Thinkpads Forum

Hey guys, I have a t420s... and I have to say the display is just god awful. For a laptop of this caliber.... wtf? when you put it next to another machine you notice just how awful it looks. Double so when you are using a monitor for extended desktop. What is the thinkpad with the nicest (glossy) type screen?

yips.... I got SAME SHOCK .. when I first booted up my new T420s,,,,,, and yips its FAST, SLICK !! ..... and even though I have sw Graphics (think this is not avalible anymore) ,,,, the DISPLAY SUCKS big time. I was even game-enough to email the THINKPAD PRODUCT MANAGER about it ,,,,,, seems it wnt to deAF Ears! I am not even a GAMER with laptops so ext display makes no sence - mine often is work/travelling laptop
Due to this mess - I ended up getting a X220T ( a little better) ,,, but than had way to many issues ended up replacing both with a Sony Z2 Series with 1080P display +SSD_256..... blah blah.....

Lenovo laptop-Screen - Best Choices around = X220 with IPS panel
OR
- X1 with Infninity Glass ....... (to get this make sure you choose the option :
"" 12.5" Premium HD (1366x768) LED Backlit Display, Mobile Broadband Ready, 2x2 Antenna the "Premium HD Display""

2x2 = above will give you Webcam + Broadband card
3x3 = give you NO WEBCAM with BB wirless + extra (3rd)Anetnna for 'stronger singals"

Pls check with Lenovo Sales , as things often change in a drop of hat ,,,,,,,,
Hope this helps
Cheers

That display is made for low power. Brightness is low, color filter is thin making low color saturation. That's how the T420s can run 5-6 hours on a tinny battery. I use a T60p with UXGA IPS (Flexview) at home and it is at the other end of the spectrum. But it'll be lucky if it last more than 2 hours on a full charge.

I came to like the T420s' portability a lot but along with that something has to give. I tend to move windows to the desktop monitor too for better readability.

sjthinkpader wrote:That display is made for low power. Brightness is low, color filter is thin making low color saturation. ........I came to like the T420s' portability a lot but along with that something has to give. I tend to move windows to the desktop monitor too for better readability.

Seems you are saying LOWER POWER = means you get LOWEST QUALITY SCREEN

Am kidna confused at bit; so if you saying that screen gives "lowersaturation etc" to make the Battery last longer ..................ummmm I have a SONY Z2 series machine and it does pretty much easy on full HD (1080P) display with near 8 hrs ( normal use on flights from Europe to USA) ,,,,,, its easy !!

INMHO..Lenovo just chort changed a lot of T&Edge $20s users with lowest & crappy QUALITY SCREEN..... and thus using that as excuse for 'lowering the pwoer consumption"....... if this same lodic was applied , than MOST MAC PRO laptops would only last 1-2hrs in battery mode ...I had the T410s with SW graphics before , its a a solid machine with better VLUE for money vs light and SPEED of proc etc etc ,,,,,,in my view. sad day when I trade mine to what IO thought was better one to a T420s ,,,,,as T420s has that SAME crappy screen with PLUG IN POWER !!!

Sorry dont want to sound like sour-graps , sicne I already jumped ship ,,,,,, cannt deal with ENDLESS 'lame' explications from lenovo ! However I still have my T60 and T61 with FLEXviews ,#home ,,,

There are a lot of variables here. Your Sony Z2 8 hr experience was with a 6 cell or 12 cell battery? What was the lug around weight with the battery that did 8 hr?

Was it really 1080p? Sony Z2 screen spec that I can see is the same 1600x900 as T420s. Z2 is 13.1 vs T420s' 14.1. You don't like the larger dot pitch?

I paid $1000 on Lenovo.com for my i5 T420s. What did that Z2 cost? What did that Mac Pro cost?

And no, I don't work for Lenovo and what I said were from my understanding of LCD, not EXCUSE from Lenovo.

There must be more than one T420s panel in use. I have recently helped four customers aquire T420s machines and the LCDs have been quite nice, not IPS nice, but very bright with good colors and reasonable viewing angles. I was pleasantly surprised, since they were my recommendations.

underclocker wrote:I was pleasantly surprised, since they were my recommendations.

Hahaha. I love the whole "I was worried how it was going to turn out because I told them to buy the T420s"

I have been through a couple Thinkpads now. I've had a T40, X61, X301 and my current T420s. None of them had the benefit of a flexview, or any of the higher quality screen offerings from IBM/Lenovo. The screen on my T420s just isn't bad at all I think. Sure, it can't really compare to my Dell IPS widescreen that I use for my desktop, but I spend many hours on my laptop doing all kinds of things and I don't really have anything bad to say about it. I don't really have anything particularly good to say about it either, but it's good enough for me.

underclocker wrote:There must be more than one T420s panel in use...the LCDs have been quite nice, not IPS nice, ..

Yes, there is. I think the earlier ones came with 1440x900 WXGA+. I was surprised to get a 1600x900 HD+. My display is very nice too. Not as nice as a 22in monitor, but good enough to use for a few hours. This T420s is probably the longest battery life machine I've used. Frankly, I am very pleased with the weight reduction from a T61.

sjthinkpader wrote: Yes, there is. I think the earlier ones came with 1440x900 WXGA+.

All of the T420s models shipped with 1600x900 panels.

There are multiple manufacturers of the panel though -- I seem to remember AUO and LG, but don't quote me on that.

ThinkRob wrote:...
All of the T420s models shipped with 1600x900 panels.
....

Documentation say otherwise:

http://support.lenovo.com/en_US/product ... D=PD014489
but I have a 1600x900.

sjthinkpader wrote:Documentation say otherwise:

http://support.lenovo.com/en_US/product ... D=PD014489
but I have a 1600x900.

This documentation is wrong. 1440x900 is 16:10 whereas the T420s is 16:9.

What does 16:10 has to do with 1440x900 in 14.1 format?
http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/TFT_display

There cannot be a 16:9 display with 1440x900. The ratio is wrong. The documentation is wrong.

I know of only three Thinkpad models that were designed to use more than one aspect ratio, and the T420s isn't among them:

770X: 14.1" 1024x768 (4:3) and 13.7" 1280x1024 (5:4)

770Z: same as 770X

Z61t: 14.0" 1280x768 (15:9) and 14.1" 1280x800 or 1440x900 (16:10)

If it says that 1440x900 was an option for the T420, it's wrong.

It might be possible to modify a T420 with some T410 parts to accept a 1440x900 panel, but to the best of my knowledge the T420 is not available with anything other than 16:9 screens.

So what are the reviews of the 1600 x 900 HD+ panels?

crashnburn wrote:So what are the reviews of the 1600 x 900 HD+ panels?

Not bad, not great.

It's "grainy" if you look up close and try to find stuff you don't like.