Well when it comes down to it on a computer people usually side with on of the two. I have recently decided to get back on the performance side of things. As do most I run Windows Vista now with Vista one of the big questions is do I run Aero or not? Most modern computers can handle Aero without a problem but it uses up a lot of extra resources on your computer that could be reserved or used for the power of your applications and programs.

I personally can run Aero without a noticeable change taking effect in the performance department but if I get rid of Aero my RAM usage drops back around 300 MB and knocks about 10% off my CPU usage, that is a rather nice amount for both. I switched back to Windows Classic appearance and turned off a lot of the visual effects within Windows here is what I disabled.



I also got rid of all my extra appearance software, unused programs and browser extensions that I didn't really need, like my dock, a few Firefox add-ons and some unused software and things like that. I have knocked up my performance quite a bit. My system idles right at 600MB of RAM usage and and 1-5% CPU usage which is excellent.

The downside to this is my computer isn't as appealing to look at, but I have performance on my side. There are other advantages to taking it easy on your system as well because the less "wear and tear" you cause the more life you eventually get out of your hardware, not to mention the over all performance increase. I am happy with my decision to sacrifice looks for performance because now and in the long run it pays off.

Vista users you can run classic mode and turn off most of your visual effects and get a significant increase in over all performance if you are willing to make the sacrifice for the looks of your computer experience. Also Windows Classic doesn't look bad I managed to work up a nice little scheme and wallpaper combination to make it still look nice.

So what side are you on, performance or looks? Feel free to leave me a comment and tell me what you think.