Follow-up: Windows 7 Release Candidate on a Lenovo X41 Thinkpad Tablet PC
I noticed today that the volume control buttons across the top of the keyboard aren’t working. I checked the Lenovo site for drivers, but didn’t see anything that looked promising. Actually, I tried the “Tablet Button Driver” for Vista, but it didn’t work.
If you have any ideas, post them in the comments.
Category: Hardware, Software | Tags: tablet, thinkpad, Windows 7, x41 2 comments »
October 19th, 2009 at 9:31 pm
I came across your posts because I have a Lenovo X41 Tablet PC and have been curious about upgrading to Windows 7. It looks like you were able to do the upgrade without any big issues…yes?
I have a few questions I’d love your response to:
(1) Aside from backing up your data and programs prior to the clean install, is there any other driver updates you would suggest?
(2) How much HD space did you have prior to the upgrade? I only have 11 GB free now (MS recommends 16 GB), but alot of that is gunk that I probably won’t reinstall. Does the clean install wipe out the HD totally, which would take care of the GB requirement?
(3) Why did the performance slow down over time? Any thoughts on this?
Thanks!
October 20th, 2009 at 6:55 am
The upgrade went really well and I had no real issues. To answer your questions:
(1) I did not need any extra drivers. All the hardware was supported by Windows 7 right out of the box.
(2) I’m not sure how much drive space I had left over under Windows XP. I decided to reformat the partition to install Windows 7, so I started with a clean 40 GB. Being the cautious type, I left the Lenovo hidden partition so I could reinstall Windows XP if I chose to later, so I guess I had about 38 GB (maybe). I believe it is best to start completely clean, which would definitely take care of your GB requirement.
(3) I’m at a loss as to why things seemed to run slower over time. My theory is that as I installed many of the programs I use daily, they added startup tasks and background processes which pushed beyond the bounds of my available RAM. I only have 1 GB of RAM (2 x 512), so I am fairly limited. Once you add an antivirus, anti-malware, Skype, DropBox, etc., you start to burn a lot of memory.