New Lenovo user, brand new X300

I just got a brand new X300. I have some questions for you veterans..

I got a demo unit, its perfect in every way, but Im not sure if it qualifies for the free windows 7 offer, it has a sticker that says windows vista basic, but under system in control panel it says home vista business...

Should I keep all that thinkvantage stuff? There are 100 programs related to that, that launch at start, and I guess it takes up a lot of memory to keep them running. Are they useful? Im not a heavy user, I dont have an optical drive, and I only use it for office, internet, and watching videos.

Also, whenever I unplug the AC from the computer, the screen automatically dims a little bit. I have not found any way to fix this. As it says its at its current maximum brightness, but whenever I plug it in, there it goes, shinny screen again...

Thanks I hope someone can help me out

 

You won't be eligible for the free Windows 7 upgrade since it rolled out of factory a long time ago. In fact, X300 is no longer produced.

If you know a thing or two about performing a clean install, then def. do it. You can always choose to install the thinkvantage tools that you like later.

 

Ive done a clean install before. But the problem now is that I dont have an optical drive! And obviously no dvd came with my purchase. I think I may have an older DVD with vista, but I definately need a 4gb usb drive right? But if I do that, I wont have the choice to pick which thinkvantage stuff I like since the DVD is from windows

 

1.) It doesn't matter what the sticker says. If your Control panel says Vista Business, then that is what you have. It is good.

2.) What Thinkvantage stuff you want to keep and what you want to remove is subjective. Some people remove them all, some keep them all and some pick and choose. I pick and choose. I am currently using Power manager, Active protection and easy eject. You can uninstall the ones you don't want or perform a clean install of Vista Business, as was suggested above.

3.) The dimming that you are seeing is due to the Thinkvantage Power manager. They do this so that you save battery life when you are unplugged, as the brighter the screen when unplugged the less battery time you will get. You can change this to what you like or create you own poer plan. This is what the Thinkvantage Power Manager app does. I think most would agree that this app is the most important of the Thinkvantage apps. you can change your power profile through Vista but the Thinkvantage Power manager is better since it is tailored to your Thinkpad giving you more options, finer control and hence better battery life(if used properly) than using Vista's power plan.

If you need anymore help, especially with power manager then let me know, I will try to help you.

I myself created a custom plan where I have all the stuff(CPU, brightness etc) turned up when the machine is plugged in(as there are no power saving concerns) and everything turned down to the minimum when on battery to give me great battery life.

 

1.) People who need an optical drive either buy the docking station or use an external USB drive.

2.) To do a clean install you will need to borrow/buy an OEM, Retail or Any time upgrade disc. Another thing you can do, as you said, is use a flash drive.

3.) When you do a clean install from the Windows media, you are right you won't have any of the Thinkvantage apps. But after the windows install you can just download the ones you want from Lenovo and install them

BTW - Make sure that you back up all your stuff before doing a clean install.

 

Thanks Fire Snake. I guess Ill delete some thinkvantage stuff, and find out what each one does. Since there are a lot of programs that I have no idea what theyre for in control panel under programs. The only one that I would like is the one that controls Wifi and bluetooth. Ill google a bit and find out what I will be needing

 

The one that controls wifi and bluetooth is not part of access connections FYI so you can still have the appropriate device drivers and hotkey drivers and still use it (along with the physical switch).

 

Yeah, I would really love to get rid of all the lenovo software. But Im afraid I may brick something. And I dont have an optical drive to fix it! Maybe I should get one just in case...

 

Or, in the case of the X300/X301, you could buy an Ultrabay DVD drive, but it'll cost you...

 

Oh yeah, thats' true. I was thinking about my X200, where that is not possible.

 

Ya the ultrabay drive for the x30x is so costly post purchase. I'd rather just go external unless you really needed it in the laptop while traveling.

 

i'm not too sure about the windows 7 upgrade offer, i dont think it is eligible though, the eligible one usually advertise this, but it doesn't hurt to call lenovo/place of purchase and ask abou it.

regarding the sticker; it is normal, i also got the vista basic sticker, with windows vista business on it.

this had me confuse also when i first got it (you can count on microsoft on stuffing something like this up).

so what the sticker means is that it is not vista premium experience certified. this is mainly down to the RAM installed, my guess is that you only got one ram installed (like me), combines with the fact that the laptop only have x3100 integrated graphic.

the x300 that cames with windows vista premium certified comes with dual channel ram (2 ram modules/slots filled). this will add more bandwith to the ram, which gives a boost in performance, ever since the ram is shared with the graphic.

keep the "thinkvantage stuff". most of it is usefull, and does not takes up much. the software is optimised for the hardware, removing them can gives unwanted effect.

lenovo claims that it does not recommend removing the software since there are special features in the hardware that only activated/optimised when the thinkvantage software is installed. eg. battery functions, the harddrive sensor.

yes, this is a "feature" to save battery life, i read that you can disable this in the BIOS.

 

Yep. 2nd that. You can alter this behavior when you bring up your BIOS.

I've had it disabled because I rather sacrifice a bit of battery life for viewing comfort, especially in daylight conditions. Also it's annoying to me that the screen dims when the AC comes off. Anyway, I can pack 3 batts if I know I don't have ready access to AC.

 

I still cant fix the auto dim thing... Im not stupid with computers, I seriously dont know whats up. I also cant get the fn+f5 and fn+f3 and fn+f8 to work. And I have the power manager program! I tried installing the connections program and didnt get the fn+f5 to work so I uninstalled it.

 

Oh I hadnt read previous posts. Ill get to the BIOS now. thanks for the help! Ill rep u

 

Enjoy your sexy new X300, calot!

 

if you were still thinking about a clean install, im pretty sure a 2gb drive will suffice.
or you could try using winlite might get it down to less.