Adrian Kingsley-Hughes from ZDNet Hardware 2.0 has done a series of benchmarks, not raw ones with exact numbers, but with ratings as results. He took Windows XP SP3, Vista SP1, 7 Beta 1 build 7000 (32 bit and 64 bit), 7 build 7048 (64 bit) and 7 build 7057 32 bit which is the most recent leaked build. He tested the builds on 2 separate systems with these configurations and took 31 tests in total.

• An AMD Phenom 9700 2.4GHz system fitted with an ATI Radeon 3850 and 4GB of RAM
• An Intel Pentium Dual Core E2200 2.2GHz fitted with an NVIDIA GeForce 8400 GS and 1GB of RAM

Keep in mind that raw benchmark results aren’t allowed under the Windows 7 EULA. Here are the test results from both systems:  Read more...

Permalink: Windows 7 build 7057 vs. Vista, XP and older 7 builds

Windows 7 build 7057 has been leaked on the tubes now. It’s available in both x86 and x64 variants and contains a few new tidbits. Here’s a quick review of some of the new features in this new build.  Read more...

• A stunning new login background. The image tile, password box and button are the same, only the image has changed. So, it’s just too much hype for the new login screen over just a new background. You can download the new background by clicking on the image above which will open the 1920×1200 sized version.
• It contains the same new icons as in build 7048 for Paint, WordPad, Remote Desktop and others. It seems that Microsoft has taken a step back from the ultra realistic icons of the Windows Vista era and made a new mixture of Vista+XP icon styles which result in the new icons we have seen so far. They look really good to me so far.
• The performance seems to have improved considerably over time. Build 7048 seemed to be somewhat buggy for many people but this one, marked as RC 1, is very fast indeed. The Hard disk I/O issues that some people were facing don’t seem to be there in this build.

Permalink: Quick Review of Windows 7 build 7057