Andre has just posted his 21-page Microsoft Windows Vista Pre-RC 1 preview (Builds 5472 and 5536). In the preview, he discusses load times, installation times, an array of features (IE 7, multimedia, advanced, etc.) and much more. Included are over 20 screenshots. Below is an excerpt:

For me, installing the operating system has been a varied experience depending on the hardware; I tried different machines, all which successfully installed a combination of x86 and x64 platforms. The BETA 2 build released in May installed in approximately 35 to 40 minutes on both 32 and 64 bit hardware. Microsoft has since released updated builds (5456, 5472) otherwise known as interim releases. I recently installed 5472 (x86); the install time on my desktop and laptop were 59 minutes and 54 minutes respectively. A significant drop in performance there compared to build (5384 � BETA 2). Although we should take into consideration 5472 x64 is an interim release and does not reflect the same quality, as a milestone build such as BETA 2 or RC1 will be. Hopefully I will see changes to this area as development progresses, but fluctuation in performance has been a number one problem since BETA 1.