Thinkpads Forum

Which runs faster on an X61s with 8GB of RAM — Windows 7 or Windows 10?

Thanks!

Both are "faster" in different areas.

10 can boot up faster than 7 with an SSD but gets sluggish when the background tasks take over, which they will, and all productivity is of course lost while it's updating. 7's desktop experience can be faster because you can disable pointless animations - you're stuck with them in 10 courtesy of Metro.

I have more experience with successfully locking down 7 to do what I want it to do and nothing more, so 7 has always been more productive for me. However, I was mostly content running an older version of 10 on a Yoga, after neutering its update system, although it all self destructed the first and final time I attempted to try updating 10 to a newer version. The time spent reinstalling the OS further counts against 10's productivity. As an addendum, the Yoga runs 7 now with all its Yoga features fully working.

Nuanced to an X61s, the machine has full driver support with 7, but it's basic enough that it works well with 10. 10's more aggressive background tasks will put a greater demand on the old Core 2 than whatever 7 does.

I'd toss it up to personal preference.

W7 on most of my Thinkpads (X201/X230/X240/X250/T440p to mention a few) has run perfectly without ANY updates since 2016.
If I get another machine, I install W7/SP1 on it from the model-nearest Lenovo Recovery Set I have, find missing drivers if needed, and then block Update once and for all.
I don't even install any AV any longer, just manually update Windows Defender every once in a while.
Just to be sure, I also run the (free) Malwarebytes whenever I think of it.
Small sacrifices for otherwise great running machines that never bother me.
W7 can do everything I want, so as long as those machines last, their W7 OS will last with them.
W10 not in my life-time!
Any future OS-replacements will be delivered by Tux.

I've never installed Windows 10 on any of my desktops and laptops, but I will experiment with it at some point. However I will install Classic Shell to make it run like WIndows 7 when I do.

http://www.classicshell.net/ * Old original website no longer updated. Last version in December 2017 v4.3.1

https://open-shell.github.io/Open-Shell-Menu/ * Current website with latest version in January 2020 v4.4.142

Regarding just the desktop experience, it sounds like:

- You can't disable ("debloat"?) some of the Windows 10 components that significantly slow down the desktop experience (like Metro).

- Because of its aggressive self-updating behavior, even trying to keep a minimized or "debloated" version of Windows 10 is so much work that it isn't a very realistic option.

When I eventually install WIndows 10 for the first time, I will find out how to disable the update service and then use WSUS Offline which I have used for more than ten years.

Presently running a X61
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with Win10, 4GB RAM, a samsung SSD and the sata pushed to sata-2 through the BIOS reflashing. I set the memory Buffer at 16GB on the disk, on a separate partition from the OS/data partition. There is also the win10 start partition and a recovery partition.
I have somewhere the recovery partition for the X61 win vista...on another disk.
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I read the forum and reply on its keyboard presently.
I have no issues, lags, or other woes.
Despite leaving the updates open, to see what happens, no real problems have occurred. Using edge, firefox, opera, chrome, brave, 18 to 25 tabs open, I experience no discomfort. Next to that, openoffice and office 365 online are being used. Local print jobs / scanning on a multi-machine from Canon proceed normally. Background tasks are ransomware protection, antivirus, malaware bytes, BT agents for BT keyboard and mouse, ultrabase is connected to a vga external screen and has a DVD-writer on it.
Only issue is less battery time Win 10 eats it up, going from 4 to 2 hours....
Games like the last minecraft build run perfectly (not in 4k), and that is the most I will ask from this machine.
All keys work, including thinkvantage, esata-PCMCIA card and SD cards are working, as are ethernet and wifi 5GHz, so in my experience you can go both Win 7 or 10.
That's my experience at least.
Next, I'll try some linux...
Cheers

I use GNU Linux myself, but id say go with windows 7, cpu can get sluggish even with simple websites. Windows 10 was designed for more modern systems, so simple tasks that wouldnt be an issue for these systems can completely slow down the cpu on the x61.

I came across a really good lite version of Windows 7 x86 last year, and it runs so fast and snappily on the 15 year old laptop I installed it on. This was on my sister's Acer Aspire 5612WLMi which only has IDE and has the same chipset as a T60p / Z61p I think. I put in an SSD and that made a big difference, even despite the IDE.

Are all W10 disadvantages mentioned above in this thread also applicable to the LTSB/LTSC versions? (1507/1607/1809)

If you can install Windows 10 Ameliorated. Perfect and smmmoooothh on my x61s,4GB ram,120GB SSD and Middleton's BIOS

ivanpiffer:

Thanks for the suggestion: looks like it's worth a try at a glance. My X61s HW is exact same as yours.

Unless there's some specific feature (???) you need from Win10, you'll find Win7 to work just fine and be immensely sleeker than Win10.
- paring down the interface to fit the smaller screen is much easier in win7, that's easily set to what I'd call "Win2000" desktop look. No need for special patches to remove the atrocious start menu and bubbly buttons.
- no Cortana at all
-No auto-updates issues. I never had any issue and never needed to update stuff in years, period. Also I'm not the most power-user out there, but I have not (yet!!) encountered obsolesence limitations. fingers crossed.
- I hate the Win10 "user friendly" config panels. I guess they can be replaced with more regular panels, though
- My X61s run 4Gb and it really takes a LOT of tab action to use it up
- maybe boot is faster. But Win7 has proven very stable. I boot maybe once a month and wouldn't bother for a few seconds upgrade there!
- don't have the link right now, but someone ported the nicer Win8/10 performance monitor to Win7, if you miss it...

Of course finding Win7 licenses is not the easiest job, though.

tecmes wrote: ↑

Mon Feb 01, 2021 10:27 am

Of course finding Win7 licenses is not the easiest job, though.

Install Middleton's BIOS (which has Slic2.1) and a T400/T500 W7 recovery set here.
My Thinkpads all run W7 and have not been updated since 2016.
Not any bother or problems at all!

RealBlackStuff wrote: ↑

Mon Feb 01, 2021 11:35 am

tecmes wrote: ↑

Mon Feb 01, 2021 10:27 am

Of course finding Win7 licenses is not the easiest job, though.

Install Middleton's BIOS (which has Slic2.1) and a T400/T500 W7 recovery set here.

Thanks, I'll sure do it, but I'm not sure I understand 100%.

You're quoting my line about licenses, and I understand that SLIC relates to that, but if what @theterminator93 is offering is basically compiled ISOs, that still leaves the actual license issue unresolved, does it? Does having SLIC2.1. somehow disable windows authentication or hardware check? (A reason I never flashed to Middleton is that I have distinct licenses for each of my in-use X61, but that's an issue if I want more...).

Also,I'm curious. @theterminator93 is offering different files for Late IBM vs. Lenovo-era. Why do you sugges the T400 files for a X61, then?EDIT: answered my own question... that's recovery files, so no Win7 for that era...