I have XP on my desktop and Vista on my laptop... Desktop is 2yrs old (amd64/2gb ram) and the laptop is a brand new toshiba (amdx2 64/ 3gb ram). I did a simple benchmark test running Fritz 10 benchmark (chess software that I use for position analysis). XP benchmark was 7.9 (compared to 1.0 on a p4 1ghz)... Vista was 3.4???!!!??? note that this benchmark doesn't include video etc... it benchmarks how fast the analysis runs. This shows that XP is over TWICE as fast on 2yr old slower hardware than a brand new Vista machine. After spending a whole day doing tweaks to get Vista to feel somewhat responsive, I was able to get my Fritz 10 benchmark to 3.9... Still pathetic. I certainly hope Win7 is far faster because Vista is a performance DOG for anyone running performance critical applications. This is the #1 reason why I tell people to stick with XP as long as possible.... Those who have to upgrade I recommend two different paths... if they are tech dummies, I suggest buying a Mac (something I have NEVER done before) or if they have a clue, I recommend using Linux. Ubuntu on the Vista laptop flies, yet Vista is just barely usable.