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After I disabled indexing in Vista Business, my X61s bacame very fast, boot time is decreased by 8 to 10 seconds. Applications now run crazy. Even battery life is increased due to the low activity of harddisk. I recommend this step.

mcmanaman wrote:After I disabled indexing in Vista Business, my X61s bacame very fast, boot time is decreased by 8 to 10 seconds. Applications now run crazy. Even battery life is increased due to the low activity of harddisk. I recommend this step.

Well, if you don't mind looking for files the old fashioned hard way, then, ok.

It's true, indexing will cause the hard drive to thrash a lot after each bootup because the application seems to want to re-scan your index. (goodness knows why Microsoft doesn't make this more efficient. But that's Microsoft, eh?)

One way to beat the re-indexing silliness is to use hibernate or sleep instead of a cold boot when ever possible.

Another way to speed up indexing is to select out folders that you don't care to index, like pictures. Just have Search index your documents, for example.

I just msconfig'd that sucker right out of my startup. It's true, it does make load times faster (and your HDD isn't constantly seeking when the computer is idling)

I tweaked windows Vista Ultimate to run with Aero, Glass, etc. on 22% of 3024MB (actually 4048MB, but I'm using x86 so it can't use the full 4GB) RAM, no pagefile. Running 48 processes on idle.

I'll soon upgrade to Ultimate x64 and then it'll run on 18% memory usage idling, hopefully even fewer processes (if I can tweak well enough)

Next step/dream: SSD

what are youg etting for battery life? I have the 1.8 low voltage chip and 8 cell battery and I only get 2.5-3 hours depending if I have it set to maximum performance or power saving. When I purchased I read it would last for up to 8 hours. Why does mine only last 3?

mgo wrote:

mcmanaman wrote:After I disabled indexing in Vista Business, my X61s bacame very fast, boot time is decreased by 8 to 10 seconds. Applications now run crazy. Even battery life is increased due to the low activity of harddisk. I recommend this step.

Well, if you don't mind looking for files the old fashioned hard way, then, ok.

It's true, indexing will cause the hard drive to thrash a lot after each bootup because the application seems to want to re-scan your index. (goodness knows why Microsoft doesn't make this more efficient. But that's Microsoft, eh?)

One way to beat the re-indexing silliness is to use hibernate or sleep instead of a cold boot when ever possible.

Another way to speed up indexing is to select out folders that you don't care to index, like pictures. Just have Search index your documents, for example.

That's SuperFetch, not indexing. Indexing does it's thing while your system is idle and once the database is built it updates itself only when you do so (add new photos, tags, music and all that to indexed folders) Indexing causes thrashing of the HD as i result of it building a catalog when the system is not being used and that's why some people get all paranoid to see their HD lights flash. Just leave it on overnight and it'll stop since it would have completed the index.

SuperFetch however does recache each boot up but it sorta has to do that since all data in RAM is lost when the system power off. As mgo said, hibernate or sleep is better and it's a laptop, who shuts down their laptops?

Glad though something is working for the OP. Whatever makes your life happier is what you should use. I keep my Vista as it is and it works just fine and boots up fast also when i do reboot.

Justintoxicated wrote:what are youg etting for battery life? I have the 1.8 low voltage chip and 8 cell battery and I only get 2.5-3 hours depending if I have it set to maximum performance or power saving. When I purchased I read it would last for up to 8 hours. Why does mine only last 3?

as for your battery issues, that's weird. Check Power Manager and see if your battery is good. Your 8 Cell should give you more than 4hrs at least if it's good... 5-6 normally.

Agreed - should give you 4h on max battery, Wifi On. I get around 8 hours with minimum power settings (including WiFi off).

The most I ever got was about 10 hours on a "Ultra Powersave" option I made - but that was when the battery was new, I had only a 5400RPM drive (now I have a 7200RPM that uses slightly more power), and had only 2GB of RAM.

If you're getting low battery life on the 8-cell, there is the possibility it is defective. Try doing a full discharge/overnight recharge cycle and try it again on the Maximum Battery option. You also might try uninstalling most of the Lenovo Bloatware (including Access Connections and Rescue&Recovery for Windows, as I've recently discovered) and installing the newest power management driver (through System Update).

GL, and let me know how it worked out for you.

iamdmc wrote:Agreed - should give you 4h on max battery, Wifi On. I get around 8 hours with minimum power settings (including WiFi off).

The most I ever got was about 10 hours on a "Ultra Powersave" option I made - but that was when the battery was new, I had only a 5400RPM drive (now I have a 7200RPM that uses slightly more power), and had only 2GB of RAM.

If you're getting low battery life on the 8-cell, there is the possibility it is defective. Try doing a full discharge/overnight recharge cycle and try it again on the Maximum Battery option. You also might try uninstalling most of the Lenovo Bloatware (including Access Connections and Rescue&Recovery for Windows, as I've recently discovered) and installing the newest power management driver (through System Update).

GL, and let me know how it worked out for you.

On Max Battery with screen dimmed all the way etc its now reading 5:51 minutes froma full charge. I have 4GB ram, Fresh OS install, Turbo Memory, but a 200GB 7200RPM HD.

The battery is maybe 2 months old but hardly gets used.

Design Capacity i s74.88 Wh
FulL Charge Capacity is 73.28
as I type this
Current .68-.72A
Voltage 16.5
Wattage 11-12.7 W
Cycle count 14
The battery is in good condition

Screen is not very usable with the screen turned down all the way....

So whats the diagnosis is my battery ok or no? I'm planning ot buy a 4 cell for it as well so I can oper longer on cross country or international flights. I sear this guys Mac Book Pro lasted nearly as long as my thinkpad with the screen turned down and his screen was very bright....

Hmm... well I've always had more than charge capacity than design capacity in my 8cell.

My 4 cell is now slightly below design capacity, after 6 months of uses and 150 charge cycles.

I'd say that if you run a few more tests, and try to narrow down the problem away from your CPU usage, memory usage, etc. that you just call to get it exchanged through the 1 year warranty. GL

Well I'm going to be sending it back due to the loose headphone jack port anyways so I had them write in on the notes that I don't feel like I'm getting the battery life that I should be as well.

Couple months and this thing is already falling apart, with very little use.

I wouldn't say "falling apart" from just a loose headphone jack (I hope you don't just mean the slight wobble) and a defective battery (which can be easily replaced, under warranty too)

You'd still be hard pressed to find a better laptop, imho

Anyway, GL