Vista Business or Windows XP Pro on my Lenovo X200?

I just received my Lenovo X200 laptop.... kicks major ***!!

I just have to decide which OS to install on this machine... the laptop comes pre-loaded with XP Pro SP2, but the restore CDs they provide are Windows Vista. which is pretty awesome, because I can choose what OS to install on a pre-configured PC!

I really really wanna try out Vista - never had any experience with it (other than my friend's computer). but I love the oldness of XP and how fast it runs on modern computers...

the specs are Intel Core 2 Duo P8600, 2 gigs of DDR3 RAM, 160 gig HD, onboard intel video, wifi, bluetooth, webcam, fingerprint, etc

what should i do?

thanks for any advice

 

It sounds like you already know the answer when you said you really wanted to try out Vista. Go for it. If you don't like it after using it a while, then you can reformat with XP.

 

Make sure you burn XP recovery disks before you load Vista!

 

yep, I am aware of that.... I just need to get my hands on an external DVD burner first!

 

If the x200 will not be a workstation then Vista should be fast enough and work well enough. However if you are going to be doing anything intensive, having 3gigs of ram is recommended.

 

i will probably upgrade to 4 gigs anyway. i'm a RAM slut (6gigs in my desktop) and i will do photoshop-work on my x200.

 

If you have the X200, and use an external USB burner to burn recovery disks, can you then use that same external burner to restore your harddrive to the original factory condition? Or do you need to use the base station with the DVD drive to do the restore?

The reason I ask is that I was under the impression you'd need to use the basestation with DVD and that you couldn't do it with an external USB drive. I could be wrong on this though.

 

I'm pretty sure that you do not need to use the dvd docking to restore. It that was the case, not many people would be happy about that.

 

i'll let you know when i'm done restoring it to vista

 

Hi all,
Anyone would like to share with me a copy of X200 XP product recovery disks. Mine came with Vista only and I would really like to try XP. I installed from some old XP recovery from my T61 but unfortunately there is too much clean up/uninstall/upgrade to do as the sistems are different.


Thanks a lot.

 

I would recommend Vista. It has better power management than XP (I would not be surprised if you got 1 hour more battery life), and as long as you give it time to settle down and fill it caches; it will run quite fast and stable.

Windows 7 is an option as well. For the most part everything runs fine on an x200, and there are very few software compatibility problems. It also seems to be a bit lighter/faster than Vista.

 

So you got everything working for the X200 Tablet in Windows 7? as in you got all the drivers?

Drivers for the X200 and X200 tablet are pretty much the same aren't they?

Thanks

 

I didn't get the special Tablet buttons (below the screen) to work, but everything else worked fine on Windows 7 build 7000 64-bit.

Most things work automatically. Windows update contains a few others (e.g. TrackPoint driver for adjusting sensitivity, APS, etc.).

I believe I had to install the driver for the Modem and one or two other ports. Vista versions of the ThinkVantage software also generally worked without problems.

The x200 and x200 Tablet use similar drivers, except for the tablet specific parts that the x200 lacks.

 

I had the same dilemma, and the 7 beta didn't seemed polished enough for me. So for the mean time I'm staying with XP, and will install the 7 RC1 when it's available. It's really useless from my point of view at this time to go through the trouble of installing vista.

@jonlumpkin: you've really seen such differences between vista and XP regading power?

 

I have. In fact, they are both Lenovo optimized preloads so there is no real reason for the discrepancy, but it exists none the less.

 

Jon,
Your stand for Vista, gives you credbility on this list.

Renee

 

Even though I'm not jonlumpkin, let me put it this way. My X200s on XP scores around 10 to 11 hours with Windows XP (estimated time), whereas on Windows 7 it scores around 13 hours (estimated time)
Also, if you are a hardcore power tweaker, there is a lot more power options to choose from in Windows 7.
Windows Vista is somewhere in between XP and 7. It has adequate amount of power tweaks, and can last an hour longer than XP (at least on my X200s anyway)

 

I really really want to call bs on that as i have windows 7 as well and it's getting less then windows vista was. Do you use the lenovo power manager or the built in like i'm now using on windows 7?

If so can you PLEASe tell me what setting you exactly are using on it to get that battery life, i'm desperate to figure it out for myself.

Thanks