Thinkpads Forum

Is there any advantage to putting Win8 on a T61?
Or is the T61 too old?
I have Win7 on my T61 and am happy with it. But not having use a Win8 machine I don't know what new features it brings to the table that will work on a T61.

I have Win8 on my daughters T43p and both of my x61's. I like it a lot, but then I am one of the few who like the "Metro" interface.
It feels at least as snappy as Win7. It does prefer 4gb ram. I tried it with 2gb and it was a bit slower to respond.

Give it a whirl.

Edit: FYI. Win8 is fast and flawless on the T43p. Absolutely zero issues with it!

Assuming that you've already browsed the Windows 8 forum...
http://www.thinkpads.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=67

In my opinion, the new features of Windows 8 lend themselves to users of laptops with touch-screens and tablets.

Regarding Windows App developers, Microsoft has now integrated .NET framework into Windows 8. Previous "system." NET commands are being replaced by "windows." .NET commands. As a matter of fact, Team Foundation Server, Visual Studio 2012, and Windows 8 have been integrated together.

Of course, touchscreens and tablets have revealed another problem for Windows App developers -- The "Mouse Hover" event no longer occurs.

Yup, I've been reading the Win8 section.
I was worried if the T61 could not run Win8, similar to the situation where my G40 can't run Win7. So the hardware is not an issue, that is a relief.

I can't say if I like the Metro interface or not. I've only played with it for a few minutes in the stores. But like you said, it works on a tablet, I did not try it on a laptop w/o touchscreen. I think I need to spend more time with a laptop w Win8 to check out the OS.

thanks

R52, T43/p, X41/T and any ThinkPad newer than the aforementioned group will run W8 with no issues.

That being said, it's really up to you to decide whether W8 would be an upgrade that meets your needs/requirements.

I've tested it briefly and found no compelling reason whatsoever to move any of my W7 machines in that direction.

Obviously, YMMV.

ac12, why are you considering this upgrade?

I own 11.5 computers (the "0.5" is a topless Thinkpad X32). I upgraded 2 of them to Windows 8, and let me tell you my reasons. The first computer that I upgraded, a Panasonic Toughbook CF-Y7, was running XP. In the past couple years, I became increasingly sick of XP, and Microsoft support for it is ending soon as well. So, I wanted to upgrade it to either Vista or 7 or 8, and the cheapest of these was 8, only $14.99 through Microsoft's upgrade offer (which I received by buying my HP 8300 Elite in July), so that's what I opted for. The second computer that I upgraded was my Dell OptiPlex 760 desktop. It was already running Vista, an OS that I love and it will continue to be supported by Microsoft until April 2017. But I wanted to share its hard drive on the network 24/7, and so I wanted it to run the most secure Windows OS available, which I believe is 8. In addition, I suspect that someday I will get a touchscreen monitor for this OptiPlex 760, for which Windows 8 would be perfect. So, I took advantage of another $14.99 upgrade offer which came with my November purchase of an OptiPlex 9010.

However, I am not interested in upgrading from 7 to 8 because 7 is already very secure (though less secure than 8 ) and because support for 7 will last until 2020, which is still very far away. I actually slightly prefer the Metro Start Menu than the Classic one, and I do appreciate the increased speed of 8 compared with 7. However, for computers without touchscreens, I don't think 8 offers enough benefits over 7 to justify paying $14.99, let alone $30 or $50 or whatever the regular price is. In summary, I think 8 is good if you want to upgrade from XP to something much more modern or if you have a touchscreen computer. But since your T61 is already running 7 and lacks a touchscreen, I am curious why you are thinking about upgrading.

I was Just thinking if Win8 was worth it or even possible.
Having learned with my G40 and my desktop (that I can't take beyond XP due to lack of drivers), if the hardware won't go (no Win8 drivers) then the upgrade to Win8 is dead before it started.

So far I'm happy with Win7 on the T61.
I'm still evaluating if there is anything in Win8 which would make it attractive to upgrade to it. So far I have not found anything, but I have not looked HARD.

I would skip it. To me its like putting 19" inch chrome rims on a Hyundai and thinking you are driving a Porsche. The money is better saved for a new laptop.

I have W8 and W7 on a separate hard drive for my T400. I have been using W8 for ~2 months now and I do not feel it is anything special. I can see how it is useful for the touch-based mechanics it seems to want to push- if your device happens to feature touch-features. I should mention that some special procedures were used to get my T400 running correctly. I can imagine for persons not knowledgeable about driver installation W8 on an older laptop might be more of a headache or an exercise in frustration. You may have to dedicate time to get things working (drivers) as Lenovo does not actively support W8 for their older hardware IMO.

I have installed W8 on my FrankenPad. There were no issues with drivers, only a bit of tinkering with the ThinkVantage Tools - I had to install most of them (except System Update and APS driver) in W7 compatibility mode as they aren't (an probably won't be) available for W8 - Lenovo decided to prepare some Metro-based apps but, due to Microsoft Store licence issues, they can only be downloaded on machines bought with W8 - there is a long thread on this topic on Lenovo forums.

For anyone willing to interpret terms of use agreements very loosely, you can get five legit Windows Server 2012 Standard (effectively the same thing as Windows 8) keys for free here: http://www.microsoft.com/web/websitespark/

There's a few modifications you have to do to make it useful as a desktop OS, but they're all conveniently detailed for you here: http://www.win2012workstation.com/

For me, startup times was the decisive factor:

With Win7 and a 7200rpm HDD startuptime was 80 - 90 secs.
The replacement with a SSD gave boot-time of 45 secs.
Win8 resulted in boot-time of 15-20 secs.

For all practical purposes, the new interface is neither a plus or a minus. I end up on the old desktop anyway.

I installed Win 8 on my old T61 laptop recently that ran XP Pro. Actually I liked XP more so than the Win 7 on my other TPs. I have to admit that I do like the metro start look over the classic look. I especially wanted faster start up time and get less than 30 secs before the screen is up. The XP start up times was just shy of one minute with the fingerprint. I am thinking of doing it again on one of the newer TP that is running Win 7 that takes forever to load up compared to the others with Win 7 with the enhanced.

I don't really do apps and just keep a few programs that I use on the T61. If I wanted to do it then I leave it to the Windows phone or the tablet. I find it really easy to navigate without the touch screen and looking forward to the ultrabooks coming out with touch screens. I definitely found it worth it as the Win 8 was a gift and I needed to upgrade from Win XP.

One more thing is I love internet explorer 10

I have ordered the Win8 upgrade for one of my T60, and will work on it this weekend. I have 2 Vista Ultimate licenses that I want to sacrifice into one or two Win8 upgrades. The reason for wanting to try Win8 is simply to move on from XP, as I never jumped on either the Vista or Win7 bus. And I feel that I am starting to miss out on the development being done on the OS side. And as long as my T60 is capable of running it, I see no reason to invest in a newer Thinkpad quite yet. That will be later when the T60 is getting closer to the end of it's usable life. With SSD it still fills my computing needs, except a little short on RAM.

Great discussion, folks!

I'm considering putting 8 on this here Frankenpad that Tuus made for me.

The question I'm struggling with is the BIOS, it has Lenovo BIOS 7LETC7WW on it. Will that handle Win 8? If not, which one does and can I install it via the 32-bit on here now?

Any thoughts?

Thanks so much, as always. It's soooo rare that I ever have to post here as I usually find whatever I need.

Thanks again.

That's V2.27 BIOS on a T61.
If it hasn't been done yet, you should install Middleton's BIOS V2.29-1.08 (it's the 5th BIOS, the first for T61,T61p):
http://forum.notebookreview.com/lenovo/ ... ost6501443
There is no specific W8 BIOS, but the above handles anything you throw at it.

I just came across this article which says that the $40 upgrade price will end on Jan 31st. After that, the Windows 8 upgrade will cost $120 and the Windows 8 Pro upgrade will cost $200:

http://news.cnet.com/8301-10805_3-57564 ... ebruary-1/

rush242 wrote:Great discussion, folks!

I'm considering putting 8 on this here Frankenpad that Tuus made for me.

I'd love to understand the machine in your signature since the description doesn't make any sense at all...

Care to elaborate?

Bánh mì wrote:I would skip it. To me its like putting 19" inch chrome rims on a Hyundai and thinking you are driving a Porsche. The money is better saved for a new laptop.

Here's why I'm considering doing the same thing

1. Win8 is onsale until the end of the month for $39 (MS Download)
2. Support XP will disappear in under 24 months.
3. I don't have a copy of Win7 and it's currently VERY pricey ($60/ea in a 3-pack is the best deal I found)
4. I'm thinking Win8 may run faster than a heavily patched XP.
5. IMHO good 3-D thinkpads still beat any net/cheapo-book selling for less than $500 retail today.

I have a question. Can I purchase and download Win8, and save it for a future (possibly used) computer purchase? Can someone tell me about the download/install process, do they give you an ISO or anything save-able, or does it just reach into your machine and do brain surgery during the download?

As you buy the upgrade, you will somehow get the offer of installing right away or creating media, either USB bootable memory or .iso file for DVD.
At anytime later, you may download and create bootable media using the link:
https://www.mswos.com/

However, I do not know whether you are locked to the machine used for the download, it is a single-machine licence you get. But I think so.

RealBlackStuff wrote:That's V2.27 BIOS on a T61.
If it hasn't been done yet, you should install Middleton's BIOS V2.29-1.08 (it's the 5th BIOS, the first for T61,T61p):
http://forum.notebookreview.com/lenovo/ ... ost6501443
There is no specific W8 BIOS, but the above handles anything you throw at it.

Thanks for the heads up. As it turns out, Tuus had already had it sitting here on my machine. NOW that's an easy upgrade!

ajkula66 wrote:I'd love to understand the machine in your signature since the description doesn't make any sense at all...

Care to elaborate?

Well, according to Speccy now:

--Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8 Pro with Media Center 64-bit
--CPU: Intel Mobile Core 2 Duo T9300 @ 2.50GHz Penryn 45nm Technology
--RAM: 4.00 GB Dual-Channel DDR2 (5-5-5-15)
--Motherboard: LENOVO 64659TU (None)
--Graphics: T61p Monitor (1680x1050@60Hz), Mobile Intel 965 Express Chipset Family (Microsoft Corporation - WDDM 1.1)
--Hard Drives: 149GB Seagate ST9160412AS (SATA)
--Optical Drives: MATSHITA DVD-RAM UJ-862 ATA Device

I assume I skrewed up my sig? Speecy doesn't seem to elaborate much on the wireless.

rush242 wrote: Well, according to Speccy now:

--Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8 Pro with Media Center 64-bit
--CPU: Intel Mobile Core 2 Duo T9300 @ 2.50GHz Penryn 45nm Technology
--RAM: 4.00 GB Dual-Channel DDR2 (5-5-5-15)
--Motherboard: LENOVO 64659TU (None)
--Graphics: T61p Monitor (1680x1050@60Hz), Mobile Intel 965 Express Chipset Family (Microsoft Corporation - WDDM 1.1)
--Hard Drives: 149GB Seagate ST9160412AS (SATA)
--Optical Drives: MATSHITA DVD-RAM UJ-862 ATA Device

I assume I skrewed up my sig? Speecy doesn't seem to elaborate much on the wireless.

OK, several points here:

a) It's not a 17" LCD, but a 15.4"

b) It's not a FlexView panel - none of Lenovo widescreens are - apart from X220/X230

c) It's not an UXGA but a WSXGA+

Sounds like a fine machine. Enjoy it.

Okay, so Win 8 64 went on without a hitch, this thing runs even better now.

No issues going on, plus, if you get Pro, you can add Media center for free:

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/wind ... ture-packs

Although it seems everything works just fine, I haven't had time to delve that far into it.

Are there any drivers or Lenovo software that I can't live without? I would hate to find out I needed a driver for x, precisely when I was somewhere that the lack of that driver would prevent me from getting said driver.

I recommend this wholeheartedly, if your system can handle it.

ajkula66 wrote:Sounds like a fine machine. Enjoy it.

Fixed, and thank you.

Bánh mì wrote:I would skip it. To me its like putting 19" inch chrome rims on a Hyundai and thinking you are driving a Porsche. The money is better saved for a new laptop.

Yeah but trying convincing all the lowriders not to do it is an exercise in futility!