Lenovo has agreed to pre-load Windows Live services onto ThinkPad notebooks, ThinkCentre desktops and Lenovo-branded PCs. The company will be shipping machines with the Windows Live Toolbar and making Windows Live Search the default internet search client out of the box, the company’s said in a joint press release.

The agreement marks the first OEM win for Windows Live, Microsoft’s range of internet services which largely replaced the MSN brand before the release of Windows Vista. Lenovo previously had an agreement with Google to pre-load similar features on its machines.

Google and Microsoft are currently in a pitched battle to gain pre-load agreements with OEM’s, with Google having won a much publicized agreement with Dell Computer last year.