Microsoft Windows 7 on IBM ThinkPad X41 Tablet

[ThinkPad560X]

Would Microsoft Windows 7 work well on a IBM ThinkPad X41 Tablet?

[astroidea]

Works best with Windows 7
All the drivers install great. The only thing to be desired is aero.

[Temetka]

The RC works OK.

I just reloaded Vista Ultimate on mine.

Works just as good as Windows 7 did for me and I legally own the OS.

[loyukfai]

Got a question... How much space does Windows 7 take?

I was trying to get hold of a Samsung HS122JC (120GB) to go with a fresh Windows 7 install on an X41T, but they're out of stock. So I may get a 32GB SSD instead, and so, storage space will be a more relevant concern.

Thanks in advance.

[mhca]

I think my Windows 7 32-bit took up 6-7 GB including a 1-2 GB pagefile when I recently installed it on my X41 non-tablet.

Regards, Martin

[.nox]

Are you guys able to use Portait mode with Windows 7 ?

[K0LO]

Are you guys able to use Portait mode with Windows 7 ?

By that do you mean that you are unable to rotate the display when pressing the button on the tablet bezel?

If that's the case did you install the Tablet Button Driver?

[astroidea]

Are you guys able to use Portait mode with Windows 7 ?
By that do you mean that you are unable to rotate the display when pressing the button on the tablet bezel?

If that's the case did you install the Tablet Button Driver?

Yup works for me with the tablet button driver and intel GMA 915 graphics drivers properly installed.

[.nox]

Yup works for me with the tablet button driver and intel GMA 915 graphics drivers properly installed.

I solved my problem. I hadn't done a Windows Update which landed me with a Intel 915 WDDM driver for Vista/Windows 7. Without that driver, the one installed was a generic basic one that was unable of rotating the screen.

Everything is well now.

[Temetka]

What?

There is now an WDDM driver as opposed to the XXDM driver?

What is your WEI score?

[emeraldgirl08]

What?

There is now an WDDM driver as opposed to the XXDM driver?

What is your WEI score?

That's what I was wondering also. .nox are you sure it's a WDDM driver???

[.nox]

Hi all,

Forgive me for the confusion, you are right. It's an XXDM driver rather than a WDDM driver as I cannot use the Aero features.

My score is 1.9 and it says my driver is not a WDDM.


Sorry for the confusion all,
Regards

[Investinwaffles]

Do all the tablet functions work properly?

Auto-rotate when you flip the screen mainly? Does the biometric reader work properly?

[sjthinkpader]

You still need the Biometric driver from Lenovo website.

The screen rotation function is in the video driver, which there is no specific Win7 support yet. Try installing the newest intel chipset INF files, reboot a few times, then replace the installed driver with the Lenovo version. My X41t is still running WinXP tablet version but I had success installing Win7 on X41 with the process above.

[systema]

Got the tablet buttons working after (installed chipset, tablet button drivers) but auto-rotate still doesn't work (button press does).

[systema]

device manager looks like:
http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=2iag70p&s=6

[systema]

Got auto-rotate working! The driver needed is the Tablet Shortcut Menu (thinkvantage software) which apparently includes the driver, installed in Vista compatibility mode. I was only using the tablet buttons to rotate before via the Hot Keys driver.

[systema]

After using the X41 tablet on Windows 7 for a week, I've noticed that adobe flash video is choppy and Firefox.exe (latest version 3.5.6) typically uses 70+% of CPU resources when playing flash videos. I assume it is graphics related...but I'm not sure if the problem is related to use of SSD too.

I have Shockwave Flash 10.0.42.34 installed (FF plugin). I've set FF cache to use memory only (instead of disk cache) and have taken the precautionary steps of disabling Prefetch, Superfetch, System Restore, and Indexing. Am I missing anything? Power options maybe?

For graphics driver, I am using Intel signed driver 6.14.10.4764 updated 1/13/2007 (there are two identical drivers under 'Display Adapters'. This driver is the one that came from Windows Update. Can someone verify this is the most up-to-date, or if anyone has similar issues with flash on this driver?

Symptoms: CPU Usage during flash video 60-90% usage, every 3-4 seconds, choppy

Firefox Plugins:


Display Drivers:




Any help would be appreciated!

[sjthinkpader]

I think the browser using high CPU cycles is normal. These GPUs are too old to support streaming video.

My X41 with Win7 is using the same video driver version. It was loaded by Win7 after I managed to load intel Chipset driver (XP version).

[loyukfai]

The 915-series chipset probably has small to little video acceleration by today's standard, but the fact that the current Adobe Flash release uses no GPU acceleration at all seems more likely the culprit here.

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3678&p=1

[systema]

Ah, was hoping it wouldn't be that :p Are all of us in the similar situation for streaming flash video? IIRC netbooks with similar specs are able to run flash quite adequately.

I browsed around the interweb and found this:
http://www.gmabooster.com/download_win.htm

Looks interesting, anyone tried this or similar apps before?

[loyukfai]

Just installed a fresh Windows 7 here, the Intel driver via Windows Update is indeed 6.14.10.4764 (dated 2007-01-13).

I used Windows Update and System Update to install the drivers and utilities, except for the Atmel TPM module (http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... MIGR-58054).

There's no Keyboard Customizer for Windows 7, I used to map the right ALT key to Windows key. I'm now trying out SharpKeys......

http://www.randyrants.com/2006/07/sharpkeys_211.html
http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows- ... -xp-vista/

BTW, FWIW, there's an online petition for a WDDM driver for GMA915/910 here...

http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/intel915

[loyukfai]

Just noticed that the screen brightness remains unchanged when AC power is connected/disconnected. Are yours the same...?

BTW, is there any simple way to customize the colour scheme under Aero Basic...?

Cheers.

[systema]

Just noticed that the screen brightness remains unchanged when AC power is connected/disconnected. Are yours the same...?

Cheers.

Brightness changes for me when I disconnect the AC power. It is in the BIOS setting (under power options, I believe).

[bemymonkey]

Ah, was hoping it wouldn't be that :p Are all of us in the similar situation for streaming flash video? IIRC netbooks with similar specs are able to run flash quite adequately.

They can't. N270/N280 pretty much have the CPU pegged when playing back Flash video too...

I browsed around the interweb and found this:
http://www.gmabooster.com/download_win.htm

Looks interesting, anyone tried this or similar apps before?

Slight, slight slight performance boost in games... used it on my EeePC 1000H when I'd play Tony Hawk Pro Skater 3. Doesn't make a difference with Flash video, obviously, because that isn't hardware accelerated yet (and even if it were, the GMA900 probably wouldn't support it).

Just installed a fresh Windows 7 here, the Intel driver via Windows Update is indeed 6.14.10.4764 (dated 2007-01-13).

I used Windows Update and System Update to install the drivers and utilities, except for the Atmel TPM module (http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... MIGR-58054).

There's no Keyboard Customizer for Windows 7, I used to map the right ALT key to Windows key. I'm now trying out SharpKeys......

http://www.randyrants.com/2006/07/sharpkeys_211.html
http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows- ... -xp-vista/

BTW, FWIW, there's an online petition for a WDDM driver for GMA915/910 here...

http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/intel915

Try AutoHotKey. Far more flexible for remapping keys and custom shortcuts

Brightness changes for me when I disconnect the AC power. It is in the BIOS setting (under power options, I believe).

Mine changes too, but only a little bit - I'd like it to turn down to the very lowest setting automatically... any ideas?

[loyukfai]

@bemymonkey: Thanks for the suggestion, but SharpKeys did the job and I like that it's no TSR.

The screen brightness does change slightly on mine as well, but it's not the same as what happened under XP - It used to change according to the screen brightness level (there are 7 in X4x machines) as configured in Power Manager.

I suspect that the ACPI driver for the X4x is not complete, on my other Windows 7 boxes, there's a "change screen brightness option" if you click the battery icon in the taskbar, but none of it on this X41T box.

Cheers.

[keithsketchley]

Keep in mind that the display of the basic x41 is not great, I’m told the x41Tablet’s is much better. I don’t know how that affects Vista use, as chips and drivers may be factors as well, but note it as a caution since I understand some versions of Vista require better display.

Also keep Windows 7 in mind, which has been described as what Vista should have been in the first place. I ran the compatibility check on my basic x41 and it passed in general but requires some driver updates. I was not satisfied with the thoroughness of Microsoft’s web site on applications compatibility with Window 7 – some popular applications are not covered in the list.

Application and accessory hardware are often stumbling blocks with Vista/7, and the “compatibility mode” of them requires special support in the computer’s hardware.”

[loyukfai]

The LCD panels of non-Tablet and Tablet are different, but the graphics processors, AFAIK, are the same GMA 900 embedded in the 915G-series chipsets.

The Tablet LCD panels have larger viewing angles, higher brightness and better colour rendition. But it has nothing to do with the speed, WDDM, driver, CPU usage issues as far as I could tell.

BTW, just noticed that there was a petition for Intel to release (WDDM) drivers for 910/915 for Vista back then. It had >7k signatures but well, we still don't have a WDDM driver...

At this point I think the chance of Intel releasing a WDDM driver for 910/915 is pretty slim. There are already lots of discussions about this out there so I won't replicate here.

Cheers.

[sjthinkpader]

...BTW, just noticed that there was a petition for Intel to release (WDDM) drivers for 910/915 for Vista back then. It had >7k signatures but well, we still don't have a WDDM driver...

At this point I think the chance of Intel releasing a WDDM driver for 910/915 is pretty slim. There are already lots of discussions about this out there so I won't replicate here.

Cheers.

Everybody wants the consumer to buy new stuff. intel is no different. It is counter productive for them to support old hardware.

[loyukfai]

Just installed UxStyle (a service running in the background to allow to use of custom themes, an alternative to patching uxtheme.dll), took ownership of aero.msstyles, and applied a theme downloaded from deviantART.