The T43 is perfect for Windows 7.

[Xenomorph]

The T43 is a great system, especially for what I paid for it (T43, 2.0 GHz, 2 Gigs RAM, 120 Gig HDD, ~$120).

It's more than enough system to handle XP, but XP holds it back. Not only that, but I had all kinds of weird wireless connection issues with XP. When CPU usage hit 100%, WiFi would drop.

It runs Vista Ok, but as everyone knows, its a little heavy on the system requirements. Microsoft nicely trimmed Windows 7, so that runs so much better.
Under Windows 7, all hardware works, and all the Lenovo software I use works as well. Power Management, Access Connections, Active Protection, etc.

Windows 7 RTM can't get here quick enough.

[kajencik]

Is this working really so good? I was using vista on my T43p for a while and the bottleneck wasn't the HDD (it has 80GB at 5400rpm which works well) nor RAM (2GB), but the fact that it has only one core, although very powerful CPU, I understand that this is no big deal for an average user, but I run many programs at once (typically several browser windows, audio player, total commander, ssh client), and I'm still getting good responses from every application under XP, but this was not quite true under vista, as the CPU load was high almost all the time and the responses slow when I really needed some computing power, so if this is better in Windows 7, it would be really good news. On the other hand, what I really loved on vista was it's network stack, as it never hung as it sometimes does on XP, especially when using hibernate in combination with connecting a removing my GPRS/EDGE USB modem several times.

[Xenomorph]

Is this working really so good? I was using vista on my T43p for a while and the bottleneck wasn't the HDD (it has 80GB at 5400rpm which works well) nor RAM (2GB), but the fact that it has only one core, although very powerful CPU, I understand that this is no big deal for an average user, but I run many programs at once (typically several browser windows, audio player, total commander, ssh client), and I'm still getting good responses from every application under XP, but this was not quite true under vista, as the CPU load was high almost all the time and the responses slow when I really needed some computing power, so if this is better in Windows 7, it would be really good news. On the other hand, what I really loved on vista was it's network stack, as it never hung as it sometimes does on XP, especially when using hibernate in combination with connecting a removing my GPRS/EDGE USB modem several times.

Windows 7 is easier on hardware than Vista is.

Microsoft trimmed Win7 back hoping to make it more attractive to the weaker "Netbook" crowd.

It wont be as quick as Windows XP, but it will be quicker than Vista and still offer more features than Vista offers.

[gunston]

hope official win7 is releasing soon, except the beta.

[ssd_thinkpad]

I ordered a T42 because of its specifications it should be perfect for vista. If Windows 7 even needs less ressources, the better! I just heard that Windows 7 does not support Thinkpads Fingerprint yet.

[ajkula66]

ssd_thinkpad wrote:

I ordered a T42 because of its specifications it should be perfect for vista.

You might be in for a rude awakening. Vista doesn't run well on a single-core CPUs in my not-so-modest experience. Windows 7 might run acceptably well, though.

Good luck.

[ssd_thinkpad]

I work fine with vista on a one core desktop system with only 1 GB RAM but a very fast slc ssd. It feels definitely faster than vista on the x301 with the mlc ssd I reviewed - I admit I only used it for very few hours. The ordered T42 (Flexview ) has the same configuration as my desktop system and can even display aero - which I disable anyway.

[ajkula66]

I guess it all depends on one's criteria what "runs well" means...

The first ThinkPad that ran Vista acceptably well was T61p at least in my opinion. W500 that I'm typing this on flies with it.

I've tested Vista on both T42p and T43p and was less than pleased...felt sluggish, even with maxed-out RAM and 7200rpm drives. My T43p liked Win 7 much better, and our T60p saw little-if any-difference in performance between XPP and Win 7.

My experiences only.

[davidspalding]

All very intersting ... but the real test will be how much of Win7 you can scale back in favor of performance. As someone who runs VNC, Photoshop, Outlook and other Office 2003 apps, I often get speed increases from removing services and add-ins (like .Net 3.0) that Microsoft and Lenovo feel a Thinkpad should have. VPNing into work can often stress my system as much as Photoshop or Premiere....

It's tempting to try Win7 on the new X32 that I'm experimenting with.... Any recommendations on antivirus/firewall app to use on Win7 while testing?

[Xenomorph]

I ordered a T42 because of its specifications it should be perfect for vista. If Windows 7 even needs less ressources, the better! I just heard that Windows 7 does not support Thinkpads Fingerprint yet.

I use the Fingerprint scanner on my T43 under Windows 7 just fine.

There are drivers newer than what Lenovo offers for the fingerprint scanner.

The 5.8(?) Fingerprint software that worked with Windows 7 build 7000 doesn't work with 7057, but the older 5.6(?) software works just fine with builds 7000/7048/7057.

[postdiction]

[quote="Xenomorph"]The T43 is a great system, especially for what I paid for it (T43, 2.0 GHz, 2 Gigs RAM, 120 Gig HDD, ~$120).

you got it for $120? Where, were there similar t43 for similar prices?

Wish I could find one that cheap

[Xenomorph]

you got it for $120? Where, were there similar t43 for similar prices?

Wish I could find one that cheap

I got really lucky with mine.

It belonged to some sales guy who didn't take good care of it. He did things like left a pen on the keyboard, and closed the lid completely on it. That cracked the LCD.

The company tried to get it fixed under warranty, and IBM refused because it was user-fault or something. They then offered to fix it for $900 or something else insane.
So, it was just thrown in a pile of old hardware, and a new system was purchased to replace it.

I've repaired half a dozen ThinkPads before, and asked our client if I could buy the T43 from them. He told me to just take it!

$50 for a new LCD (eBay)
$50 for a new 120 Gig HDD (the Fujitsu one on the approved list, eBay)
$20 for 2 Gigs DDR2 533 RAM (NewEgg)

So the actual system was free, but $120 worth of parts to get it real nice.

I've since purchased other stuff for it, like both an IDE and SATA UltraBay adapter. So if the 80 Gig or 120 Gig IDE drive isn't enough for me, hopefully I can also slap in a huge SATA drive in as well.

I've seen T43 systems going for around $350+ on eBay, which is more than what I believe I would pay for a used system.

That $350 gets you a 2.1 in Vista/Win7.

You could get a brand new laptop with Dual-Core, 2-3 Gigs RAM, 160-250 Gig HDD, Intel 4500 graphics, and a 3.0 in Vista/Win7 for like $450 (NewEgg).

[davidspalding]

I had an opportunity like that. The Help Desk here was dumping a T41 which had been used for an SSH terminal ... I think the engineer told me the video was busted (maybe just screen), or something ... bad enough that it hadn't been repairable under warranty. I snagged the NMB keyboard though -- woohoo! -- and also some UltraBay2000 CDRW/DVD-R and floppy discs they were dumping.

[JoeJoeJoeJoeJoe]

So how does 7 compare with XP on your T43? I've had a chance to try out an earlier beta of 7 on my desktop computer. Indeed it felt snappy (though it could also be attributed to the fact that it was a fresh install on a reformatted hard drive). Are you able to find the appropriate drivers for all of the hardware? I've been thinking of getting 7 on my T43p, but not right now. I'm in the middle of some important school papers, and I would hate it if something went wrong with my laptop right now.

[Xenomorph]

Drivers are available for all hardware in the T43.

The Fingerprint scanner drivers have to be downloaded from UPEK website, and the hard drive Active Protection app needs to be Lenovo's Windows 7 version. For just about everything else, the Vista drivers (or even XP drivers) work fine.

With the current poppular build of Windows 7 (7057), the current fingerprint software (5. doesn't work right, so you have to install the older 5.6 software. I think 5.8 works in built 7000 just fine.

Performance will be like this:

XP > Windows 7 > Windows Vista.

Quicker than Vista, but not as quick as XP. But all the fun features more than make up for it.

[davidspalding]

Stupid RTFM question here ... where do I go to get ISO(s) of the Windows 7 beta?

[Marin85]

Stupid RTFM question here ... where do I go to get ISO(s) of the Windows 7 beta?

1. From MSDN if you have a subscription.
2. Directly from M$ servers (build 7000), but this option is not anymore available.
3. Other unofficial sources with questionable legal status.

[Robocopper]

Can you tell us just how well the power management works with Win7? How long does it take to enter and exit sleep mode?

Thanks!

[spot_ex]

Hi there! I have a question - should I try to install Win 7 on my T41? 1.6GHz, 1GB RAM, 40GB HDD, Ati Radeon 7500 32MB, or just 2373-5G7??? I was thinking of Vista, but I actually don't like it so much. So what would you say about putting the Win 7, or staying with the XP pro SP2?

A friend of mine putted Win 7 on Asus EEEPC.. And it actually works fine, so it should work on my T41 fine as well? Or am I mistaken?

[bill bolton]

Is this working really so good?

On my T43 it wasn't.... the overall performance in Win 7 Build 7000 was not noticeably different from Vista on the whole.

Cheers,

Bill B.

[ssd_thinkpad]

I'd put vista with aero disabled on my system and see if there is any downside compared to windows xp. I dislike aero very much and if I had to deal with vista + aero or xp I'd choose xp. However using vista which looks like xp is a far better option than using the outdated xp. Vistas speed greatly increases with adding more than 1 gb of ram while xp does not use more memory that good.

[davidspalding]

I'd ... differ with you on "XP doesn't use more memory that [well]." I recall some articles on MS' site about memory management improvements from Win 2000 to XP.

Frankly, I heard a lot of reports that Vista added overhead such that XP was a bit leaner, probably not unlike how a well-trimmed Windows 2000 installation runs lighter than XP (this I know, I have a Win2K Workstation system, P 166 with 80 MB RAM, running 24/7 at home).

[ssd_thinkpad]

Of couse you can also deactivate ressource hungry tasks in vista. I disabled

• harddrive indexing
• superfetch
• aero

Vista puts as much as it can in RAM so it might seem that vista uses so much more ressources than xp for the same programs. Vistas technology is a few years more modern than the one of xp. If you have two models with 1gb ram, 2 ghz processor ... vista should be faster when set both systems to the same configuration (so disable aero, superfetch, hdd indexing, security procedures).

[Xenomorph]

Of couse you can also deactivate ressource hungry tasks in vista. I disabled

• harddrive indexing
• superfetch
• aero

Vista puts as much as it can in RAM so it might seem that vista uses so much more ressources than xp for the same programs. Vistas technology is a few years more modern than the one of xp. If you have two models with 1gb ram, 2 ghz processor ... vista should be faster when set both systems to the same configuration (so disable aero, superfetch, hdd indexing, security procedures).

I would not recommend disabling those things. The way Vista works, it will search/catalog just about everything it can see. If Indexing is disabled, it never builds a catalog of information to search through, so this can actually increase disk activity since it will re-read a lot of the same files over and over. There is clearly some crappy programming here, but I always noticed that disk grinding actually stopped after a while if I left indexing enabled. It never stopped when I disabled Indexing.

Superfetch is one of the better features of Vista as well. It pre-loads a lot of stuff into memory, so applications can open and close faster, and with less disk activity during your session. I WISH Windows XP had Superfetch.
I would NOT recommend using Vista on any system with less than 2 Gigs of RAM. If you have 2 Gigs or more, Superfetch shouldn't hurt performance, only help.

And with Aero, this is one of the features Vista is best known for. Turning off Aero does help with some performance, but it just makes things look not-so-good.

[sjthinkpader]

I have Windows7 running on a T43 with 1.5GB RAM now and it doesn't seem to be so different from the other T43 with 2.5GB RAM it was running on before.

Windows7 does BSOD and reboot quite a bit on both machines.

[Robocopper]

How does sleep mode work? Does it go into and out of sleep mode ok?

[sjthinkpader]

Yes Standby mode works. The Power Manager does work but not fully.

[Xenomorph]

I've yet to see a BSOD under Windows 7 on my T43. Win7 is the primary OS on it, so it's always running.

I play games like Left 4 Dead, and watch LOTS of HDTV. I sometimes keep the video card overclocked a bit.

Sleep does work, although I've had weird issues after resume twice now. The system gets *really* sluggish. This has happened only twice though.

[davidspalding]

I thought the T43s topped out at 2 GB ram. I'll have to check my memory again...

[ajkula66]

sjthinkpader wrote:

I have Windows7 running on a T43 with 1.5GB RAM now and it doesn't seem to be so different from the other T43 with 2.5GB RAM it was running on before.

That's because the actual difference that you're observing is between 1.5 and 2.0 GB. Although it can see 2.5GB in BIOS, T43/p can't address more than 2GB due to chipset limitation.