Thinkpads Forum

I've had my T61 since July with Vista Business. At the time I bought it Lenovo did not offer XP so I decided to take the plunge and go with Vista. I have put up with BSOD's, annoying security messages and other oddities for the last three months. And now with MS saying SP1 won't be out until NEXT summer I think it's time to go back to XP. Plus I will be in Morocco this spring and don't want to have to mess with the wireless issues Vista has.

My question is what will I lose by "downgrading" to XP? I plan on using Lenovo's XP downgrade program (http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... STA-DWNGRD) so hopefully all my hardware will work. I assume things like my built-in webcam, the fingerprint reader and DVD burner will all still work but what about the gig I wasted on the turbo memory BS? Will that just be wasted? Not a big deal I suppose.

So am I missing anything? Is there any good reason not to switch from Vista to XP?

Thanks,
Karl

only the turbo memory wont work. EVerything else will work as they should so no worries. Enjoy XP on your system and sorry Vista has been troubles for you.

The last I heard, Microsoft will release SP1 in the first quarter of 2008.
I had recently downgraded the OS on my T61p, so I have a fair idea what was missing. The main things I missed:
Windows Aero - looked flashy, and flip 3D was cool, but I didn't really use it anyway
Start Menu - the Vista start menu is a very handy tool, allowing you to find the links you're looking for quickly without having to expand multiple menus. This is probably what I missed most.
DirectX 10 - the new DirectX is built into the code of Vista, and it will NOT be able to run with XP. If you hear otherwise, don't listen to them. I don't suppose this matters much if you don't play games, or even if you do, it won't matter for at least another year when more games will start using it.
Memory features - While Vista does use a bit more RAM itself, it handles it a lot better than XP does. People seem to keep complaining that their memory is always full, but they don't understand that that's how memory should be used. Empty memory is wasted memory. Vista caches your most-used programs (and actually keeps track of all the programs you use to predict which program you'll open) so that they open faster. Also, using ReadyBoost helps the performance of some applications.[/b]

Yeah, I really wanted Vista to work for some reason. I did like some of the coolness and newness of it but the cons just finally outweighed the pros. I think for me the deciding factor was Vista's issues with wireless connectivity. I had some issues getting Vista to work on the network at school but finally got it working by changing some of the security settings. But most of the Vista users ended up using USB dongles which I certainly didn't want to do. And when I get to Morocco in January, the last thing I want to do is worry about not being able to connect to whatever networks I can find over there. XP has been reliable for me and I know how to use and manipulate it so in the end I guess it wins out.

Oh, and I should mention that I do have the Vista system restore DVD's for the T61 so whenever they fix Vista and get it working I can always go back to it.

perhaps a clean installation of vista business would do the trick.   i'm running a clean install of vista ultimate x64 and am extremely happy with it.   i turned off UAC because it will only protect your OS from attacks -- not your personal data -- and is only as smart as the user(s) of the computer.   after optimizing the in-built defrag to run once per week and limiting indexing service to only search the start menu, i'd confidently say that my vista installation is every bit as fast as my former server 2003 installation.   since vista is based off of the server 2003 code, it should be every bit as efficient and secure, too.   outside of a few random driver-related hiccups i cannot complain about vista.   and, i've never once had a BSOD under vista x64.

update: KB941649, released on october 5th, should add some speed and stability as well.