I have a Sony Vaio P series: perfect but frighteningly slow using Windows Vista. Should I downgrade to XP or wait for Windows 7's speed?
Dr William Bloom
The Vaio P is in most respects a delight, but in my Technophile review of a prototype, I said: "Unfortunately, it has a 1.3GHz Intel Atom Z530 processor, which is horribly slow". It rates 2.1 on the Windows Experience Index, and it's not really fast enough.
If you downgrade to XP, the P should run faster. However, when correctly installed, Vista SP1 runs at much the same speed as XP SP3, so you may not get a dramatic improvement.
I suspect that Sony could do a better job of installing Vista, and after I was rude about the prototype, I hoped it would. You could try using the built-in Recovery Centre to do a reinstallation back to factory condition, but this isn't guaranteed to be better. If you have an external DVD writer, you can also create recovery discs and try doing a clean installation that way, but it's all work.
On my experience so far, Windows 7 is faster than Vista, uses less memory, and uses the same drivers as Vista. Those factors could make the Windows 7 upgrade a better bet, though you will need an external DVD to make it convenient to install either.
Mobile Tech Review has a YouTube video of Windows 7 on a Vaio P, which should give a better idea of performance.
