Thinkpads Forum

snife wrote:I personally don't see this as a good usage of widescreen, human processing should focus on 1 task at a time to be most effective: It is simply not a good idea to have 30% of the screen dedicating to distractions (or blank space). And machine designs should support effective work, multi-tasking / task switching costs are bad for efficiency

I'm one of those web guys who is guilty of designing for 1024x768 screens (and I really push it!) . It used to be 800x600 displays.

It's a debate that's raged for years - fluid vs static layouts, and it probably will be around for years to come. There are certain things that fit into a fluid layout better than a static, such as forums or a heavily text-oriented site like a Slashdot. Other things look better when designed with a static design.

However, widescreens are good for those applications that are designed to work on a WS: applications with lots of panels, e.g. Photoshop... I'd say business users will accept WS more eventually, as more and more business applications start to build primarily to work best on WS

I completely agree here - I have a MacBook in addition to my X41t, and I much prefer things like Photoshop on the MacBook with a widescreen display.

I do think the X series will be widescreen by this time next year, but even if it wasn't, the X series has its niche and fills it well.

I actually enjoy reading websites / discussion groups that organize their sentences in rows with < 15-20 words
Let's imagine the extreme: if you open a sheet of newspaper tomorrow and find that every line of the newspaper goes from the leftmost edge where your left hand is holding to the rightmost edge on the right hand side: you'll go crazy as there'll be lots of reading errors and you'll lose easily and can't refer back to previous words and sentences as painlessly as when newspaper are organized in columns
The ergonomic guideline should be that the layout should put all the text in easily viewable visual area, that's why many journals even split text into two columns on letter/A4 size printouts. It is better to make readers to read in row length that need fewer saccadic jumps
Therefore, even if we are using widescreens, we don't want to maximized the browser for reading text

Agree 100%. That's really why a lot of sites (including the ones I work on) are fixed-width.

This is the first time I have posted here. I just went to order an x60s through my local Lenovo dealer. Here is what he came back with since everything I looked at was on backorder/discontinued.

Lenovo replied because I couldn't find any.
They confirmed what they have so far and maybe from now on are Vista Business machines.
So you know, you can order these and downgrade to XPP for free(see above)
and then go back to Vista when your software products are ready and willing
for Vista. Buy one o/s, get one free, a BOGO!

Here's 2 models to consider:

Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate

ThinkPad X61s 766945U $2,299
12.1-in TFT (1024X768),
Bluetooth Wireless Technology,
Integrated Fingerprint Reader,
Intel Core 2 Duo processor L7500 (LV),
Mobile Intel GM965 Express Chipset,
Intel GMA X3100 Integrated Graphics,
100.0GB / 7200rpm,
Ultrabase + DVD Recordable, 2 GB (2 x 1GB),
Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG, 8-cell battery,
Verizon Wireless Broadband Access,
Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate)




Description
Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate

ThinkPad X61s 766945U $2,299

(12.1-in TFT (1024X768),
Bluetooth Wireless Technology,
Integrated Fingerprint Reader,
Intel Core 2 Duo processor L7500 (LV),
Mobile Intel GM965 Express Chipset,
Intel GMA X3100 Integrated Graphics,
100.0GB / 7200rpm,
Ultrabase + DVD Recordable, 2 GB (2 x 1GB),
Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG, 8-cell battery,
Verizon Wireless Broadband Access,
Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate)

Thanks for the specs. It seems that you posted the same one twice? I was happy to see an X61s variant. It would be nice to know weight and whether the Ultralight LCD was available.
Some people are never satisfied

Yes, I am sorry.
Here is what my local reseller just sent me to look over in case I wanted to change my order.

x61
Lenovo - TOPSELLER X61 T7300 2.0G 1GB 120GB UB6/DVDRW 12.1-XGA AGN WVB
76757KU
In Stock: 0 $1,841.23

Lenovo - TOPSELLER X61 T7300 2.0G 1GB 120GB 12.1-XGA WL WVB
76754KU
In Stock: 0 $1,516.12

Lenovo - TOPSELLER X61 T7300 2.0G 2GB 160GB UB6/DVDRW 12.1-XGA WL WVB
767559U
In Stock: 0 $2,166.35

x61s

Lenovo - TOPSELLER X61S L7500 1.60G 2GB 100GB DVD 12.1-XGA WL WVB
766945U
In Stock: 0 $2,491.46

Lenovo - X61S L7500 1GB/120 12.1 WL F WVB
766636U
In Stock: 0 $1,956.90


And he is claiming a shipping date of May 21st. I have ordered the X61s 766945U. Hopefully, it is not going to be a dissapointment like trying to order the last Core 2 Duo X60s that was mistakenly put onto the Lenovo website.

Another opinion:

If you think a wide screen will make browser and document viewing difficult, or will just plain waste space, consider this: If you have a wide screen tablet, rotate into portrait mode. Then your news site really does look like a newspaper. At work, I have two monitors, one in portrait. Great for reading PDFs, help, OneNote files, etc.

As for widescreen landscape, you can open two browsers and display them side by side and neither will seem cramped. I do this all the time with Word documents. Nice.

BTW, I'm writing this using a 15.4 inch wide screen, but am going to buy a X61T undoubtedly with a 4:3 aspect. I'm sure I'll love it despite being a bit cramped!