UltraLight TFT X60s review?

Message

Brave_turtle · #1 Post by **Brave_turtle** » Sat May 06, 2006 2:38 am

Hi guys,

The only UltraLight TFT X60s available right now is 170294U. I would like to know if someone has it and can review it. I searched in all forum and it doesn't seem that anyone reviewed it yet.

I saw ''Chopstick'' posted some picture but they got deleted and link doesn't exist anymore. He also said he didn't want to review it

A comparison between UL and normal screen would be very appreciated as I'm really temtped to buy it.

amgdoc · #2 Post by **amgdoc** » Sat May 06, 2006 8:51 am

I never wrote a review before. However, I will point out some difference between my x60s and x40.

1. The UL screen on the x60s is way brighter than the screen on my x40 (non-UL).

2. The keyboard on the x60s is horrbile

3. Programs run better and faster on the x60s (boot time is faster too, especially with all that thinkvantage stuff)

4. X60s fan noise is lower than the x40

5. The thinkpoint buttons are so small, I hate it.

6. weight is the same (2.68 lbs.) for both with the 4cell slim

I do not have another x60s except the 1702-94u. So maybe someone else can compare the difference between 94u and other x60s. I believe on paper, the other x60s have more weight, but more options (such as fingerprint reader, bt, etc.).

Brave_turtle · #3 Post by **Brave_turtle** » Sat May 06, 2006 9:12 am

Hey amgdoc thanx a lot!

This is a good start

Do you think the screen brightness is significantly bighter compared to your x40?

Also, do your slim battery stick from the back of the computer like 8cell? I know the battery is rated for 3 hours, but how long does yours last?

I'm in a very big dilemna right now because the 170294U price is higher than other x60s but have slim 4 cell battery and Ultra Light TFT while other have better specs and still a cost little less.

The screen is a very important for me. So do you think it's worth it?

amgdoc · #4 Post by **amgdoc** » Sat May 06, 2006 3:22 pm

The screen is very bright compared to my x40. I'm able to see clearly when sitting in a bright area, even with the sun coming at me. My x40 is in for service and I probably will not get it back till mid next week. I'll take pics of both with and without sunlight. There is a significant difference to me.

As for battery, for x40 (2.25) and x60s (2.5 hrs). Most likely the difference is due to wear of the x40 battery with age. I turn off practically anything when in class (lowest settings, etc, etc.). I do not undervolt since the notebook hangs every now and then when coming out of suspend or hibernate.

The reason I chose this over the other x60s is the weight issue, not the screen. The spec sheet (tabook i think) indicates this was the lightest of all x60s available currently on the market in the US. With all the crap I carry around campus, even a 0.01 lbs makes a whole lot of difference on my back.

Brave_turtle · #5 Post by **Brave_turtle** » Sat May 06, 2006 6:35 pm

amgdoc,

I really appreciate your help. I'm looking forward the pics whenever you'll be able to take them!

Anyone else has any experience?

jl123 · #6 Post by **jl123** » Sat May 06, 2006 9:55 pm

I have a ultralight X60s too. Now maybe I'm alone on this but I do have some issues with the screen. Though I cannot compare it with an X40 which I do not have. I think the screen is great, yes very bright when plugged in, but it seems to lose about a third of its brightness on battery. So my issue is that on battery the screen seems a bit dim (on max brightness) to me. IT COULD VERY WELL BE that this screen has the SAME dimness as the X40 when on battery. That would be really unfortunate if it were the case. It is important to note that lenovo might very well pull back the ultralights brightness more than other screens to save battery life- as maybe its take sup more power than regualr? Something to check into.

If it was a perfect world I would STILL like to see the Ultrabrite have MORE brightness in battery mode. I really would like other thoughts on this?? Maybe there is some way to improve the brightness on this screen when in battery mode?? Any thought on this would be appreciated. When I get a camera I'll take pictures of the screen.

ALso of note are color and viewing angles. The colors seem pretty good although certainly not that vivid or life-like- this might have more to do with the traditional use of IBM's for traditional software usage-excel,word, lotus notes etc. the viewing angles from the sides are very good, however the viewing angles from above or below the direct line of sight are poor.

About the keyboard, most of the keys are still quite good and most basic typing tasks are quite easy and comfortable to acomplish IMHO. Granted some hot keys are messed up, but still a very very good keyboard.

I get 2:50 on full brightness, but I really should get the 8 cell.

emo · #7 Post by **emo** » Sun May 07, 2006 12:08 am

jl123 wrote: If it was a perfect world I would STILL like to see the Ultrabrite have MORE brightness in battery mode. I really would like other thoughts on this?? Maybe there is some way to improve the brightness on this screen when in battery mode?? Any thought on this would be appreciated. When I get a camera I'll take pictures of the screen.

Just enter BIOS (by pressing F1 during computer bootup), in Display, set the Brightness from "Normal" to "High", then you'll have the same brightness for both battery and AC mode.

jl123 · #8 Post by **jl123** » Sun May 07, 2006 1:36 am

emo,
Yes, good idea. I did this and low and behold it works! The screen is super bright. I really think the standard setting for screen brightness with battery was judged too low. In terms of this new setting, wow, actually I think IBM/Lenovo might have low balled it with the 180nit rating, it looks more like 200. Or at leat a true 180 which is better than a quote of 150 nits for the X40 and independant evaluators (in a german mag) getting 125. BTW I beleive this is a new gen Samsung panel.

By my estimation I think the battery life goes down-using this setting, by about 15%? Anyone else have any guess on that? ALso it may be worth it for me (others) to change power settings to max econo, maybe that would even things out a bit, or not. Thoughts?

Brave_turtle · #9 Post by **Brave_turtle** » Sun May 07, 2006 11:54 am

Thanx jl123,

Does ur battery stick from the back of the notebook like the 8 cell battery?

I hope the slim 4 cell battery doesnt have that bump at the back.

amgdoc · #10 Post by **amgdoc** » Sun May 07, 2006 12:06 pm

slim has no hump.

el aye · #11 Post by **el aye** » Sun May 07, 2006 4:57 pm

amgdoc wrote:slim has no hump.

So you get 2.5 hrs with the slim battery?

And what exactly sucks about the keyboard?

jl123 · #12 Post by **jl123** » Sun May 07, 2006 10:41 pm

One other note about the Ultrabrite..I must say its bright, almost too bright like over 200 nits, almost too brite to look at over a long period. And further the difference between the highest bright setting and the next brightest is something huge like 30%, to the point where the next setting is too dim. Its all kind of strange. I think this is a new gen Samsung screen, and I think Samsung probably delievered more than Lenovo even specified. I wonder if there is any way to customize the screen setting; in other words creating an entirely new screen brightness some-where between Ultra-brite and dim? Is that technically possible? JL

jl123 · #13 Post by **jl123** » Mon May 08, 2006 10:25 am

Ok well I figured out how to further change the brightness which works quite well. Just right click properties, get to setting then click advanced then click Intel Graphics Media Driver then click Color and swith the brightness there, it works. It really does take the edge off that brite white. JL

amgdoc · #14 Post by **amgdoc** » Wed May 10, 2006 3:57 pm

here is a pic. guess which one is the ultralight (with just looking at the stickers on the palm rest)

http://img128.imageshack.us/img128/2539 ... rge2ts.jpg

edit: 56k warning. resized image a bit.

amgdoc · #15 Post by **amgdoc** » Wed May 10, 2006 4:01 pm

el aye wrote:
amgdoc wrote:slim has no hump.
So you get 2.5 hrs with the slim battery?

And what exactly sucks about the keyboard?

Yes about battery.

About keyboard, I find the win key useless and i'm also use to the x40. Give me some time, and I'm sure the win key will blend in with my daily typing (I'm already using it to open run, win+r). Also, the thinkpoint buttons are not as big as the x40 and as nice looking. Other than that, the x60s is great. runs quieter and faster.

amgdoc · #16 Post by **amgdoc** » Wed May 10, 2006 4:04 pm

jl123 wrote:One other note about the Ultrabrite..I must say its bright, almost too bright like over 200 nits, almost too brite to look at over a long period. And further the difference between the highest bright setting and the next brightest is something huge like 30%, to the point where the next setting is too dim. Its all kind of strange. I think this is a new gen Samsung screen, and I think Samsung probably delievered more than Lenovo even specified. I wonder if there is any way to customize the screen setting; in other words creating an entirely new screen brightness some-where between Ultra-brite and dim? Is that technically possible? JL

I agree about the brightness. The pic I took does not do the Ultralight justice. The highest setting is unbearable in room with normal lighting. I have the screen down on 3-5. 6 and 7 is too much for my eyes.

jl123 · #17 Post by **jl123** » Wed May 10, 2006 6:11 pm

Amgdoc:

Just looking at your screen you might want to go into the graphics driver and adjust the contrast as I wrote here:

"Ok well I figured out how to further change the brightness which works quite well. Just right click properties, get to setting then click advanced then click Intel Graphics Media Driver then click Color and swith the brightness there, it works. It really does take the edge off that brite white."

Myself, I like the brightness and so keep it on highest but set the custom driver settings down from there.

Brave_turtle · #18 Post by **Brave_turtle** » Wed May 10, 2006 9:22 pm

Woah I'm impressed!

It seems that this screen is even brighter than the best T60 IPS panel.

Anyone can confirm?

billhao · #19 Post by **billhao** » Tue Jun 13, 2006 3:13 pm

are you buy it from lenovo web site? is it possible to customize it with a 100G 7200rpm hard disk at lenovo web site? thank you very much.

amgdoc · #20 Post by **amgdoc** » Fri Jul 21, 2006 5:43 pm

billhao wrote:are you buy it from lenovo web site? is it possible to customize it with a 100G 7200rpm hard disk at lenovo web site? thank you very much.

A month too late response maybe, but.....

I had to call a sales rep. to order the notebook. It was not on the site when I ordered it (not sure if it is on the site now either). Also, I opted not to get a 100GB hd since that will just add more weight and I just wanted the notebook to be as light as possible. So I kept the default options.

dannyp · #21 Post by **dannyp** » Fri Jul 21, 2006 6:40 pm

amgdoc wrote:
About keyboard, I find the win key useless and i'm also use to the x40. Give me some time, and I'm sure the win key will blend in with my daily typing (I'm already using it to open run, win+r).

More uses:

Win+D - Toggle Minimize/Maximize
Win+L - Lock the thinkpad

madana · #22 Post by **madana** » Tue Jul 25, 2006 3:12 am

Sorry if I am missing something here, but am I right that x60s UL screen consumes more power and therefore decreases battery life as compared to a regular X60s screen?

Also, does computer with UL weigh any less?

sugo · #23 Post by **sugo** » Tue Jul 25, 2006 5:35 am

UL screen X60s models are around 0.2lb lighter, everything else equal.

madana · #24 Post by **madana** » Tue Jul 25, 2006 6:05 am

UL screen X60s models are around 0.2lb lighter, everything else equal.

Sugo -- do you mean extra brightness of UL does not decrease battery life in x60s? I felt otherwise after reading a few postings in here somehow.

amgdoc · #25 Post by **amgdoc** » Tue Jul 25, 2006 3:29 pm

In the begining, I got only about a good 4 hrs with the slim battery and the extended battery.

However, after configuring the notebook (e.g., turning off lots of unnecessary services and dimming a the screen and turning off wireless), I get a good 8+ hours!

madana · #26 Post by **madana** » Tue Jul 25, 2006 6:47 pm

However, after configuring the notebook (e.g., turning off lots of unnecessary services and dimming a the screen and turning off wireless), I get a good 8+ hours!

Does not having to dim the UL down to get a decent run on batteries do away with the very use of having UL in the first place?

In other words, how does UL compare with a regular screen in terms of power consumption with the same settings for both computers?

Sorry for being so tenacious, but I would like to make an informed decision with your help.

amgdoc · #27 Post by **amgdoc** » Thu Jul 27, 2006 9:08 pm

madana wrote:
However, after configuring the notebook (e.g., turning off lots of unnecessary services and dimming a the screen and turning off wireless), I get a good 8+ hours!
Does not having to dim the UL down to get a decent run on batteries do away with the very use of having UL in the first place?

In other words, how does UL compare with a regular screen in terms of power consumption with the same settings for both computers?

Sorry for being so tenacious, but I would like to make an informed decision with your help.

The UL comes in handy in very bright areas. In some of my classes, I do increase the display all the way up. Luckily, the class is only an 1.5 hrs. At that time, the estimated battery time (slim+extended) is only 5.5 hrs. However, in my other classes, I dim the light.

At home, I remove my batteries and use the notebook as a desktop. With my desk being near the window, the display is on the highest setting. I had the x40 before this and could not stand the lack of brightness. the UL is a bit better.

another option is going with an non-UL and getting a good LCD at around $200. I would have gone with this option if I were not using the notebook 80% of the time up and around campus.

devilsrejection · #28 Post by **devilsrejection** » Thu Jul 27, 2006 11:33 pm

jesus i can't wait to see an UL screen in real life, i have an x40 and thing it's plenty bright for me.

UltraLight TFT X60s review?

UltraLight TFT X60s review?

Who is online