Thinkpads Forum

Please give me your Cheers and Jeers regarding the different ThinkVantage apps available for the T400 using Win7. Which ones do I really need? Which ones are nice to have? Which are a waste of time and performance? Does Win7 handle most everything fine on its own?

Opinions much appreciated.

Thanks!

blinker

I have:

Thinkvantage Airbag Protection System- if you use a mechanical hard drive this will park the hard disk when the accelerometer in your T400 detects movement. You can adjust sensitivity so it doesn't pause with every little bump.

Lenovo Power Manager- with this program you can set thresholds for when you want your battery to start charging and stop charging. This is a great way to extend the life of the battery. It also has all the bells and whistles for other settings such as LCD off (hotkey- FN + F3), spin down hard disk timer, etc.

Thinkvantage System Update- good for when you are feeling lazy and just want the program to find the right updates for you system. Make sure you avoid the autoBIOS update utility.. I've been reading some horror stories with that utility. It's safer to use the ISO image to update your BIOS.

All other apps may be good for some people but I like a lean installation so no Access Connections, Rescue and Recovery etc. Another thing I did not see in the Thinkvantage page from Lenovo is the Ultranav Utitlity and Ultranav Driver. I strongly recommend those two apps also.

Hope this helps

My choice is exactly the same. I'm using a clean retail installation with just these apps. I would just add the HotKey driver which gives you the volume and brightness OSD as well as things like Fn+F5 panel with wireless controls.

Same here, including the Hotkey drivers.

Also, I would like to add that the 'Airbag' system works for the ultrabay as well - I replaced my main disk with an SSD and moved the harddisk into a bay and was pleased to find out it's protected too.