Hands on: Boost your laptop's performance

With each new version of Windows, Microsoft introduces technologies it claims will improve performance, but the end result isn’t always a faster experience.

Greater overheads along with more sophisticated visuals and indexing can seriously impact overall performance, and one of the greatest offenders in these respects is Vista.

Every owner of Vista has experienced the constant disk chatter after startup, as the Superfetch (and optional Readyboost) caches are populated.

Both technologies can improve overall performance once they’re populated with data, but that process can render PCs unusable for the first few minutes after power-up.

We benchmarked a freshly unpacked Sony TZ-series laptop running Vista and were shocked at how slow the default shipping configuration was.

At first glance the blame could be levelled at Vista running on modest hardware but, upon closer examination, the bigger culprit was a system clogged with promotional software trials and unnecessary startup items.

After a spring clean, the laptop was performing quite respectably. Here we’re measuring the impact of a memory upgrade along with the ultimate salute to Vista: wiping the hard disk and ‘downgrading’ to Windows XP.

‘Downgrading’ to XP
Windows XP is seen by many enthusiasts as a swift, efficient and reliable alternative to Vista, without compromising on functionality and support for modern devices.

As such, it’s not surprising that the solution to countless threads of laptop forums complaining of poor Vista performance is to ‘downgrade’ to XP.

The big issue with laptops though is that there are a number of often proprietary system components that require drivers to operate properly ­ and many modern laptops designed for use with Vista may not have drivers for older versions of Windows.

One solution is to re-use XP drivers for older models from the same company, as these can sometimes work fine. Of course, the device functionality may be reduced, or the older driver may not work at all, but it’s a trial-and-error process that many dedicated enthusiasts have gone through.

Before taking the plunge, do a web search for XP drivers for your particular laptop to see what’s available and what others have achieved with older software. A great resource for laptop users is Notebookreview.com.

Ideally the manufacturer will realise there’s sufficient demand for XP drivers and provide them itself. These are often posted ‘as-is’ for enthusiasts to try, with disclaimers that you may not subsequently enjoy the complete functionality of your laptop.

Sony is one such manufacturer, with its Vista laptops being criticised in many forums for disappointing performance. So in September 2007, it posted a set of XP drivers for all the Vaio computers that it shipped with Vista.