Modern, medium-size, reliable Lenovo with IPS LCD?

[kaamil1984]

I own 6 years old t60p with IPS UXGA LCD and im still happy with it, but I need something new. It does not look pretty and elegant anymore (polished palrmest, some scratches etc.), and i don't want to wreck totally my BEST LAPTOP EVER MANUFACTURED!

First - when i saw some new ThinkPads - i was confused and i almost ordered Dell Precision M4600 in Dell outlet (there were really nice prices), but:
- i read and saw some videos on youtube about that model and... people say that it overheats, it's noisy, especially with IPS LCD. I think this is why there are so many cheap M4600 laptops in Dell Outlet (probably customers are sending them back after few days)
- last week i was replacing hinges and some parts of casing in my friends Dell D600. I saw poor design of hinges and casing designed probably without using brain.

I think I don't want any Dell laptop anymore.

So I reconsidered Lenovo, but... i can't find any medium-size Lenovo with IPS. I found that x-series has IPS LCDs, but i need something a little bigger and harder.

1. Are there any medium-size laptops with IPS and reliability comparable with old good t4x/t6x series?
2. Is there any chance of releasing modern Lenovo laptop with 4:3 screen in the future? I really don't like these 16:9, they are very bad at work (programming, graphic design).

[richk]

I agree that the taller 4:3 screens are better for many programming tasks. You can see a longer column of code. I have found that if you are changing many modules at the same time, the wide screens are convenient for moving things out of the way, but overall, I think "taller is better". I know you said medium-sized, but I think the best replacement for an IPS T60p is the T510/T520/T530 with the FHD display. It is a TN panel, but it is pretty good. I won't say it is impossible, but nobody has been making the taller screens for quite a while, so I don't expect any 4:3 laptops. Actually, the market seems to be moving away from high-quality and toward "cheap and disposable".

[ajkula66]

I think this is why there are so many cheap M4600 laptops in Dell Outlet (probably customers are sending them back after few days)

I don't believe that the units in the Outlet are just returns, far from it. These machines are actually very well-built, and fact of the matter is that if you need a unit with powerful graphics and an IPS screen, it's not going to be quiet and cool. T60p that both of us like is far from being either.

last week i was replacing hinges and some parts of casing in my friends Dell D600. I saw poor design of hinges and casing designed probably without using brain.

D600 was nothing to write home about when new, let alone now. Hi-end Precisions have nothing in common with it.

I think I don't want any Dell laptop anymore.

That leaves you with HP EliteBooks as the only serious choice, and these are not going to be quiet or cool either. The other option would be a MacBook with Retina display which also has some fairly serious limitations.

So I reconsidered Lenovo, but... i can't find any medium-size Lenovo with IPS.

Because there aren't any.

1. Are there any medium-size laptops with IPS and reliability comparable with old good t4x/t6x series?
2. Is there any chance of releasing modern Lenovo laptop with 4:3 screen in the future? I really don't like these 16:9, they are very bad at work (programming, graphic design).

No.

You're hitting a wall that many users already have on this forum, myself included.

I'm currently building a FrankenPad utilizing a T60 15" chassis, a LED-lit FlexView panel and a board from a late-model 14" T61 with nVidia graphics. That's as close as you'll come to a powerful 4:3 unit nowadays unless you feel like dragging around an 8lb Panasonic CF-31 which is the last 4:3 notebook in production, but has a measly XGA resolution on a 13.3" LCD, and it's not IPS...fabulous machine for field use, but I doubt that it would suit your needs...

Pictures of the LED-lit panel that I was referring to can be seen here, on my modded T43p:

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=107072

Good luck.

[kaamil1984]

ajkula66 thanks for very detailed reply.

I was considering FrankenPad, but its really hard to find standard 14.1 motherboard with NVidia in my country.

Your t43p with LEDs looks amazing! Is this possible to put LED's into 15" t60(p)?
I know that replacing CCFL needs a lot of patience (i was cleaning reflector bar in my LCD, because it became yellow).

Im thinking again about frankenpad... maybe i will buy t61p board from ebay...

[pianowizard]

First - when i saw some new ThinkPads - i was confused and i almost ordered Dell Precision M4600 in Dell outlet (there were really nice prices), but:
- i read and saw some videos on youtube about that model and... people say that it overheats, it's noisy, especially with IPS LCD. I think this is why there are so many cheap M4600 laptops in Dell Outlet (probably customers are sending them back after few days)

There are lots of cheap Thinkpads on the Lenovo Outlet as well.

- last week i was replacing hinges and some parts of casing in my friends Dell D600. I saw poor design of hinges and casing designed probably without using brain. I think I don't want any Dell laptop anymore.

OMG, the D600 was one of Dell's crappiest laptops ever. Though marketed as "business-class", it was actually the exact same design as the Inspiron 600m, which had weak hinges and VERY cheap material. While most of the Inspirons are still garbage, Dell Business' laptops have gotten much better since the D620 generation. (The D620/630/820/830 did have high failure rates but that was due to Nvidia's defective chips, just like for the T61 Thinkpads).

1. Are there any medium-size laptops with IPS and reliability comparable with old good t4x/t6x series?

Who said the T4* Thinkpads were reliable? The T40/41/42 looked nice but were far from reliable. I would say they were only marginally better than Dell's D600. The T43 was quite good though.

2. Is there any chance of releasing modern Lenovo laptop with 4:3 screen in the future? I really don't like these 16:9, they are very bad at work (programming, graphic design).

It seems that lots of very creative laptop/tablet designs are coming out these days, some of them with IPS screens. If you can wait for a few months, I recommend you to do so. At least wait until the Consumer Electronics Show in early to mid January. I wouldn't be too surprised to see a tablet-style laptop that allows you to rotate the screen into portrait mode (so you get a super tall screen). I also wouldn't be surprised to see 4:3 return. Apple explained at length the virtues of 4:3 over 16:9 while introducing the iPad Mini, which could get laptop designers to reconsider 4:3.

[swampmonster]

@kaamil1984
I had similar wishes, and I ended up buying a T520. There are some really good deals right now, I paid €650 for mine. Of course it has a totally crappy 1366x768 screen, but I'll exchange that with a Full HD screen (the Full HD screen that Lenovo uses is available from various sellers for €90~€110 + shipping). As was already stated that Full HD screen is a TN screen, NOT IPS, but the viewing angles are really good for a TN screen and "OK-ish" overall. I'm pretty sure there are no 15.6 inch "non-slim" IPS screens

Another alternative I considered was getting an X1 and exchanging the screen with the one used in the "Yoga" - I THINK it should fit, but I'm far from an expert in those matters!

The things that finally scared me away from that idea:
1) I really don't like the key-placement on the new chiclet style keyboard used in the X1
2) The X1 is rather expensive, a demopool-unit still costs €800+ (without the new screen)
3) 13.3 inch with 1600x900 isn't THAT bad, but it's nowhere as good as 1920x1080 on a 15.6 inch screen
4) I read various reviews and the X1 seems to get rather warm and loud under load
5) The risk that the panel won't fit. As I said, I'm THINK it should fit, but I might be mistaken

As for your question about the chance of future 4:3 laptops... I really don't know, but I wouldn't count on it. I would even be surprised if we saw new 16:10 models (aside from Apple) in the next 2-3 years. I would gladly settle for a 16:10 1920x1200 15.6 inch IPS screen though - that would already feel like Christmas.