Benchmarked: Windows 7 RTM versus Vista and XP

PCMark Vantage tests system performance by benchmarking the applications that are integrated into Vista and Windows 7. The benchmark is divided into several usage scenarios, with the default PCMark Suite simulating everyday PC usage. Here's a list of the individual tests:

• Memories: Four tests check the speed of Windows Photo Gallery and Windows Movie Maker when handling photos and video.
• TV and Movies: Plays and converts high-definition video in four separate tests.
• Gaming: Measures the performance of the graphics card and estimates the loading speed of compressed game data.
• Music: Converts WAV music files to MP3 and WMA Lossless formats and adds music files in Media Player.
• Communication: Tests include web-page rendering, CNG AES CBC encryption, Windows Mail Search and audio transcoding.
• Productivity: Tests include text editing, search in Windows Contacts, analysis of the boot process and web-page rendering.
• HDD: Disk performance is measured using Windows Defender, Windows Photo Gallery, Windows Movie Maker, Windows Media Center and Windows Media Player. The disk's speed when launching the operating system and applications is also measured.

More information about PCMark Vantage is available in this white paper (PDF). We used the 64-bit version with default settings, running the tests three times and presenting the average values.

The graphs below show that the integrated applications in Windows 7 perform better than their Vista counterparts. This result is even more pronounced on the mobile platform (single-core Acer Timeline 3810T notebook) than the high-end system (Core i7-based desktop). The mobile platform shows an average performance increase of 35 per cent under Windows 7, while the high-end desktop is 20 per cent faster.

The music applications benefit most from the new operating system, showing a 64 per cent performance improvement. The individual tests reveal that the conversion of WAV files to WMA Lossless is now three times faster.

It would be unwise to conclude that every application will work 20 percent faster under Windows 7 on average. Remember that PCMark Vantage is only testing the integrated Windows applications -- Windows 7's performance advantage over Vista, if any, will depend on the mix of applications you use.

Other tests such as Everest, 7-zip, 3DMark Vantage, Cinebench and Paint.Net suggest that Windows 7 is not faster than Vista. Even so, an increase in the performance of the integrated applications in Windows is not a trivial advantage.