Thinkpads Forum

I have a new T60 with a 15" SXGA screen and 9-cell battery. I'm very pleased with the machine, except for two important things.

First, the the machine is on the heavy side. Is it the 15" screen? The 9-cell battery? An equal combination? In any event, after 3 weeks of living with this laptop, I think I'd prefer the portablity of a 14" model, without an extended battery, even though I'm not a road warrior.

Second, the SXGA resolution is a tough on my eyes. I absolutly love the brightness and clarity, and on applications such as Word, Excel, etc. the screen is great becuase the view can easily be scaled up to a comfortable viewing size. But most of my work is on the web, and I'm finding it really hard to scale up the size of text on the web with any consistency. Some pages look fine. On others, the text is too small for comfort to my eyes. I've tried Liquid View, which appears to be useless because all is does is increase the size of icons rather than text (am I not using the software correctly?). And I haven't had much luck with changing the DPI and other settings.

So, I'm giving serious consideration to returning the machine for a 14" T60 with a 6-cell battery. My logic is that the computer spends 75% of its life on a desktop anyway (either at home or at work), so it would make more sense to have a more portable model and simply dock it to an external monitor.

But it seems like all of the 14" T60's that are well-speced (I want discrete graphics to be Vista compatilble, a decent size hard drive, bluetooth, etc.) come with an SXGA resolution. If I find the text too small on a 15" SXGA, won't a 14" model just compound my problem?

Additionally, if I am able to find a suitable machine with a 14" XGA screen, for the 25% of the time that the computer is not going to the "docked," will the 14" XGA be an extreme dissapoinment? Would a 15" XGA be any better?

I've been lurking on this site and enjoying the posts for quite some time. I know there are a lot of smart, thoughtful people out there. Please help. Any suggestions would be grealy appreciated.

Thanks.

SXGA+ display: Yes, if you find that SXGA+ on a 15" display is too small, a 14" SXGA+ display will be much much worse.

I think that XGA is pretty good on a 14" display. There's no need to go up to 15" for XGA resolution.

The extra weight is probably half due to the display and half due to the extended battery. The extended battery may also alter the balance of the machine and make it more unwieldy.

What I recommend - Keep your current T60. Buy a 6-cell battery to lighten it and improve its balance. Buy an external display for use at home.

also note:
the 15 inch display is flexview.. both 1050x1400 and 1200x1600..
the 15 inch XGA is not flexview..

any 14 inch are not..

The Bard wrote:<snip>
So, I'm giving serious consideration to returning the machine for a 14" T60 with a 6-cell battery. My logic is that the computer spends 75% of its life on a desktop anyway (either at home or at work), so it would make more sense to have a more portable model and simply dock it to an external monitor.

That was my rationale for going with 14" over 15", and I'm glad I did it - I would prefer my 19" external lcd over even the 15" screen when I'm at my desk. On my SXGA screen, I find the text on some web pages to be too small, but I just increase font size using CTRL + scroll up using right edge of trackpad; quick enough that it doesn't feel like a hassle.

As to whether XGA on a 14" screen will give you insufficient screen real estate, just go to a computer store and check out their models. They probably won't have Thinkpads, but you'll be able to figure out if a 14" XGA screen works for you.

Assuming you care about the weight for reasons related to portability outside your home/work (as opposed to carrying it around your house, where balance and such impacts how heavy the laptop feels), here's an easy way to figure out the weight impact of 9cell over 6cell battery, just find an object that approximates the weight of the 6cell battery (look up on Lenovo's site). Put your laptop with 9cell into your bag - walk around a bit, as in outside your home/work; maybe take it on some errands. Next, remove battery, place laptop + 6cell proxy into bag - walk around a bit. The reason I suggest walking around is because just picking up the bag does not simulate real-life usage and will mask the effective weight difference (i.e., the extra 1 lb. is barely noticeable upon lifting, but very noticeable after carrying for 20 minutes).

Why don't you just lower your resolution on the 15" LCD? Frankly, I haven't even received my T60 yet (in two days!), but from all my research, you might be disappointed with the 14" non-Flexview screen. Just lower the resolution to a desired setting, then turn it back up when you want it to. By going to the 14", you'll not only lose major screen real estate, but you'll also get a dimmer, non-Flexview screen.

Running the LCD at a a non-native resolution will produce some unwanted artifacts; that is one problem I can see with reducing the resolution as a solution.

Serpico,

You wrote that when the text on some web pages is too smal you increase the font size by using CTRL + scroll up using right edge of trackpad. Excuse my ignorance, but I'm not sure what you mean by that. What exactly on the right edge of the trackpad are you doing? Thanks.

The Bard wrote:Serpico,

You wrote that when the text on some web pages is too smal you increase the font size by using CTRL + scroll up using right edge of trackpad. Excuse my ignorance, but I'm not sure what you mean by that. What exactly on the right edge of the trackpad are you doing? Thanks.

1. As you probably know, one way to adjust font sizes on a given web page is to press CTRL and +/- keys simultaneously.
2. You may not be aware that you can scroll pages up and down by dragging your finger up/down the right edge of the trackpad; similarly, you can scroll pages left/right by dragging your finger left/right on the bottom edge of the trackpad.
3. By combining the CTRL key and the vertical drag on the right edge of the trackpad, you can replicate (1) above.

serpico wrote:1. As you probably know, one way to adjust font sizes on a given web page is to press CTRL and +/- keys simultaneously.
....
3. By combining the CTRL key and the vertical drag on the right edge of the trackpad, you can replicate (1) above.

Note: it's CTRL key + "=" key and CTRL key + "-" key.

Both methods work well in Firefox.

The first method does not work in Internet Explorer (not on my v6.0 sp2, at least), the second method does something but it is not the same as Firefox, e.g. the fonts on this very page do not get any smaller using this technique.

astro wrote:Both methods work well in Firefox.

The first method does not work in Internet Explorer (not on my v6.0 sp2, at least), the second method does something but it is not the same as Firefox, e.g. the fonts on this very page do not get any smaller using this technique.

Thanks for clarifying that. Didn't know about IE; I only use Firefox.

serpico wrote:3. By combining the CTRL key and the vertical drag on the right edge of the trackpad, you can replicate (1) above.

Thanks for the heads up - that is mucho cool!

-darren

In IE, you push and hold CTRL, then scroll your mouse wheel. That's the same thing as selecting the size under View -> Text Size.

If a site uses CSS to fixate the font size, however, you can't change the size variance in IE. Firefox, however, will override any predefined CSS font sizes.

GoofyG28 wrote:If a site uses CSS to fixate the font size, however, you can't change the size variance in IE. Firefox, however, will override any predefined CSS font sizes.

That's not entirely true...

If the site uses CSS and points or pixels to set text size then you are correct. If the site uses CSS and ems to set text size then you can change the size in IE without issue.

For the battery problem, why not just order a secondary 6-cell battery? That's what I did (in addition to an ultrabay battery). I use the 9-cell as a backup when I'm on long flights.

Do you find the 15" T60 substantially less cumbersome with the 6-cell?

The Bard wrote:Do you find the 15" T60 substantially less cumbersome with the 6-cell?

Yes, there is a big difference with the 6 cell battery in place. I have both the 6 & 9 cells and only use the 9 when moving around in the house. For the road, I use the ultra slim bay battery & 6 cell together. That way the size of the footprint on the desk is not increased and the balance is perfect. In addition I get max battery life this way.