CPU 100% alot of the time in Vista and XP! AAO 120Gb 1.5gb

I have a normal vista installed on my Acer One, and I have the CPU monitor running in the side bar. I keep on getting to 100% CPU usage, even whilst doing seemingly small tasks, e.g opening web browser etc.

My configeration is the 120gb model with 1.5 gb RAM. It came installed with Linipus, but I upgraded to Vista.

I then tried to install a mini version of XP to check, but even there I was getting CPU to 100% alot of the time.

The Vista/XP are totally usable even with the above, but I was just wondering if other people were having the same experience and if thyere is anything I could do to bring the CPU down.

Cheers, and thanks for such a great forum.

 

Wow! What an overwhelming response.

Anyone kind enough to check their system to see their CPU. You can use the "multi meter" gadget.

 

I have a AAO ZG5 with 1gb RAM 160gb hdd running vista ultimate and at idle i am seeing 5-30% cpu usage and 67% RAM.....

 

It's not unusual for CPU usage to go to 100% while opening Firefox (but not while browsing). At least that's my experience with Linux, even on more highly spec'ed machines.

From my perspective, this is a good thing. What's the point of having a good CPU unless you use it to maximum capacity? Or, to put it another way, would you really prefer to have your browser open more slowly than it currently does, for the sake of "saving" your CPU usage?

 

It's the nature of the Atom processor. Most of the time it idles, barely sipping enough power to power a light bulb. When you order a task, it goes full bore for a couple of seconds, then drops down again. The "seemingly minor tasks" you mention send any processor to 100% though. On my other full-size laptop, opening firefox send my processor to 50% until the browser loads. The 50% is actually 100% of one core of the Core2Duo.

 

Mate, don't run the cpu usage gadget in the sidebar...the gadget itself takes up a bit of CPU...talking from experience