for those who did fresh installs of MS OS - MAXIMIZE the battery run time

I want to share some information with you so that you might be more productive using power from your battery.

When you do fresh install of OS you naively believe that if you simply go and run the installation executables of great programs form Lenovo like such as power manager or even better, rely on System Update to do all the job you are totally wrong thinking that you will get 100% from your battery.
Here is why.

Your ThinkPad comes preinstalled with OS, Lenovo takes care and installs everything in a right sequence and in this particular example bundles the Power Manager with POWER PROFILES that are quite specific for your ThinkPad. What happens when you install a copy of the Power Manager on a fresh OS is that you don’t get those laptop specific profiles.

You can do something about this. After I did this to my T400 my typical power usage when down from 14w to 8-9watts. And the current went down from 1.4A to 0.9-1.0A.

You know how to lookup the power usage right? Go to power manager, battery tab and see the Current and Wattage fields. Stop using bs utilities that report the power usage from the moon…

So those of you who freshly installed the MS OS, specifically VISTA and are not getting decent battery run times do this:
Install :
• intel chipset drivers
• ThinkPad Power Management Driver
• Lenovo System Interface Driver
• ThinkPad Power Manager

then go to registry:

Those of you who are on x64 go to WindowsOnWindows(since X64 emulates 32 bit registry for non 32bit native applications) registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Lenovo\PWRMGRV\PowerSchemes\​

And 32bit guys go to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Lenovo\PWRMGRV\PowerSchemes\​

There you will see a number of keys. The number of keys is the number of profiles you have in power manager. Every key corresponds to particular profile. Every key contains properties for profile. You will add some missing properties for the profile to boost your battery usage.
For example:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Lenovo\PWRMGRV\PowerSchemes\E13D4FCF-1E04-4C64-A0ED-81AFEE97450B]
"SchemeID"=dword:0000000f
@="TPPWRMGR"
"ProhibitModification"=dword:00000000
"DISP_BRTNESS_AC"="12"
"DISP_BRTNESS_DC"="12"
"CPU_SPEED_AC"="4"
"CPU_SPEED_DC"="4"
"FAN_SPEED_AC"="2"
"FAN_SPEED_DC"="3"
"OPTI_FANCONTROL_AC"="2"
"OPTI_FANCONTROL_DC"="3"
"C4_AC"="0"
"C4_DC"="1"
"BRTNESS_WHEN_IDLE_AC"="11"
"BRTNESS_WHEN_IDLE_DC"="1"
"BRTNESS_IDLE_TIMER_AC"="0"
"BRTNESS_IDLE_TIMER_DC"="0"
"AUTO_ODD_AC"="1"
"AUTO_ODD_DC"="1"
"RRATE_WHEN_IDLE_AC"="0"
"RRATE_WHEN_IDLE_DC"="2"
"xkpower"="reading eco"​

notice the XKPOWER key. I added this key to differentiate between profiles by keys. How to identify which key stands for which profile? Easy. The profiles that come installed by default are not modifiable. If you want to change properties of those you could find the corresponding profile key as follows:
Modify the key property " ProhibitModification" of the power profile from dword:00000005 to dword: 00000000.

Then go to power manager and select one of the generic profiles. If the DELETE button becomes selectable then you know which key corresponds to this profile. Now you know how to find the keys and match them to power profiles. Here are some properties:

"DISP_BRTNESS_AC"="12"
"DISP_BRTNESS_DC"="12"
"CPU_SPEED_AC"="4"
"CPU_SPEED_DC"="4"
"FAN_SPEED_AC"="2"
"FAN_SPEED_DC"="3"
"OPTI_FANCONTROL_AC"="2"
"OPTI_FANCONTROL_DC"="3"
"C4_AC"="0"
"C4_DC"="1"
"BRTNESS_WHEN_IDLE_AC"="11"
"BRTNESS_WHEN_IDLE_DC"="1"
"BRTNESS_IDLE_TIMER_AC"="0"
"BRTNESS_IDLE_TIMER_DC"="0"
"AUTO_ODD_AC"="1"
"AUTO_ODD_DC"="1"
"RRATE_WHEN_IDLE_AC"="0"
"RRATE_WHEN_IDLE_DC"="2"
"GPU_SWITCH_AC"="1"
"GPU_SWITCH_DC"="1"
​

you learn/guess how to set the values from the following:

;*****************************************
;* predefined power scheme data *
;*****************************************
:SchemeTypeAC=a a=0 ower Saver, 1:High performance, 2:Ballanced
:SchemeTypeDC=a
;MonitorOffTimerAC=mm(sec)
;MonitorOffTimerDC=mm(sec)
;HddOffTimerAC=mm(sec)
;HddOffTimerDC=mm(sec)
;StandbyTimerAC=mm(sec)
;StandbyTimerDC=mm(sec)
;HibernateTimerAC=mm(sec)
;HibernateTimerDC=mm(sec)
;DispBrtnessAC=d d=0:Lowest, 7: Highest
;DispBrtnessDC=d
;DispBrtnessAC_16=e e=0:Lowest, 15: Highest (for 16 steps brightness)
;DispBrtnessDC_16=e
;CpuSpeedAC=c c=0:Undefined,1:Maximum,2:Medium,3:Slow,4:Very Slow
;CpuSpeedDC=c
;C4AC=s s=0 isabled,1:Enabled
;C4DC=s
;FanSpeedAC=f f=0:Undefined,1:Fast, 2:Medium, 3:Slow
;FanSpeedDC=f
;OptiFanControlAC=o 0:Undefined,1:Maximize performance, 2:Balance, 3:Minimize fan sound, 4:Minimize temperature
;OptiFanControlDC=o
;AutoOddAC=s s=0 isabled,1:Enabled
;AutoOddDC=s
;GpuSwitchAc=g g=0 isabled,1:Enabled
;GpuSwtichDc=g
;BrtnessIdleTimerAC=mm(sec)
;BrtnessIdleTimerDC=mm(sec)
;BrtnessWhenIdleAC=d
;BrtnessWhenIdleDC=d
;BrtnessWhenIdleAC_16=e
;BrtnessWhenIdleDC_16=e
;RRateIdleTimerAC=mm(sec)
;RRateIdleTimerDC=mm(sec)
;RRateWhenIdleAC=r r=0 efault, 1:Medium, 2:Low
;RRateWhenIdleDC=r
;SupportType=g g=0:No, 1:w/o Fan and ATM, 2:w Legacy Fan, 4:w ATM 2mode, 8:w ATM 4mode
;ProhibitModification=p g=Bit 0: 1=Prohibit deletion Bit 1: 1=Prohibit editing Bit 2: 1=Prohibit renaming
​

some of these key values are very important for power saving. Particularly play with:

• CPU_SPEED_DC
• CPU_SPEED_AC
• CPU_SPEED_DC
• FAN_SPEED_AC
• FAN_SPEED_DC
• OPTI_FANCONTROL_AC
• OPTI_FANCONTROL_DC
• C4_AC
• C4_DC
• AUTO_ODD_AC
• AUTO_ODD_DC
• GPU_SWITCH_AC
• GPU_SWITCH_DC

Of course, before messing with registry do backups of the keys. Export the keys you are dealing with.

Finally as a rough reference I give you my profiles keys(the XKPOWER entry will tell you who is who):

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Lenovo\PWRMGRV\PowerSchemes]

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Lenovo\PWRMGRV\PowerSchemes\4B636FAE-EEE9-4FCE-84F4-E210E5E718EB]
"SchemeID"=dword:00000010
@="TPPWRMGR"
"ProhibitModification"=dword:00000000
"DISP_BRTNESS_AC"="15"
"DISP_BRTNESS_DC"="15"
"CPU_SPEED_AC"="1"
"CPU_SPEED_DC"="1"
"OPTI_FANCONTROL_AC"="1"
"OPTI_FANCONTROL_DC"="1"
"C4_AC"="0"
"C4_DC"="1"
"AUTO_ODD_AC"="0"
"AUTO_ODD_DC"="0"
"BRTNESS_WHEN_IDLE_AC"="15"
"BRTNESS_WHEN_IDLE_DC"="15"
"BRTNESS_IDLE_TIMER_AC"="0"
"BRTNESS_IDLE_TIMER_DC"="0"
"xkpower"="performance"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Lenovo\PWRMGRV\PowerSchemes\82F08781-20A0-4C78-A6CA-93426A2D3859]
"SchemeID"=dword:0000000e
@="TPPWRMGR"
"ProhibitModification"=dword:00000000
"DISP_BRTNESS_AC"="15"
"DISP_BRTNESS_DC"="15"
"CPU_SPEED_AC"="2"
"CPU_SPEED_DC"="2"
"OPTI_FANCONTROL_AC"="1"
"OPTI_FANCONTROL_DC"="1"
"C4_AC"="1"
"C4_DC"="1"
"BRTNESS_WHEN_IDLE_AC"="15"
"BRTNESS_WHEN_IDLE_DC"="1"
"BRTNESS_IDLE_TIMER_AC"="0"
"BRTNESS_IDLE_TIMER_DC"="0"
"AUTO_ODD_AC"="0"
"AUTO_ODD_DC"="0"
"xkpower"="Video Playback"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Lenovo\PWRMGRV\PowerSchemes\84CD2DAA-F0C1-48D5-AB41-28E34089398C]
"SchemeID"=dword:0000000a
@="TPPWRMGR"
"ProhibitModification"=dword:00000000
"DISP_BRTNESS_AC"="15"
"DISP_BRTNESS_DC"="10"
"CPU_SPEED_AC"="2"
"CPU_SPEED_DC"="4"
"FAN_SPEED_AC"="2"
"FAN_SPEED_DC"="2"
"OPTI_FANCONTROL_AC"="1"
"OPTI_FANCONTROL_DC"="3"
"BRTNESS_IDLE_TIMER_AC"="0"
"BRTNESS_IDLE_TIMER_DC"="0"
"BRTNESS_WHEN_IDLE_AC"="15"
"BRTNESS_WHEN_IDLE_DC"="10"
"RRATE_IDLE_TIMER_AC"="0"
"RRATE_IDLE_TIMER_DC"="0"
"RRATE_WHEN_IDLE_AC"="0"
"RRATE_WHEN_IDLE_DC"="2"
"C4_AC"="1"
"C4_DC"="1"
"AUTO_ODD_AC"="0"
"AUTO_ODD_DC"="1"
"GPU_SWITCH_AC"="1"
"GPU_SWITCH_DC"="1"
"xkpower"="ENERGY STAR Displayed NAME Max Performance"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Lenovo\PWRMGRV\PowerSchemes\85BB7738-C008-4CBF-A14A-0D4CED1327D2]
"SchemeID"=dword:0000000c
@="TPPWRMGR"
"ProhibitModification"=dword:00000005
"DISP_BRTNESS_AC"="11"
"DISP_BRTNESS_DC"="9"
"CPU_SPEED_AC"="2"
"CPU_SPEED_DC"="2"
"OPTI_FANCONTROL_AC"="2"
"OPTI_FANCONTROL_DC"="2"
"C4_AC"="0"
"C4_DC"="1"
"BRTNESS_WHEN_IDLE_AC"="11"
"BRTNESS_WHEN_IDLE_DC"="9"
"BRTNESS_IDLE_TIMER_AC"="0"
"BRTNESS_IDLE_TIMER_DC"="0"
"AUTO_ODD_AC"="0"
"AUTO_ODD_DC"="0"
"xkpower"="Timers off"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Lenovo\PWRMGRV\PowerSchemes\A723B30F-1B2A-4B5C-AFB1-D7756B2A5C2E]
"SchemeID"=dword:0000000b
@="TPPWRMGR"
"ProhibitModification"=dword:00000000
"DISP_BRTNESS_AC"="0"
"DISP_BRTNESS_DC"="0"
"CPU_SPEED_AC"="4"
"CPU_SPEED_DC"="4"
"FAN_SPEED_AC"="2"
"FAN_SPEED_DC"="3"
"OPTI_FANCONTROL_AC"="3"
"OPTI_FANCONTROL_DC"="3"
"C4_AC"="0"
"C4_DC"="1"
"BRTNESS_WHEN_IDLE_AC"="0"
"BRTNESS_WHEN_IDLE_DC"="0"
"BRTNESS_IDLE_TIMER_AC"="0"
"BRTNESS_IDLE_TIMER_DC"="0"
"AUTO_ODD_AC"="1"
"AUTO_ODD_DC"="1"
"RRATE_WHEN_IDLE_AC"="0"
"RRATE_WHEN_IDLE_DC"="2"
"xkpower"="Max Battery"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Lenovo\PWRMGRV\PowerSchemes\E13D4FCF-1E04-4C64-A0ED-81AFEE97450B]
"SchemeID"=dword:0000000f
@="TPPWRMGR"
"ProhibitModification"=dword:00000000
"DISP_BRTNESS_AC"="12"
"DISP_BRTNESS_DC"="12"
"CPU_SPEED_AC"="4"
"CPU_SPEED_DC"="4"
"FAN_SPEED_AC"="2"
"FAN_SPEED_DC"="3"
"OPTI_FANCONTROL_AC"="2"
"OPTI_FANCONTROL_DC"="3"
"C4_AC"="0"
"C4_DC"="1"
"BRTNESS_WHEN_IDLE_AC"="11"
"BRTNESS_WHEN_IDLE_DC"="1"
"BRTNESS_IDLE_TIMER_AC"="0"
"BRTNESS_IDLE_TIMER_DC"="0"
"AUTO_ODD_AC"="1"
"AUTO_ODD_DC"="1"
"RRATE_WHEN_IDLE_AC"="0"
"RRATE_WHEN_IDLE_DC"="2"
"xkpower"="reading eco"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Lenovo\PWRMGRV\PowerSchemes\E5F8DB2A-9F7F-4031-B11A-B3745DB36D7B]
"SchemeID"=dword:0000000d
@="TPPWRMGR"
"ProhibitModification"=dword:00000000
"DISP_BRTNESS_AC"="15"
"DISP_BRTNESS_DC"="0"
"CPU_SPEED_AC"="1"
"CPU_SPEED_DC"="4"
"FAN_SPEED_AC"="2"
"FAN_SPEED_DC"="3"
"OPTI_FANCONTROL_AC"="1"
"OPTI_FANCONTROL_DC"="2"
"C4_AC"="0"
"C4_DC"="1"
"BRTNESS_WHEN_IDLE_AC"="15"
"BRTNESS_WHEN_IDLE_DC"="1"
"BRTNESS_IDLE_TIMER_AC"="0"
"BRTNESS_IDLE_TIMER_DC"="0"
"AUTO_ODD_AC"="1"
"AUTO_ODD_DC"="1"
"RRATE_WHEN_IDLE_AC"="0"
"RRATE_WHEN_IDLE_DC"="2"
"xkpower"="power source optimized"

​

 

Even better: don't do a "clean install"!

Clean installs are a waste of time. Use Rescue & Recovery to do a factory recovery and remove any programs and utilities that you don't want any trace of. I do not know of a reason that a so-called clean install is better than doing a custom factory installation using R&R other than the psychological state of nirvana that some users seem to get out of knowing that they installed the OS by themselves rather than Lenovo.

It seems that many users who are less-than-advanced in their abilities spend hours and hours on end trying to get a "clean install" done correctly and end up just wasting precious time that could have been spent doing something productive. Worse yet, many beginner users try to follow advice such as this and end up bricking their machine and since they deleted the recovery partition during this silly "clean installing" they can go for weeks without a functional notebook as they wait for recovery media from Lenovo or send it back to have a technician undo their "clean install" and put the factory image back on.

I know it is heretical for me to suggest that clean installs are bull$hit, and I am not dissing the OP who clearly has useful information for advanced users, but please think twice before scrapping the robustness of your thinkpad by formatting the factory OS installation and recovery partition. Just get to work and use it!

 

As a former "clean installer" I also agree that Lenovo's preloaded image is quite good. There are only a few utilities that you can uninstall manually.

Even after doing a perfect clean install, there is always something missing that was impossible to find.

Lenovo installs few third party extras so not really sure what a clean install gets you these days. Some people complain ThinkVantage items are bad but most just add extra features to your unit. Some items though you can remove (access connections for me) as I prefer Vista's wireless management.

 

Well there are good reasons why a clean install can be useful:

1. Free up space on your HD by getting rid of the recovery partition.

2. People like me who saved $70 by downgrading to Windows Vista Basic because I have my own license. I have an educational license from my University for both Windows Vista Business and Windows XP Professional. If I can save $70 and do a clean install on my own within an hour, why not?

 

@CkoTuHa: Are those values the same for Windows XP? I downgraded to a retail WinXP from Vista Business. Cheers...

 

I don't know about the XP - go see the registry keys and the power manager...

I did this myself - so try doing the same...it is pretty straight job.

 

Maximum battery savings, everything that can be turned off:


and this is for the comparison in NBR:

T9400
internal graphics
5400rpm power hungry 500GB Samsung M6
Vista
4GB ram
Wifi on

 

1. Yes, formatting the disk gets rid of the recovery partition. This does free up about 8GB but one loses the ability to use the R&R partition. From my perspective, getting rid of the recovery partition is a terrible idea although I understand that some users disagree.

2. I also have retail copies of Vista (Home Premium) and downgrade to the most basic/cheapest OS option available (Vista Basic). A clean install isn't required to upgrade from Basic to Home Premium. Simply do a custom factory restore with R&R, remove any programs/utilities that are unwanted, and then use your Premium/Business media to do an upgrade. This is more efficient than doing a clean install.

Also, I don't know how realistic it is to claim that a clean install can be done in an hour even for an experienced user. There are like a bajillion posts in the "clean install" thread for a reason - it is a more difficult process than an hour's work for a large number of users.

 

why don't you use xp if you want better battery life? even lenovo quotes xp to have better battery life than vista.

 

sp00n, let me take it one step further for you. Why use XP when you can for sure get a flavor of Linux for free which is even more conservative on battery ?

this is not the point, point is in the topic name - "for those who did fresh installs of MS OS..."

 

i guess because i would like to use some of the features of my laptop. lenovo doesn't provide a lot of linux drivers for thinkpads, as you may already know. also, i don't believe using linux will yield better battery life. a comparable t61 with suse gets lower battery life than a t61 with xp. lenovo just hasn't bothered to optimize the drivers for linux.

 

no profit =]

 

1: recovery dvds?

1: It takes me 30-40 minutes to do a clean install of windows xp, dah.

2: I love your: recovery and "upgrade" way. However, there are 2 problems.
3.1: You are talking about time saving, but is recover, cleaning crapwares, and upgrade faster than a clean install?
3.2: Let's not talk about system stability. Sometime an upgrade is wonderful, but sometime an upgrade is the best way to ruin your day, especially with all those magnificent crapwares that lenovo put on their laptops

3: The biggest interest in clean install is that most OEM ships with their pc a holy army of crapware. Maybe it takes less time to do a disk recovery than a clean install, but cleaning up everything takes time, too. You mentioned that a clean install may ruin the system's robustness, but it's the opposite: a clean install reduce system instability factors, since there are less stuffs installed/configured/tweaked. Finally, it gives the user the feeling of being in control, which is very important for some people.

I mean, if clean install causes more troubles to you, don't do it. However, don't bother those who need it because YOU don't need it.

Because vista in more power efficient that xp which is more power efficient than linux.

And you believe that what lenovo said is always true?

"You know, there is no problem with our keyboards, not at all." -Lenovo

 

When I first got my ThinkPad I carried out some tests on XP and Vista, On average the battery lasted 15 minutes more in Vista both under load and when Idle. This was with fresh installs too.

 

Yes. It takes all of 10 seconds to de-select "crapware" during a custom factory restore using R&R. There is no "cleaning crapwares" - they aren't installed in the first place.

 

Oh that's interesting.

Still, if you find that recovery is the BEST WAY EVA, fine, but there are people who prefer a clean install and those people do what they like, not what you like.

 

I thought I was quite clear that I was not bossing people around as you seem to suggest when I said,

To reiterate, since I (surprisingly) wasn't clear enough already, do whatever the hell you want - I don't care. My only point in outlining the advantages of using R&R instead of a so-called "clean install" is that it may bring less knowledgeable users much misery when they (pick one or many of the following): delete their recovery partition, have to pay (or at least wait) for recovery media, can't find drivers, have an unstable system and blame the hardware, end up using pirated software in order to get a copy of Windows, can't boot their system, pay for technical support to get a functioning system, waste weeks of productivity, stress relationships with significant others due to excessive time dinking around trying to get their computer to function correctly, get poor battery life, waste money on an external optical drive that they will only use once in order to load an OS, wait several weeks while sending their bricked system back to Lenovo to put the original factory image that they deleted back on, have to purchase an external floppy drive to be able to use the Lenovo MBR utility to regain R&R functionality, and look like an idiot when they waste several days on a forum creating threads to try to get help doing their "clean install".

I've read about every one of the above (and more I'm sure) as consequences of users of various ability doing clean installs. It is no surprise that the second longest thread on the forum is the "clean install guide". Of course everyone is free to read through 1,500 posts in that thread so that they can learn how to do a clean install (and that many posts indicates it is anything but straight-forward for many users), or they could just press the d@mn blue button, de-select a few utilities and programs, wait 1/2 hour, and start being productive.

It seems to me that the major attraction to doing a clean install, as you already alluded to, is the cognitive satisfaction ("feeling of being in control") that users seem to get from knowing that they installed the OS instead of Lenovo. Whatever...I don't get it.

 

+1 on Jackboot (i'll support you)

and to not start a flame war.. I'll refrain from commenting on sefk

Furthermore, that 8gb+ HD space where the R&R is located... i hope everyone realize you can burn it on dvd and afterward there's a option for you to reclaim those precious HD space..

 

I'm more interested in getting a 64 bit NON-CLEAN (recovery) install... I should've ordered 64 bit with the laptop instead. Too bad I can't turn one of my retail 64bit vistas into a recovery cd.

 

+1 Jackboot. When I order my X200 later on, I plan on doing the R&R method instead of a clean installation. Actually, it'd be awesome if you wrote a guide (however short the process is anyways). I read that the "custom" part comes at the very end of the R&R prompts. But yeah, if someone could start/sticky a new tread, the "R&R practical alternative to a clean install," that would be greatly appreciated.

 

You said that you are not bossing people around. Then, what are you doing here? If you want to talk about recovery vs clean install, then why don't you create another topic for this? As you see, a lot of people are interested by your method.

Works for me.

And what should I do if I want to install an OS that is not offered by lenovo?
And what should I do if my HDD failed and I have no recovery media left?
And of course, I think that you have never heard about Unattended Windows

Thank you for supporting me.

Call lenovo or you can order from their website(not sure for the last one.

 

This is true. You can optimize Linux a lot more than you can optimize Windows.

All the drivers are available for Linux. And don't base your experiences with Linux on one distro, which (IMHO) is not very good.

Edit: so this R&R thing allows you to reinstall without all the bloatware? That's interesting, but they need to have a version for XP before I'll use it ;/

 

Even if they would... additional recovery media is about $50. Still not sure exactly why.

 

I've been thinking that I'd like to start a "R&R cleanup" thread and I think I'll do so now. It sounds like maybe a lot of users don't realise how easy it is to get rid of unwanted utilities and programs that come preinstalled on their thinkpad without having to go the "clean install" route.

 

I didn't say I was supporting you.....
I said I was supporting Jackboot......

I was just stating that the R&R DVDs can be easily created and the extra HD space can be easily retained again.


But Honestly... what the OP did is awesome... and we should stop overhauling this thread....

 

LOL WUT? I don't think that solely being here reflects wanting to boss people around and as I've already stated several times now I have no interest in bossing people around.

You must be referring to some Linux distro since every MS OS is offered by Lenovo. If so, then you are probably at least knowledgeable enough to know how to load an OS without causing problems. This discussion doesn't apply to such a person.

How about send it to Lenovo under warranty? We are talking about users doing "clean installs" on their newly received notebooks.

Nice assumption. I'm not even sure why you are bringing this up. Unattended windows installations are great for sysadmins, but the average user spending several hours to create an unattended install image (that is likely to cause immense problems since he couldn't avoid the temptation to remove system components while doing so using nLite or similar) to save himself 5 minutes of following installation prompts makes zero sense, just like everything else you have posted so far.

OK THX BYE.

 

I agree - this is my last post here. Let's let it die. Sorry to the OP.

 

This is perfect for me. Why? Because I started out with a T400 with 2gb of RAM and an 80gb HD with Vista Home Premium 32bit. Shortly after getting it, I decided to upgrade to 4gb of RAM and a 320gb HD with BitLocker, which requires Vista Ultimate x64 to make use of. Now, since I don't have any Recovery DVDs for Ultimate 64-bit, and there's no way to do an upgrade from the version I got with the laptop, I had to clean install.

Ever since I did, I've noticed the battery life hasn't been as good as it was with the Lenovo install, so hopefully this will help me get some of that battery life back now that I've tweaked my default power profile.