I Need Help, Big Time - T61 Related - New System

[IBMorBust]

Okay.

I ordered a T61 to replace my hobbled T42.

I chose Vista Home, as Windows XP was a $50 upgrade.

I have a clean copy of Windows XP, with key.

When the T61 gets here, do I boot it up, or do I load the Windows XP CD, or what?

I apologize for the frantic state of this message, but I'm having an awful day.

Thanks everyone.

[mateyo]

Are you asking how to do it or when you should do it?

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... WNGRD.html

[mgo]

Okay.

I ordered a T61 to replace my hobbled T42.

I chose Vista Home, as Windows XP was a $50 upgrade.

I have a clean copy of Windows XP, with key.

When the T61 gets here, do I boot it up, or do I load the Windows XP CD, or what?

I apologize for the frantic state of this message, but I'm having an awful day.

Thanks everyone.

Unless you have some programs that just refuse to run on Vista, why not go with what came on the machine? I run Vista in "Classic" mode and disable the silly Aero and other visuals. Also, go to performance mode and adjust for max performance, like you can do in XP. Run Windows Explorer in Classic mode, too.

Google around and see which services you can disable. In other words, a few speed tweaks (like we used to do with XP) will perk Vista up real nice.

I'm not here to promote Vista over XP, but it can work well if it's adjusted properly.

Replacing the operating system is a lot of work, you need to download drivers and all the other Lenovo utilities and install them. Not really necessary, based on my two years of comparing XP vs. Vista on identical machines.

If you think you "just gotta" install XP, use Acronis or some other imaging program to copy your factory setup so you can revert to it if you have problems with XP.

[mateyo]

The drivers and utilities for the laptop specifically could be resolved easily with (should work with Windows XP):

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... VSU-UPDATE

[IBMorBust]

mgo - Vista is fraught with issues, from what I've read. I can't afford problems. This is for business.

Vista has slow boot up time, slow shut down time, and very slow benchmarking times compared to XP.

More importantly, the driver support isn't all there, by a long shot.

Read this article published today:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/09/busin ... ref=slogin

Mateyo - are you saying I should use Vista with backward compatible XP drivers? Thanks.

[mateyo]

Oh, no. I'm just saying if you are going to use Windows XP then you can use the System Update tool from Lenovo to auto download and install the drivers and other utilities you want in one go. I just wanted to note that that tool was also available for Windows XP.

[IBMorBust]

From a software savvy, much wiser person than I:

I've purchased new computers with every major OS in them since Windows 3.1 and in my opinion, Vista is an absolute failure. I have programmed for over 25 years and I have seen a lot of progress from pre-windows operating systems to 3.1 and the jump between 3.1 and 95. Most everything after 95 has been a disappointment. 98SE was an improvement over 95 and XP was in some ways an improvement over 98, well, after SPII that is, but Vista is certainly not an improvement over XP. It is thwarted with bugs. Myself and a lot of people I have communicated with online have been victims of Windows Updates that caused Vista to crash and in some cases, not boot up again. Fortunately for me, I can fix all of that but I'm sure for business owners that are not very computer savvy, this latest Micro$oft release in nothing short of a nightmare.

The UAC security is a mindless invention that is 10-times the pest 'Clippy' ever was. In my opinion, Zone Alarm can run circles around Micro$oft security. The irony is that all of the extra Vista security additions mostly lead to a buggy operating system and some of these updates, which are mostly security files, cause even more problems for the user than if they actually did get a virus.

In addition, the operating system is so bloated that a virus maker could have a field day with it because in general, the larger the operating system, the easier it is to hide a virus. Also, the virus can be more complex. It is also harder to remove them.

All this negative attention is why I believe the fools in charge of this go-no-where 'growth' company have finally decided to make a scaled back OS called Windows 7, which is slated to arrive in about two-years.

I think investors in Micro$oft want Ballmer out and maybe after Gates officially leaves this summer, that just might happen. I would like to see that company go through a complete re-vamping and start listening to consumers for a change.

So far, Micro$oft really doesn't have any well organized competition. Linux for example is far from organized enough but got a foot in the door last year with Dell. Apple still suffers from the artistic temperament of Steve Jobs to rule the OS world. I'd state Apple has certainly done well with diversification and even though I don't own or want an iPhone, I can see the appeal (an Apple with 'appeal') for them.

OK, it's been pun. Rant over.

[IBMorBust]

So, if I had ordered Vista Premium or Business, instead of Home, Lenovo would have sent me the XP CDs?

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=58694


If so, I am now very bummed.

[Harryc]

I don't think I can make a blanket statement for all models that Lenovo sells, but when I received my T61/P with Vista Business it came with the XP CD's.

[IBMorBust]

I don't think I can make a blanket statement for all models that Lenovo sells, but when I received my T61/P with Vista Business it came with the XP CD's.

Are you using Vista or XP, Harry?


Thanks.

[Harryc]

XP, I uninstalled Vista after about a month of using it. Personally, it really didn't offer me anything over XP and seemed a bit of a resource hog. Before anyone says it, yes I did shut off all of the eye candy, drive indexing, etc, etc.

[IBMorBust]

XP, I uninstalled Vista after about a month of using it. Personally, it really didn't offer me anything over XP and seemed a bit of a resource hog.

That's what I presumed.

I think I'm going to do the same. Especially given that Vista has empirically lower benchmark times, longer boot up, and much higher resource utilization.

Vista seems so, not only unnecessary, but as so much 'bloatware.'

[mgo]

mgo - Vista is fraught with issues, from what I've read. I can't afford problems. This is for business.

Vista has slow boot up time, slow shut down time, and very slow benchmarking times compared to XP.

More importantly, the driver support isn't all there, by a long shot.

Read this article published today:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/09/busin ... ref=slogin

Mateyo - are you saying I should use Vista with backward compatible XP drivers? Thanks.

Ahem...leave it to the good old New York Times to do the best job of telling this story. The usual excellent tight, lucid writing in that article.

So many other writers at various computer mags sounded befuddled, at best.

I surely have to agree that Vista is territory to be treaded with great care. All my ThinkPads run it quite nicely, but perhaps that's thanks to the good hardware on the machines. Or maybe just my dumb luck.

[IBMorBust]

Note from Moderator: Snipped excessive, nested quoting.

Ahem...leave it to the good old New York Times to do the best job of telling this story. The usual excellent tight, lucid writing in that article.

So many other writers at various computer mags sounded befuddled, at best.

I surely have to agree that Vista is territory to be treaded with great care. All my ThinkPads run it quite nicely, but perhaps that's thanks to the good hardware on the machines. Or maybe just my dumb luck.

mgo, I do think that the article cited is well written, and the source for the indictment of MS Vista is pretty credible, too - Microsoft's own execs.

[SafeHarbor]

Most of the "horror stories" about Vista upgrades are exactly that - folks that tried to upgrade an older machine to run Vista.

I tried that approach myself. i upgraded my Media Center 2005/XP box to Vista Ultimate, and it was a disaster. I ended up with a hosed InstallShield stack and finally did a wipe and reinstall. It was better then.

I bought a brand new Media Center/Vista Ultimate box back in October, and it's been great. I also bought a T61p with Vista Home Premium in December, and it's been fine, too.

What I make of all this is that Vista can be stable, enjoyable, and usable IF

- you throw memory at it (2 GB is good, 3 GB is better)
- the computer was designed for it
- the video card is fast enough to support it

And I've been pleasantly surprised with the video card in my T61p. It lets me watch a DVD stutter free on an external monitor while surfing the net in Firefox and downloading tunes in iTunes - in Vista.

My XP Pro R52 can do TWO of those at a time, and it doesn't include the DVD.