this post was submitted on 05 Jan 2026
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[–] GarboDog@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago

Saw this video on YouTube a few days ago, it’s really interesting. Seemed like XP, 7 and (somehow 8.1) ran pretty good. Here’s the video for anyone wanting to see it :P https://youtu.be/7VZJO-hOT4c

Tho while 8 may be more performant, it’s also less usable imo. Would like to see how this stacks up with different OSs!

[–] darkevilmac@lemmy.zip 252 points 2 days ago (3 children)

Not sure why it would be unexpected? 8.1 was not a good OS from a UI perspective, but it was the last version before Microsoft went all in on making Windows a service and not a product you paid to use.

They still had the incentive to make the OS better and faster. I remember videos from Microsoft at the time showing how fast Windows 8 could get to the desktop compared to 7. They don't really even try to work on stuff like that anymore.

[–] fuckwit_mcbumcrumble@lemmy.dbzer0.com 125 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (3 children)

Windows 8 also had to run on atom CPUs with dire CPU performance and even more dire memory configs. So even once it was booted it needed to be relatively slim and quick. I actually preferred it at the time because it was faster than 7.

[–] ZoteTheMighty@lemmy.zip 34 points 2 days ago (3 children)

I miss the Intel Atom, not because I wanted to use it, but because of the positive impact it had on big tech and software bloat. I wish we could bring it back, but it seems nowadays, even Chromebooks have 16 GB of RAM and an i5.

[–] Anivia@feddit.org 34 points 2 days ago

but it seems nowadays, even Chromebooks have 16 GB of RAM and an i5.

That is extremely far from the truth. Yes, there are a handful of Chromebook with such specifications, but the vast majority has an underpowered ARM chip and 4gb of ram

[–] lauha@lemmy.world 24 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Current RAM shortage will bring good old days back :)

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The atom is only gone in name. It’s now just “intel processor”. The N100 CPUs are in a ton of neat machines. And the E cores of Intel CPUs are just Atom cores.

[–] laurelraven@lemmy.zip 6 points 2 days ago

I actually really liked 8.1, preferred it to 7 once I got used to the Start Screen. Surprisingly well designed, actually found myself preferring the menu over 7's

10 had the best start menu in my opinion, but the quality was just an ever advancing downward spiral.

Now, I can't even stand it, deal with it at work as much as I have to, but at home, the only Windows machine left is only still on it because simulator peripherals are a pain to get working right on Linux sometimes, so my dedicated simulator machine still uses that, but it's used for nothing else

[–] morto@piefed.social 24 points 2 days ago

Those 2 in 1 baytrail laptops were so underpowered, but damn, they're so cool

[–] kalleboo@lemmy.world 76 points 2 days ago (6 children)

Windows 8 was where Microsoft went all-in on optimizing Windows to run on low-power tablets to compete with the iPad. It's mostly remembered for the terrible tablet-first full-screen "start menu", but also continued the work to trim away all the Vista bloat that had started with Windows 7 (where the motivation was to make it work on netbooks so they could finally stop shipping XP)

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[–] carrylex@lemmy.world 27 points 2 days ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (2 children)

At first: Stop posting Tomshardware! They just bulk repost ad-enriched low quality clickbait content without validating anything (cough 9700X3D). Just post the original video.

As the video creator said in it's disclaimer, the test is probably not accurate:

  • I'm having serious doubts about the test setup. The laptops are all on a carpet directly facing a wall. There is a 0% chance that this is using proper air circulation and this will likely effect heat dissipation.
  • Some tests (e.g. Video editing, Battery life) are extremly hardware dependent and shouldn't be used in a OS comparison.
[–] python@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago

It's the same exact laptop, the tests ran sequentially but were edited so that the video shows them in parallel. Since it's the same hardware in each test and only the OS changes, it's a perfectly fine setup for comparison.

[–] Rooster326@programming.dev 18 points 2 days ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

Okay but can't we just post an article?

Why does everything need to be a video? I am more sick of Everything needs to be a video then I am of This meeting could've be an email.

[–] sexhaver87@sh.itjust.works 15 points 2 days ago

I think their main issue lies with Tomshardware, not the medium of an article

[–] reddig33@lemmy.world 157 points 2 days ago (1 children)

The computers get faster and the software gets slower. Tale as old as time.

[–] morto@piefed.social 84 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (4 children)
[–] Alabaster_Mango@lemmy.ca 37 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (2 children)

Markdown formatted that as a bullet point. You can avoid that by putting a backslash in front of the asterisk.

Typing this:

\* Test Message

Will get this:

* Test Message

Without backslash:

  • Test Message
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[–] arararagi@ani.social 40 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Seems like every hardware upgrade just makes software worse because they can just brute force it.

[–] Landless2029@lemmy.world 9 points 2 days ago

Optimization?
What's that?

[–] FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world 29 points 2 days ago (10 children)

I have fond memories of Windows XP working well.

Do not have fond memories of the multi-dvd game installations, but I still have my library of physical games. :)

[–] Denalduh@lemmy.world 21 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (3 children)

Nothing sucked more than buying a used game only for it to ask for disc 5 to be inserted to continue, when it only came with 4!

[–] FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world 16 points 2 days ago

Oh, true, but back then game companies would sell you those single disks you needed. My copy of Baldur's Gate 2 was missing one that I was able to replace for a few bucks.

In hindsight, I kinda miss the awesome customer service that used to exist.

[–] Rooster326@programming.dev 8 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Idk a tiny almost imperceptible scratch causing you to retry installing 3 or 4 times might a contender. At least the missing disk is a clear error.

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[–] Wispy2891@lemmy.world 71 points 2 days ago (5 children)

Even the older Windows XP managed 50 tabs, and that's because it kept crashing past that number because of its paging file failing to keep up, not because it had hit the 5GB memory ceiling.

Windows XP 32bit can't hit 5gb memory ceiling, the 32bit memory addresses don't allow that

[–] TroublesomeTalker@feddit.uk 49 points 2 days ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physical_Address_Extension

Not at release. It came later though for certain chipsets.

[–] carrylex@lemmy.world 6 points 2 days ago

PSA: In the video (not the retarded posted article that has 0 proofreading) it's stated that he used Windows XP 64 bit

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[–] REDACTED 13 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Interesting. I've always said that I liked 8.1 the most out of all Windows versions. With classic startup, it was basically a more stable, faster Win7 that had newer DirectX and fastboot. Too bad it died with 8.0 and so 8.1 never got any market share, but damn was it awesome.

[–] Kjell@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago

I also liked 8.1, but I kept 7 until 8.1 was released so I never experienced 8.0. Personally I was disappointed with Windows 7 when I moved from Vista because I had heard that it would be faster but for me 7 was slower before I upgraded to a SSD. I used a debloated version of Vista and compared it with the standard 7 so not really a far comparison.

[–] yaroto98@lemmy.world 52 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Fascinating that the browser using so much RAM is the OS's fault, not the browser's. Though, it using more RAM could be considered a good thing if it sped up page loading, but apparently that's not the case with Win11.

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[–] HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world 19 points 2 days ago (2 children)
[–] PalmTreeIsBestTree@lemmy.world 22 points 2 days ago (1 children)

7 was about the last time that it felt like Microsoft was trying to make a good product that was useful for its customers. They've always been anticompetitive sniveling greedy little shits that would buy out or otherwise kill competition, but used to be they'd try to sell new versions of Windows or Office on features they could reasonably expect customers to want. "It does spell check in real time now! We've included USB plug-and-play! Your PC with a modem is also a fax machine now! We made a 3D graphics library for gaming enthusiasts! We ship or OS with a media player that can play DVDs and MP3s out of the box! Here's a free video editor!"

I...don't remember that happening after Windows 7. Windows 8 was an attempt to cash in on the mobile craze, they're gonna make Windows a tablet product now! Except a lot of computers didn't have tablet controls, and a lot of desktop PC software doesn't work with tablet controls. They made a confusing annoying buggy hell mess. Win 10...I remember people hating it when it came out, they REALLY preferred 7, I was on Linux by that time and didn't care that much, and Win 10 was almost a rolling release; it changed a lot over its lifetime. They'd go all in on something, pack Win 10 full of features, and then the fad would fade and they'd pull it back out. 3D, AR, a couple other things. And now we've got the openly user hostile Windows 11. "It Harms Your Family!^(R)^"

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[–] vivalapivo@lemmy.today 19 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Windows Vista walked away as the fastest.

My girl

[–] ivanafterall@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago (2 children)

I ran Vista for years, but recall people hating it.

[–] Honytawk@feddit.nl 3 points 1 day ago

At the end of its life, Vista was quite competent.

But during the early years, the added animations and transparent features really tanked the performance on the hardware of that time. Combined with the issues any new OS has, it received much hate. Only after much optimization became it somewhat stable.

[–] vivalapivo@lemmy.today 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I remember her as a sip of fresh air. No other OS was this appealing

[–] ivanafterall@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago

Making me want to revisit Vista.

[–] Damarus@feddit.org 27 points 2 days ago (4 children)

This is not a proper test. Windows does optimizations on the first few boots which makes the startup take longer. As it's not mentioned in the video, we have to assume this was not accounted for, which completely invalidates the results.

[–] xthexder@l.sw0.com 14 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Well considering almost every time I reboot it seems to do a windows update, those optimizations are probably running every time anyway. It's almost fair.

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