Thinkpads Forum

I just ordered an X61s and I'm trying to figure out which OS to install. I ordered it with Windows Vista Basic but I want to put in 4GB of memory.

I'm torn between 2003 Server with Sp to allow for 36 bit memory addressing.

XP64 and Vista Ultimate.

I also want to know if I change my order to use Vista Ultimate do I get the OEM CD for vista or is it just installed on the laptop?

Justintoxicated wrote:snip.....I get the OEM CD for vista or is it just installed on the laptop?

The latter, you may also receive Product Recovery disks or downgrade media or even both however it's not guaranteed.

You can always create your own set of Product Recovery disks nevertheless:

How to create recovery media using ThinkVantage Rescue and Recovery.

Ok I think I'm going to pass on vista then and just order the OEM elsewhere. I was thinking to order it with the laptop and then use it on my home PC and swap the home PC's OS with the laptop and save a couple bucks since I have to order an OS with the laptop anyways. I guess that will not work then, so I should just get it with vista basic then delete it off the laptop once I receive it.

Oh man I just realized this laptop doe snot even have a CD-ROM. I don't know what to think about that I won't be able to install anything so I guess I need to cancel my order? Dosen't anyone else find this a huge inconvienience or are these really only made for docked use? (That would seem backwards to me since I wanted something ultra portable)

Starting to think I should have gone for an XPS...

Justintoxicated wrote:Oh man I just realized this laptop doe snot even have a CD-ROM. I don't know what to think about that I won't be able to install anything so I guess I need to cancel my order? Dosen't anyone else find this a huge inconvienience or are these really only made for docked use?

It all depends. Many of us don't mind the lack of a CD drive. I don't install software all that often. When I do, I mount the CD on my desktop at home, and then I install over the network. For the past six years I've been more than happy to trade away the weight and bulk of a CD drive for when I travel. Others though, might prefer to be able to watch movies on the plane.

There is definitely a market for notebooks without CD drives, but it's not for everyone.

JonathanGennick wrote:

Justintoxicated wrote:Oh man I just realized this laptop doe snot even have a CD-ROM. I don't know what to think about that I won't be able to install anything so I guess I need to cancel my order? Dosen't anyone else find this a huge inconvienience or are these really only made for docked use?

It all depends. Many of us don't mind the lack of a CD drive. I don't install software all that often. When I do, I mount the CD on my desktop at home, and then I install over the network. For the past six years I've been more than happy to trade away the weight and bulk of a CD drive for when I travel. Others though, might prefer to be able to watch movies on the plane.

There is definitely a market for notebooks without CD drives, but it's not for everyone.

Thanks for the response, problem for me is I plan to use this PC as a backup for when my main rig is not running or I'm in the middle of modifications. (Currently Waiting on a new Power Supply and some Liquid cooling parts for my new 9800 GTS G92 card). So there are times when I may need to access a CD-ROM and do not have my PC on the network available. However, if a USB Burner would work and I don't have to carry it around all the time then this would probably get the job done. I'm currently typing from a $415 Compaq C2D I picked up on sale pre-X-mass, if a $415 laptop is this nice these days I'm looking forward to my Lenovo that cost 3 times as much. I think I will be returning this one in favor of the IBM but even this huge 15" does not weigh very much compared to my old 14" IBM Work Laptop (Pentium M)

I would like to watch movies durring Sand Storms at the Dunes (Desert) as well and I think bringing along an external USB slimdrive may work alright for this purpose?

My main concern now is going to be getting rid of Vista in favor of XP (going to be hard to install with no CD-ROM). Then again I'm planning to add 4GB of Ram so possibly 2003 server or Vista Ultimate 64 bit may in the end be a better operating system for me?

Please Advise.

Thanks in Advance.

Justintoxicated wrote:My main concern now is going to be getting rid of Vista in favor of XP (going to be hard to install with no CD-ROM).

You should be able to boot from any external CD drive that connects to your USB port. You can pick up one of those at your local OfficeMax (or Walmart, etc.) You might even already have one.

I'll tell you what I used to do on my X30, and it'll sound hokey, but it worked. I used to have an external, USB hard-drive caddy that would take IDE hard-drives. I also had an old, internal CD drive that connected via IDE. I would open up my hard-drive caddy, plug the ribbon cable from that into my CD drive, plug the caddy into my X30's USB port, and voila! I could boot from a CD. Of course, I had to leave the caddy and wiring wide open on my desk, but the arrangement did work. Probably I should've just bought an external CD drive, but somehow I never got around to it.

BTW, I didn't mean in my earlier post to imply that built-in CD drives are only useful for watching movies. Looking back, I realize that my words could have come across that way. There are many reasons why one might want a built-in CD drive. I know that.

If you decide to go for Vista you should know there is a severe "Battery drain bug"
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=53757
which is unsolved yet.

pibach wrote:If you decide to go for Vista you should know there is a severe "Battery drain bug"
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=53757
which is unsolved yet.

Thanks for the heads up, I have the x61s not the tablet, so does this bug still apply? I also ordered the turbo memory which I was reading may be a work around to the vista bug (for whatever reason) in another thread.

If Vista is out which will run the fastest and most stable on this laptop. XP, XP64, or 2003 Server?

Justintoxicated wrote:

pibach wrote:I have the x61s not the tablet, so does this bug still apply?

Actually I do not know. And seemingly there are quite mixed opinions around. Most people say Vista does consume 20-30% more power than XP on their machines. But there are some people saying Vista consumes less than XP. I tried tweaking all the bits and details in Vista, but could not find a way to make it truely power efficient (15 Watt for just surfing on 50% brightness is just too much). I have no explanation why my tablet should be different here. The only thing I can definitely say, that running Xubuntu it draws 30% less than using Vista (Web surfing at <10 Watt).

Justintoxicated wrote:I just ordered an X61s and I'm trying to figure out which OS to install. I ordered it with Windows Vista Basic but I want to put in 4GB of memory.

I'm torn between 2003 Server with Sp to allow for 36 bit memory addressing.

XP64 and Vista Ultimate.

I also want to know if I change my order to use Vista Ultimate do I get the OEM CD for vista or is it just installed on the laptop?

Do you need 4GB or just want 4GB?

XP X64 is rather short on drivers. You may get lucky, but typically it's a pain (no Atheros wifi for example). Some apps will also not work.

2003 Server is much better about drivers (most of the XP drivers work fine), but some application installers don't recognize it as XP compatible and refuse to install (Photoshop CS3 for example required a workaround, others I couldn't install at all). Also, I've found no drivers to toggle the WiFi/Bluetooth on/off easily.

Vista 64 had none of these issues in my experience. However, even with 4GB of RAM, it was never as peppy as XP Pro (x32) with 3GB.

If you must have 4GB, Vista 64 has the fewest outstanding issues. But if you simply want the fastest (fully functional) X61s, stick with XP Pro (x32) and don't worry about the missing 1GB.

mfbernstein wrote:

Justintoxicated wrote:

TY I was just hoping to utilize the new memory I purchased. I'm not sure I want to purchase a single 2GB non-matching stick. So I was going to buy 2x2GB and max her out and call it good.

Sounds like the best bet is to stick with XP32 and just go ahead and max her out anyways (to have matched sticks).

I might just wait till the laptop gets here but if I see a good deal I'm going to bite...Says it will not even ship until the 14th even though I ordered it a week ago...