Thinkpads Forum

Is there a benchmark test or anything you can run to make sure a computer is running up to spec?

I just received a new X61 tablet yesterday and it seems very slow compared to a) my 5 year old A31p running XP SP2 and which is loaded with programs, and b) my 15-month old Dell desktop running Vista Ultimate, also loaded with programs. The X61 has Vista Ultimate. I initialized Norton Internet Security but other than that have not loaded anything else.

Why I think it's slow: when I click on the MSIE quick launch to start the browser, it takes as long as a minute before the browser opens. When I click Shut Down, the Vista "Shutting Down" screen is up for 9-10 minutes before it actually closes.

Is this normal???

Some guesses:
Vista indexing, supposed to clear up after a week or two.
Update installation causing the slow shutdowns.

So no, the behavior is not normal. How much ram do you have on it?

Optimize your machine by tunning it. You can start by removing the programs you are not going to use. I suggest you perform "Custom Factory Restore" that lets you choose your choice of programs from the "Lenovo Base Software Selector". Obviously you'll have to settle on which programs you need according to your requirement.

To do so:

a. Turn off your machine.
b. Power it up and carefully observe the display. Look for the logo screen. At any time, while the logo screen is onscreen, press Thinkvantage Blue Button or F11.
c. Once Rescue and Recovery Predesktop area fully initiates, you'll see many option on the top and left side of your screen.
d. Under "Rescue and Restore" press "Restore your system".

At some point you'll be presented with custom restore option.

You don't seem to mention any specification of your machine, Windows Vista requires atleast 2GB of memory to operate smoothly but the more you put it in, the more efficiently your machine will run it. You can also contribute the mentioned slowness to the indexing service of Windows Vista that takes quite a while to catalog all the files on the HDD.

Please also refer to some small tips to enhance Windows Vista Performance for new users from lenovo.

aaa wrote:Some guesses:
Vista indexing, supposed to clear up after a week or two.
Update installation causing the slow shutdowns.

So no, the behavior is not normal. How much ram do you have on it?

2 GB. It has to go back to easyserv anyway - I think the backlight is kaput too.

ryengineer wrote:Optimize your machine by tunning it. You can start by removing the programs you are not going to use. I suggest you perform "Custom Factory Restore" that lets you choose your choice of programs from the "Lenovo Base Software Selector". Obviously you'll have to settle on which programs you need according to your requirement.

To do so:

a. Turn off your machine.
b. Power it up and carefully observe the display. Look for the logo screen. At any time, while the logo screen is onscreen, press Thinkvantage Blue Button or F11.
c. Once Rescue and Recovery Predesktop area fully initiates, you'll see many option on the top and left side of your screen.
d. Under "Rescue and Restore" press "Restore your system".

At some point you'll be presented with custom restore option.

You don't seem to mention any specification of your machine, Windows Vista requires atleast 2GB of memory to operate smoothly but the more you put it in, the more efficiently your machine will run it. You can also contribute the mentioned slowness to the indexing service of Windows Vista that takes quite a while to catalog all the files on the HDD.

Please also refer to some small tips to enhance Windows Vista Performance for new users from lenovo.

Thanks for the info. It's got 2 GB in it now. My Dell, running Vista Ultimate, also has 2 GB and it's orders of magnitude faster than the X61, so I think it can't only be memory. Maybe it's the file indexing.

Too bad you can't get a new thinkpad with XP. Not in Canada, anyway.