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Lenovo Switches To Windows 10 Signature Edition Image For Its Future ThinkPad Laptops (mspoweruser.com)
An anonymous reader writes: Ahead of tradeshow CES 2017, Lenovo today announced major changes coming to its ThinkPad lineup of laptops and PCs. First, Lenovo has decided to ship 2017 ThinkPad models with Microsoft's Signature Edition Windows 10 right out of the box. So, users don't have to worry about bloatware anymore. Signature Edition PCs are clean, fast and protected. The second big announcement is that Lenovo is now offering optional Intel Optane 3D drives on select ThinkPad models. Due to the small capacity, initial Optane M.2 drives will be used for caching in the ThinkPad T470p, L470, L570, T470, and T570. Third, Lenovo is moving to the Microsoft Precision TouchPad drivers for consistent touchpad experience across ThinkPad devices. The Windows Precision Touchpad drivers provide high precision pointer input and gesture functionality.
Lenovo didn't like that all those third-party shovel-ware apps were getting in the way of their own spyware.
Now, the question is, is this going to be take two of the same BS they tried to pull, using proprietary drivers and disabling boot to other devices, in order to force users to use windows 10 and eliminate the ability to boot off of another OS, and failing that, to even see the hdd due to said drivers not being available under linux?
Spearfish and so called drivers that are really malware software that keep re-installing themselves through the Windows Store puts Lenovo in my DO NOT BUY list.
http://saveie6.com/
I bought a T440s a couple of years ago direct at a bargain price and it's been fantastic. As good as any ThinkPad I've used over the past almost 25 years including the T20, 600 series, 760 XL, 755 and 701. Probably a few others.
I can still dual boot this to linux.... right??
Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
That may be true with the IdeaPad and other consumer level laptops from Lenovo. I challenge you to point out a better laptop on the market today than a ThinkPad. I just replaced my X201 with an X260 - only because I needed more RAM than my X201 could address, it still runs fine - and the X260 is faster, more reliable, lighter, and less expensive than the MacBook Pros that my colleagues opted for instead.
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
What about the spyware for the Chinese government data collection?
Really not an issue. The people who are using the laptops that are used for collecting data for the Chinese government - notably the ThinkPads are not amongst those - are happily giving away all their data to facebook at the same time. Lenovo is just cutting out the middle man for the Chinese.
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
To make their devices even cleaner, faster and most protected they could get rid of Win10 completely.
Now Im not saying they should install Linux instead, but while they are already looking for a decent OS to replace Windows... why not.
I think companies will still build their own image or use the Windows 10 provisioning tools to slice and dice the image deployed by the factory, but for Lenovo's laptops this makes sense. ThinkPad professional series users (T and P series) are paying a lot of money for their machines compared to the $300 consumer junk at the low end of the line. I'm just about to replace my T540p and the prices are super-high, almost Apple level margin. It should be noted that you do get what you pay for - ThinkPad users are pretty loyal customers and the laptops have a certain "anti-hipster" all-business look and feel.
I think all PC manufacturers should adopt this approach. Leave the bloatware for the consumer models...after all, everyone needs 3 firewall and antivirus applications running on home machines. Ever since Windows 7, Microsoft has been working with the vendors to build more of the software controls into the OS for various hardware components, reducing the need for buggy vendor applications to do things like control volume and brightness. (One of the worst things about building a hybrid desktop-laptop disk image for PCs is managing the multiple post-OS installations of vendor packages that are required to control things.)
This just makes good sense. It gets Lenovo some good press to put the bloatware security debacle behind them, and sets the tone for other manufacturers. After all, aren't PCs dying? Doesn't everyone use business apps on a 9" tablet screen? In that market, people who need PCs are going to pay specialty prices to get a quality product.
Is it really a good idea to have a private corporation control your bios?
Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
I didn't close my laptop backpack and my T430 fell out of it in a mall onto a hard tile floor. It bounced several times. No damage whatsoever, not even a chip. Compare that to a macbook, I dropped the same laptop on one from half a height once and it actually dented the keyboard surface of the case. I can't imagine what a drop from that height would do to a macbook. It certainly wouldn't look the same.
Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
You can avoid unexpected Windows 10 updates by setting the network connections to be "metered connections".
Windows will then avoid downloading updates in the background because it thinks you are paying a lot for the bytes.
Google "windows 10 metered connection"
bios fake raid on the m2 cards used for caching?
Some windows only driver?
Even at 128GB I want to use the pci-e storage as an real boot disk and have apps and other data on an 2th disk.
T440s .....As good as any ThinkPad I've used over the past almost 25
LIAR, just look at that touchpad
at least they somewhat listen and fixed it back to normal with T450
Who logs in to gdm? Not I, said the duck.
Windows gamer pro with Pro overclocking only $70 year comes with free xbox live gold.
I bought three Lenovos four years ago. Two Z570 and a G580, all with 4GB RAM and spinning rust. All still performing perfectly. Reinstall software is a push-button process (used once so far). Couldn't be happier.
I come here for the love
You don't need a touchpad when it has touchpoint. Much more accurate and no need to take your hands away from the keyboard.
Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
So you can still dual boot linux?
Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
I love how PCs without the pre-installed shitware are marketed by Lenovo as "clean, fast and protected".
What does that tell you about the PCs that don't come with the Signature Edition of Windows? Does that mean they're "dirty, slow, and vulnerable"?
Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
I didn't close my laptop backpack and my T430 fell out of it in a mall onto a hard tile floor. It bounced several times. No damage whatsoever, not even a chip. Compare that to a macbook, I dropped the same laptop on one from half a height once and it actually dented the keyboard surface of the case. I can't imagine what a drop from that height would do to a macbook. It certainly wouldn't look the same.
Yeah, and you're getting one hour battery life from your new MacBook Pro, too, without providing a scintilla of evidence "because you're too busy". Yet you seem to have time to follow and respond to multiple Slashdot threads, including this one.
You sir are both a liar and a poser.
And I sincerely doubt you are a Developer as you alluded to yesterday by claiming you were "down to one hour of battery life after 50 charge cycles, running only Firefox and 'standard Development tools'." Yet you couldn't be bothered to look at Activity Monitor's "Energy" tab to see if something had inserted a big ol' fat drinking-straw into your MBP's battery, because "Apples are supposed to 'Just Work'."
Riiiiight...
Oh my god I have a stalker. I never thought this would happen in a million years. I take it as an absolute complement sir.
Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
Not everyone is foolish enough to use a touchpad.
Guns don't kill people; Physics kills people! - John Lithgow as Dick Solomon on Third Rock From The Sun
With thousands of people reading Slashdot, it is completely unsurprising that someone would remember your name in connection with a comment they read earlier if the topic happened to be one that the person has an interest in. Just because somebody happens to remember a comment that you made before doesn't mean that you're being "stalked." Get over yourself.
How can we continue to believe in a just universe and freedom to eat crackers if we have no ale?
But this isn't just someone who has remembered a past comment, this is a person who took the time out of his day to seek out another one of my comments just so that he/she could respond. As a person who values his time, I an honored.
Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
So, users don't have to worry about bloatware anymore
ha ha ha .
Signature editions means that ACs with no idea what they are talking about need to upgrade their tinfoil hats to a new version.
Signature editions place no requirements on the BIOS that aren't already part of the standard works with windows requirements. The only thing Signature edition requires is that a TPM module is in place for bitlocker support, that no pre-loaded software is installed, and that all drivers for the device come through the windows update program instead of 3rd party crapware programs.
Is it really a good idea to have a private corporation control your bios?
hahahahahahahahahahah, oh man. You should get a full tinfoil bodysuit.
or 'get office' or 'xbox live'.
or system notifications that your version of office is out of date?
because that is the signature of Windows 10...
Yep, my T450s is terrific. My history doesn't go back as far as yours, but my T450s has a better fit and finish than my T40 I bought new back in the day, the keyboard is just as nice (ok, except I do miss the 7th row), and I guess only time will tell if it proves as durable as that machine. It's certainly less creaky.
My disclosures before I get started - I'm a Thinkpad fanboy, sorry.
But look, what GP is saying is not that out of the world. I've dropped Thinkpads onto hard surfaces several times - they usually just bounce. One time a hinge broke, admittedly (but that was after 9 years of use...). Is this all that surprising given that most Thinkpads are tested to do this?
Everyone knows the aluminium shell of the macbook is fairly soft, and dropping in onto a hard surface leaves a floor-shaped mould on the laptop.
As long as they put back all the indicator LEDs and physical kill switches they removed in the last versions. I'll wipe Windows off anyway.
Open Source Network Inventory for the masses! Kuwaiba
Or at least it would be great if it were true. Unfortunately, it comes with Windows 10 preinstalled, and that's a primo piece of bloatware right there.
That's great no bloatware. What about the spyware for the Chinese government data collection?
That's in the CPU microcode, and there is no known remedy. Same as every other brand of computer.
Governments know what you're doing already. These are improvements to protect you against mean civilians.
And you know that ... how?
How can we continue to believe in a just universe and freedom to eat crackers if we have no ale?
That is the problem, the touchpad in the 440 removed the trackpoint buttons, so if you want to use the trackpoint, even with the touchpad disabled it will respond to clicks, as it's needed for the trackpoint! Totally idiotic design!
And based on whether you use the trackpoint or the touchpad, the simulated buttons move to the top, or bottom of the touchpad respectively.
I avoid having to click the actual clickpad. Using 2-finger tap to right click reduced a lot of pain, though right click-drag actions seem painful as the cursor moves off the target while clicking.
By far the worst computer pointing device I've ever used.
The computer also only has 2 fucking USB ports even though the case has room for more (wireless mouse + USB VPN token = no more ports). And the keyboard is missing half the keys, and the function keys default to auxiliary functions (brightness, wireless, etc) which is fucking annoying when you direct someone to use a keyboard shortcut in an application and the wireless disables instead.
I have an L440 and its not bad, but it did come with that nutty touchpad. for $40 more, I could (and did) buy a direct replacement that had 3 real buttons. problem is, drivers for it are 'strange' and I can only access mine in a dumber mode. I never found the right win7 driver for that replaced pad. so it was actually a step backwards and while it kind of works and does look better (grin), its still not as good as if it came that way.
I have a t420is that is great. last of the real keyboards, had good port assortment and a useable 3button touchpad. since it was a current model, thru today, I only had to replace the dud fan/heatsink, and that was a $20 part from ebay and about 2 hours of time to get the tech ref manual and undo about 100 screws to get to it (sigh). after that, its good as new and good for another few years.
--
"It is now safe to switch off your computer."
From https://blogs.windows.com/wind... : "starting with Build 14942, we’ve changed this [active hour] range for PCs on Pro, Enterprise, or Education editions to 18 hours."
Ah, "consumer" vs "business" computers. I wonder whether this even makes sense.
I've had half a dozen ThinkPads, IBM and Lenovo, over the years. My current one is from 2009. I've dropped all of them multiple times - just something that happens when you work in a lot of different environments, with cords strewn around and whatnot. I knocked the latest one over onto a hard floor again just a couple of days ago, which probably makes at least two dozen times it's taken such a tumble (while running).
The only problem I've had with this one is dust and cat hair collecting in the vents to the point where it overheats. One IBM ThinkPad needed its CPU fan replaced after a few years. Another had the drive fail catastrophically, but that's more Hitachi's fault (it was a Death^WTravelStar). One eventually developed an occasional RAM failure; never tracked that down to RAM or motherboard.
On the whole, though, they've been very tough and reliable.