I've run AutoCAD 2010 on a netbook, and so I know the netbook class of computer is too slow for that. But for activities carried out by regular folks, are netbooks too slow? That's the line I've twice heard from salesmen at London Drugs (a Canadian chain that has a significant computer department) tell customers interested in netbooks.
Earlier I timed the bootup speed for Windows 7 on a netbook (1GB RAM, 1.6GHz Atom CPU).
I thought do the same timing on a "powerful" notebook computer. This one's an HP with 64-bit dual-core GHz AMD Turion CPU and 3GB RAM, running Vista SP2.
(Recall that the boot timing consists of starting, connecting to the wireless Internet, launching FireFox v3.5, and then opening the My Yahoo page.)
- Netbook running Windows 7RC took 4:38 to complete the startup task; 0:36 to shut down.
- Notebook running Vista SP2 took 5:13 to startup, and 1:25 to shut down.
With times as painful as those -- think about wanting to quickly start a computer in the airport lounge -- it's no wonder Linux's 2-minute startup is a keeper.
Comments