Thinkpads Forum

I just got a new ThinkPad X61 laptop. It comes with Vista Bis. I also order anther additional 160GB hard drive to replace the old one, and install the vista using the recovery CD.

The boot up time is about 4min to reach the point that I can use the machine.

How to speed up the boot up time on x61?

1. ?Using XP. Actually I want to try vista.
2. ?Upgrade to 2GB ram. Does it really enhance the performance?
3. ?Upgrade to 7200rpm HD. But too expansive and I also have an original 120GB.
4. ?clean install vista again. Is the original liscence OK for that?
5. ?OSX86. I tried to install into the brand new 160GB HD but failed after multiple trials, so give up and install vista using the recovery CD.

Any other options?

Thank you advance for your help.

Any help?

I have a pretty new X61. My boot times is about 1 minute. Here are the things you can do to make it go faster.

1) Vista Business is fine. I use it everyday on my work computer.

2) RAM is so cheap now that it's almost silly not to upgrade to 3GB (for 32-bit systems) or 4GB (for 64-bit systems, or to future-proof).

3) You should have bought a Hitachi 7K200 hard disk aftermarket, instead of the 160GB. The 7200rpm HDD performs significantly better than the stock 5400rpm.

4) The license is ok. You can clean install. That's what I did.

5) Don't use OSX on a ThinkPad. There is no driver support.

rhema83,

your boot time about 1 min is really good.

What have you done?

All of them: clean install vista, 7200 HD and 2G ram?


thanks in advanece

I have XP, not Vista for my 61T, so maybe this won't mean much, but I added another 1GB of memory and I went from 4-5 minutes to about 1-2 minutes, so really cut it right in half. I also removed the CSS, added Uniblue and cleaned up some things on my system, and keep a disk defrag running a lot, which really worked well. I have had my laptop for 3 months.

1) no. actually Vista boots up a bit faster. But it loads a lot more funtionallity, so you might not need all. You can check out SpedyVista to see which services you need and which you can skip
2) definitely. Vista does not run well on 1GB
3) not recommended as current 5400 rpm drives are as fast and usually quieter.
4) result will be the same if you just uninstall unnecessary things
5) not for beginners

else) you can activate dual core boot (default is single core) via msconfig. Reviews indicate 20% performance gain.

My boot time is 1:20 min until "WLAN connect and ready to surf".

Anyway, susped/resume is much more advisable. Or do hibernation. Reboot is only requires every some weeks, e.g., in case you install some new software that does need a reboot.

charmant wrote:rhema83,

your boot time about 1 min is really good.

What have you done?

All of them: clean install vista, 7200 HD and 2G ram?


thanks in advanece

Indeed. I am using a 7K200 HDD and have 4GB RAM. The boot time (to a fully functional desktop) is less than a minute if I don't count the time used to authenticate my fingerprint.

I have been using 7200rpm HDD since they were first made for laptops (the venerable 7K60). The power consumption, heat and acoustic noise characteristics are extremely similar to a 5400rpm HDD. You should definitely get one if you want to get the most out of your laptop. Don't let a slow HDD slow down your expensive Core 2 Duo system.

I have an X60s (so my machine is already slower than yours to start with). I run XP with a 7200RPM 200GB drive and 2GB of RAM. When I setup XP, I always disable all the services and startup programs I don't use (after I've uninstalled programs I don't use).

I just timed my startup and Windows is booted up and the network connected within 40 seconds. By 58 seconds all of my programs are running.

I also installed this hotfix for XP (which I think speeds up the process slightly):
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=60416

rhema, actually rmp has little to do with the HDD speed. But agreed, HDD speed is primary reason for fast boot, not the CPU.

pibach wrote:3) not recommended as current 5400 rpm drives are as fast and usually quieter.

pibach wrote:rhema, actually rmp has little to do with the HDD speed.

faster spindle speeds (RPMs) always result in faster access times and lower latency rates.   i have never experienced nor read anything saying the contrary except what you've written above.   do you have any evidence to back up your claims?

pibach wrote:3) not recommended as current 5400 rpm drives are as fast and usually quieter.

Having installed Vista Ultimate on a standard Lenovo supplied 5400 rpm drive and the cloned it across to a Seagate 7200 rpm drive of the same capacity with no other system change, I have personally seen a quite noticeable decrease in both load time and and improvement in overall reponsiveness.

Those performance changes can only be attributed to the drive swap to a 7200 rpm drive.

Cheers,

Bill B.