Windows 7 Long wait before user accounts come up on startup

After upgrade to windows 7 from vista, i noticed on startup, there is a long pause (about 20secs) on the Windows 7 Professional page (where the user accounts appear for you to click and login). The user account icons do not appear until after 20secs or so. This is definitely not normal and im wondering what the problem could be. I'm using a HP Probook 4310s Another issue on a side note: i thought my ram usage would drop after upgrading to windows 7, however, my ram usage stays between 40-50+% on idle.