Thinking of Getting X61...Few Questions

I was loooking to get the X61 (over the X61s). I am currently in college, so I have almost free access to XP or Vista discs (Business, home, and ultimate versions). I was wondering if it was that hard to upgrade the os versions by yourself. Basically, if I buy the x61 with the standard Vista Home, and upgrade by myself instead of paying to get Vista Business, will I be in over my head or no? Also, for a studnet studying business (Microsot Office all the time, web browsers, little music and movies), what do you suggest in terms of specs?

thanks

 

Is getting a lenovo X61 with Standard Vista Home even an option. I thought your choices were Vista business or XP but I'm in Canada, maybe the US site offers more choices.

As for specs, what specs are you uncertain about? Personally I think you'd want 2 Gig of ram.

 

Please note that your warranty will be voided IF they find out you have pirated copy of Windows running on your machine. There are no fool proof way to get around Vista activation yet.

 

How can they find this out??

 

No, I don't have a pirated version, it is a full version. My university has a licensing agreement with Microsoft, Apple, and a lot of other software companies, that allows students to purchase their products for a reduced price. Because we have so many comptuers running both Windows and Mac, we can get a REAL version of Vista for $10 or $15. I guess it ties in with the outragous tuition costs.

 

-_- i want one...

 

I doubt you'll notice the speed difference between the X61 and the X61s for your needs, so you may want to reconsider. The X61s sacrafices a little bit of performance for a slightly thinner and lighter chasis.

Upgrading to Vista Business/Ultimate can be slightly difficult or very easy. Basically there are two ways of upgrading it, the easy way or the hard way.

Easy Way:
This method involves just upgrading directly on top of your current version of Windows. It won't be as clean, it'll be slightly more bloated, etc., but this is the easiest way.

"Difficult" way:
This method involves formatting (erasing) your entire hard drive and then installing Windows. You'll lose all the preinstalled software which can be a good thing, as majority of the softwares are bloatware. However, you'll need to find and download drivers from Lenovo's website. The benefit if this method is your laptop will be faster because there aren't softwares using up all the resources.

Whatever method you choose, I'd suggest getting the cheapest version of Windows when you order your laptop because you'll be upgrading it anyway. I believe you can still get Windows XP Home preinstalled.

 

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