new owner-T400 questions

I just received my refurbished T400 (2.53 GHz T9500, 160 GB 7200 RPM hard drive, 2GB ram, switchable graphics, WXGA+ LED)!

So far, I'm very happy with it. The keyboard has no flex and the build quality overall is excellent-much better than any other laptop I've used.

Since there seems to be very little bloatware, is it worth it to do a clean install?
How well does vista 64 run with 2GB ram? What about Windows 7?
How do I turn off or turn down that annoying beep that happens every time it goes to sleep or wakes up?

Thanks for your help.

 

Hello,

The power related beeps can be turned off in the BIOS.

Personally, if you're alright with the pre-installed OS, I'd leave it. Otherwise, note that if you choose to install x64 Vista, drivers for 64-bit Vista aren't provided by Lenovo, so you will have to look for them yourself. There are some threads about finding T400 drivers for 64-bit Vista on the Lenovo Forums.

 

Vista x64 will work fine in 2GB RAM, but the main reason for running x64 is to access four or more GB RAM. As for Windows 7, I’m running it, and like it, but it is beta and not ready for production.

 

This couldn’t be more incorrect. Lenovo does provide drivers for Vista x64—and even ships this as a fully supported OS.

 

Huh? I have a T400 running 64-bit Vista Ultimate. All I did after reinstalling from scratch was download ThinkVantage System Update, and it did all the work for me. There wasn't a single driver it didn't find. Easy as pie (or cake, or any other deliciously unhealthy confection ). Really.

 

Thanks for the input. The reason I'm considering 64 bit is so I can upgrade the ram in the future without reinstalling windows.

 

Good reason—as there no x86 to x64 upgrade path.

 

That's a good choice - I'm running my T500 on 2GB as of right now, and it runs well.

The beeps can be turned off in the Power Manager (right click the handy battery icon in the taskbar > Launch Power Manager).

 

Sorry guys. Got it confused with Windows XP x64.