Thinkpads Forum

I recently got a T60p with the 15" Flexview UXGA screen (2623DDU), and I'm not sure if the display is behaving properly. When I view a completely white or light colored screen (e.g. this forum), some parts of the screen are darker than others. I can alter this by changing my viewing angle. Having heard so much about the great viewing angles of the Flexview screen, this perplexes me. Is this normal for a Flexview?

Note that this is not the same issue as the "dark corners" issue reported in a number of other threads.

Also, the screen doesn't appear as bright as I would expect a 200 nits screen would appear. I have yet to compare directly against my X60s (150 nits), but I will next week. It's darker than my 300 nits desktop LCD, but that's to be expected. I have already changed the BIOS setting for the screen brightness from "normal" to "high" so it's not an issue of running on battery vs AC.

Update: Just called Lenovo and the tech support person insinuated that the issue was just my "imagination." That was not good customer service.

Anyone?

If I display a totally white screen (maximized Notepad window) I can see areas of the display that, depending on viewing angle, seem ever-so-slightly less bright than others. I've never seen an LCD that didn't behave like this. The effect on the T60p's display seems to be more pronounced than on the two 24" LCD's I have sitting right next to it.

If I display a black screen (maximized command window), all I see is, well, black.

The effect is something that I would never notice if I weren't specifically looking for it. If it seems more pronounced than that, then you may have a defective screen. If you're within your 30 days, I suggest that you return it for another.

IBM/Lenovo customer service, while much better than most companies, is still spotty. I've received service ranging from unacceptably pathetic to heroic. You might try calling back and trying again.

(Edited to correct two typo's)

I hate to back up the tech support guy, but it sounds like at least some of this might be perception. Nothing else, save a faulty LCD, really makes much sense.

I haven't noticed the problems you mentioned with uneven illumination, though I have seen occasional references to the corners issue on the board. Honestly, those haven't showed up on my machine, either. Ron's observations on the specifics of what he was seeing on his display pretty much mirror my own.

Also, while I can agree that 200 nits isn't up to par with a MaxBright panel, for example, it definitely stands head and shoulders above the 14.1" 150 nit version. Of course, some might contend that when things get too bright it only increases eye fatigue, so I guess the real question is this: did IBM strike the right balance with the Flexview? For my purposes, the answer to that is "yes." Yours may or may not be the same, but you might want to give yourself a bit of time to adapt to it before making a final decision.

Chief

foodle wrote:I recently got a T60p with the 15" Flexview UXGA screen (2623DDU), and I'm not sure if the display is behaving properly. When I view a completely white or light colored screen (e.g. this forum), some parts of the screen are darker than others. I can alter this by changing my viewing angle. Having heard so much about the great viewing angles of the Flexview screen, this perplexes me. Is this normal for a Flexview?

Update: Just called Lenovo and the tech support person insinuated that the issue was just my "imagination." That was not good customer service.

I have the flexview on my T60 and on 6 others in my office. So here is what I did:

1) Hid all desktop Icons on each machine. Changed the desktops to a plain white color. Set all the task bars to hide so that I would have the entire surface of the display to view.
2) Lined them up side by side on the conference table, and then turned the room lights down 50%.

The results of this rather unscientific test was that they all demonstrated the same amount of brightness, when veiwed from a wide variety of angles and truly scrutinized, there was the slightest bit of darkening in random areas. So then I reduced the brightness of each by 1/2. Again the areas where the illumination varied was very slight and unless I was looking for this it would go unnoticed.(and trust me I can be as picky and compulsive as the best of them ) And again I would like to emphasize that my observations above did not reveal any substantial darkening, just slightly noticeable.

I find the situation unnoticeable in the day to day use of my ThinkPad.

Finally, I think Chief's idea is appropriate. Give it some time and see if it continues to bother you.

Hope this helps ...

archer6 wrote:I have the flexview on my T60 and on 6 others in my office. So here is what I did:

1) Hid all desktop Icons on each machine. Changed the desktops to a plain white color. Set all the task bars to hide so that I would have the entire surface of the display to view.
2) Lined them up side by side on the conference table, and then turned the room lights down 50%.

Sorry to butt in here, but you could have just used Dead Pixel Buddy which allows you to produce full-screen single-colour "slideshows" to check for dead pixels/unnatural contrast as in your case.
http://www.laptopshowcase.co.uk/downloads.php?id=1

cheers!

Thanks for the comments. I looked at a few other machines and they all exhibit the viewing angle dependent brightness issue that I am seeing, but the effect is exacerbated on the 15" screen due to its size. After a few days of use, the effect doesn't bother me that much. Now I just have to decide if I can like with the bulk of the 15" over a 14" model.