Windows 11 runs slower than XP in surprising test
An unusual YouTube test compared the performance of six generations of Windows — from XP to Windows 11 — using the same equipment. The newest system showed the worst results in most tests, while Windows 8.1 was unexpectedly the most stable "middleman."
Tom's Hardware reports on this.
Which version of Windows was the fastest and slowest?
YouTuber TrigrZolt, the author of the experiment, took six identical Lenovo ThinkPad X220s with Intel Core i5-2520M processors, 8 GB of RAM, and 256 GB SSDs. He installed the latest versions of Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8.1, 10, and 11 on each one. First, they measured the time it took to start up: Windows 8.1 started up the fastest and Windows 11 took the longest. Despite Fast Boot support in Windows 10 and 11, the newer system took longer to display the taskbar, a problem users have noticed since its release.
They also compared how much disk space the systems occupied with their installed programs. Windows XP was the most economical at 18.9 GB. Windows 11 required 37.3 GB, which is more than older versions, but less than Windows Vista (37.8 GB) and Windows 7 (44.6 GB).
In the memory usage test, Windows XP was ahead again. In idle mode, the system consumed around 0.8 GB. Meanwhile, Windows 11 used an average of 3.3 GB, peaking at 3.7 GB due to background services and telemetry, which can cause slowdowns on older hardware.
Next, we checked how many browser tabs the system could open before reaching 5 GB of used RAM. Because Chrome and Firefox are incompatible with older operating systems, we used Supermium. Windows 8.1 opened 252 tabs, while Windows 11 opened only 49. Windows XP reached 50 tabs, but then it began crashing due to issues with the page file.
In the Windows 11 battery test, Windows 11 came in first, while Windows XP had the fastest time. However, the difference between all the systems was about two minutes, which is practically imperceptible during normal use. All batteries were at 100% health under the conditions of the experiment.
During an audio export in Audacity, Windows 11 came in fifth, surpassing only Windows Vista, which experienced an unusual delay. In video rendering with OpenShot, Windows 11 was last again, while Windows 10 had the best time. XP and Vista could not even launch the editor.
Windows 11 was also slow to open programs, coming in last for "File Explorer," Paint, Calculator, Adobe Reader, and VLC. In web browsing, Windows 11 managed to reach third place once during image loading. However, on Google Images and the Microsoft account login page, it was last again. During file copying, however, Windows 11 came in second, behind only Windows 10.
In a MalwareBytes virus scan, Windows 11 produced the fourth-best results, while Windows 7 was the fastest. Synthetic benchmarks did not alter the overall picture. In CPU-Z, Windows XP won in single-core mode, Windows 7 won in multi-core mode, and Windows 11 came in fourth. In Geekbench, Windows 11 surpassed Windows 10 in the single-core test but fell behind in the multi-core test. Windows 11 tied with Windows 10 for third place in CrystalDiskMark, while Windows XP took first place again. In Cinebench R10, Windows 8.1 won, and Windows 11 fell to fourth place.
The author emphasized that the experiment has more historical than practical value. The ThinkPad X220 does not officially support Windows 11, and its results are significantly worse due to the lack of an SSD. With modern equipment featuring an NVMe drive and a powerful processor, the results could be completely different. In this test, however, TrigrZolt awarded Windows 8.1 the overall victory, describing it as remarkably smooth and fast despite the criticism it received at launch.
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