Advice of clean install of X120e

Hi all.

Will be receiving my Lenovo X120e tomorrow, with stock options (and bluetooth module).

I was wondering if you guys had tips on how to do a clean install of Windows 7.

1. Is it advisible to do so? (i.e. is it worth losing Enhanced Experience) I only ordered the default Home Professional version - and was thinking of installing Ultimate.
2. Are there any specific drivers / programs I should install or not install
3. Would I need to back up the original contents of the hard drive, or is there a recovery partition?
4. Any other tips / advice?

Many thanks.

 

1. personally, i always do a clean install of windows. i'm not a fan of the preloaded software that's included even it it means losing lenovo EE. i've read that with a SSD, an EE image of windows is only a couple seconds faster.

there are basically 2 ways activate windows 7 after a clean install. the first method is the offline activation method, also known as vendor activation. as the name implies, the activation process is done offline. this method is the same method OEMs use to ship out your new laptop. the second activation method is by using key that's on the windows license sticker. this method requires you to activate online and communicate with microsoft servers.

personally, i prefer the offline method because you'll never have to worry about microsoft accidentally blacklisting your key. i may make a video on how to do an offline activation when i receive my x220.

2. i'd definitely install chipset, intel raid controller, video, and audio. you'll also want the power manager and the drives associated with any power management utility.

3. this is up to you. never hurts to make a set of recovery disks. you will need an external dvd burner as the x120e doesn't include an optical drive.

 

Just a note, but the x120e uses an AMD chipset, so the intel drivers aren't going to do anything .

Having done this myself, the drivers you should probably install are (they're available from http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/MIGR-76363.html):
0. BIOS update if your machine doesn't come with 1.11 (though it should at this point)
1. Video drivers (either from Lenovo, which are 1 version behind, or from AMD. I tried both, and the only difference seems to be that Lenovo doesn't install the update service from AMD and Lenovo includes the USB filter driver).
2. AMD AHCI drivers (and the AMD USB drivers if you didn't use the Lenovo video drivers).
3. Power Management driver (and power manager if you want it).
4. Hotkeys feature integration (install the PM driver before this)
5. Ultranav driver
6. Wireless driver
7. Webcam driver
8. Card reader driver
9. Sound driver
10. Bluetooth driver (get it from Broadcom if you really care about BT 3.0, otherwise the Lenovo drivers only are BT 2.1).

However, from what I've heard, the stock Lenovo install is not too bad...

 

my bad. i'm not familiar with the x120e.

 

I would create the recovery media first and use it first before you take drastic action for a clean install.