Courtesy | Microsoft

Talk about your upgrade letdown.

Windows Vista users should get better computing performance with Vista Service Pack 1, the free operating system update now available as a manual download from the Microsoft Download Center and in mid-April as an automatic download. Just don't expect your Vista-based computer to suddenly roar on all cylinders like Popeye after pounding a can of spinach.

“(It's a) big yawn really,” says Bob Esquenazi, owner of Systems Engaged computer consultancy in San Antonio.

Esquenazi says Vista users won't see dramatic enhancements with SP1. Rather, SP1's improvements will quietly hum under the hood mostly as better security and new drivers so Vista works with more printers and other peripherals.

Still, Microsoft says SP1 can speed up opening large image files and copying or extracting files from compressed mode, improve power consumption when your screen is idle as well as speed up your computer's wakeup from Hibernate and Standby modes.

In other words, SP1 is hardly the second coming of Vista. It also hardly holds a gigabyte to Windows XP, Microsoft's older operating system.

PC World tested a high-end desktop computer and a Vista-ready laptop running Vista Business, Vista Business SP1 and XP Professional SP2. XP beat out both Vistas overall.

PC World senior editor Tim Moynihan says PC World also ran a separate test for Microsoft's SP1 claims, which he summed up as “a mixed bag.” He says in a lot of the cases Vista actually outperformed SP1, though XP often outperformed both.

So should you even bother with SP1? Moynihan says you might as well. Esquenazi also encourages you to update.

But not all computer experts share that sense of urgency.

“I don't see the rush,” says Courtney Pelzel, managing member of ASAP Computer Services in San Antonio. Pelzel suggests Vista users turn off automatic updating and wait a month after SP1's auto release, that way any bugs in SP1 get fixed before they get to your computer.

As for SP1 satisfying your need for speed: “Never will a service pack make a system faster,” Pelzel says.

What will speed things up: more RAM (random access memory) and a faster processor.

For Vista, Pelzel recommends 4GB RAM, at least a dual-core Intel processor and a video card with 512MB on the card. Esquenazi suggests you put as much money as you're willing to drop into the processor and then get as much memory as you can. Both urge you to go with the recommended — not the minimum — Vista requirements.

Ultimately, SP1 will enhance Vista. And if by chance you actually notice the difference, then so much the better.

René A. Guzman | 210SA contributor