Vista running faster than XP?!!!!!!!!

[Fiona Gatt VIA]

I know that a lot of gamers with high spec rigs have steered clear of Vista so far due to an apparent slow-down effect. But maybe it's different with UMPCs?! Hugo from GottaBeMobile.com tests out the new OS with the OQO model 02. Testing performance by opening applications etc, using your finger to click the mouse as the starting point, isn't 100% accurate of course, but this video does suggest that Vista is more responsive!

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[John Gatt]

I’m going to be a critic here. You may have problems if you try to upgrade Vista from Win XP without an f-disk and fresh install but you can install a perfectly smooth running copy of Vista at home – you don’t need to reply on a factory install.

What Hugo shows off here is Vista + Office preloading benefits and not the real performance of Vista on a UMPC. What Windows Vista does and the reason it takes longer to start is that it pre-loads certain aspects of particular applications. This pre-loading feature takes up system resources and makes those resources unavailable to applications that are running in the foreground.
All the preloading and sexy interface in Vista is why I would not use it on the OQO yet as they use up too much systems resources.

Also, is it my imagination or does Hugo look like the Dad out of American Pie?