On the weekend, Geoff discovered the Performance Rating and Tools on Windows Vista.  These rating tools measure the capability of your computers hardware configuration and expresses it as a whole number.  The higher the number the better.  These tools will also give you advice about any problem that may be affecting the performance from a configuration point of view. 

The steps - as outlined by Geoff - to view your computers' performance rating are:

Right click on Computer (the Vista version of My Computer) and select properties. One of the things listed is your rating, and a link to view it in full - Windows System Performance Rating. Click the link and up it comes.

Here are some performance screenshots from Geoff's, Grants, and my own computer:

Geoff's Performance Rating:

Grant's Performance Rating:

Darren's Performance Rating: