Lenovo’s deeply optimized software preload & drivers, branded Enhanced Experience, reached milestone 2.0 with the new products announced at CES and they were ready to put EE 2.0 to the test.
We’ve written about EE before, back when it announced in September 2009 and again when more details emerged. EE is one of Lenovo’s differentiators against the competition, offering a truly optimized setup with Lenovo hardware and Microsoft’s operating system.
With EE 2.0 and SSDs dropping in cost, we’re seeing some serious potential for ridiculously fast systems. Lenovo has been showing off this very combination that produces sub-10 second boot times on at least 6 different systems, which you can see in the graphic above. I’ve been using a T410s with SSD for the past several weeks and it’s boot times are ridiculously fast. I used to dread having to reboot my laptop – no longer!
Microsoft was of course at CES and one of their bloggers brought his T410 with an SSD and Microsoft’s Signature preload that strips out all the bloatware usually found in OEM installations. While the blogger’s T410 was able to best all other 3rd party machines, his 24 second boot time didn’t hold a candle to the plethora of Lenovo machines booting in under 10 seconds.
That’s a rapidly rapid RapidDrive
Given the cost of a high capacity SSD and that even 160GB is still limiting to many people, not all will want to opt for an SSD as their sole storage in a laptop. Lenovo recognizes this and offers their RapidDrive option, which is a configuration that uses high speed Flash memory (aka SSD) for a drive to store Windows and major applications with a traditional magnetic hard drive for cheap, high capacity storage. Our friends at LaptopMag are reporting that the RapidDrive configuration in the IdeaPad Y570, and likely all other current systems, uses the new Intel mSATA SSD 310.
Unlike the usual SSDs that replace a standard HDD, this little bugger is designed to fit in a mini PCI Express slot and doesn’t have to replace your HDD. This design from Intel allows your system to easily support two storage devices for the best of both worlds, or in some cases we will see this used in ultrathin designs that can’t use a 9.5mm thick HDD. While Flash on a PCI-E card isn’t a new idea, Intel has been shaking things up with their high performance, low(er) cost SSDs, making this a welcome addition to the fold.
Just how fast is a new Lenovo PC with EE 2.0 and RapidDrive? THIS fast:
Some of you may recall that RapidDrive has been available on select IdeaPads in the past. This will continue and we will see availability expand (and cost drop) to more IdeaPads and for the first time, to ThinkPads as well! As much as I love the SSD in this T410s, 128GB is actually proving to be a bit small once I load all my Adobe apps and a bulk of video files.
Sources: [Windows Experience Blog, LaptopMag]
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
Is EE pre-load only? Will it load thru System Update if you install Win 7 fresh from MS discs?
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