Install, boot and shut-down performance

To benchmark the Windows 7 install process, we measure the time taken to clean install the Windows 7 Home Premium operating system on a Dell Inspiron 1520 notebook. The time is then compared to identical tests carried out using Windows XP Home Edition and Windows Vista Home Premium. Please note that no additional software is loaded.

The mains-powered Dell notebook is configured with a 2.2GHz Intel Mobile Core 2 Duo T7500 processor, 2GB of DDR2 667MHz memory, 256MB NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT graphics, a 200GB, 7,200rpm SATA hard drive and an 8x DVD optical drive.

Suggesting that Windows 7 is both leaner and meaner than its predecessor, the operating system takes 28 minutes to install on our test system. We found that to be marginally quicker than Windows XP, and almost 25 per cent quicker than Windows Vista. It's important to note, also, that Windows 7 detects and installs drivers for more devices than Windows XP - highlighting that it installs more, in less time.

To make it a little more interesting, we then time the operating systems to see which are capable of booting and shutting down quickest. When timing system boot, we run the stopwatch until the desktop, tray icons and sidebar gadgets (if applicable) are fully loaded.

When booting into the desktop, there's still no beating Windows XP - it's simply the quickest at getting up and running. Windows Vista, meanwhile, was initially painfully slow. The addition of SP2 helped Vista's case, but it's still notably slow to boot when compared to Windows 7.

Shutting down, we found Windows XP with SP3 to be something of an anomaly. All other operating systems, however, shut down relatively quickly - with Windows 7 leading the bunch at a cool 10 seconds.

In summary, this handful of early performance indicators paint a promising picture - Windows 7 has the beating of Vista, and it's quicker than XP in two of the three tests, too. We'll have plenty of additional benchmarks later in the review, but before we get to those, part three will focus on the user experience.

HEXUS: Windows 7 review index
Part 1: Introducing Vista's Successor	Part 2: Deploying 7	Part 3: User Interface	Part 4: Media Experience	Part 5: Networking, Security and Compatibility	Part 6: Applications and Windows Live	Part 7: Performance and Final Verdict