Windows 7 beta 1 performance - How does the OS compare to Vista and XP?

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes writes: "Rather than publish a series of benchmark results for the three operating systems (something which Microsoft frowns upon for beta builds, not to mention the fact that the final numbers only really matter for the release candidate and RTM builds), I've decided to put Windows 7, Vista and XP head-to-head in a series of real-world tests to find out which OS comes out top."

[pp]

I'm not even going to bother reading Windows 7 will be great just like windows xp and Vista.I can't wait to BUY WINDOWS 7.

[verb3k]

/
/
/

[XGRaViSmOrSX]

have you ran windows 7 at all...?

i had it up and running on my old 2.4ghz single core vaio on 512mb of ram and it ran just fine. even had some gadgets running which would have been impossible to do on vista. assuming vista would have even installed.

[Viper7]

If that is true and Windows 7 runs fine with less than 1gb of ram, then I can only say that they are going to the right direction.

I personaly want to use my ram for something usefull instead of giving half of it away for operating system that should run fine with as little ammount of ram bossible.

[drewdrakes]

Do you guys understand that they purposely use the RAM? Also, it makes perfect sense. Why let it sit there and waste when the OS can use it to speed itself up? Once you start running out of RAM the OS will then free it up for use in other applications. It would help if you understood this.

Also, I have 2GB of RAM in my laptop that has vista on it, it never goes above 1GB of RAM used unless I have poorly coded applications open like ANY Adobe application. I also turned paging off, which should increase the amount of RAM used by mine compared to the average user.

[verb3k]

/
/
/

[verb3k]

Linux FTW

[Viper7]

Well that is because of the way Windows has been built. Microsoft cant chance the whole system in just few years, they would need the re-create whole windows from scratch to remove that kind of flaw.

Its some design flaws in the registry that cause this, and the fact that Windows doesnt completely uninstall everything from the aplication you try to uninstall. Not to mention the fracturation of HDD which doesnt seem to be issue with any other OS.

[drewdrakes]

Ya, I could use linux and have a hassle to install anything useful like flash. Oh and my graphics drivers randomly stop working...but ya linux really has something going there...

[Viper7]

Well how do think windows would be if Nvidia and Ati wouldnt produce them efficent drivers, blue screen of death any1? :)
But before installing any linux is really recomable to check out the driver support. There happens to be better support for Gforce atm but Ati is bit on the rise from what I have heard.

From my experiences its odd that you mentioned flash which is available as a packet for atleast ubuntu. (.deb)

[drewdrakes]

I installed the flash package and it keeps asking me to install it again. Both Opera and Firefox cant see that its there. I'm using ubuntu and used the synaptic package manager.

[ryu_101]

O.K. I can understand you like linux... you are obviously a fan. There is no need to triple post though. Back your S*** up if you want to trash talk. I like windows because it is much more user friendly then linux and I am a GAMER. THIS IS A GAMING WEBSITE REMEMBER.

-Sidenote
I have nothing against linux and would actually like to see a competitor to M$ and OSX isnt really suitable for gaming either

[Viper7]

Ubuntu is as easy to use as Windows if not easier. It is just that its not Windows and it will never be windows so those who have used windows for their whole life can feel a bit out with it.

However with current distros like Ubuntu you can pretty much search from ubuntu package manager and mark the programs you want to use. Safe and easy as hell.
Then its pretty much same as windows, start menu->choose the program->use the program.

However your point with games is valid, theres not much support for linux gaming so if this is an issue for you I wouldnt recommend to completely uninstall windows as its still is and will be for many years the most game supported OS on the market.
But for more advanced PC users dual boot is a viable option here :)

4 - @verb3k
O.K. I can understand you like linux... you are obviously a fan. There is no need to triple post though. Back your S*** up if you want to trash talk. I like windows because it is much more user friendly then linux and I am a GAMER. THIS IS A GAMING WEBSITE REMEMBER.

"-Sidenote
I have nothing against linux and would actually like to see a competitor to M$ and OSX isnt really suitable for gaming either "

would love to see more competition on OS market, maybe we would see more revolutionary chances in OS:ses alltoherther.
Microsoft successfully but some steam in to Sony:s engines in Console race, it would be great to see Linux and OS X to but some steam in microsoft Windows as well

[Bolts]

There's a reason why Linux is free. The support is piss poor and the lack of drivers render the OS worthless completely for everyday computing purposes. My new HP laser printer won't work because there are no drivers, and gaming? Forget about it.

Linux is not an OS. Its a science project.

[locos85]

They better refund me or exchange my crappy Vista for it

[Ghoul]

jup i definatly want a free copy for this vista crap i bought....

[Ghoul]

stop spaming ...

[DJ]

I want to know how much faster and how much slower Windows 7 is compared to its predecessors, but with actual data. Not just "Oh, this came in first place, this came in second place, etc."

If it's faster than XP by a quarter of a second, I don't care if it came in first place. But if it's faster by 10 seconds or 20 seconds on specific functions, THAT will grab my attention.

[darkequitus]

Agreed, it is funny when people compare benches are so slight, a human being would not notice. Justr like these video bench marks. card a does 200fps card 2 201fps

[vdesai]

In the Agreement update that MS did it states you can not do (well post) benchmarks on the beta, which is the reason he did not do a benchmark.

[Bladestar]

DJ... come on let's be honest... you will never favor Windows 7...
The fact that Microsoft managed to make Windows 7 Beta perform better than windows XP is huge... That's better than anyone would expect...
it's obvious that newer operating system use more resources than old ones.. since they come packed with new functionality...

This may not be the case with OS like linux since very little change when it comes to it.. but it's the case with OSX. Some companies may come and add GUI or their own apps... but the linux Kerner does not evolve much... that's the nature of Open source... (not necessarily a bad thing).

But anyways.. the point I was going to make.. is that I doubt you will ever admit that Windows 7 is a good OS... not matter how better than XP it is... the only reason why you and other are talking positively about XP is because you figure... it will help stop people from buying Vista or Windows 7.

[verb3k]

Because M$ paid him some bucks to do so, probably.

[vdesai]

Some one should delete the comment above me. ^ Thats completely false information look at my reply above.

@bladestar
The Linux Kernel does change allot and the fact that the kernel does not handle the GUI might be the reason you think it doesn't but KDE is far more attractive then Aqua or Aero.

http://www.kde.org/announce...

There are different desktop environments in Linux which means there is something for everyone there is Gnome which is more for the older systems then there is KDE which is for someone who wants a beautiful desktop. But Windows 7 will be an excellent OS, after we factor in the fact that the performance enhancements will come later on nearly when it releases.

[Viper7]

@vdesai

Thats not even good linux desktop image.

http://img.photobucket.com/...

heres my ubuntu desktop :)
Compiz + avant windownavigor + emerald + some theme tweaking.

(picture doesnt show but I have 4 desktops 1 has aMNS messenger with 3 windows open, one has amarok with its playlist and one has Opera with this page open. all easily accessable trough the bottom controller. Fast, easy and organized .

[vdesai]

@Viper7

Ya I just grabbed the image from KDE's site :P
As for compiz ive never replaced KWin with compiz I am a KDE person myself but I run Xfce on my old desktop :D

[ryu_101]

Its hard to believe that it would be faster than xp but we wont know till its benchmarked more. I'm pretty excited about windows 7 actually hopefully its less of a system hog than vista.

[Godmars290]

Or is MS pushing out the hype window for 7 rather early?

Just saying, for the sake of all those still defending Vista. Blaming its problems on those who complain that it has problems.

Would also like to see how it measures up against Mac and Linux OSs. Just for the heck of it.

[vdesai]

Microsoft is not pushing any hype this is all journalism, even when Vista came out there were dire signs of failure before it came out.

[Godmars290]

How is putting out beta versions to journalist not hyping the product? I mean what are they suppose to do with them: not report about them?

Also given the example of Vista's pre-release vs Windows 7, not only is it happening sooner, but do you think they'd put it out if it wasn't a competent version or had easily identifiable issues?

MS needs to recover rep points.

[Death]

Going back to 1995 we have seen a pretty regular release od OS's.

Windows 95 (1995)
Windows 98 (1998)
Windows ME (2000)
Windows XP (2002)
Windows Vista (2007)
Windows 7 (2010)

It may seem early since the span between XP and Vista was so long, but they are pretty much on time for the next version of Windows. The Longhorn beta (Vista) went on for quite some time before Vista launched. The leap from XP to Vista is much greater than most people credit it for. PC's are advancing at a very rapid rate, Moores Law is a b*tch. The technological gap between Vista and Windows 7 isn't as great as the generation before it.

-Death

[lipper]

I never knew the complexity was this involving

[whoelse]

Good to see lots of 1s.

[JewyMcJew]

Microsoft OS's are like Star Trek movies... every other one is good! :)

All sources indicate that Win7 is FASTER than XP and just as stable.

This is great news for Microsoft! Let's face it, they really needed a winner this time.

[n4gzz]

okay, it is faster than xp by 1/4 of sec. So, what other benefit does it have over xp ??

[Bladestar]

@n4gzz - lol! isn't that obvious?

Lots of people skipped vista not because they didn't want the new features (i.e. DirectX10, Gadgets, Media Center, folder) but because it was probably not as stable or their hardware did not support it as much as they would like.

here is a list of features of vista that I doubt you heard about: http://en.wikipedia.org/wik...

So, "what other benefit does it have over xp"? well... people get to have all the new features and they get to keep same or better performance and stability they have on XP.

I noticed that lots of you are focusing only on the fact that Windows 7 performs as good or just a little better than XP... and are completely ignoring all the new features... specially when it comes to games... XP simply does not support DirectX 10 or better.

If what you are looking for is an OS that is "faster" than XP and can care less about features... I guarantee you that Windows 98, 95, 3.1 or Dos would be really.... really... fast with existing hardware... you should give it a try.

[vdesai]

Not to mention the confidence in knowing that Microsoft will be releasing updates for your OS. If you really want all your RAM just install DOS like bladestar said.

Show me a benchmark that supports your statment. "okay, it is faster than xp by 1/4 of sec. So, what other benefit does it have over xp ??"

[OOG]

What I dont understand is how weirdly greedy people are being with their ram....Yes its nice to have these systems use less power....but were now in an age where 8 gig desktops and 4 gig laptops are soon to be the norm......and the fact that ram is like 4 times cheaper then it was only 2 years ago....I dont see how people can be acting so poor....kill the old computer and build yourself a half decent one......

But its nice to see even in the beta windows 7 is posting up good stats.......hopfully it will be better by the time its done.

[n4gzz]

I am just asking 'coz i don't know. I have xp and unfortunately, I have vista on my laptop. I was just wondering if its worth buying 7. If it's not significantly better than xp then I won't be buying it.
People act like, I was talking against their family or their own product.

Get a life and if you like that much buy all the copy. I promise you that I won't stop you.

[vdesai]

Then don't expect to receive an OS that is 2 generations old.

[AnttiApina]

Now that's fast!