Microsoft: Windows XP faster than Vista SP1 in some cases

February 28, 2008 (Computerworld) Windows XP is faster than the new Windows Vista Service Pack 1 in completing common consumer and business tasks on PCs coming out of sleep mode, according to tests commissioned by Microsoft Corp.

The performance tests, conducted by Principled Technologies Inc. on Microsoft's behalf, showed that the older XP operating system remained faster than Vista SP1 in 61% of the operations grouped in a consumer test suite, and faster than Vista SP1 in 46% of the operations in the business-oriented head-to-head. The results were from time trials held on identical PCs after they had come out of standby, a power-saving feature in Windows. Vista, like other operating systems, including Apple Inc.'s Mac OS X, calls the same mode "sleep."

However, when the same tests were run after a cold boot — with the PC's power turned on, the OS booted and the scripts run after two minutes — Vista SP1 came out on top in 74% of the tested consumer functions and in 66% of the business operations.

But no matter which operating system came out on top, the differences were small in virtually every case, said Principled Technologies. The total difference between XP and Vista SP1 in the 31 consumer tasks, for instance, was less than 5 seconds; of the 64 chores in the business scenario, 60 sported a difference of under half a second.

"Overall, Windows Vista SP1 and Windows XP performed comparably on most test operations," Principled Technologies concluded in its report.

The tests were run on four systems — two notebooks and two desktops — from Dell Inc., Hewlett-Packard Co. and Toshiba Corp.

A fifth system, another HP desktop, was omitted from the aggregate results because it "produced unacceptably high variability in its test results," according to Principled. Interestingly, that system showed XP was faster than Vista SP1 in more chores than any of the other test machines. In the consumer test set, for example, XP was faster than Vista SP1 in 74% of the operations immediately after a reboot of the discarded HP.

Windows XP performed much poorer on the dropped HP in the business tests; it was faster than Vista SP1 only 31% of the time, lower than the average of the other four PCs. But when it came out of standby, XP beat Vista SP1 in 53% of the business-oriented jobs, a higher percentage than the other machines.

That, among other things, touched some nerves. Several users commenting on Microsoft's official Vista blog — where mention was made of the tests — took exception to Principled's conclusion that Vista SP1 and XP produced comparable results.