Thinkpads Forum

although this is my first post, i have been lurking here for a while. i just joined because i thought the following information might be helpful.

today i spoke with several salespeople at lenovo. they uniformly confirmed that lenovo will be discontinuing all 4:3 screens. they claimed that this was a reaction to the marketplace, implying that it was becoming more difficult to obtain 4:3 panels. furthermore, there are no ips widescreens on the drawing board. therefore, it looks like flexview is being completely phased out. as are 14" and 15" 4:3 screens. that may be why some have noticed that 15" models cannot be configured at lenovo's website anymore. if you are in the market for a flexview or a 4:3 screen, you should purchase soon (or be willing to buy used).

the good news (for some, anyway), is that it was confirmed to me that 14" widescreens are around the corner. they will be introduced with the T61 which should be announced in the coming months. although i could not pin down an exact date, the salesperson did admit that he usually does not learn of plans until the month before the public announcement. therefore, it is reasonable to expect an announcement soon. for those looking for a smaller widescreen, your time is coming. but, it will not be flexview.

i was not able to get any further information with regards to other changes slated for the T61. hopefully those questions will be answered soon enough.

hope this information is of some help.

thanks,
bA

Thanks for the good news!

That is true. We spoke with the Lenovo folks this week for a possible purchase for school and from what I just learned today, T61 is going to have widescreen for the 14", though I have no idea if we will contine to get the regular 4:3 ones.

I would think this would be immediately after Intel's Santa Rosa in the first week of May.

gator wrote:spoke with the Lenovo folks this week

Did you ask what resolutions would be available?

pianowizard wrote:Did you ask what resolutions would be available?

i can't speak for gator, but i can tell you that i was not able to get any more information out of the reps than what i have already shared. in other words, either the reps didn't have specifics, or they weren't able to share them. probably the former.

-bA

:::

The T61 14" WS is about the same size/weight as the Z61t 14"
selling now. If you don't need video card & want extra/full
ports like firewire & SVideo Out, you can get Z61t now.

:::

T61 with 14 WS is a great option i hope it will have a webcam if so ill difenetly grab one.

I was just going to say the same thing. If you don't need the hot (literally) discrete ATI X1600 graphics chip, the Z61t should be on your list. And get it quick as Lenovo will be phasing it out (heard it on these boards).

CJ

Talon88 wrote::::

The T61 14" WS is about the same size/weight as the Z61t 14"
selling now. If you don't need video card & want extra/full
ports like firewire & SVideo Out, you can get Z61t now.

:::

cj3209 wrote:I was just going to say the same thing. If you don't need the hot (literally) discrete ATI X1600 graphics chip, the Z61t should be on your list.

The reason I find a 14.1" widescreen T series more exciting than a 14.1" Z series is that the Z series appears to have a higher failure rate than the T series. Also, I suspect that there will be an WSXGA+ option for the 14.1" T series, which is currently lacking in the 14.1" Z series. That's why I asked gator whether he knew anything about the wide T61's resolution options.

I just spoke with a sales rep at Lenovo named Mohammad.

He confirmed that the 14" widescreen T series is official, and it will be coming at the END OF NEXT MONTH!

He could not tell me if they are matte screens or gloss screens. He could tell me that there will be two resolution options, including WSXGA+ as the higher offering.

Also, he CONFIRMED that it will be the new Intel SANTA ROSA technology.

I asked him if the graphics card would still be 256, or if it would be 512. He said he didn't know, but that he is sure it will be the latest and greatest technology.

If this has a 512 video card, this will *definitely* be the ThinkPad I finally commit to getting. Hopefully it has a video cam for business web-conferencing.

Hope this helps,
3nigma

pianowizard wrote: Did you ask what resolutions would be available?

I called them today again and got confirmed that WSXGA+ will be available, but no flexview on the 14" WS models (as expected). In fact, the rep was not very willing to disclose information about availability of regular 4:3 15" models and flexview on 15".

T61 is coming soon, folks!

Well, I was just wondering would ALL of us sell off their current T60 to buy the T61 depending if they find the later better?

Personally speaking I wouldn't sell my t60 14" for the widescreen... it took me a while to set my comp running to the way I like it... and it's perfect now. Plus the Santa Rosa chip? don't think much difference will be seen... if I wanted a widescreen that bad, probably I'd wait until next year for T80... (hopefully it'll have a quieter fan cooling system... ^^) also since I'm no graphics/cad person, viewing websites and writing docs on a 4:3 screen is perfect...

gator wrote:I called them today again and got confirmed that WSXGA+ will be available

Hooray!

gator wrote:but no flexview on the 14" WS models (as expected).

No problem!

ryengineer wrote:Well, I was just wondering would ALL of us sell off their current T60 to buy the T61 depending if they find the later better?

If the 14" WSXGA+ T61 is lighter than my current 14.1" SXGA+ T60, I would definitely do it.

3nigma wrote:...
He confirmed that the 14" widescreen T series is official, and it will be coming at the END OF NEXT MONTH!
...
Also, he CONFIRMED that it will be the new Intel SANTA ROSA technology.
....

if the T61 implements santa rosa, then it stands to reason that the T61 won't launch before santa rosa. the most recent reports are that santa rosa will launch on 8 may 07. that seems to be in line with what the lenovo reps have led us to believe wrt to a launch date for the new T61.

-bA

boyAfraid wrote:if the T61 implements santa rosa, then it stands to reason that the T61 won't launch before santa rosa. the most recent reports are that santa rosa will launch on 8 may 07. that seems to be in line with what the lenovo reps have led us to believe wrt to a launch date for the new T61.

All is still a mystery ... but there are clues.

First, CeBIT almost upon us, and will surely see a slew of new laptop launches. Gigabyte has already confirmed that they will announce a number of Santa Rosa-based models there, although no word yet on when they will ship.

Second, the Laptop Logic article specifically refers to Centrino Pro. Santa Rosa actually has two forms: a Centrino Duo update, and Centrino Pro. The latter is reputed to have some of the features of Intel's vPro desktop platform, and could conceivably debut after the initial Centrino Duo-branded Santa Rosa chipsets.

Beyond the date, the sad thing for me personally is that the planned HSDPA WWAN support was canceled by Intel (who was co-developing it with Nokia).

ryengineer wrote:Well, I was just wondering would ALL of us sell off their current T60 to buy the T61 depending if they find the later better?

Hardly, no FlexView display anymore

BTW who is the supplier of MacBook Pro 15.4" widescreen displays which are supposed to be IPS ?

That Wiki is incorrect; MacBook Pros have a PVA panel.

My GF is working on one right next to me, and I can certainly see it clearly. It's bright. Too bad it's such a low resolution (which generally doesn't matter until you try to work in Illustrator or something similarly demanding.)

IPS or no, I'd love to work on a t61 14" WSXGA+ with a fully loaded ATI and a flash drive in the ultrabay. [censored].

seeplus wrote:It's bright.

Brightness isn't one of the advantages of IPS displays though. On average, IPS displays are just as bright as non-IPS ones. Your gf's Macbook Pro just happens to have a brighter screen.

Your gf's Macbook Pro just happens to have a brighter screen.

No complaints here, my 2613 gets the job done every day :)

boyAfraid wrote: today i spoke with several salespeople at lenovo. they uniformly confirmed that lenovo will be discontinuing all 4:3 screens. they claimed that this was a reaction to the marketplace, implyin

Say it ain't true! I'm looking to upgrade my t43 to t61 when they come out but I don't want a widescreen. I'm going to cry if lenovo ditchs 4:3.

Yeh, me too. I'll see what the machines are like but I was really yearning for a 15'' 1600x1200 screen with Flexview. Such a stupid decision.

When this finally comes out, I can FINALLY purchase my Thinkpad!

I have been waiting for a widescreen 14" literally since September 2006, putting off my purchase. It has been KILLING me to wait this long. I have even been going with no laptop, and having to use my wife's iBook!

Here are the specs for my DREAM MACHINE. If it has these specs, I will buy one in a HEARTBEAT.

- 14" Widescreen
- Vibrant-Color Screen (as opposed to matte screen)
- Core 2 Duo 2.0 GHz Processor
- ATI 512MB graphics card (256 would still be okay)
- 2-4GB RAM (if 4GB becomes affordable, 2GB is okay)
- 100+GB 7200 RPM HDD (I use a networked 500GB MyBook for storage, not a big concern there)
- WebConferencing Video Cam Embedded
- Backlit keyboard

I can live without the webcam and keyboard, but what I really want is the next-generation of high-end 512MB video cards in laptops now. And to top it off, if it would PLEASE have a GLOSS-SCREEN, I would KILL for it! I will drop a couple grand in a heartbeat for one of these.

Even if it has a matte finish screen, I will do a transplant to give it a gloss screen, like that other person did on these forums. That will give me an opportunity to do my other mod, which is to install a glowing "Apple" logo on the back. It sounds out of character, but I'm installing Mac OS X as my main OS on this thing .

-3nigma

3nigma wrote:When this finally comes out, I can FINALLY purchase my Thinkpad!

I have been waiting for a widescreen 14" literally since September 2006, putting off my purchase. It has been KILLING me to wait this long. I have even been going with no laptop, and having to use my wife's iBook!

Here are the specs for my DREAM MACHINE. If it has these specs, I will buy one in a HEARTBEAT.

- 14" Widescreen
- Vibrant-Color Screen (as opposed to matte screen)
- Core 2 Duo 2.0 GHz Processor
- ATI 512MB graphics card (256 would still be okay)
- 2-4GB RAM (if 4GB becomes affordable, 2GB is okay)
- 100+GB 7200 RPM HDD (I use a networked 500GB MyBook for storage, not a big concern there)
- WebConferencing Video Cam Embedded
- Backlit keyboard

I can live without the webcam and keyboard, but what I really want is the next-generation of high-end 512MB video cards in laptops now. And to top it off, if it would PLEASE have a GLOSS-SCREEN, I would KILL for it! I will drop a couple grand in a heartbeat for one of these.

Even if it has a matte finish screen, I will do a transplant to give it a gloss screen, like that other person did on these forums. That will give me an opportunity to do my other mod, which is to install a glowing "Apple" logo on the back. It sounds out of character, but I'm installing Mac OS X as my main OS on this thing .

-3nigma

Sounds like you should buy a Mac

ThinkTay wrote:Sounds like you should buy a Mac

Yeah, I really want one, but the build quality isn't as good as a ThinkPad. Especially the new released ones, they have had a lot of quality issues and problems with them. ThinkPads are hardware perfection, and Macs are software perfection. I want to blend the best of both worlds =).

Can anyone remind me where the thread and photos are of the dude who switched his matte screen with a gloss screen? I have been searching extensively and can't find it for the life of me.

Thanks,
-3nigma

There is the Nushield install thread:
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=7576

Some LCD replacement discussion:
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=19958

Why not just buy a mac......


you can get an iBook right now...or wait for the smaller powerbook....


Thinkpad is a Thinkpad....not an apple. guh whatever.

Petekilla wrote:Why not just buy a mac......

you can get an iBook right now...or wait for the smaller powerbook....

Thinkpad is a Thinkpad....not an apple. guh whatever.

3nigma wrote:Yeah, I really want one, but the build quality isn't as good as a ThinkPad. Especially the new released ones, they have had a lot of quality issues and problems with them. ThinkPads are hardware perfection, and Macs are software perfection. I want to blend the best of both worlds =).

See my previous post regarding the issue of Apple computers. The quality isn't the same!

At least *read* the thread before you *post*. Your "guh" comments aren't really contributing.

-3nigma

Having owned ThinkPads and Macs for years I can tell you that the build quality is about equal on both (much better than most others, but far from perfect). I have had about the same amount of defects on IBM, then Lenovo hardware as I have had with Apple.
They are both very good, IMO.

Steve

3nigma wrote:

Petekilla wrote:

3nigma wrote:

No 4:3?

[censored], I can't believe Lenovo would do that. I want my laptop 14" and 4:3...

Guess I'll be looking at 4:3 X61s next year then