Hello,
We have a few T400s and T500s at work (as well as some W700s) and I've
seen that T410s and T510s are starting to show up in our IT department
as well. You should not have any problems getting 64-bit drivers for
any hardware or software that is marketed as Windows Vista or Windows 7
compatible, as one of the requirements to get the Microsoft logo is to
provide both x86 and x64 versions of your drivers that have passed WHQL
certification. For the most part, hardware detection under Windows 7
has been pretty good; you might need to go the actual manufacturer of
the Verizon Air Card (Sierra?) to find x64 drivers if Verizon does not
offer them directly on their support web site.
I have a couple of different SSL VPNs that I use and they seem to work
fine under Windows 7 x64, but others may require drivers that are not
yet available. No idea about Citrix as I do not use that.
On an X100e, I have used a Kingston SSDNow V-Series 64GB SSD and a
Crucial 64GB M225 SSD. These were after-market drives with a retail
load of Windows 7 and not Lenovo's specific installation, so I cannot
give an exact comparison, but boot up and shutdown are very speedy on
that system.
Current solid state drives implement a 4KB page, which is similar
in concept to a cluster on rotating media. When Windows 7 detects a
SSD during installation, it formats the SSD using a 4KB cluster size
and aligns the partitions on boundaries that match up to a multiple
of 4KB so that it (and you) get the best performance from the SSD,
file system-wise. Under previous versions of Windows, you have to do
this manually either by running DISKPART manually or using a disk
partitioning/formatting tool to set up the disk before installing the
operating system. If you let Windows 7 configure the file system and
operating system at installation, everything should be set up correctly.
While SSDs do not suffer from fragmentation like rotating media,
they can have issues with keeping track of which cells are written
to/available which results in lower performance over time. Windows 7
supports a technology called TRIM which lets the SSD know which cells
are best to use for writing to address this issue. There's a good
article on Wikipedia that explains it better than I can:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TRIM_(SSD_command)
I would think that any SSD sold inside a ThinkPad today supports the
TRIM command, but if you decide to go with an after-market drive,
make sure it supports this before you make yoru purchase.
Before the 802.11n standard was ratified, there were several drafts,
and in addition to that, 802.11n encompasses radios that operate on
both the 2.4GHz band (the same frequencies used by 802.11b and 802.11g)
and 5GHz band (the same as 802.11a). One of the nice things about
having both bands are that if the 2.4Ghz band is congested, you may be
able to hop on a 5GHz channel and continue with your work. From looking
at this page:
http://www.intel.com/network/connectivity/products/wireless/adapters/6200-6300/index.htm
on Intel's web site, it seems that going with the 6300 model WiFi card
would potentially give you a higher bandwidth wireless connection.
Regards,
Aryeh Goretsky
At 10:00 AM 2/10/2010, you wrote:
Message: 1
Date: Tue, 9 Feb 2010 10:46:06 -0800
From: Mitchell Leben <[email protected]>
Subject: [Thinkpad] Help with T series specs
To: "[email protected]" <[email protected]>
Message-ID:
<696518e3f35a4e4e939b9b6c6ba683f17592147...@exvmbx015-2.exch015.msoutlookonline.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Hi all,
Lucky me, time to order a new Thinkpad. I have had a T20, T23, T40,
T41p, and am now on a T61p. The T61p is great, it is just too big
and heavy, I'm ready for thin and light with more battery life.
I think the T410s is the one for me. I am an IT consultant. Price is
not the main factor since it is my daily work tool.
First, what is the opinion of the T410s? Should I also consider
other models? I ruled out the X series, I want an optical drive and
the option to pop in a second battery.
I'm also torn on W7 32 or 64 bit. I'd prefer 64 bit so I could
address more RAM, but am concerned I'd run into too many issues with
drivers and various connectivity applications, such as VPNs, Citrix,
Verizon air card. I have been running w7 32bit on my T61p, starting
with the public beta, and then build 7100. If you have experience
with these things I'd appreciate your comments.
OK, a couple of specific questions on a T410s build:
1. 128 GB Solid State Drive, Serial ATA. A good choice? Is it
fast? I understand not all SSDs are created equal.
2. Which wireless? I do not need WiMAX, but that still leaves
four choices. I doubt I'll need A or B, most likely G and N.
Intel Centrino Wireless-N 1000 (1X2 BGN)
ThinkPad b/g/n
Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6200 (2X2 AGN)
Intel Centrino Ultimate-N 6300 (3X3 AGN)
Thanks for taking the time to review my questions.
-Mitch
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