Thinkpads Forum

Hey guys,

I am in a dilemma, and need your advice.

I currently own a Acer Travelmate 15.4" WXGA, and I am planning
to buy a T61 14.1" WXGA notebook. But I am very concerned about the screen size, since being a graduate student means typing out 100's of pages of word processor documents, going through a million excel sheets, giving all those online exams and preparing those never-ending power-point presentations. Also, since I am used to the big screen of my current notebook, I am just concerned, if a 14" WXGA would be a good choice for me.

I also considered buying a T60 15.4" WXGA , However, with the memorial sale on, the T61 seems to offer a better configuration at a cheaper price, and then it is infact the latest model.

Even though I like my travelmate for its display, I am tired of lugging it around, it is so [censored] heavy! also, it seems pretty delicate compared to a thinkpad, and has suffered 2 HDD crashes in the past one year alone!


Thanks, A-D

If you never had an experience with any thinkpad(s) before, then T61 won't disappoint you.

you might wanna try WXGA+, which has more resolution (finer detail -- looks sharper and easier to read).

But that higher resolution makes the text smaller, so if it's too small you can change the size to 125% in display properties to make everything 25% bigger (but it'll fit less on the screen).

Most ppl are unhappy with low resolution once they've seen higher res.

The 14" screen is smaller but it's clearly more portable. How much do you carry your laptop around?

@ski and rye

Thanks for your responses!

I 've used a T4(X), I don't remember really in the past. Also, one
of my friend owns a 14" T60 thinkpad - standard squarish screen.

I need to carry the laptop from my apt to the uni and sometimes to
cafes and all while working on projects, so i guess, I need something fairly mobile, yet stable and easy on the eyes.

The icons on the T60 standard screen seem to be way too smallish, and when I keep the 15.4" WXGA Glossy Travelmate (True Color: 1280 X 800) adjacent to the 14" matte T60, the Travelmate screen appears much clearer, and seems to be less straining on the eyes.

I wonder if the T61's WXGA would offer a better screen area, reduce the scrolling to the right, and if I can adjust its screen settings to match the display image on my Travelmate.

- A-D

a-d wrote:But I am very concerned about the screen size, since being a graduate student means typing out 100's of pages of word processor documents, going through a million excel sheets, giving all those online exams and preparing those never-ending power-point presentations. Also, since I am used to the big screen of my current notebook, I am just concerned, if a 14" WXGA would be a good choice for me.

Lol, love your posting. But rest assured, you'll be fine. I just finished being a grad student, and I survived the millions of papers with a 14.4" BenQ Joybook 7000.

You'll see exactly the same thing on the 14" WXGA as a 15.4" WXGA albeit slightly smaller on the 14". Having a SXGA screen everything on a WXGA seems horribly big to me, but everyone is different.