Thinkpads Forum

Recent Lenovo Thinkpad convert here. My Toshiba L645D (AMD dual core @ 2.2GHz, 1067MHz DDR3 RAM) running Win7 x64 Home Prem died.
So I got a used W500 4063-3FU (Intel Centrino 2 vPro Duo Core T9400 @ 2.53GHz) with 3GB RAM and Vista x32. Hi-res 1920x1200 screen, if too underlit to use in daytime.


Windows Experience Index (Vista 32) says it should be faster than my old Toshiba L654D, but so far in limited use, the W500 seems much slower. I'm hoping that going to Windows7 x64 Home Prem will speed things up. I'm going to take the hybrid 1TB HD and 4GB DDR3 1066MHz RAM module from the Toshiba to bring the W500 up to 6GB RAM and 1TB storage.

My budget is about $0. Worse, I have no Lenovo Win7 or Lenovo recovery discs. I'm hoping there's a way I can use the "product key" from my dead Toshiba to install Win7 x64 on this Thinkpad.

I was hoping some experienced W500 or Thinkpad users could guide me in the best way to get a lean, fast W500 Win7 x64 install up and running. I'd heard that supposedly there was a utility that would go to Lenovo's site and download all the latest drivers for your particular model. If true, what is it called and what's the URL for this util? (In my experience, manually downloading drivers and tools doesn't always give the same software & performance as using a copy of the OEM discs.) Where can one get the .ISO of the Lenovo install discs? I didn't see it on their site.

And any advice on getting Win7 x64 Home Premium "OA" to work on the W500? I've heard you can download Win7 via MS's "Digital River" and plunk in your product key from your old machine. Does this really work?

SaganGathering wrote:W500 4063-3FU

It has these specs:

T9400(2.53GHz), 2GB RAM, 160GB 7200rpm HD, 15.4in 1920x1200 LCD, 512MB ATI FireGL V5700, CDRW/DVDRW, Intel 802.11agn wireless, Bluetooth, Modem, 1Gb Ethernet, UltraNav, Secure chip, FPR, Intel Turbo Memory, 6c Li-Ion, WinVista Business 32

The COA sticker entitles you only to the Vista recovery discs, not the Windows 7 recovery discs. If this machine is still under warranty, Lenovo may be willing to sell you a set of the Vista discs for something like $50. Or, you can ask people on this forum to burn a set for you for much less. But you aren't legally allowed to use the Windows 7 discs.

BTW, in terms of performance, Vista is going to be about as good as 7 on this particular W500. (On older machines, Vista would struggle more than 7.) That Vista "sucks" is a myth perpetuated by ignorant folks who think they know. Vista with all the latest updates is pretty much as fast as 7 on sufficiently powerful computers, for example your W500. And in my experience, Vista is significantly more stable than 7. If I were you, I would slow-format the hard drive within DISKPART (Google this up if you don't know how), clean-install 64-bit Vista (obtainable from http://www.heidoc.net/joomla/technology ... load-links#), get all drivers from Lenovo.com, and install all important updates for Vista including Service Pack 2. Lenovo's recovery discs come with tons of useless software that slows down the computer dramatically. Keep using Vista on this W500 until April 11th 2017 when Microsoft stops supporting it, and then upgrade to Windows 8, or Windows 9 if it has already come out. It's not worth upgrading from Vista to 7 because Vista is Windows 6.0 and "Windows 7" is technically just Windows 6.1.

SaganGathering wrote:And any advice on getting Win7 x64 Home Premium "OA" to work on the W500? I've heard you can download Win7 via MS's "Digital River" and plunk in your product key from your old machine. Does this really work?

Toshiba's product key will probably not work, but it won't hurt to try. Download Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit from Digital River at http://msft.digitalrivercontent.net/win/X17-58997.iso , burn it onto a DVD, and give it a try. If Windows activates successfully, use System Update to get Lenovo's drivers: http://support.lenovo.com/en_US/downloa ... D=DS012808

Download an SLIC check tool like like this one . Run it on your W500. If it says you have SLIC 2.1, you may be able to OEM activate Win 7 with a lenovo certificate and product key for whatever version you are allowed (e.g. home premium, pro, etc). You will not be able to use the Toshiba OEM license because ToC for the MS Win ties it to the machine/motherboard.

Reason I say maybe is during the later part of the vista/early win 7 debut, Lenovo was selling PCs with both valid Vista and Win 7 licenses as part of the "buy now, free upgrade to Win 7!" campaign.