Will future computers have faster boot up times?

One of the biggest complaints is the slow start-up speed on Windows computers.  Maybe computers, even new ones, take anywhere from 30 – 50 seconds to boot up.  This doesn’t compliment today’s fastmoving world of quick iPhones, Blackberries, and other handheld devices.  

In the past, slow computers were fine for office use.  You would start up your computer, and go for a cup of coffee, and then get ready for the day’s work.  Nowadays, most people have computers at home and use the computer more occasionally and with shorter periods of time.  For instance, many folks use the computer to send across a quick IM (instant message), e-mail, blurb on MySpace, check out directions for dinner, or to research some topic just viewed on TV.  In the past, we were dependent upon dial-up or slow Internet speeds. 

Now the quick Internet speeds we have are there to fuel our fast-moving lives.  Newer computers are looking to resolve slow start-up speeds by loading necessary drivers, excluding networking drivers and others, so your computer will start up fast.  But, you still have to wait after startup before going on the Internet. 

Newer computers are also trying to improve upon sleep or standby mode.  This way, you don’t have to worry about turning off and on your computer.  You can just put your computer  in standby mode and use it when necessary.  However, some computers or Vista causes some software not to come out of hibernation when coming out of standby.  Also, if you have VPN or networking connections to the office, this will need to be restarted when coming out of standby.   The new Dell Latitude will actually improve upon the standby mode by allowing all networking, VPN, etc. to still be working when coming out of standby mode. 

But, even so, we’re still sideswiping the slow startup issue.  Even Macs have slow startup too.  You may have a computer technician give you a computer tune-up to quicken your slow startup.  Ultimately, Microsoft and Apple will need to de-bloat their operating systems so that computers will start faster.  Until then, get ready to perform periodic computer maintenance to ensure it is as fast as possible.