to Vista, worked very very hard to create a great product. Instead of cutting things down that you haven't even tried, why don't you give it a try and see for yourself? The Release Candidate is a free download and you can use it for free until June 2010.

14 posted on 05/07/2009 8:58:25 PM PDT by Scutter
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To: CodeToad
Windows XP is faster than Winows 2000. There were serious enhancements to the kernel in XP over 2000.

I agree.

With the exception of the Loony Toons default color scheme, I think XP is better than 2K in every way. ...and I REALLY liked 2K.

15 posted on 05/07/2009 9:10:43 PM PDT by TChris (There is no freedom without the possibility of failure.)
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To: Gomez

I don’t expect speed increases from operating systems but from hardware and drivers.

I just overclocked an XP box from 3GHz to 4GHz CPU speed tonight. Wow. What do you know. It’s “snappier”.

A newer hard drive with a lower access time and double the cache. Hey. It’s “snappier”.

I then put three of those hard drives in a Raid 0 and more than tripled my throughput. Hey. It’s “snappier”.

Computer tech writers are in permanent cranial/rectal inversion mode.


16 posted on 05/07/2009 9:37:44 PM PDT by VeniVidiVici (Sprechen sie Austrian? Happy Cinco de Quatro!)
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To: CodeMasterPhilzar
"I have a 3 year old Dell that I just put Ubuntu 9.04 on with the new ext4 filesystem. It now boots from the bios to a sign-on in 15 sec, and from password to usable screen in another 10. I'm amazed."

Nice!!! I'm considering a move to Linux myself. I haven't been doing any PC gaming since getting my PS3 last year, now there's really no reason for me to even run Windows.

17 posted on 05/07/2009 9:42:33 PM PDT by KoRn (Department of Homeland Security, Certified - "Right Wing Extremist")
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To: Infralutheran

My husband found when he installed Vista on an old machine it did not work very well but when he bought a new computer with Vista already installed, it has been problem free.

I still like my Mac better but I do like Vista when I use his machine.....


18 posted on 05/08/2009 5:32:25 AM PDT by Kimmers (Be the kind of person when your feet hit the floor each morning the devil says, Oh crap, she's awake)
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To: Gomez; rdb3; Calvinist_Dark_Lord; GodGunsandGuts; CyberCowboy777; Salo; Bobsat; JosephW; ...

19 posted on 05/08/2009 6:39:47 AM PDT by ShadowAce (Linux -- The Ultimate Windows Service Pack)
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To: Scutter
Is "Search" as bad in Windows 7 as it is in Vista?

"Search" - all by itself - ruins the entire Vista experience.

20 posted on 05/08/2009 6:50:27 AM PDT by KayEyeDoubleDee
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