I just bought a new multi-core laptop with Windows 7 and had a chance to test our software. In particular, I wanted to check the parallel-processing programs that we will release in February. Even though I tend to be skeptical, I have to admit that PC performance is going up as prices are going down. The test computer has a 17 screen, excellent sound-and-graphics support, 4 GB of memory and a state-of-the-art processor ? all for less than $1000.
Compared to Vista, Windows 7 has just enough new features to irritate you. At some point, we’re going to admit that a new Windows version release has all the excitement of a BIOS update. The operating system eats somewhat less memory than Vista. With some effort to eliminate unnecessary background tasks with WinPatrol, the resting computer used 984 MB of RAM. The machine went bananas when I installed any software. Flashing screens asking me whether I really wanted to do that stacked up recursively and filled the whole task bar. Turning off all security features and deactivating the work-intensive window transparency effect seemed to calm things down.
When the computer got used to the unfamiliar environment of my office, it settled in and performed well, particularly with parallel programs. On a test run, my trusty old workstation (with dual Intel Xeon processors at 3.2 GHz) did a benchmark HiPhi solution in 365 seconds with both processors active. (The task took 443 seconds in a single-processor run.) In comparison, the new machine (1.6 GHz Intel Core i7) took only 138 seconds. The run time was reduced by a factor of 2.7! The implication is that you can do almost three times as much number crunching on a compact laptop that they’re practically giving away compared to the workstations of a few years ago.
Task window: HiPhi on a multicore machine