Thinkpads Forum

I'm about to purchase a Thinkpad as a reliable desktop replacement notebook optimized for reading and authoring web pages for many hours per day. I cannot read small web fonts for long working sessions without eye strain and increasing text sizes or zoom in web pages ruin the formatting and/or pictures of many web pages (even using IE7, Firefox 2 and Opera 9).

For a couple of years I will move forth and back between a few different locations. Anyway I will rarely need to work on the road, I just need a "portable pc".

I have no opportunity to try myself a Thinkpad for web browsing, but I could try for limited working sessions a few notebooks with different resolution and different desktop screens. As a result it seems that for web browsing for me the ideal solutions are 15" XGA and 19" SXGA screens: they appear a bit too much grainy but they seem to cause me less eyestrain.

I would like to know if owners of Thinkpads with 15" XGA screens are satisfied in the every day use with this screen option for browsing web pages? Can you recommend me 15" XGA Thinkpad screens for web?

Thank you for your help!

Andras

I'm a big believer in the use of a 15 inch XGA screen for users with less than ideal eyesight. My wife (although not quite 30) has astigmatism in both eyes and has used 2 different A Series machines since we swithced to notebook computers. First an A21e, and now an A30 both with 15 inch XGA screens. She really likes the size and finds it easy to read. In the current models, the 15" can be had in several models, but in the older machines, they are only available in the A Series.

Thank you Schen for the good news. I'm 38 with glasses and astigmatism in both eyes. Maybe my glasses are not perfect for LCD screens, but I've passed more eye exams confirming them.

No, I would consider 15" XGA useless for work or browsing in any case.

I used to work with text/numbers info (technical computing) and have less then perfect eyesight. While considering 14.1" vs 15" and XGA vs SXGA+ options ended up pairing XGA with 14.1" and SXGA+ with 15".
At last opted for 14.1" XGA T43 with no regrets. IMHO, best weight/size/redability trade-off (no multimedia usage), serious machine.
The text size is close to what I used to with my home desktop running 19" CRT at 1280x1024. However T43 TFT readability is a bit better once LCD brightness is muted, text appears to be somewhat sharper then on my CRT (which is far from to be non-sharp on its own).

Puppy wrote:No, I would consider 15" XGA useless for work or browsing in any case.

I agree ! Most websites need a least 1280 pixels width or you will spend your time scrolling from left to right and up and down. My wife and I never consider any XGA laptop. 12,1 pouces are fines in WXGA and 14/15 pouces are fines in SXGA+. But a lot of people prefers a basic resolution like XGA on any screen size. But for me, screen size and resolution are realy a personnal choice !

Well, I prefer 1280 large (or more) screens too. The problem is the eyestrain or computer vision syndrome (CVS) during real life usage.

I would like to avoid what happened when I purchased my high end 17" LCD screen, a 1280x1024 Samsung SyncMaster 173P. It's a really beautiful screen with excellent image. Everything is wonderful when I start working with it. Then after a short while my eyes are suffering really badly. I exchanged it temporarily with a friend's 15" 1280x1024 screen. It's really horrible compared to my Samsung and image is also grainy. Anyway with the 15" screen I can work much longer with much less eyestrain.

Maybe the bigger fonts are only part of the story and they cannot make me avoid completely the eyestrain, but they seem to help a lot. I've read that many people experience eyestrain/CVS with LCD screens and maybe it depends aalso on other factors as the backlight technology used in LCD screens (similar to neon lights).

I don't have the solution, I only know that i wouldn't like to end up with a notebook I cannot use for many hours per day, as my 17" LCD screen.

I am surfing the net on my desktop computer which has a 15-inch XGA LCD monitor. It's a pain! The viewable area is just too small. I strongly recommend against getting 15-inch XGA screens.

andras wrote:I'm about to purchase a Thinkpad as a reliable desktop replacement notebook optimized for reading and authoring web pages for many hours per day. I cannot read small web fonts for long working sessions without eye strain

As a result it seems that for web browsing for me the ideal solutions are 15" XGA

You are absolutely correct. An ideal solution is the 15" XGA.

I have a variety of resolutions and find that if I am going to do extended research on the web, the 15" is very comfortable and pleasing. The 14.1" XGA I have on my T30 is too small and requires a lot of scrolling as compared to the 15" XGA. I have very good eyesight, however the SXGA+ or UXGA does create eyestrain when used for long periods on the web.

Hope this helps...

Thank you for all the replies!

I agree that high resolution screens are much nicer (not grainy and with a lot of useful viewable area), but I need to spend a lot of hours to read web pages.

If Archer6 with a very good eyesight and after used so many notebooks prefers 15" XGA for extended web research I think this is the way I have to go.