Just upgraded from an X32 to an X61

[epu]

This thing is coming with Vista Business which I DON'T want. How can I downgrade to XP with this unit? The eBay listing said XP in the headline, but Vista in the description. Hypothetically, if it doesn't come with XP, what's the easiest way to GET XP SP2. Would I order recovery CDs from eBay or Lenovo?

[ryengineer]

Downgrading from Windows Vista to Windows XP.

[Ken Fox]

Maybe some kind forum member will offer to copy their X61 XP recovery disk set and send it to you for their cost (which should be almost nothing). I have done this for other forum members, but do not have an X61 in my "collection."

[epu]

THANKS so much for the reply. I just found out that XP DOES come with the unit too! I'm so happy. I'm using the machine for Audio recording on the go. The X32 I had was nice (top of the line rare model), but the single core just wasn't cutting it. I just need to confirm that it has a 7200 drive instead of a 5400 rpm one.

Also, the fact that the X61 had SATA instead of PATA was a major selling point, as I began to notice that most retailers stopped carrying PATA, or that PATA drives stayed stagnant at ridiculously high costs.

[Ken Fox]

The X32 I had was nice (top of the line rare model), but the single core just wasn't cutting it. I just need to confirm that it has a 7200 drive instead of a 5400 rpm one.

Also, the fact that the X61 had SATA instead of PATA was a major selling point, as I began to notice that most retailers stopped carrying PATA, or that PATA drives stayed stagnant at ridiculously high costs.

In all honesty, do not expect much of a speed increase with your new X61 over your old X32. I have an X32 which is slightly slower than yours (1.8ghz vs. what I'm presuming is in yours, @2ghz), as well as two X60s (1.83ghz and 2.0ghz Core Duos). All three notebooks have 7200rpm drives, with 2gb RAM in the X32 and 3gb RAM in the X60s. All of these computers are "buffed," in the sense that I have removed unnecessary bloatware and reduced the number of services that start on boot up.

Since I continue to use all 3 of these machines often, I can tell you that there is no obvious speed difference I can detect among these three machines. The X60s are a bit lighter in weight, and the 3 (fully powered) USB ports are certainly welcome.

The X61 does not differ materially from the X60s that I own; do not expect much if any perceivable speed difference due to the Santa Rosa chipset, Core2Duo processors or the slight change in the integrated video chip. The X32 and the X61 are both going to be constrained by their integrated video, and the X61s also by the ability of current software (especially 32 bit) to utilize the dual core architecture.

There are certainly reasons to buy an X61, and I would not want to say otherwise. I also think that you can continue to find 7200rpm PATA drives for your X32 if you look around. Just do not expect to find very much of a speed increase on your X61, because unless I am missing something, there is very little you will notice with this change of a maxed out X32 vs. a maxed out X61.

[richarddd]

My x61s is not noticeably faster than my x31 for web browsing, running Office or the like, but it is *much* faster running processor intensive programs.

[epu]

For that I'm actually surprised. I don't do much graphics work, nor am I into video games. I do a lot of Audio intensive work and programs like Pro Tools shows a significant increase in performance with faster hard drives, more RAM and more cores in the CPU to run it.

Audio plug ins eat up RAM quickly. My X32 maxes out at 2GB, the x61 at least goes to 4GB and the SATA drives are cheaper. The RAM for the X61 is cheaper. I've seen modules of 1GB go for as cheap as $20. 2GB of RAM for the x3 series is still running $100 everywhere.

This is why I went for the X61. Also, if I decide to upgrade to Vista later, I'd have the option to and not worry about going crazy with trying to run it.

[Ken Fox]

Audio plug ins eat up RAM quickly. My X32 maxes out at 2GHz, the x61 at least goes to 4GB and the SATA drives are cheaper. The RAM for the X61 is cheaper. I've seen modules of 1GB go for as cheap as $20. 2GB of RAM for the x3 series is still running $100 everywhere.

This is why I went for the X61. Also, if I decide to upgrade to Vista later, I'd have the option to and not worry about going crazy with trying to run it.

Unless you are going to run a 64 bit operating system, you will not get much if any benefit of going above 3gb of RAM in an X61.

For the sake of amusement a month ago, I loaded Vista Business on a spare 5400rpm IDE drive that I put into my X32 for a day. Based on that experience I am certain that with some minor tweaking an X32 (and probably X31) can run Vista if need be. My X60 Tablet with an L2400 Core Duo processor runs Vista with a "Windows Experience Level" of only 2.5, which is presumably due largely to the integrated video. The integrated video is going to be the biggest limitation of any of the machines we are discussing here, even though the X32 does have a discrete card with a pathetic 16gb of video RAM in it.

Similarly, neither an X32/X31 nor an X61 (or X60) can power a digital video monitor when used in an ultrabase or docking station, due to limitations of the onboard video.

[epu]

I know the max is 4GB, and I understand that XP and Vista 32bit would only be able to recognize 3GB max. When I decide to go Vista 64 one day, I guess then I'd be able to utilize the 4GB. The main reason why I'm buying this laptop, for Pro-Tools, the program can only run on 32 bit operating systems anyway.