Just happened to me - again - to acknowledge the enormous speed difference between Windows and Linux version of Inkscape.
I imported a PDF created from an Autocad file, that came up with a huge amount of objects forming all the lines and curves.
Well, the same file make Windows lag *a lot*, almost unusable, while in Linux it runs much better and smoother.

Is anyone aware of this difference, or is it my rig's fault?
I have a laptop with i7 processor, 8GB RAM and Nvidia Geforce GT555M with 2GB on board.

Important question: could it be because Windows build was 32 bit while Linux was 64 bit?
Is it possible to have a Windows 64 bit binary for Inkscape?

Cheers!

I can't speak to your technical questions, although I'm sure others will be able to offer some helpful comments. I just wanted to say that I have seen reports in this forum of Inkscape running better (faster) on Linux than Windows. I don't know if 32 vs 64 bit could be an issue, but again, others will know

Not sure if this is part of what you are seeing, but inkscape versions built from trunk have for a while been using around 15% of CPU even when they are just sitting there doing nothing.

mathog wrote:(…) but inkscape versions built from trunk have for a while been using around 15% of CPU even when they are just sitting there doing nothing.

I cannot confirm mathog's statement in this general form (it is definitely not true for trunk builds on linux and osx, and I can't recall similar complaints by others using development builds from trunk for Windows, either).

Here is the Windows-specific report complaining about 15% CPU activity while being idle:
Bug #871968 "Windows CPU resource at 15%" - AFAICT does not seem to be related to the Windows port of the development branch (trunk), but possibly more so to the local system configuration or hardware setup.

Carrozza wrote:Well, the same file make Windows lag *a lot*, almost unusable, while in Linux it runs much better and smoother.

Did you verify that you compare the same versions on both systems? (see Inkscape menu 'Help > About Inkscape'). Note: Current development builds from trunk (Inkscape 0.48+devel) have a known performance regression when working with files with lots of stroked paths (unlike stable Inkscape 0.48.x with the old renderer).

Carrozza wrote:Important question: could it be because Windows build was 32 bit while Linux was 64 bit?

In my experience 32bit vs 64bit does make quite a difference with regard to overall performance (testing 32bit and 64bit builds on OS X 10.7.2)

Carrozza wrote:Is it possible to have a Windows 64 bit binary for Inkscape?

There are no prebuilt 64bit packages for Windows available (nor for Mac OS X by the way), and I don't know whether someone had been able to successfully create them based on the current build & packaging system used for the Windows port (rest assured that it is a known request, and on the roadmap for 0.49).

Thank you all for the answers.

I guess I'll just keep using Linux for the time being and will watch out for a native Windows 64bit build when it will available.

Cheers!