W700/W700ds owners!! Alleged incompatibility with Windows 7 64-bit...!?

Alright, so it was nice to see that System Update is back, but the W700 and W700ds models are conspicuously absent from the list of compatible Thinkpads.

It says that for one, on almost every page for drivers as well as software packages that for one "The W700/W700ds only supports Windows 7 Professional 64-bit edition. It looks like all Win 7 32-bit editions are fine.

Also, and even more ridiculous is number two: Only W700/W700ds models support Windows XP Professional 64-bit edition...any 64-bit edition this time. That's great. I was hoping to put up Windows XP in 64-bit, and I also wanted it to be exclusive to the W700's! I am so excited. NOT.

In fact, check this example out. I highlighted the pertinent parts of the Intel Matrix Storage driver, one that you would think every Thinkpad owner will want to be able to upgrade:



What the hell's going on? Of the 64-bit editions of the W700/W700ds series, why would only the Professional edition be "supported"? No Home Premium?? And where's Ultimate? One of the Ultimate-only features is BitLocker, and it works just fine, I can tell you that.

And this is just one of many drivers and ThinkVantage tools that supposedly only work for the PRO edition in 64-bit.

Any ideas???????

 

I don't know why they decided to support only 64 bit versions of Windows on these units, but I would say that it's their discretion as to which OS to support technically. The reason I posted was because the title seems to say the opposite of what the actual case is. It seems that 32 bit versions of windows have the incompatibility not 64 bit. ???

 

I'm confused, does this mean that x64 drivers ONLY work on the W700? That's what I am understanding from reading the release notes for drivers on the W7 driver page for my T400?

 

@aadadams: That's ridiculous. The W700 series was sold with Vista Business ( ---> Windows 7 Pro), and Vista Ultimate ( ---> Windows 7 Ultimate).

I'm going to guess and say that the current incompatibility is either false, or simply temporary. T400s models, and X200 Tablet versions are also affected, with different "restrictions".

I've been running Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit exclusively since early August, and the OSD, the Matrix driver, and many other drivers from the BETA page, along with even a few Vista x64 drivers...everything worked just fine.

@usapatriot: 32-bit drivers and 32-bit W700 series models are unaffected. And No, the current 64-bit drivers, according to the language of the restrictions, means that of the 64-bit drivers currently available right now, only W700 series models have this "limitation" to Windows 7 Pro x64.

None of this makes any sense to me.

 

I wasn't guessing, just taking the document at face value. At any rate, let's be honest and state that "ridiculous" does not preclude manufacturers from doing what they deem necessary. However, I don't put typos out of the realm of possibilities either.

 

Let's understand something. These is no difference, other than semantic, between "supported" and "unsupported". The decisions is administative. They have yet actually get a version to work to work on one version and not where there are no stuctural diffentses.
Renee

 

That's why I figured it was possible for them to take a hard line... We'll see...

 

Before discovering for this thread, this morning I called Lenovo to ask whether I could order a W700 with Windows 7 Ultimate 64. The sales rep said No. He explained that Ultimate had problems with the Wacom tablet ("among other things"). Based on CrunchDude's post, I'm going to buy a full retail version of Ultimate 64 and install it myself. This W700 is for my son and his wife; she speaks a different language, and they want Ultimate so the two can easily switch languages. They don't need the Wacom tablet.

I'll report back with my findings.

 

Update...Well, the update is that there is NO update. The ThinkPad W700 and W700ds series REMAINS the ONLY ThinkPad you can buy with only Windows 7 Professional. The W500 has been available with "Windows 7 EE" for a LONG time.

It even says Vista Ultimate underneath the W700 series'...still!

This is 1 1/2 months AFTER the launch of Windows 7, and almost FIVE MONTHS since Lenovo had Windows 7 as a manufacturer.

MarylandUSA: Windows 7 Ultimate works just fine. You can bill Lenovo for your Windows purchase.

aadadams: Ain't no typos at work. I just downloaded another update with the SAME warning. BitLocker works just fine, by the way.

DISCLAIMER: I do not have the WACOM digitizer on my W700. The Fingerprint reader is the worst one that I have ever experienced on a ThinkPad. Ever.