Never seen a system like this before!!!

Almost 2 weeks past since I received my first IBM (T43) and during the period I have formatted (restored factory defaults) thrice (non IBM issue, trying to get some giant software to work) and it was such a breeze.

I used to work in Dell, had an HP for nearly a year, but never did I imagine the IBM would be so much superior. The reasons I like the IBM may not appeal to many people, but here are a few:

1. IBM Recovery Console: Its most of what I dreamed of having when windows will not boot. It can connect to the internet, download files you want, attach any USB or external device to restore backed up data, restore only windows operating system files etc. I only wish it allowed me to re-partition my drive and then do a factory restore to the drive I want. Since unlike Dell and others who just store an image of the drive for factory restore, IBM actually installs everything from scratch, so the partitioning option I guess can easily be incorporated.

2. IBM Bios: I almost always go into the Bios and tweak my computer. In the recent years various manufacturers have steadily decreased the amount of options that the Bios provides (for whatever reason). Anyway, I was absolutely taken back with the amount of options the IBM Bios provided. So many options, I have never seen in my 9 years of using computers. Just that very day, when i went to my University's Electrical Eng. IT department, they had a Dell there which was refusing to configure its Ethernet, wireless LAN, graphic card, sound card etc. Though it was a windows issue, I could have easily rectified it if only I could force IRQ settings of my choice on the devices, but guess what, the bios had no more options than multimedia buttons on that laptop. If it were to ever happen on a IBM, I would have hopefully fixed it in 5 minutes.

Diagnostics Tool: Its been a very long time since I have seen an MS-DOS GUI shell like this one. The tool provides options for testing and diagnosing almost every aspect and device in your computer from DOS without windows loading. Totally Awesome.

IBM Access Connections: I walk in my house and automatically the ThinkPad detects my home network, changes my IE-Homepage, logs on the University network via VPN, sets appropriate printer preferences etc.. all without even a touch of a button

Software Update: One seriously dreadful thing previously for me was to search the net for driver updates etc. Never will have to do that again.

A host of other stuff which other manufacturers don't provide. I knew the IBM would be more reliable, etc. but never had a clue on all the marvelous software (ThinkVantage) specialized for the hardware that came along with it.

Makes you think what all improvements Microsoft can actually do to their operating system. If only IBM had the luxury of making the hardware and software like Apple, they would have brought a whole new meaning to computing.

~a very happy ThinkPad owner.

 

Congratulations! That's the difference between a Thinkpad and your ordinary laptop. Now you feel it. May your new machine bring you many years of satisfaction.

 

awesome feedback on general likes of the ThinkPad. This is all the kind of stuff that just doesn't "fit" into a review, if you went into all the gritty details of what you get with a ThinkPad then the review would get incredibly long and most people would lose attention.

Enjoy it!

 

I often see people opening threads stating they want to remove the JUNK that came along with the IBM!!!!

Give the pre-installed software a try atleast, just enough to understand that it isn't the average common junk that ships with a Dell or likewise.

I consider myself fairly computer literate and the first thing I normally do is format the PC, make two partition, one for the OS and the other for all my software and data. That way even if I have to format and reinstall the OS, my data is safe. But it just took me a few minutes with the ThinkVantage Tools to realize the gem i received without even knowing about it

 

IBM also has embedded chip even tho imo it is only applicable for a very sensitive data

 

:::

Totally agree. The IBM tools is great, not like other brand's
trial & Junkware!

:::

 

Well there is a little bit of junk, like the Norton trial. i don't need the IBM themes, the record now software.

 

Hmmm... The Norton. My Thinkpad came with Norton Antivirus 2004. I was under the impression that it was a fully functional 1-year release. Or maybe it was a trial and I just applied a crack to it... Anyhow I removed it a while ago anyway.

 

Norton's a must remove. i use Symentec Antivirus, its clean, consumes least resources, daily virus definition updates.

 

I agree with the original poster: Behold the awesome power of the ThinkPad. However, I delete all trialware (no matter the brand of laptop) immediately. I did have my doubts about the usefulness of the IBM software, but after I had to replace my hard drive (previous one failed) I found out how useful the Restore functions were!

The DOS GUI is clean and nice looking!

 

That's what I put on after I removed Norton.

 

Uhhh... I was under the impression that they were the same thing. Norton is owned by Symentec... the GUI is the same...

 

The GUI is very different. Norton Antivirus is what Symantec intends for the home user. Symantec Corporate Antivirus is intended for large corporations. It has a simpler GUI (which evidently happens to be a lesser resource hog) and more powerful scan scheduling and remote administration tools (not that the home user would need them).

 

Doesn't have the fancy adverts saying worm-blocker etc. but does all and more silently. If you have not used it till now, you ought to give it a try. I have not heard or read about anyone who have tried the Symentac AV and then moved back to norton. norton according to be is a fancy peice of junk that is made to apeal in looks to the home users than for performance, robustness and reliability.

 

Not very likely, they must be beefing about the junk the Presarios ship with!