Vista Experience

[JohnnyMalaria]

I installed the commercial version of Vista Ultimate on my main system the other day. For some reason, one of the applications under development kept forcing Vista to turn off the glass mode. I finally worked out why and have just finished testing it.

I have to say - I am VERY impressed with Vista's graphics performance - especially compared to XP running on the same system.

Here's a screenshot...

I had two DV AVI files playing (from the same external hard drive), each to a full size window. The playback was FLAWLESS. No jerks, stops. Just smooth. Not only that, but when you hover over the task bar, a thumbnail version of the window appears - complete with a mini version of the video playing (not just a snapshot).

[steve42069]

i have windows vista 64-bit on my machine but i find it takes up way to much memory compared to xp and im still so use to xp thats its really hard to switch to vista i really do like the whole new look to it tho but one thing i dont like is it has too much of a mac feel to it(i hate macs)....microsoft should have done something completely different im waiting for the first service pack for vista to come around before i use it as my main OS

[guns1inger]

What spec system were you testing on ?

[mats.hogberg]

microsoft should have done something completely different

Why would one expect MS to do that, since their complete product line consists of ideas bougt or "borrowed" from other companies?

/Mats

[Abbadon]

Does it run faster than XP?

When you boot the system, how long does it take?

Any drivers issues?

[JohnnyMalaria]

Does it run faster than XP?

When you boot the system, how long does it take?

Any drivers issues?

What spec system were you testing on ?

System Specs:

Gateway DX300S - http://support.gateway.com/s/PC/DX300/1008558/1008558sp3.shtml (I got it as a refurb for $500)
Processor: Intel(R) Pentium(R) D CPU 2.80GHz
Memory: 1GB DDR2
OS: Windows XP MCE
Hard drive: 150GB SATA - divided into multiple partitions
DVD-ROM: 4x Dual Layer (HL-DT-ST DVD-RW GWA-4165B ATA)

Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce 7600 GS (256MB RAM) - this replaces the on-board Intel.
External hard drives: 2 x Seagate USB 2.0 (300GB and 400GB)

Boot Configuration

1. Vista Ultimate (32-bit) (almost clean - just one of our apps installed)
2. XP MCE (32-bit) (this has a lot of stuff installed inc Office 2003, Premiere Pro 1.5, Nero, Norton Internet Security 2007)
3. XP Pro SP2 (32-bit, English language) (this has Office 2003, Visual Studio .NET 2005 and Norton Internet Security 2007)
4. XP Pro SP2 (32-bit, Dutch language) (almost clean - just one of our apps installed)

Boot Times

Procedure: Boot from cold. Start timing from the moment the power is turned on. Measure total time to boot into OS, log in, launch Internet Explorer and connect to the homepage.

The initial boot sequence (i.e., up to the point the OS menu appears) takes 22 seconds. The times listed below include that.

1. Vista Ultimate (32-bit) - 1 minute 0 seconds
2. XP MCE (32-bit) - 2 minutes 56 seconds
3. XP Pro SP2 (English language) - 1 minute 24 seconds
4. XP Pro SP2 (Dutch language) - 1 minute 27 seconds

Vista vs XP speed

Vista certainly *feels* faster - that has a lot to do with the new Windows Display Driver Model. I haven't run any real tests yet other than playing a couple of DV AVIs in parallel.

Driver Issues

None. All the hardware was detected and Vista has the drivers.

For the nVidia GPU, Vista installs a generic driver. I installed nVidia's Vista drivers afterwards. These are the ones for Vista RC2 and they don't have the same flexibility as the XP ones. That's my only gripe. I expect nVidia will release non-beta ones at some point soon.