Thinkpads Forum

I'm coming from a regular 15" screen with 1024x786 resolution that was perfect for my eyes, to my brand new t60WS with the WSXGA+ widescreen and no matter how i fiddle with all of the settings, i can't get it to work for my battered old eyes.

right now I've got the dpi setting up to 135% and all the appearance settings adjusted up. and yet i still can't get everything to work out right. this is mainly true for the Internet, using Firefox, because if one site is sized right, the next site is either way too big or way too small. Or else if it's the right size, then various of the elements are overlapping or right on top of each other. Very few sites end up looking just right, and I'm about ready to eat the 15% restocking fee and send this baby back.

but as a last resort, here i am, because maybe there's some great combination of settings and fonts that someone here knows about that will at least *approximate* those of my old 1024x768 screen. i know, i know, if that's what i wanted, i should have gotten the R series 15" notebook. Live and learn. But before I do that -- can anyone here help at all?

if your main concern is the size of websites, i'd recommend (against my better judgment) using IE7, since it has a scaling renderer. That way, you can set it to show all web sites at, say, 150%, something you can't do in Firefox (although Firefox 3 will have a scaling renderer). In firefox, you can change the font size, but this isn't a great solution since it leads to overlapping problems when images and other elements don't scale along with font. Opera also has a scaling renderer, and is an excellent browser.

Hope this helps! Enjoy the thinkpad.

2 more quick things:

1) play with cleartype settings. i find that cleartype makes my eyes hurt, but this differs from person to person. there is also a cleartype tuner available from microsoft that lets you finetune brightness.

2) play with brightness settings. I find on my flexview 15" that 5/7 is optimal brightness; any higher makes my eyes hurt after 30 minutes or so.

Are you running Vista? Unlike XP, it has true scaleable font support.
Well worth it.

sadly, i outsmarted myself and got it with xp. what was i thinking?

also: i've tried using IE7 and, say, on my Google homepage, if if zoom it to 135, it's flung a lot of the page right off the screen, forcing me to scroll back & forth.

I had a similar experience w/ opera.

hmmmm.

well, you can try a non-native resolution. could be blurry but might be worth it.

No Squint extension for Firefox

solved it for me on a 15" flexview

I'd second the NO SQUINT extension. I used to use ZOOMY but no squint has a default zoom setting that works OK.

But I've had the same problem. I have the resolution at it's max because it's the only one that is sharp enough (the others are just too blury) but had to increase the DPI to make it readable. i'm not so certain that I would get a WS if I had to purchase another one.

i've been using no squint for a few days now and while it helps, it's pretty far from perfect. seems like every other site needs at least some adjustment. and then, as before, you'll sometimes get the print just right just as various elements begin to overlap.

i can't believe more people don't have this problem. i mean, i'm not that blind. or maybe i am and i'm just kidding myself.

it's hard to find a notebook w/ a regular 15" screen. i'm going out in a few to check a few screens at best buy. maybe a 14.1 will suffice.

thanks, all, for your help!

floete wrote:it's hard to find a notebook w/ a regular 15" screen.

Most local stores have 15.4" widescreen laptops with WXGA (1280x800) resolution. Pixel density is higher than that of a 4:3 15" XGA screen (98 DPI vs. 85.3 DPI), but things still look very big. My Sony Vaio has such a screen.

floete: IMHO, You're Right! High res screens ARE hard to use with typical Web pages etc. I have a 15" XGA and use 135% "Zoom" Setting. The main reason that I bought a ThinkPad was because it was one of the only Laptops avaliable with a 1024 X 768 Display. I also use it with Photoshop with NO problems. I'm even thinking of buying a R60 as a "Spare" 15" XGA Laptop.

Paul: glad to hear I'm not the only one! is the R series the only option at the moment, lenovowise, if you want a 15" screen w/ xga?

The 15.4 WS is also available in WXGA resolutions (which would be much larger for you). The T60 14.1 screen is also available in XGA (again much larger). Just look at a recent TABook;
http://www5.pc.ibm.com/us/me.nsf/webdoc ... tabook.pdf

Steve

Try setting your screen resolution to 1280x800.

Yes - the t60 (not t60p) is available in just about every configuration with a 15.4" WXGA panel. That's 1366×768, so very similar to what you're used to, if a tiny bit smaller. If it were me, I'd take that over the 15" R-series, just becaues the T's are higher-end machines.

Perhaps if you email executive relations they'd be willing to swap it for you without the restocking fee? Best of luck!

writing executive relatons is a great idea. have you ever done it? d'ya think i should email them or send a snazzy letter via snailmail, overnighting it maybe.

thanks again!

I was having a lot of eye strain and associated headaches when I first got mine too, so I went to the optometrist to get some "computer glasses", which are basically just low-power glasses with an anti-glare coating. It turns out that I have astigmatism in both eyes and am slightly farsighted. If you haven't had your eyes checked in a while, perhaps now would be a good time; it is normal for vision to decline over time.

I am not trying to be snarky and just say, "Go get some glasses." I'm just sharing my experience and letting you know that it may be possible to enjoy all that screen real estate.

All the best and good luck.

thanks all for your help. in the end I took sb37's advice about customer service and, well, it worked out ffffar better than i could have hoped. they're waiving the restocking fee and allowing me to get a t60 with the plain 15.5" XGA screen (no more flexview's in the house), which I think will work out fine, esp since i decided to upgrade to vista, for the scaleable fonts. i had saved a lot of money on my previous order by using a 15% off coupon that has since expired; in the exchange, lenovo even honored that old coupon.
i think the company really bent over backwards to help me out. i guess that's why i decided to step up and pay the premium for the L in the first place.
all i can say, at this juncture, is bravo!

wow! that's great, glad that i could help out there. you should be receiving a bill for my consulting fees (at 15 percent of your original purchase price) in the mail. enjoy your new machine!

scott