Lenovo ThinkPad T61 (7664R6G) - just a few words

In general, perfect laptop for the work place and occasionally as a mobile computer. Quite good performance under WinXP SP3 and AVG Free 8.5. 2GB of RAM and 2 cores makes it easy to run Linux in a VirtualBox to avoid the dual-boot solution. Decent wide screen resolution and proper options to scale the external display (for presentations).

Windows XP from scratch:

I have used WinXp Pro SP2 slipstreamed installation following this guide: XP SP2 Clean Install - Less Trivial than expected.
The key points are:

1. change the SATA from AHCI to Compatible in the BIOS.
2. install the usual way.
3. install the Intel Chipset Support and Intel Matrix Storage Manager Driver for Windows XP from the support page.
4. reboot and change back to AHCI in the BIOS.
5. if everything is OK continue with the rest of the drivers and software.

Note: This will also destroy your recovery partition and the ThinVantage boot manager or whatever it is.

At the time when I did the installation, the wireless drivers were a bit buggy and ware not recognized by the ThinkVantage Wireless Assistant - so that one left aside and currently I use the build in Windows wireless assistant.

I have skipped many of the tools from the package including the Power Manager and Active Protection System - pretty much the minimum.

So far, the only problem I have encountered is: during charging process of the battery. The GPU temperature get too high and the BIOS speeds up the fan that runs constantly during the charging time (even after that), until I put the computer in sleep mode and awake it again or restart. It seems the the area and sensor in question does not get cooled by the fans at all, because the CPU and all the other areas get quite cool but this particular remains unaffected.

As temporary solution, when the noise bothers me, I run TPFanControl that works quite well on the particular issue.

Clean ThinkVantage System Update cache folder:

The System Update program stores the downloaded packages in C:\Program Files\Lenovo\System Update\session. You can delete all folders and files but keep ...\ststem\, ...\temp\ and these two files: QuestResponse.xml and updates.ser.

Pros:

• very good performance, 2GB RAM...
  
• USB ports on both sides, 1Gb wired network...
• convenient dimensions - close to A4 paper format - it fits easily in a bag with paper folders, articles, printouts etc.
• hot key to switch of the screen light - (well, I am quite sure when I will not need the computer for a while, so standby/hibernate settings are set to manual)
  

Cons:

• nothing that is worth mentioning.

Links:
Lenovo support forum: T61 and prior T series ThinkPads
Review IBM/Lenovo Thinkpad T61 Notebook
Essential Hotfixes and Tweaks