Thanks to our tough lab tests, we can reveal the fastest and slowest laptop start-up times. Fed up with the time it takes your own computer to start? You can use our top tips to speed it up.
You’ve sat down at your desk, ready to dive headlong into your work, or to fire off that email you’ve been meaning to send. Alas, your device has other ideas and ponders whether it really fancies getting off to a flying start. Sound familiar? You’ve probably got a computer that’s slow to boot.
In our tests over the last two years, we’ve found computers that startup almost ten times slower than the very fastest.
We check the boot speed of every laptop we test, from the moment the power button is pressed to the second the log-in screen is displayed. As such, we’re able to bring you the list of the ten slowest-booting laptops and 15 of the very fastest. We can also reveal how to cut your own model's start-up speeds to practically zero by changing your habits.
Which laptop is right for you? Our tests reveal the best laptops for all budgets
The slowest-booting laptops since 2020
To test laptop speeds, our lab shuts each laptop down completely, then switches it on again, timing how long it takes from the moment the power button is pressed to the moment the log-in screen appears.
Here, we reveal the slowest models in our lab tests. Keep reading to discover the fastest.
| Laptop | Startup time (seconds) | Operating system | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Acer Aspire 1 A114 | 28 | Windows | £300 |
| Samsung Galaxy Book Go LTE | 26 | Windows | £339 |
| GEO GeoFlex 340 | 24 | Windows | £270 |
| GEO GeoFlex 230 | 23 | Windows | £200 |
| LG Gram 17Z90Q | 22 | Windows | £1,645 |
| HP 17-cn2001na | 21 | Windows | £849 |
| ASUS E210MA-GJ181TS | 20 | Windows | £119 |
| Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 ProX | 20 | Windows | £1,011 |
| Geo GeoBook 140 | 19 | Windows | £199 |
| Xiaomi Book S | 19 | Windows | £600 |
| HP Stream 11-ak0020na | 18 | Windows | 220 |
(Prices in our table are how much the laptop cost when it launched. Models without a hyperlink are either no longer available or yet to be published in our laptop reviews.)
Topping this list of shame is the Acer Aspire 1 A114, which launched at a price of £300. This 14-inch laptop is hardly one you’d expect to be a speed demon, but it’s still a disappointment that this otherwise lightweight laptop will be a drag when you start it up.
Perhaps the biggest surprise here is the LG Gram 17Z90Q, one of the most expensive laptops we’ve tested, let alone by far the priciest in this top ten. With a 22-second boot speed, this premium 17-inch laptop delivers fast speeds elsewhere, but it doesn’t get off to a flying start.
Another pricey entry here is the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 ProX, which boots up in 20 seconds yet costs just over a grand.
Of course, it's not just about boot speed. A laptop that's a bit ponderous when booting could still be very quick when it comes to day-to-day tasks. But if you're weighing up two different models and one has a very slow boot speed and another is quick, it could be the clincher. So check our laptop reviews before you buy.
If these times seem fast to you, then you need to take action to speed up your own computer. Scroll down to find out how.
Need a new laptop? We'll help you find a genuine bargain - see our expert pick of the best Black Friday laptop deals
The fastest booting laptops since 2020
| Laptop | Startup time (seconds) | Operating system | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lenovo Ideapad 3 (Gen 6) 14ALC6 | 3 | Windows | £480 |
| ASUS A516JA | 3 | Windows | £280 |
| Acer Swift 3 SF316-51-59EU | 3 | Windows | £799 |
| Lenovo IdeaPad 5i Chromebook Gen 6 | 3 | Chromebook | £380 |
| Honor MagicBook 14 (2021) | 3 | Windows | £599 |
| Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 Pro | 3 | Windows | £850 |
| HP x360 14c-cc0505na | 3 | Chromebook | £629 |
| Acer Chromebook 514 (CB514-1W) | 3 | Chromebook | £350 |
| Asus CX1700 Chromebook (Intel Pentium) | 3 | Chromebook | £290 |
| HP Pavilion 15-eh1013na | 3 | Windows | £520 |
| Lenovo IdeaPad 3i 15.6" (15ITL6) | 3 | Windows | £320 |
| HP Pavilion x360 14-ek0002na | 3 | Windows | £649 |
There are 15 laptops that all boot up in just three seconds, and we’ve listed them above. It’s a wide range of models coming from both the Chromebook and Windows 10/11 side of the tracks with some really cheap options performing as well as some high-end devices. But you’ll notice that none of Apple’s MacBook laptops make this wall of fame.
The fastest Apple we tested was the 2022 MacBook Air, which boots up in eight seconds. The slowest is the 2020 MacBook Air, which takes 14 seconds.
Tech tips you can trust — get our free Tech newsletter for advice, news, deals and stuff the manuals don’t tell you
How to boot up instantly
Most laptops by default simply go to sleep when you shut the lid. Instead of shutting the computer down and clearing out the memory, the computer remains in a low-power state, which provides just enough energy to keep the Ram active, thus keeping everything you were doing saved and ready to go.
It’s much faster to load any given program or file from the Ram versus from your computer’s SSD or hard drive, which is why most computers take only a second or two to start up from Sleep Mode.
If your Windows 10/11 computer isn’t doing this, click 'Start' in the bottom left of your screen and type 'change what closing the lid does’, click on that and then select 'Sleep' in the options for both 'On battery' and 'Plugged in'.
This should happen by default on MacOS. But if it doesn’t, search for 'Prevent computer from sleeping automatically when the display is off' and ensure the option is unticked.
If you’re in the habit of shutting your computer down fully to ensure it’s completely off, you can set it to Hibernate instead. This turns it off fully and saves everything you were doing to the hard drive or SSD. This means while the initial boot-up into the operating system (the figure we’re talking about in our best/worst tables) won’t change, as soon as you’ve logged in you’ll be instantly greeted with what you were doing before.
To make sure that whenever your computer is completely off and starting afresh, as is nice to do sometimes, ensure it has as few start-up programs as possible.
In Windows 10/11, click 'Start' and search ‘Startup apps’. Turn apps on and off that are set to start when your computer boots. Fewer apps means there’s less to load, making it faster to get to the stuff you actually want to do.
You can do similar in MacOS by going to Users and Groups within the Settings menu, and selecting your account and then ‘Login items’. You can then untick programs that are launching when the laptop first turns on.
There is no such setting on ChromeOS.
Sign up for Which? Tech Support
- One-to-one support from our friendly Tech Support team, ready to respond to unlimited member queries
- The UK’s largest computing and technology magazine, Which? Computing, published six times a year
- Easy, jargon-free advice so you can make the most of your tablet, laptop or smartphone.
You can sign up online to Which? Tech Support, or contact our helpful customer service team today on 029 2267 0000.
source https://www.which.co.uk/news/article/revealed-the-laptops-that-start-up-10x-slower-than-the-best-aoNeW6Z7bsf6