From Vista Business Japanese OS to Win 7 Pro English

[bhuiyan]

Dear All,

I have a ThinkPad T60 (2623 model). It's specifications are Core duo T2400 (1.83GHz) CPU, 1GB RAM, 120GB 5400rpm HD, 14.1in 1400x1050 LCD, 128MB ATI Radeon X1400 GPU, CDRW/DVDRW, 802.11abg wireless, Bluetooth, Modem, 1Gb Ethernet, UltraNav, Sec Chip, FPR, 6c Li-Ion, WinVista Business Japanese OS preloaded with Japanese Keyboard.

I want to use it with Windows 7 Professional 32 bit OS English version. Lenovo Japan's website http://support.lenovo.com/ja_JP/downloads/default.page? has all the device drivers and BIOS update necessary for this particular machine, which I guess will upgrade them so that if the OS itself is upgraded to the Windows 7 Japanese version, they will work.

I, however, want the OS in English version. I have access to both these OS licenses in both Japanese and in English versions via MSDN academic subscription. Can anyone please experience of converting a Japanese OS (Win Vista Business) to an English one, and then upgrade it to Windows 7 Professional 32 bit OS English version?

Why I want to do this? Well, I have been using T41, T42 and finally, T43 for quite some time. Last year I started using a T410 but did not like the 16:10 form factor, and am looking to go back to a 4:3 form factor. Most of the time I work without external monitor, so if I could use this machine, I would really like to do so.

It comes with PC2-5300(DDR2-667) DDR2 SDRAM DIMM 1GB RAM and the remaining slot can still have another 2GB (for a max 3GB for this T60). An easy upgrade that I can do.

What else can I do with time being in short supply?

I guess I am looking for suggestions and ideas like 'don't do this because....' or 'why don't you just buy a ...'.

I am also looking for real life story like 'I inserted the DVD set of Txxx to the T60, powered it up, after some time installation was finished, and the T60 just worked as I wanted it to... '

If possible, how to access those recovery DVD set (for English OS). Can any kind soul point me toward them?

I am an academic, I read and write a lot of articles, code with MATLAB and also with Visual Studio. I also do image processing researches but since I don't play video game, 128MB VRAM of this T60 won't hurt.

Another upgrade might be to replace the HDD with an SSD. But I don't know where to begin with, or whether all of this is worth doing or not.

Regards

Shoaib

[bhuiyan]

Dear all,

In light of the above information, do I need a Win 7 Pro 32 bit version English recovery set for a T60 (2623) ?

Shoaib

[ajkula66]

There are no W7 recovery disks for T60/p.

Get a new hard drive, install W7 from scratch, load System Update and it will take care of the drivers for you. Whatever you end up missing - if anything - can likely be found via Windows update.