In terms of gaming performance, we clearly see that Windows ME provides better performance for your current hardware; however, we also see that the start up time was actually slower than Windows 98. The reason for the slower start up time could be because there are more (in quantity), but more efficient files loaded at start up time than Windows 98. Unfortunately, we were unable to test the overal 2D applications performance, such as Word or Photoshop under this new OS, but by keeping the fact that there are more, yet more efficient system files being loaded, we can expect a jump in performance for regular Windows tasks that follows the same pattern as the gain in 3D performance we saw in the benchmarks.

Overal, Microsoft has done an excellent job in making this OS the best home OS yet. After using this OS on my main computer for a couple of weeks, I can also conclude that it is substantially more stable than Windows 98 SE, and I can also feel a slight boost in performance when using everything from Word, to games and to browsing the Internet. The only gripe about it is that the newer version of Windows Media Player that is included with Windows ME, version 7, is very sluggish compared to the older version 6.4. Other than that, Windows ME is noticeably faster in all areas (except for start up, of course) and more reliable than its predecessors. Coupled with its new GUI, new level of ease of use and better reliability, Windows ME is now my new OS of choice.