Thinkpads Forum

Reading a lot about the upcoming operating system
and its impressive Aero Glass feature.

Only problem about Aero Glass is that you need specific
video cards to run it.

Does the videocard that comes with the T60, specifically
the 2623D7U model have the needed videocard to run
the AeroGlass feature?

Thanks in advance

Yep, it will run Aero Glass with no problems.

That is good news!

I was sort of freaking out after I just
bought the T60 and read that only certain
videocards would run the Aeroglass feature.

Thanks!

I just ordered the 2623D7U too. Though I do not plan on purchasing Vista (for MANY reasons) it is good to here that Aeroglass will work.

Then I can still have XP basicly - BUT BETER LOOKING!

By the time Vista comes out it will be time for a new laptop...

sparta.rising wrote:By the time Vista comes out it will be time for a new laptop...

Yup, it seems that it won't be available to consumers until Q1 or even Q2 2007... And considering that at the time it's released it's most propably still buggy and there's limited driver support etc., I wouldn't hold my breath too long for it. XP is at it's best right now since it's bugs has been repaired over the years and it has good software and driver support. I don't need no freakin' Aero to consume my system's resources and slowing down my working. Those eye candies are nice for a moment but after that they just start to annoy you, IMHO. Windows Classic desktop is the best, fast and functional

Current requirements are:

With ATI Card: 128Meg of Graphics memory min
With Intel Graphics: 1Gig of System Memory

Note: the 64Meg ATI T60 uses up to an additional 192Meg of system memory for a total of 256Meg.

handydave wrote:Current requirements are:

With ATI Card: 128Meg of Graphics memory min
With Intel Graphics: 1Gig of System Memory

Note: the 64Meg ATI T60 uses up to an additional 192Meg of system memory for a total of 256Meg.

so then, can Glass be run on 64MB video card?

The T43s and T42s with 64mb Video Cards have already been stated as being Vista-compatible; I don't quite see what the perceived issue is with the T60 and Vista as there are no T60 models that I know of that have less than 64MB of dedicated video ram.

christopher_wolf wrote:The T43s and T42s with 64mb Video Cards have already been stated as being Vista-compatible; I don't quite see what the perceived issue is with the T60 and Vista as there are no T60 models that I know of that have less than 64MB of dedicated video ram.

you're right, they are VISTA-compatible, but, that doesn't necessary mean that they will run Aero Glass interface. So far, nobody was able to confirm that they were able to run the full eye-candy on 64MB.
Like I said in a different thread, that would be a review that I'm looking forward to.

2623 DDU with FireGL 5200 runs Vista with no problems.

Sorry if this is a stupid question, but for people using Vista Beta builds ...

In a related question to Vista/Aero Glass and T6x ... does Vista solve the issue of using non-native resolution on a LCD?

Ex. A native resolution of 1400 x 1050 changed to 1024 x 768 creates 'not as sharp' images.

I had heard this was a software issue in XP and would be resolved with Vista.

Ok, based on the posts in this forum, I plan to upgrade my system drive to a 7200.

First, what is the best 100GB drive out there? I am doing this for system speed on normal tasks.

As for the transfer, look like I would ghost my 5400 to the 7200 and swap the 5400 into a ultradrive bay.

Is this the best way to do this?

What about the "shock protection" is that independent of the drive, or do only specific models worl?

ALso what about battery life. Hitachi claims better better life.

I don't know what your post has to do, directly, with the original topic...but, yes, the HDAPS is independent of the HDD you actually get. It is a system within the Thinkpad that will ramp the headsof the HDD off platter in the event it detects a good chance of an impendig physical shock. All that it required of the HDD is the ability to park the heads quickly, which all HDDs have nowadays.

Battery life depends on how much the HDD is used, Hitachi has a tool for its drives that lets you tweak that; but just about every HDD has the ability to change its mode of operation. You can control it with some like NHC that gives you control over the spin-down management directly as well as the SMART utility feedback.

IRT to the Aero Glass interface, I am pretty sure my T43 can handle it...I have used XGL/Compiz in Linux as well as tried out a Aero glass interface and both ran just fine; in fact, I was actually more un-sure of whether ot not XGL would work right than I was of the Aero Glass interface.

Now if this was about 32MB video cards being able to run the interface, yes...I would be worried; yet these are the T60s here, which have 64MB and 128MB video cards on the non-p models and 256MB on the T60p. I highly doubt that, except for the integrated graphics models, they would have issues with Aero Glass *unless* Microsoft decides to up the usage and bloat on that interface at the very last minute before Vista ships which is highly unlikely. The T4X Series never even had the option of 64MB or 128MB on the non-p models. If you wanted 128MB on the more recent ones, you would have to get a p model. So I guess that IBM/Lenovo has decided to increase the options with regards to the graphics on the newer Thinkpads, I find it doubtful that such video cards could be torpedoed by the Aero Glass interface.

I would not suggest to enable Aero/Glass on a mobile computer. It just sucks too much GPU power and your fan will not go off plus your battery will not last long.

It may look fancy but I assume Thinkpad users do not need UI pimping

Thinkhead

Thinkhead wrote: It may look fancy but I assume Thinkpad users do not need UI pimping
Thinkhead

Of course not, we know perfectly well that form follows function...

...Besides, if we wanted eye candy, we would install OS X or XGL/Compiz dual boots on our Thinkpads.

Well, I cannot be completely sure without further testing, but from my experiences there seems to be very little difference between Aero and non Aero desktops in Vista. You can disable transparency in Aero, or switch out of it entirely. Ill post back in a couple minutes and ammend this post when I boot into Vista.

Folks, I have Beta 2 running on my T42 (MR9600 w/64MB) and T42p (FireGL T2 w/128) and it's fine. I also have it running on a Toshiba M4 Tablet with Intel Integrated graphics and all the eye-candy (Aero and Glass) runs fine as well.

The latest guidance is a Direct X 9.0 compliant GPU with 64MB for single display at 1600x1200. Rule of thumb, add 64MB VRAM for each 1600x1200 display you wish to drive. For higher resolutions, 128MB per display. So any T41 with ATI MR9600 or higher (and 64MB VRAM) will run Aero (with and without the "glass" transperancy effect). As for the integrated graphics, make sure it's Intel GMA950 not GMA900, since the latter doesn't support all the required shader functionality needed by Vista. I don't know about the ATI integrated solutions, but that's a moot point with ThinkPads at this time since only Intel integrated graphics are availbale on ThinkPads.

And it's not a "bloat" issue. It's the fact that they've made the entire desktop/menus/UI screen a 3D element and that takes up alot of VRAM when running Aero and Glass. And it's an option to run it. You can still run the Win2K Classic theme with all 2D elements (my preference still). And that will run on pretty much all existing WinXP machines (assuming you have enough HDD and RAM.. lol.. now THAT'S a bloat issue).

But if we really want to start splitting hairs and worrying, keep in mind that there is DirectX 10 to consider and the fact that there aren't any new video cards out yet that will support that spec (not sure it's even finalized yet). If you really want every bell and whistle to work and are absolutely banking on running Vista with the latest and greatest tech, and you don't want to worry about your purchase... wait for 2007Q1.

Daniel.

Conmee - does Visa's support for high resolution displays help with the SXGA+ on your T series? I still find this 124 PPI to be a bit of a strain. Liquid View is great but some things get so big that they don't show up in certain windows, so I'm desperate to see this issue addressed in Vista.

thanks,

John

I doubt anyone cares, but we got a low-end R51e (ATI X200) recently with no pre-installed OS. Vista beta 2 happened to be out, so just for fun I installed it on the R51e and Aero Glass ran with no problems. The R51e had 512 MB of RAM installed.

As for the discussion on whether or not enabling aero effects suck up all your battery power, I noticed something interesting in Anandtech's Vista beta preview. When they discuss using Aero vs. windows basic, the CPU usage time for the UI for when there are a whole lot of windows on the screen increases significantly when the hardware acceleration of the video card is turned off for aero. This suggests that you'll have more power consumption of the CPU when aero is turned off. Whether or not this is significant for normal use since they tested with a whole bunch of windows on the screen at once. I'm somewhat curious how much power consumption is done by the GPU in comparison to the CPU and other major components.

I ran vista beta 2, with aero glass turned on, on a machine with geforce fx-5700 graphics adapter. I dont see a reason why ati x1300 cant run it fine.

ANY Direct-X 9.0 Graphics adaptor will run Aero fine. Hell, even the GMA900/950 can run Aero. Microsoft would be retarted to alienate customers by not offering support of low end hardware.

FRiC wrote:I doubt anyone cares, but we got a low-end R51e (ATI X200) recently with no pre-installed OS. Vista beta 2 happened to be out, so just for fun I installed it on the R51e and Aero Glass ran with no problems. The R51e had 512 MB of RAM installed.

What about your R52? Can it run Aero Glass? Now, I'm using R52 1860-AD3 but cannot enable Aero Glass.