Thinkpads Forum

I just bought a used T42, and its screen (SXGA+) sucks. Viewing angles are horrible, and constrast is not that great.
My Dell M90 WUXGA screen blows it away, SO much better.

Are the newer T6x screens better ?

Yes, they are way better, I don't know why but they just are, even though they're the same screen, maybe it's because the t60 cost's more so yeah that's probably it, anything that costs more is way better.

The T61 SXGA+ screen is a lot brighter than my T43 SXGA+ screen but viewing angles are just as bad (particularly vertical) and light leakage at the bottom of the screen is just as bad.

Is the light leakage bad? I am using a Vostro 1400 with a glossy screen, the light leakage from the bottom is horrible. There is no viewing angle on the laptop where the bottom of the screen colors are not washed out. The has bothered me to the point that I ordered a T61 14 inch WXGA wide to use instead. If the screen is going to be bad, I might have to start looking at HP

wearetheborg wrote:I just bought a used T42, and its screen (SXGA+) sucks. Viewing angles are horrible, and constrast is not that great.
My Dell M90 WUXGA screen blows it away, SO much better.

Are the newer T6x screens better ?

seriously? you're gonna compare your new shiny wide UXGA LCD to a 3-4yr old SXGA+ screen? Seriously?

I can't say how much better the T6x screens are but i sure hope they are somewhat better since 3-4yrs should have given them some time to better their techonolgy.

Also note that Thinkpad screens haven't been the best in all reality. You can get better screens on other machines that are all glossy and look great but Thinkpads generally come with lower screens unless you get an IPS/Flexview one.

Just to give you an idea of what I am trying to improve upon... These are not my pics, however my Dell shows the same results:





If the T61 screen has a chance of coming out that bad, I am going to have to cancel

ocellaris, a friend of mine bought a vostro and I have to say the quality is pretty bad overall, is that your impression?

A FOUR cell battery on the basic model. :lol

Your pictures aren't working, try again.

There is no way a t61 can even compare to a vostro from what I've seen, so don't throw the baby out with the bathwater yet, give it a chance. The vostro I got my hands on was a complete joke, and can't even be compared in ANY way to a thinkpad at any level.

well i saw the pics by opening them in another page:

http://www.bigempty.org/pics/vosbl2.jpg
http://www.bigempty.org/pics/vosbl3.jpg

I think he's talking about LCD light bleed from the bottom. I have not so much experience with that but as far as i know it's almost kinda universal to all LCDs because of their inherent backlight that they all use.

Sorry the pics do not work. You can find the pics along with other examples over here:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=154906

The Vostro featues and performance were definitely good for the price. Its definitely not junk and feels more solid than anything in the price range, however its also not something I was too keen on putting in a bag and travelling with daily. My main problem with the Vostro 1400 is the screen light leakage at the bottom. It washes out all the colors I can not bring myself to not notice it. I was going to send the laptop back and try another one in a few weeks, however my wife staked a claim on the laptop and she is keeping it now.

I ordered a T61 with a DVD burner and Nvidia 140, everything else is minimum configuration to keep the price down (T7100, Home Basic, 1GB 1 DIMM, no Bluetooth, no webcam, 4 cell, $909 + tax).

I have not so much experience with that but as far as i know it's almost kinda universal to all LCDs because of their inherent backlight that they all use.

Yeah some is common, maybe noticable in a dark room with the screen blacked, however the ammount I am getting on the Vostro 1400 is definitely outside of what I consider acceptable. I have a MacBook Pro and probably ~5 other laptops at work that I use off and on, only the Vostro has leakage this bad. A lot of people with the 1400 have been having the problem, mostly with LG screens.

SHoTTa35 wrote:
seriously? you're gonna compare your new shiny wide UXGA LCD to a 3-4yr old SXGA+ screen? Seriously?

.

Its not new. Both are rougly a year old. The T42 has a april 2006 label on it, the M90 was made in June 2006.

I saw a brand new T61 14" wxga+ today. It had the worst screen I've ever seen. Crazy amount of backlight bleeding.

Someone mentioned in the other forum that this is the nature of the 14" segment ? I know that the dell d620 (14") also had a really crappy screen.