T43P and T42P Upgraded to Vista Business - HD Runs Constant

[jdj]

I upgraded a T43P and my T42P to Vista Business about two months ago. I have felt that the T42 seems to run Vista better with less hangups and lag. The t43p is my primary machine so it does have more programs on it. The T43P's HD just chugs constantly but tonight I decided to try the ReadyBoost feature in Vista so I plugged a sandisk 2gb USB stick that I received in the gift bag at the MS Vista launch in NYC. The HD activity and light slowed down considerably and it even feels a little faster. Has anyone else ecperienced this?

This is my first post to these forums. I hope to contribute whatever I can. The T61 I just ordered will be the first Lenovo build so I am a little nervous.

[GnatGoSplat]

How much RAM do you have installed? General rule of thumb is Vista needs at LEAST 1GB to feel as fast as XP with 512MB. Most people recommend 2GB for Vista.

[jdj]

1Gb of Memory
2.13 Processor M
3.6 on the "Windows Experience Index"

I will be curious to see how it feels on the T61. I ordered it with 2Gb of memory.

[GnatGoSplat]

My T43 only has 1GB and the hard drive doesn't run often. I would suspect a installed app or even spyware. Is there a program taking up a lot of CPU when you go to Processes in the Task Manager?

[jdj]

I am pretty sure it isn't spyware or a virus. I am in the "tech business" so I take that infection stuff as a personal challenge. I have a feeling it is either AVS free or one of the Lenovo upgraded thinkvantage utilities. Leaning towards the latter. Did take some advice and ordered a 1gb stick to max out ram to 2gb. It may be my imagination but the MS readyboost seemed to alleviate alot of the drive activity but want to see what the extra RAM does.

All in all, for a 2 1/2 year old machine, the Vista experience is not bad at all. The random hangs for 5 or 6 secs are annoying but I am pretty sure I could alleviate by turning off Aero- but thats the coolest part of Vista!

[GnatGoSplat]

Yeah, very possible it could be the Thinkvantage utilities. I didn't install any of them. I only installed Vista drivers and battery utilities and that's it. I don't get random hangs though. If you don't need the Lenovo stuff, it might be better to run without them.

[nutjobox]

this is weird because its been installed for two months. my vista install chugged the hell out of the hdd's for the first couple days, but now it never seems to tax them much. i do have 1gb turboflash which helps a lot, and not all flash drives that pass readyboost tests will help speed, you need the fastest drives like corsair gt's.