Windows 7 on X31 Type 2673

[thebully]

Hi

I have a X31 type 2673 with 2GB ram and Intel 2200bg wifi card, I am thinking of trying Windows 7 on it as I have heard it runs more efficently than XP even though it is a newer OS and just want a reason to start using it day to day on at least one machine as I am getting a bit behind the times with my Windows Knowledge

I can get my hands on another cheap hard disk to put in and test windows 7 on and have found a copy of Win7 that I can use for testing purposes. I have been looking around for Win7 drivers for the X31 and pickings seem slim infact only the x31 trackpoint driver seems to be offered for the X31 on the lenovo site. I dont want to sacrifice my Fn keys and like the screen overlay when changing volume etc. I think I have a nice setup at the minute with XP pro on here and am just wondering if I will be wasting my time trying windows 7 or if all the drivers are available and I can have a fully functioning system including the bells and whistles of the Fn keys etc.

BTW I am also using SpeedswitchXP atm which lets me control the CPU throttling using max battery mode for standard use. Will I be able to have the same functionality in 7?

Any advice would be helpful

[Harryc]

Try our wonderful forum search engine - the main issue is lack of video drivers for the ATI 7500 GPU.

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=77573
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=57&t=81473
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=82036
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=57&t=77964

[jtt3011]

I used a partition manager to create a second partition in some of the the unused space on my X31 HDD, and installed Win 7 in the new partition. There were no problems at all. At boot up, you are offered the choice of Win 7 or XP and both run perfectly. That way, you can have a go with Win 7 without losing your existing XP installation, and if you don't like it, just delete the Win 7 partition (although the MBR for XP might need restoring - I don't know because I haven't done it). I had no problems with drivers - Win 7 seems pretty good at finding whatever is wanted.

Lack of a Win 7 email client is a bit of a pain, but Thunderbird installs and runs fine, and it's not that much different to Outlook Express.

[plympton]

I've been having long wake-up times with my x32 (x31, same thing). Looks like Win 7 doesn't think it's allowed to sleep. I upgraded to the latest power manager & BIOS, so I'm a bit stumped. It's on the order of a 1 minute wake-up at times - painful!

-Dan