The imminent release of Windows 8 has us all on the edge of our seats, and wondering how big the performance and power enhancements will be. Will the new operating system actually live up to its hype?
Test scenario: 150 programs. 2 months
In conducting preliminary benchmarks, we found that
Windows 8 managed to beat Windows 7 in the performance department in almost every discipline. With our interest peaked, we decided to take our tests one step further to identify how the installation of third-party applications, or crapware, affect the new operating system’s performance. To do this, we added 150 programs [Figure 1] to our solid 2009 Core 2 Duo with 3 GHz, 4 GB RAM and a 256 GB SSD drive using the RTM version of Windows 8, and measured the impact on resource usage, boot time, application launch speed and battery life, among other areas, over a two-month period. So, how did Windows 8 fare under the stress of the 150 programs? Let’s check it out!
