Home or Professional? And other queries.

I'm planning to order the X201 rather soon and am unsure whether I should go for Home Premium or Professional (Windows 7, 64bit)? I've read around a bit, like this comparison chart: Windows 7 editions - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

There's about nine No's for the Home Premium compared to the Professional.
I currently have Vista Home Premium and have been using it for over 3 years and am satisfied with it. Never came across any issues but then again this is a new OS so?

Also is it possible to upgrade the HDD on the X201? For example, will I be able to upgrade to these new Solid State Drives? Or can I also insert a SSD and keep the HDD in there too?

And which wireless card is 'best' to choose?
The default 'Thinkpad Wireless BGN', is that sufficient?
Then there's:
Intel WiFi Link 1000
Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6200 AGN
Intel Centrino Ultimate-N 6300 AGN

Also, I found just the type of X201 that I'm after being sold on eBay in America. The user claims to be an authorised Lenovo reseller and the price is around $400 cheaper than what Lenovo Australia has. Plus it says that it's brand new, in the original package and what not (plus they have great feedback)..but I'm still kinda iffy about ordering from eBay? Anyone had experience with ordering a notebook off the site?

Finally, when the Sandybridge processor comes out, or when Lenovo starts using it in its notebook upgrades, does anyone know whether they'll equip the X201 with one?

 

Home edition is sufficient for most uses - the only reason I select Professional edition for my personal machines is for VPN compatibility. I work with a few VPN boxes for my clients that still won't support their software on the home edition of any windows OS. Unless you need it for some business purpose, I'd save the money and go for Home edition.

The X201 has a standard SATA laptop drive. Upgrading should be a breeze, unlike with my X41, with its 1.8 inch drive. Modern SSD's like the Intel X25M should be drop in replacements for the existing drive..

I ordered with the step-up Intel Wifi - It shows different in the US configurator, but I think it would be the Wifi Link 1000 listed above. I've heard some bad things about the Thinkpad B/G/N adapter's compatibility with Linux, so if you intend to tinker in alternate OSes, it may be worth the jump. I've been satisfied with low end G class cards for years, so I can't really comment on whether the pricier N cards have any real benefit.

 

1.- As KnightZero mentioned, W7HP will have all the features most users will need. The only thing that I miss in W7HP versus the Professional edition is the lack of some advanced policy configuration features, but really, that's quite minor.

2.- With the X201, you can easily (one screw, plus swapping the caddy) replace the existing HDD with a new SSD. You can search the forum for a ton of user advice and previous accounts of people installing SSDs in their Thinkpads. Since the X201 does not have an UltraBay drive, you will have to replace the existing HDD; it cannot support multiple drives.

3.- Generally I recommend the Intel WiFi cards, as they have much better driver support (even in Windows) and are supposed to be more power efficient. One note about the WiFi cards is that if you get a webcam in the X201, the third antenna of the 6300 card is not hooked up (so it is identical to the 6200), I believe.

4.- There's a bunch of threads about people ordering from eBay, and the general consensus is that it's fine if the seller is a reputable seller with good feedback.

5.- Well, it won't be compatible with the X201 since the X-series' CPUs are all soldered onto the mainboard. But yes, there will be a new 12" X-series machine with the Sandy Bridge processors. Just don't expect to upgrade an X201 to the latest processors.

 

Windows7 Home Premium or Windows7 Pro?
- You managed fine with Vista Home Premium so you probably don't need Win7Pro. I use HomePremium, but that's just me. Some people choose Pro [Edit-you actually need enterprise version for Bitlocker]for the Bitlocker encryption built into windows. It encrypts the harddrive so it can't be take out of your latop, put in another computer, and be read. I've seen other people say they prefer Trucrypt (a free software alternative) over Bitlocker for encrypting an entire drive. I have no experience encrypting drives, just passing on info.

32 bit or 64bit.
- If you have an expensive old lazer printer (or any other periferal) you want to keep using make sure it has 64 bit drivers if you want to use a 64bit OS.

Harddrive removal instructions on page 87
Link to x200, x201 maitenance manual

Upgrading to a new Harddrive HDD, or SSD.
- I'm 80% sure, so verify before you buy, the x series uses 2.5" drives. The T400s, and T410s, are the only ones that use 1.8" drives.
- Take the harddrive out and installing a new one, or SSD is easy, the harder part is installing windows on a new drive.

Installing windows on a new drive
There are a couple of ways to do it. One is to create recovery disks when you get your notebook, and then use those recovery disks to put the disk image from the old HDD onto the SSD. You'll need a cd/dvd burner to burn the disks, and put the drive image on your new drive. Another way is to use a windows7 disk to install windows on your ssd. I am not 100% if you can simply use any windows7 disk and then activate it using the windows serial number on the bottom of your Xseries. You'll have to read up on that.

Keep in mind there are different kinds of Windows7 disks, with different prices. There are OEM disks, upgrade disks, and full install disks. I personally bought and used an upgrade disk to do a clean install on an SSD. Doing a clean install is great, it is very nice not having any software on the system other than what you personally put on there. I was switching from Vista to win7 though. Here's an article you might want to read by Paul Thurrott on installing win7, Link.

Other advice
- Make sure to create recover disks when you get your new computer.
- Keep the old harddrive if you upgrade to a new HDD or SSD. If you have to send your thinkpad in for any kind of service put the old HDD back in. This will keep your data with you rather than sending it to lenovo where they'll most likely erase it.
- You also might want to put the old harddrive back in the notebook if you decide to sell it. Thus keeping your SSD and all your data with you.


Other info on Win7 and SSD drives
Background on how Windows7 was engineered to work with SSD drives, answers a lot of common questions, LINK.

 

Bitlocker isn't in Win7 Pro, you have to get Enterprise or Ultimate for that.

To the OP:
If you've never used any of the 9 features Pro has that Home Premium doesn't, then you don't need Pro. I would recommend Windows XP mode though if you've got ancient software sitting around that works only on Windows XP. (Hardware should work too, but there's no real guarantee that it will). I use Windows XP mode and it is pretty neat, but it does have some problems, like how it needs updates constantly. But it does work with software that doesn't work on Windows 7.

 

Thanks for the reponses everyone!

 

One thing I found out that was annoying with Win 7 Home was that you can't back up to a network drive using the Windows backup software, you have to use an external drive. Inconvenient if your backup drive is a NAS like I have. Just something to keep in mind.

 

^^Thanks. Whilst I don't use network drives, I have been meaning to look into them.

 

Order the cheapest OS and upgrade for free with this OEM clean install method.

Windows 7 / Vista OEM Method

 

Windows 7 editions - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

^^Thanks fellas.

 

If you have to ask the question - get home.

Everyone here is not a fellow.

Renee