Running XP

I'm currently using XP Pro and have never used Vista or Windows 7.

I am about to order a T420 and am wondering if anyone here is running XP on these laptops, especially the newer ones. (with the webcam, NVIDIA, smartcard reader, ultimate-N, bluetooth). I also plan to add a msata drive.

I don't want to spark a debate between the two OS's, I'm really just looking to find out if there are any specific features of the LAPTOP that won't work with XP due to drivers or something.

Or if someone has tried both noticed any large difference in performance or battery life specific to xp vs win7 running on lenovos

 

Your best bet is "Windows XP Mode with Virtual PC" on Windows 7. You can specify this feature when CTO your T420.



That's on Lenovo Canada order page. For US:

 

There is a XP mode virtual machine option in Windows 7.

 

I believe Windows 7 power management is superior to XP, my Vostro 1500 had maybe a 20-30 minutes extra battery life from XP Professional to Windows 7 Beta at the time.

Only Windows 7 Professional and higher will offer XP Mode.

 

When I was installing my Virtual PC under Win 7 Pro x64, I got a popup that hardware virtualization was not detected.
Went into the UEFI on boot and there were no options to enable it.
Not sure if this will affect XP mode.

 

There is BIOS option for the T410, T410s and T510, AFAIK. Virtualization is "off" by default.

 

I've run virtualbox before like with linux, and I've noticed a bit of a performance hit, also its hard to get it to take advantage of all the hardware because I'm going through another layer.

I'll have to look into this XP mode and see how it compares

 

Nvm, it is under the security options instead of general settings on the T420.
Different location than my old Dell for that setting.

 

For most thinkpads opposite seem to be true, when i moved my OS from XP or Vista to Windows 7, then i lose about 20 to 30 minutes of battery time on a 6 cells on my T400 and X200. I would only get comparable battery run down time if i switch the Windows 7 to the classical mode.

But since your Dell uses the window's own power management system, then that battery gain maybe possible. But for people using Lenovo Thinkvantage Power Manager opposite is true.

 

Have you had any experience with a Linux OS? How does it affect battery life with Thinkvantage Power Manager?

 

Don't really use Linux, so can't really say.

 

When I used Ubuntu (installed via Wubi) on my T500 for a little while, I got about 1 hour less battery life than in Windows Vista. It is possible to optimize power savings in Linux, and I've heard people get roughly the same amount of battery lifetime, but that's definitely not true out of the box.

I saw no reason to run XP on my T500, but I have heard that you generally get about 1 hour less battery life, as compared to Windows Vista. That's with the 9-cell, on the T500, so exact figures would differ on other TPs.

 

Looks like you guys are right. If I install Ubuntu on a ThinkPad I'll have to profile power usage with PowerTop utility:

Saving power with Linux on Intel hardware

Then, the biggest power hogs can be tuned to optimize battery life and hopefully get close to what Windows gets.

 

I have not been incredibly impressed with XP Mode on Windows 7. It works for some things, but since it is basically running on Windows 7 in terminal services mode, not every application is compatible.

It's also not near as fast as running Windows XP with VMWare Workstation, which does a pretty good job, provided you aren't looking for a lot of hardware-accelerated graphics. I use VMWare when I need to run XP, and skip XP Mode altogether these days.

 

Counterpoint: when I had an X200s my battery runtimes were equal to those reported by Windows users as was my idle power usage.

Yes, I did a bit of tweaking, but it consisted of adding about 8 lines to a single file, all of which were guided by powertop and ThinkWiki. Took a grand total of five minutes.