Thinkpads Forum

does it get in the way? what's your opinion? i'm asking cause, I'm thinking about enabling it?

It is all up to you. If you find some of it useful, then use it. If not, then don't.
Users on this forum (as I noticed, may be wrong), are devided. Some found it useful and use it, to others it's not sufficient and use independent software. I use just PowerManager, ActiveProtection, Hotkeys and FingerPrintReader Software (I consider other to be buggy, especially if you do update via SystemUpdate). Also it prolongs booting time, when all TVsoftware is installed. It's just mine opinion, do as it suits you.

I use much of the ThinkVantage, but not all. Power Manager, Access Connections, Fingerprint Reader, CSS. But I don't need or use the Keyboard Customizer very often, Rescue & Recovery, Message Center, etc. Thinkpad Configuration center is quite handy. YMMV. Try enabling it all and seeing what you need.

I can't stand the internet navigation keys right above the arrow keys so I use the Keyboard Customizer to turn them off. I'm not the most accurate typer so I would hit them constantly and lose information.

If I hadn't figured out how to turn those keys off, I might have stopped buying Thinkpads, so this Thinkvantage tools was VERY useful.

Try experimenting with the different thinkvantage programs. That is what I did when I first got my laptop for the first time. After a couple of weeks of trying out other programs and the thinkvantage ones, I obtained an idea of what I wanted to keep/disable.
I than did an RnR custom install with what I wanted to keep.