Ubuntu and Windows Boot Times Compared

Nov 03, 2009

A boot time test as a rule brings more criticism than praise for the tester, seeing that the tests are usually considered flawed. A new test has fixed all that.

In February TuxRadar released a benchmark test for installation, bootup, shutdown and I/O performance of Ubuntu 8.04, 9.04, Windows Vista and 7. The benchmark elicited considerable criticism, as it was found that the boot times involved some "irrelevant" values.

Tuxradar has since improved on its benchmark and released a video comparing Windows Vista and 7 with the two current Ubuntu versions 9.04 and 9.10. This time, to avoid any accusation of "cheating," bootup was defined as the interval between bootloader startup and loading the homepage in Firefox. The video clearly shows in the Windows versions how the GUI shows up fairly quickly, but both Ubuntu versions overtake them in the end....

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Comments

  • Boot times matter

    Garry -

    Boot times matter to me. I carry a laptop around to lots of customer meetings - as convenient as suspend and hibernate are, sometimes reboots are needed. Doing so quickly is a big deal. I am happy to see Ubuntu 9.10 win - just upgraded last week.

    Rob

  • who cares about boot times?

    i boot my linux machines once every 5 or 6 months or so. it could take an hour and it wouldn't make much difference to my life. why is everyone so hung up on boot times?
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