That is interesting, especially as you have a very new computer! On my HP dv6700 laptop I am running a Turion X2 64 bit TL-60 with Windows 7 Ultimate 32 bit and 3GB of RAM. The computer (OS) has been up for 4 days now (I was in the Mint desktop 4 days ago) and only sleeps when I shut the lid. My CPU usage will rest around 1%-3% but my RAM also sits at 32%??? Even funnier is there is not much I can do to spike it! It sits there pretty solid.XidCat wrote:Went over to the dark side for a couple of weeks. Was using Mint 8 x64 exclusively and bought a copy of Win7 (have to keep current for work). I have a Phenom Quad Core w/6 GB RAM. Under Win7, CPU load is a constant 10% w/35% RAM in use on boot. Stock install and added NOD32 AV. After browsing, (Flash, Java sites included), with any browser (I used Opera, FF, IE8, Maxthon, Chrome), my CPU and RAM usage steadily climb and are not completely released when shutting down the program. Moving multiple large files between HDDs is slow and renders the computer almost useless to do anything else. My computer's main cooling fan is on demand, and running Mint, I never heard it run, under Win7, it is constantly kicking on. I think my computer will burn cooler and last longer with Mint . I reboot Win7 once a day to free RAM and CPU cycles. After doing some reading on the 'Net, I find that this is not uncommon. When I boot Mint 8, I am using about 500MB RAM (<10%) and my CPU is at 0 on boot. I can browse, use e-mail, edit vids, do whatever and I have never seen my CPU go over 40-45% and computer is always usable (ie doesn't slow to a crawl under the load). I can leave the box on for days, weeks and it never heats up to where the fan kicks in and it never needs a reboot to free RAM or CPU cycles.
TBH, this is the first time I ever monitored my usage on Windows 7. I have been running this install since late November of last year and have 0 complaints. So far it has easily handled whatever I have thrown at it, though admittedly they are lighter laptop duties. Even moving larger multi-GB files has no effect on the OS, I can easily do other things while it crunches on something. I usually have 5-6 apps open at the same time, streaming music, web browser, Office, calculator, e-sword...I have simply never bogged this OS down.
Also, I have the opposite cooling problem than you do. With Mint booted my fan runs much more and the laptop runs hotter. Not enough to worry, but it is noticeable. Also, battery life is not as good with Mint. These two things combined are one of the bigger influences that keeps me in Win 7 on this laptop. I am also used to 7 and for this application I believe I even prefer it. I run Linux on all my other computers (other than my wife's Vista Ultimate laptop) and enjoy Linux...But on this laptop I stick with Windows.