receieved t61 yesterday...

It's not legal. The copy you get from Lenovo is a modified OEM copy. If you take a non-OEM version, it is not legal (and likely not possible) to use an OEM key with it.

Your best bet is to make friends with a Microsoft employee. They can get you Vista Ultimate for less than 50 bucks.

 

It depends how you look at it:
from 5.7 to 3.8 hrs there is a 33.3% decrease in battery life
but
from 3.8 to 5.7 - 50% increase !

how about that?

 

I'm still interested in hearing of real-world results. I don't trust marketing documents.

 

It's perfectly legal and i'll explain why. Every version of Vista is on the same DVD and this applies to the 64 bit version. It's the KEY that matters here the most. Once you enter the KEY it will select the correct Flavor of the OS.

If you flip the Thinkpad over you'll have the correct key. You can take ANY and I mean any retail copy of Vista and once you enter the OEM key that's what you'll end up with.

So for example if I were to hand over my Retail Copy of Ultimate to the OP and he entered his OEM key which lets suppose was a legal copy of Vista Home Basic then that's what he'll have installed on his computer, Home Basic.

So in the end it doesn't matter where he gets his copy of Vista from a friend or a torrent site. Once you input your key that came with the computer that's what you'll have on your computer. Kinda of stupid on Microsoft's part to include every flavor of the 32 bit Vista on the same disc. I guess it's easier for them to sell someone an upgraded version without having to buy another disc. Better yet they just refined their idea of downloadable content from Xbox Live where game developers included the ENTIRE GAME and all you purchase from them is the KEY to unlock a certain feature from within the game.

 

Ok, I see the OP has added more ram already. The next step is to update everything, not just windows update but also the using the thinkvantage software.

Second, the tabs being slow thing is a problem with IE7 and Vista . You can speed it up by going to tools, manage add-ons, and disabling the add ons you don't need.

Another thing to do is disable Indexing and also disable Superfetch (go to control panel, system and maintenance, administrative tools, and then services to disable these).

 

It's not legal. An OEM copy is specific to the OEM. It's modified by the OEM and the key that you get is only valid for that specific OEM version. A retail DVD will not contain the OEM version.

Each retail DVD copy contains two DVDs; one for the 32-bit and one for the 64-bit version. Each of those two DVDs contains all SKUs of Vista (from Basic to Ultimate) and the *retail* key you enter determines which SKU you get. However, that's absolutely not the same as OEM. An OEM key is not valid for a retail SKU, and it's entirely possible that it won't work. I'll test it when I get my T61.

 

Your missing my point it turns it into the OEM version when you input the key and it checks it against the Thinkpads BIOS. You can easily verify this by right clicking on My Computer and selecting Properties. Look way at the bottom and the key you entered during the install will show as OEM.

The only Retail copy that contains two DVD's is Ultimate, it's on Microsoft's website.

 

I'm not missing your point. The copy of Windows that you get with your Lenovo PC is explicitly a Lenovo OEM copy. It is branded with Lenovo branding and Lenovo is licensed by Microsoft to make certain modifications to it (including default settings, etc.)

The key that you get with your ThinkPad is ONLY valid for the installation of Lenovo's OEM edition of Windows. It is not valid for any other OEM version (such as Dell, etc.) or for a retail SKU. Therefore, it is absolutely illegal for you to take a retail DVD from a friend and use your OEM key to install it, and it's quite likely that it won't even work.

 

There is no difference between an OEM and a retail OS. The OEM's do not change the OS. The only thing Lenovo does is modify certain settings which you can do yourself and then slipstream in their added software packages which you can download off the Lenovo website and install yourself. When you install Vista it's going to look to see if your computer has an OEM BIOS and it will install the OEM version if it finds it. When you download a pirated version of Vista off the net that's how you get it to install without a registered online key. There is a trick to make the install think you have an OEM BIOS and then when it starts installing it will say hey you've got an OEM machine so I don't need anything else, thanks. Whether Microsoft says this is method is legal or not I don't know and to be honest don't really care. Microsoft says you don't own the software but only the key which gives you the right to use it. If you have a legit key then it shouldn't matter where you get the actual OS install from.

 

Your statement that there's no difference between retail and OEM versions is just not true. The OEM is licensed to modify particular parts of the OS, and most of them do. Many of those changes are cosmetic (they'll add their own logo in places, etc.,) but some of those changes are not. For example, many times OEMs will modify Registry entries, etc. for particular machines or change how the installation works and what does and doesn't get installed. Years ago, as a matter of fact, OEMs were licensed to make modifications to core system files and even the kernel. I'm not sure if that's still in place, but it was commonplace a short while back.

You can check into it if you want, but you'll find I'm right. I work for Microsoft (have for many years) and I'm well aware of how all of this works.

 

I'm sorry for breaking in, but let's stick to original topic and don't flood with BS

 

What was the original topic?

 

I'm sorry but the OS that Lenovo uses is exactly the same as a retail version you buy in a store outside whatever few changes Lenovo has made to registry settings and display settings and things like that. Then they just slipstream in their software packages. An end user does the exact same thing with programs like nLite. That doesn't make the OS illegal to use after an end user modifies everything in the install by stripping out things he doesn't want and adding in things that he does and then creates a new ISO. You pay for the licensed key to use that particular version of the OS where it be XP Home, XP Pro, Vista Basic, Vista Home Premium, Vista Ultimate, ect. You're not paying for the software. Only the key which licenses you to use it. With the Z61m I bought last year Lenovo shipped me the backup install CD for XP Home and it was the exact same OEM XP Home version that you buy online in the exact same packaging. It was just the bare XP Home install. It was not Lenovo branded. So if they can do it then so can I lol. If Microsoft doesn't like then then that's just tough. It's this way for most all software. When you download a trial version of software online such as Adobe Photoshop or Kaspersky Anti-Virus or whatever you use the software until the trial runs out and then you're required to buy a key to license the software. Once you purchase that key that key is yours. You can download that app from any site you want and use the key to register it. It doesn't matter where it comes from cause you're paying for the license key to use it, NOT the software itself. If this wasn't true then I could buy a copy of Windows and then I would own it and I could do anything I wanted to with it including putting it up for download legally.

 

Last comment for me on this, but I just read through the spec on how this stuff is supposed to work.

The specific OEM key you get with your ThinkPad is tied to the OEM version of Windows that you get. Therefore, your OEM key should not work (at least is not supposed to work according to MS) with a retail copy.

I have a retail copy of Vista Ultimate that I'm going to put on my T61 when it gets here. I'll check to see if the OEM key on the ThinkPad is accepted when I do that and I'll let you know, but according to MS documentation, it's not supposed to work.

 

The tabook estimates for battery life are extremely roughestimates and in fact practically meaningless at best, and misleading at worst.

about the nits, i think i looked at the wxga instead of the wxga+... i dunno i hate widescreen anyway lol.

Having tested both widescreens and standard sceens side-by-side at work on a number of thinkpad models, i've consistently found that the widescreen lcd's on thinkpads are poorer quality than the regular displays, notwithstanding that some of the standard screens were lower nits (150-200) than the widescreens (185-200). I guess the lower quality explains why widescreens are signifcantly cheaper and cheaper expalins why they're being rammed down our throats.

 

Many OEMs, Lenovo included, ship the Vista Anytime Upgrade DVD which is exactly the same DVD as the retail one(same md5sum!, just a diffrent disc label). So there is no reason to pirate it if you don't have the media.

You can use this DVD to clean install Vista and then use your OEM product key to activate by phone with Microsoft. You can bypass the phone activation and do a full OEM activation like Lenovo does theirs by following my guide I've written a month ago: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=119587