Thinkpads Forum

My new X61 arrived recently and I really like it a lot. But I was wondering if it's typical for a machine to be shipped with drivers and ThinkVantage apps (which I know aren't important to everyone, but I use some of) that are all out of date, some up to six or seven versions. Goes back so many months it's hard to see why that was necessary. Collectively, loads of "fixes" and/or new functions listed for the newer ones, not just things like model, language or Vista support (I have XP). There are three pages of matrice downloads for my CTO model, some obviously optional, minor or Vista-only, but otherwise I see I'd need all of them if I want to get current. And, take advantage of all features I could be. Some things in that category also have sequential prerequisite steps. It's daunting to digest all that but hard to ignore either, as I'm sure many here can relate to. Knowing my components are so behind diminishes the new machine feeling a bit.

I've turned out to be someone who does need to consider what's under the hood, rather than just ignore all that as long as my apps run ok. But I'm not what most here would consider well-versed technically. Somehow it doesn't seem right to have to deal with these complicated, time-consuming and loaded decisions right out of the box. I do plan to be pretty conservative about what I update, but I'd expect the clock on that to start running from around the date of order forward, not be pre-existing and in such quantity. Not entirely comfortable with having to feel like I've already been opting "not to fix it if it ain't broke" for many months and up to a year in some cases IIRC. Or else, have to know so many bugs are looming already and just hope for the best; and be content to assume that my various system, peripheral, network etc. performances are already as good as they could be.

System Update won't be the answer; all things considered I don't plan to use it for more than a draft, oft-incomplete notice of what I might need and go look at. I know that's not an uncommon position to take, including by support reps, and I've had TVSU cause trouble on another machine. But regardless of that, seems it would still be a lot to expect the new owner to have to do, download thousand/s of MBs (when they may not even have a high speed connection) and take their chances. Or else, spend considerable time studying up on the updates; try to make judicious decisions; be sure to install and/or uninstall things in the right order when necessary; go slow, test each update out for awhile, etc. etc.

Wouldn't it be reasonable to expect a machine to arrive with components current to within about a month or two of order date? (I had my unit within days of order, but I would have preferred to wait the three weeks estimated -- or more -- if it meant Lenovo would deal with getting it reasonably up to date themselves. To add the same drivers etc. oneself later just doesn't always go as well.) Or is this in fact typical -- for Lenovo and/or others? If you were me, would you leave things alone unless you did encounter a seeming bug, and be content to assume your performance couldn't be better… or would this backlog nag at you too? I seem to be stuck here so would really appreciate opinions! (Excuse me if this is in fact 'normal,' or has been covered. I tried to search it but no luck with any of the terms I could think of.)

My new T61p was reasonably up-to-date and worked fine (with respect to drivers) out of the box. I did go through all the updates anyway to bring it up-to-date.

I have seen so many computers come with old drivers and BIOS over the last two decades that I no longer have any expectation that any vendor will deliver an up-to-date machine. My guess is that the image build gets tested as much as possible and there precedes the hardware build by months. Also, once it works, then the vendor will probably feel that their product will work out of the box. Certainly most of my machines do work out of the box.
... JDH

Hi, thanks for opining! It's helpful to hear that this isn't unusual, I had thought maybe I should ask Lenovo about it but I guess I won't bother. Yup, it has worked out of the box, tho I've only had it a couple weeks and there are many things I haven't done/tried yet and won't get to for awhile. Had always thought part of the bang of being the owner of a brand new computer was being able to enjoy the pleasure of knowing that bugs with fixes by time of order are already addressed, and that you've been bestowed with the full array of features/functions available for the standard items by that time. Nothing to even think about, study or decide for awhile as far as those... which is a very good thing in my case, because that stuff can take me moons, and I'll be compelled to expend them whether I actually have any moons to spare or not! <== (Ok, what's with the shifty, twitchy 'lol' dude here! Someone give it a Xanax already! )

But, the last computer I ordered was a newly released model, so nothing could have been very out-of-date; and with ones before that I hadn't sprouted this need to peer inside yet. So I guess I didn't have a point of reference.

Thanks again!

I would do a full backup (or burn full bootable 'recovery discs') and THEN do updates. If an update messes something up (not saying it will, but I have seen it happen), you can easily roll back.

Hi David, thanks for your reply. Yes doing that sure will help a lot. (Almost enough to tempt me to let System Update have at it all, but not quite lol. With this many updates at once, I figure it would probably be more likely than not to end in a need for that recovery. Maybe I'll set it loose on a few at a time tho. )

Well, if it ain't broke...

...yup, now that the new machine obsessiveness is settling down a bit, I'm working on being at peace with that approach, even if I wouldn't have expected the need for such retroactive acceptance too. But as far as Thinkvantage app feature improvements, still feels kinda mean somehow for Lenovo to have better ones available and not hand them over with the new machine. And sometimes it's not just a matter of perks... i.e., a weird bug in which if the version of System Update that came on my machine isn't itself updated, it can keep the "factory recovery" option from displaying in Rescue & Recovery. Someone unfamiliar with R&R would most likely just never know the factory restore option exists, and that ain't right!! But I know, all that is supposed to be handed over via (a nicer version of) System Update.

Anyway, I did manually update a couple Thinkvantage apps I use. But the most trying decision as far as those is about whether to update Access Connections, since there are all those complicated prerequisite steps involving other apps and driver updates... With a 'payoff' in quite a few cases of just ending up with a broken connection. My wifi connection hasn't been very good so it's tempting to try. But I guess there isn't much in the details of the current AC update that I should interpret as related to the kind of issues I'm having, so it may be best for me to consider that "not broke (enough)" to risk "fixing" either. And, sadly... it seems the real issue may be that the Intel 4965 AGN card isn't performing so well, as some feel. Have only tested it at home, but the connection speed and reliability on my old desktop with a Belkin wireless USB adapter is much, much better in the same spot.