Is Aero working on my T43?

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rickv7673 · #1 Post by **rickv7673** » Sat Feb 17, 2007 12:35 pm

Once and for all, is there any way to confirm that aero is actually working on my T43 266871U? I get a score of 2.0 for graphics but I'm not sure what that means. Any help would be appreciated.

sapibobo · #2 Post by **sapibobo** » Sat Feb 17, 2007 1:18 pm

http://windowsvistablog.com/blogs/windo ... 58117.aspx

A base score of 2.0 represents the mainstream Windows Vista upgrade target system. This level of PC may run Windows Aero but users may see noticeable performance issues from time to time, especially on PCs with scores less than 2.5 and/or 64MB of graphics memory. Performance issues may also be noticeable when opening many application windows at the same time or when using very large monitors.

rvacha · #3 Post by **rvacha** » Sat Feb 17, 2007 3:54 pm

Aero is working if you can see through the title bar of an open window. If the title bar looks solid like XP, then it's not

kay.one · #4 Post by **kay.one** » Wed Feb 21, 2007 11:55 pm

i was gonna say press winkey + tab and if you see flip 3D then you have Aero, but then realized that you have T40, which doesn't have winkey,

but hey, if you can attach a keyboard that has a windows key you could give it a try,

also you can however your mouse over the taskbar if you see a live thumb of the minimized window then you have Aero working,

i wouldnt rely on transparency as my vista used to disable it by itself randomly.

syedj · #5 Post by **syedj** » Sun Mar 04, 2007 12:49 am

rickv7673, whats the verdict?

I installed Vista Ultimate on a T41 (with 1.7 GHz, 2 GB RAM and 32 MB video RAM) but Aero didn't like it enough and even without Aero the machine is very sluggish with a lot of HD activity pretty much all the time, even with the indexing turned off.

#6 Post by **bill bolton** » Sun Mar 04, 2007 4:04 am

syedj wrote:the machine is very sluggish

What video driver do you have loaded? Use the Device Manager to have a look.

Cheers,

Bill

syedj · #7 Post by **syedj** » Sun Mar 04, 2007 9:07 am

Here is the video driver information:

Driver Provider: ATI Technologies Inc.
Drive Date: 7/31/2006
Driver Version: 6.14.10.6606

Is there a newer driver available? I checked ATI's website (well AMD now) but they didn't have a listing of Mobility Radeon 9000 driver for Vista. Unless I am missing something...

I think I forgot to mention that the CPU consumption is also very high whenever I try to move any of the windows.

syedj · #8 Post by **syedj** » Sun Mar 04, 2007 9:35 am

I upgraded the video driver from Lenovo's website. Here is the new version info:

Driver Provider: ATI Technologies
Driver Date: 11/16/2006
Driver Version: 6.14.10.6547

Will be able to say more about performance after using the machine for a little while.

syedj · #9 Post by **syedj** » Sun Mar 04, 2007 9:49 am

Even after upgrading the video driver as above, moving windows around the desktop is still pretty CPU intensive activity. So there might be something else that I am missing...

bopchie · #10 Post by **bopchie** » Sun Mar 04, 2007 1:41 pm

heres my take on aero runnin on my t43http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.ph ... 587#257587

syedj · #11 Post by **syedj** » Thu Mar 22, 2007 11:47 pm

I just updated video driver for T41 (ATI Radeon 9000) to the following version and there is significant improvement in the graphics performance. Window dragging and redrawing is not as CPU intensive as it used to be. Vista Ultimate in general also appears to be running a bit cooler now.

Device: ATI Mobility Radeon 9000 (Microsoft Corporation - XDDM)
Drive Provider: ATI Technologies Inc.
Driver version: 6.14.10.6606

zverg · #12 Post by **zverg** » Fri Mar 23, 2007 10:05 am

Weird, according to Microsoft you need a 9500 or higher to do Aero because it has to have pixel vertex shader 2.0 or some junk

syedj · #13 Post by **syedj** » Fri Mar 23, 2007 10:15 am

I didn't say Aero was working

I just said the graphics response is better than before. Moving windows across the screen isn't as jerky as it was earlier and also idle CPU usage is hovering between around 3-8%; which is pretty close to what I would expect.

[EDIT] After a fresh boot and no applications running, the idle CPU is showing 1-3% usage.

Is Aero working on my T43?

Is Aero working on my T43?

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