Thinkpad Operating System

[danny56]

Hi i Am Thinking About Buying The Used Model Thinkpad X300 Or Thinkpad X301 i Would Like To Know Whats The Best Operating System For Either Model Like Windows XP Or Windows XP Pro Or Do You Think Windows 7 Or Windows 8 Would Be Good Also Thanks For Any Advice On This issue!

[Cigarguy]

Windows 7

[ZaZ]

What's your goal? Unless you've got a specific need, I'd just run whatever OS it comes with, which is the most cost effective solution. Keep in mind in the near future XP will no longer be getting updates.

[pianowizard]

I agree with ZaZ that you should just install whatever version the Thinkpad's Certificate of Authenticity sticker is for. For the X300 and X301, that means either XP or Vista. If it's XP, keep using it until April 8th 2014 when Microsoft supports for it ends, and upgrade to 7 then. If it's Vista, you're in luck because Microsoft will continue to support it until April 2017. There is this widely circulated rumor that Vista is an awful operating system -- don't believe it.

[kangaskhan]

There is this widely circulated rumor that Vista is an awful operating system -- don't believe it.

Yea, as a person who has used Vista up until recently, I can say Vista has received a lot more flak than it deserves, and Windows 7 is still a solid choice nonetheless (refined Vista) if you're looking to upgrade.

My opinion on Windows 8 is that it isn't as bad as people say. It's a matter of personal preference, but the biggest issue I would have is the lack of driver support for ThinkPad specific features on older models. Most probably could work, but not guaranteed, unless its a supported model.

[Atreides]

7 is basically the new XP, tough to go wrong.

The X300/1 will (I think) have a Vista COA, which as others have said is really completely workable.

I'd recommend trying another machine with 8 as it is a bit different, though I quite like it (and it's tough to argue with the $15 upgrade they offered).

[ZaZ]

I agree with ZaZ

It was bound happen one of these times, right?

[JeffCullen]

i Think That Either Windows Vista With SP2 Installed Or Windows 7 With SP1 Installed Would Be Absolutely Fine Unless Your Machine Is Equipped With A SSD In Which Case You Should Seriously Consider Windows 7 In Any Edition Because It Supports TRIM Which Is Good For Your SSD If You Want To Know Why You Can Google TRIM And You Will Find Out i Would Avoid Windows 8 Unless You Find Yourself Hankering For That Tablet Like Feel On Your Computer Which Personally i Think Is Ridiculous And If You Want That Sort Of Thing You Should Buy A Tablet i Would Also Suggest That You Google Title Case And Punctuation You May Find That Understanding Those Concepts Can Be Useful Good Luck With Your Journey!

[pianowizard]

It was bound happen one of these times, right?

Come on, we have agreed on many issues over the years. There is really just one thing that we have disagreed on, namely, recommending the X220/230 to people who indicate a need for higher-than-HD resolution. But that's no longer a problem since I hardly visit the NotebookReview forum anymore.

Unless Your Machine Is Equipped With A SSD In Which Case You Should Seriously Consider Windows 7 In Any Edition Because It Supports TRIM Which Is Good For Your SSD

From my experience, the advantage of TRIM is overrated. I've been running Vista on my Latitude E4200's SSD for just over a year and haven't noticed any slowdown.

[JeffCullen]

From my experience, the advantage of TRIM is overrated. I've been running Vista on my Latitude E4200's SSD for just over a year and haven't noticed any slowdown.

I suspect it's quite dependent on which chipset is inside any particular SSD -- some are better at doing their own garbage collection than others.

[pianowizard]

I suspect it's quite dependent on which chipset is inside any particular SSD -- some are better at doing their own garbage collection than others.

What I suspect is that without TRIM, SSDs do become slower, but the difference is hardly noticeable in reality. This reminds me of an obsession that people had about 7 or 8 years ago. Dual-channel RAM was fairly new and all the experts claimed that by using matched pairs of RAM modules, system performance would be doubled. But eventually, most people learned that the real-life improvement was minimal, and many of us stopped worrying about matching RAM sticks.

[ZaZ]

Come on, we have agreed on many issues over the years.

C'mon, I was just giving you the business cause it's one of my gifts.

[600X]

I am currently running Windows 8 Pro on my X301. It does not officially support Win 8, so expect some minor driver issues (for instance getting WWAN to work). Apart from that it runs like a charm. Basically almost everything works OOTB. All I needed was the chipset driver and some ThinkPad specific drivers. (TrackPoint, FPR and stuff like that)

I burrowed some drivers from the X220. (Power Manager for example)