Windows 7 Boots Slower Than Vista?

Robert B | Oct 11, 2009 | Comments

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According to a study carried out by IOlO technologies ( a company who sell pc tune up software ), Windows 7 takes longer to boot than its predecessor Windows Vista. IOlO’s lab unit found that Windows 7 takes 1 minute 34 seconds to boot compared to the 1 minute 6 seconds it takes Windows Vista.windows7 boot screen

IOlO noted that they didn’t stop the timer when the desktop appeared, but rather when the CPU cycles were low and a true idle state was achieved. They say that Windows 7 can take as little as 40 seconds to reach the desktop on a fresh install, but say the OS isn’t fully loaded until CPU cycles have decreased and that’s why Windows 7 “appears” to boot faster than Windows Vista.

IOlO also claim that similar to Vista, Windows 7’s performance degrades over time. After several commonly used programs were installed, they found that the boot time increased to 2 minutes 34 seconds. However they did say that Windows 7 did perform better than Windows Vista at the 3 and 6 month marks.

According to tests carried out by PC World, they found that Windows 7 32 bit did take longer than Windows Vista but the 64 bit of Windows 7 was faster than Vista. However the boot times for Windows Vista and Windows 7 were much lower than IOlO’s. Only 39.6 seconds for Vista and 43.6 seconds for Windows 7, but they found that on different machines, Windows 7 was in some cases faster. So it really seems to depend on your hardware.

Ina Freid of Cnet acknowledged that fact that Windows 7 has an excellent sleep mode. She finds herself rarely doing a full reboot and instead goes in and out of sleep mode, which has been greatly improved in Windows 7. I find myself doing the same, I would turn my laptop on in the morning and I would be in and out of sleep mode as I need it.

I personally disagree with IOlO’s findings on Windows 7 boot times.

Firstly- On my laptop – A Toshiba Qosmio F50-10z, Core 2 Duo P8400 with 4GB Ram, I boot Windows 7 RC1 32 bit, in 1 minute and 20-30 seconds. I have been using Windows 7 RC1 since August and have loads of programs installed and I see nothing like the boot times claimed by IOlO.

Secondly- Windows Vista Home Premium 32 bit takes about 2 minutes to show my desktop and 3 minutes before side bar widgets are displayed and my computer is useable. Whats more I have far fewer amount of programs installed as I hardly ever use Vista compared to Windows 7.

Thirdly- Once the desktop appears, Windows 7 is ready to go within 5-10 seconds. It is fully responsive, Aero effects working and all programs load just as they should. Windows Vista on the other hand is still loading for at least another minute before its usable.

The study by IOlO didn’t stop the timer until the CPU was idle. The thing with Windows 7 is, it’s intelligent. It will load essential and basic process first that are required to run the computer. It will then load the remaining unessential processes once the demand on the CPU has decreased. This is why the CPU would still appear to be rather busy after the desktop is displayed. But in fact, what i’ve found is that the computer is perfectly usable, and fully responsive after a couple of seconds once the desktop appears ( Generally once I see my widgets ).

As I mentioned earlier, the study from PC World shows that it really does depend on your hardware. But if these results from IOlO appear to be consistent, it could be bad news for Microsoft as Windows 7 is being marketed for doing simple things like start up and shut down better than Windows Vista. These findings come after an article I recently posted on how Windows 7 could be booted in under 10 seconds.

What have you guys found out with Windows 7 Vs Windows Vista boot times? Which one if faster?

Let us know in the comments.


Sources:

Cnet

Computerworld

IOlO

PC World

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About the Author: Robert from Ireland is keen on all things tech. An avid Windows user, he designs websites and helps with troubleshooting computers. He hopes to pursue a future career in the I.T. area and is currently running his own website Techinfo-4u.com as well as writing for Windows7News and Connected Internet

  • yolarrydabomb
    Well whatever to them. It does boot quicker on this computer!
  • yolarrydabomb
    may I ask whats up with the colorful underline marks?
  • Sorry about that, should be ok now
  • Danny
    I have a six year old AMD Athlon with only 1GB Ram piece of crap with both XP and 7 on it. 7 boots up quicker than XP. Both show the desktop in about a minute to a minute and 15 secs, but it only takes 7 another 10 or so seconds to be able to launch Chrome while XP takes a little over 20 seconds. In XP defense it does have a lot more programs loaded on it but I do try very hard to keep my startup very bare bones.
  • bobisimo
    I'm sure this post may be perceived as trolling, but it is coming from a sincere criticism of an OS I enjoy, and not just a "Mac is better" pointless rant.

    My Windows desktop died and I've been living exclusively with my MacBook -- about a few weeks -- until I can get a new desktop. I have installed a variety of programs (FileZilla, uTorrent, VLC, Firefox, OpenOffice, etc) in addition to using it for iTunes and syncing with my iPod, Address Book, etc. I say all this so you realize the laptop isn't just used to occasionally browse the web with Safari; and, as the article says, Windows slows down once you install a couple programs, also making this information relevant.

    And?

    I hit reboot at 4:02:00 pm. At 4:02:40 pm I was staring at the desktop. That's 40 seconds to shut down AND get back to the desktop. About 10 seconds or less later, my CPU was 95% idle. (For the record, my laptop is first gen, so it's got older hardware in it: 1.83 Ghz core duo and 2 GB of RAM.)

    I really like Windows. I'd say I prefer it to Mac. And not just because I can game on Windows. :D But on this one count, Mac is so far ahead it's ridiculous. I'd say it took my Vista/7 desktop (with much better hardware) longer than 40 seconds to shut down -- after a fresh install, let alone shut down and reboot. Your cites of 2 to 3 minutes sound much more like what I dealt with.

    Maybe there are all sorts of "yeah but" responses for why Mac is better on this count, but to the end consumer (me), all I care about is that I can reboot my MacBook so quickly. Windows, so far, can't touch this.
  • kashifraza
    I think whiever company has some up with the info that it takes longer to start 7 to Xp or vista are either fools or they have a win 98 compatiable system with win 7 Dual boot , My laptop is a lenovo one with 1.83 ghz Intel duo core processor Intel chipset I have Xp which takes 55 sec to 1:22 min but win 7 takes 20 to 25 sec mind it 20 - 25 sec nothing more i think its the best Os ever win windows since os 3.1 by microsoft ,
  • Adrian2055
    On my new desktop (intel 2.20 ghz celeron single core, 2gb ram, intel chipset) I find that vista and windows 7 boot at the same time, but vista is actually usuable. I can use vista 64-bit business and home premium as soon as I get to my desktop, but with windows 7 home premium 64-bit I have to wait at least 30 seconds to a minute before I can access anything. They both boot faster than xp which can take anywhere from 2-4 minutes before I can access anything. I'm putting a dual core processor in this week. Maybe that will improve things.

    On a side note: Am I the only one having hell finding drivers for my stuff? I still can't get my wireless card to work and most of my programs won't install. It was the same way on my laptop before it crashed. Anyone else having this issue?
  • Name
    This actually is the really old version of windows 7 like the milestone series, way before RC. Those were the times in which there were an overload of bugs in it. Build 7600 is faster than this now.
  • SgtMoo
    7 slower than Vista?!...surely they cant be serious...this is coming from a company that makes it's money by saying your computer is too slow and they can speed it up by you purchasing their software. Pull the other one next time.

    But this is my techno-giggle for today
  • "this is coming from a company that makes it's money by saying your computer is too slow and they can speed it up by you purchasing their software"

    Ha Ironic isn't it............ Glad i could give you a techno-giggle!
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