Recommendation for A31 replacement: Z61M or R60?

[P-Meyer]

I am looking at retiring my two overworked A31p laptops.

I need a high performance machine with at least double the performance of my existing machines, otherwise I might as well stick to them and keep pacthing them up.

A matte screen is essential - cannot work with a glossy screen - and I am under the impression that with the price competition the IPS screens are no longer standard. Prefer to go to the widescreen.

I like the 1400 x 1050 screen but have had the need to replace on both machines the screens. (some pixels started to darken / backlight failing / on a white screen one looked like a cup of coffee was spilled on it - thats how the discoloring was ....) Wondering if newer screens are better in this regard. And am wondering if the IPS is still making an as large difference as they did 4 years ago, after all technology has come quite a distance since that time.

Crucial for me is how the Z6* and R6* machines cope temperature wise with 100% CPU load for hours on end (when I do backtesting) - I upgraded one of my existing A31's with a 2.6 Ghz P4 Mobile CPU and it overheats after approx 10 minutes, it is ok at 80% load.... (throttles down the CPU at 75 C)

Any experiences greatly appreciated,
Thanks
Peter

[Puppy]

The overall quality of displays is going down. I think that T series is the only option since there are no longer R series with IPS panels. On ther other hand, current price of T60 15" SXGA+ is similar to my R51 (which was the last R series model using IPS panel) two years ago. As for screens there is no competition, all these glossy screens are cheap TN panels only.

[P-Meyer]

Puppy

Thanks for the reply.

Does anyone know for certain if the Z61M is having a matte screen? (at least that is my understanding but I do not trust the sales people on the phone, more than once I have noticed that they do not know what they are talking about).

Thanks
Peter

[P-Meyer]

The overall quality of displays is going down. I think that T series is the only option since there are no longer R series with IPS panels. On ther other hand, current price of T60 15" SXGA+ is similar to my R51 (which was the last R series model using IPS panel) two years ago. As for screens there is no competition, all these glossy screens are cheap TN panels only.

I got myself a Z61m and am overall pretty happy with it. However three days after I bought it I discovered a newly released R60 that had an IPS+ screen (1400 x 1050) and was not much more expensive. My A31's had this size screen and I had to replace in both machines the screen and I really notice the difference in viewing angles. I reserve judgement on which is "better" sicne I want to see how this one is going to stand up to being used 24 hours / day and if the backlighting will fail (screen growing darker / yellower)

Only negative thing is the AC 4.12 is behaving differently from the older versions and I am actually tempted to remove it alltogether.

Peter