loaded t61 taking long time to open even internet explorer :S

Yea just got my T61. Specs are: 2.0GHZ t7300, 2gb 667 mhz ram, 120 gb 5400 rpm harddrive, but to offset the somewhat slower harddrive speed is 1gb intel turbo memory. i'm running vista business.

should be blazing fast, right? my desktop from a couple years back opens internet explorer like instantly...right when I click on it. the t61 takes noticiably longer, like there's some lag time between when i click on ie and when it opens..even when i click on a tab it takes a while for that to load...what's going on?

also, what should i do right after recieving my system? i haven't done much...uninstall norton? or what...also, right palm rest warms up noticably. any tips?

 

The first thing I would do with any newly bought laptop would be to clean install Windows. When I did that to my T60 it was like another machine, felt like 2x faster.

 

how do you clean install windows? is a reformat necessary? is a clean install really necesary to :S...i mean how does it help? thanks.

 

How many processes do you have running?

 

around 100 processes right after startup. memory usage generally around 1gb. cpu usage around 25% constantly, but spikes up and down alot...sometimes spikes to 100% when opening program or dvd or whatever, and down to 10%...
what do you guys think I should do? return or is this stuff fixable?

 

wow....I would call lenovo and tell them to help you clean install your computer. I've never used vista but 100 processes is way too much. I'm pretty sure that would be the reason your computer is running so slow. I'm running 30 processes on my windows xp desktop right now.


I remember going to circuit city and checking out the HP's running vista. They had like 80 or so processes running and HP has some serious bloatware pre-installed on their computers. Anyway, I would highly suggest having lenovo run you through the clean install if you don't know how to do it yourself.

 

oh...could you outline the steps on how to clean install computer? i'm not sure i'll be able to call lenovo before they close today...

 

I really would have no idea, sorry. Never had a lenovo laptop or vista so I have no clue.

 

Or better clean install Windows XP, it will really make a difference

 

Why would he want to install an outdated 5+ year old operating system? His computer should be able to handle Vista with no problems. No ifs ands or buts about it.

 

well I'm assuming he has vista and he wants to stick with it.

 

Run IE7 in safe mode (without any add-ins) and see if it's any faster.

If that makes a difference, go through all your add-ins and get rid of the ones you don't need (someone had a similar issue with the Skype add-in for example)

Also definitely uninstall bloated stuff like Norton. You can find better.

 

yea i want to stick with vista. turbo memory doesn't work with xp...

 

Add more RAM

 

Is a slow performing computer a means of being able to return the product as "defective" for a full refund?

 

25% ? Something's off there.

Turn off norton crap if you have any

And are you using the battery by chance? If so, maybe your CPU settings are quite low in that battery profile. Does it help if it's plugged in?

 

100 processes is on the high side, and that's likely why you are seeing CPU at an average of 25%. That's going to cause a performance hit.

I have some questions:

1. Do you have the X3100? It uses shared memory, so the video card will use some of your system memory. Could use a lot of memory is you have Aero enabled.

2. If you look at Task Manager, what processes are taking the most CPU cycles?

3. What if you run msconfig and turn off some of the services and apps that start with your system?

I agree with doing a clean install. By that, I mean wiping the hard drive and installing Windows clean. The problem is that I don't know how Lenovo ships Windows. If you get an image that restores it to original state (with all the bloatware,) it won't do you any good. You need a non-OEM, clean version of Windows. In my experience, new computers with factory installed software are always slow.

 

So you're saying you have to pay FULL price for windows vista AFTER spending $1,600+ on a new computer just to get it to run smoothly? That's a little ridiculous don't you think?

 

No, I'm not saying that you have to do that. What I'm saying is that I don't know what Lenovo ships. If they ship you a Windows DVD, just use that. If not, you're left with having to try and manually remove all of the stuff you don't want.

What you really want to do is examine Resource Monitor in Windows to see what resource you're running low on. Sounds like CPU might be your main issue, but not sure.

 

Gotcha. Anybody know how Lenovo ships Windows with their systems??

 

Just spent a 1/2 hour on the phone with lenovo trying to figure this one out. First I was on the line with lenovo, they couldn't answer my question, so they put me through to IBM technical support. You don't get a windows dvd with your thinkpad. Basically they said the computer comes with an installed partition(or something) on the hardrive that has an image of vista exactly how it was pre-installed. You can create dvd's of that, but you will just restore windows to exactly how it was when it came out of the box.

I told her my reasoning for wanting to reformat the computer was because I wanted to get rid of the software on there that I didn't want. She told me the solution to that was to work with the computer for a little while. Get a sense for what programs you do and don't want and then manually delete those programs you don't want.

So, now here is my next question. With vista running, what is a reasonable amount of processes the computer should be running? I'm not one that likes having all this garbage running in the background. I currently have 30 processes running on my desktop with xp. Is 50-60 a reasonable figure to try and reach?

 

This computer is giving me a migraine and I don't even have mine yet! How the fuk does a computer company ship a computer without any discs!?!?!??

 

I don't think you should aim for a specific number of processes. Instead, shoot for good perceived performance. If you don't get it, use available tools to find out what resources are being strained and target those processes that are taking inordinate amounts of that/those resource(s).

 

It's common for them to do this. As a matter of fact, I don't know of any manufacturer that ships Windows DVDs as opposed to restore discs or a restore partition.

 

I know that with every single Dell computer I get a bunch of discs with preinstalled programs, drivers, and the preinstalled windows operating system! i don't care if it has the bloatware bc i still have a backup in case i have a problem with my computer!!

 

If you want a Windows disc from Dell, you have to pay extra for it, but they do give you the option at least. Still, it's an OEM version. I prefer non-OEM.

 

Well, you can create your own recovery disc when you get the computer. It would be the same thing as getting the windows operating system from dell with the bloatware. The tech said if you didn't create the disc and you can't reformat using the partition on the hardrive then they will send you recovery discs at no charge. You can buy the recovery discs if you want but she said their is no reason for it because you can just create a backup disc on your own.

 

my system came with the vista upgrade cd even though it was preinstalled...

 

I haven't used vista much but I assume it still has msconfig. I recommend you do the following:
Click Start, type msconfig in the search bar, click on msconfig in the results, enter password or whatever, once it opens go to the startup tab, click disable all, then click ok, then restart the computer.
This is completely reversible and I guarantee you don't "need" any of those processes to run the computer. If you notice a significant increase in performance you can even manually re-enable individual processes that you actually want to run at startup.

 

Check out the Lenovo Base Software Administrator program:

http://www.pc.ibm.com/us/think/thinkvantagetech.html#a2

Source: http://www.lenovoblogs.com/insidethebox/?p=63

After that's done, make a Recovery Disk so you don't need to do this all over again if you ever decide to format your computer.

http://www.lenovoblogs.com/insidethebox/?p=59

 

Do you technically own Vista when even if you don't receive a disk from Lenovo? If so, just download and burn a copy from a torrent site. It is within your legal right to have as many backups of the software as you like.

 

If you go to the Rescue and Recovery software you can do a reinstall and tell it to not include the Thinkpad stuff this time.

I don't know why you would want to do that. The only thing I would do is turn off message center (which you can do in its properties, you don't have to uninstall it). Other than that, disable Indexing, and I say to disable Superfetch too. Get rid of the AIM and Research add-ons in IE7, that will pick things up as far as opening new tabs in IE7. Also, defragment the computer. New computers have a way of getting fragmented very quickly.

 

why disable superfetch? it'll improve your performance if you have it on.

 

Superfetch is just a PITA. Unless you use the same programs constantly every day over and over, it kills your performance. Indexing I would actually turn back on, but only after the user is done doing his initial install of programs and a defragment. Superfetch I would never turn on.