Thinkpads Forum

Time to update my ThinkPad and am thinking of the T410 or T410s. Waited from last year hoping ThinkPad LCD screens would improve. Was very unhappy with the quality of my T61p screen so just have used that with the Advanced Dock and 30" high contrast monitor.

Looked at the local large University Bookstore a year ago who have always had a large inventory of ThinkPads out as demos and the screen of every one was horrible compared to all the other brands beside them including HP, Sony, and Apple. The ThinkPads had very narrow viewing angles and, most notably, limited contrast compared to the others. Even the cheap $300 netbook LCD screens were better.

I went back again last week to see if they had improved and there were no ThinkPads out on display but all the others still were. I asked an employee what happened to all the ThinkPads and he said they just were not selling saying "people did not like the screen quality".

I dearly love so much about the ThinkPad notebooks which I have used for many years and have four of the T4x series (presently typing this on a T43p - not Flexview). The screens on the T4x ThinkPads are not as bright but seem better in every other way. The build quality, keyboards and trackpoint on ThinkPads have always been excellent but the screen on my T61p gives me a headache and has poor colors, contrast and viewing angles.

Now that there is no where locally to check if the screens have improved, I thought maybe someone on this forum could give me some idea if the T410 screens are better now. I am totally amazed that Lenovo using LCD screens that seem so inferior on the ThinkPads when everything else about them is so good. If the other laptop manufacturers can do it, why can't Lenovo. The MacBook Pro screens are gorgeous but I am have never used a Mac and all my software is PC oriented.

Thanks in advance for any advice. Hoping to hear that the T410 screen is an improvement over the past.

BTW none of the screens have improved. Exceptions if you want something decent would be the W and X tablet. It aint gonna change Braddah.

Thanks for the response. Do you mean that the W510 would have a better LCD screen then the Txxx series? I would go for the larger size if that was the case. The 17" would be just too big for me to lug around so that would not be a choice.

I've not seen one myself, but all indications are the FHD LCD offered on the T510 and the W510 is the best screen being offered on the T series. I heard and again I didn't see it myself, but the high brightness LCD on the T400 offered pretty good contrast and above average angles.

FredGarvin wrote:I've not seen one myself, but all indications are the FHD LCD offered on the T510 and the W510 is the best screen being offered on the T series. I heard and again I didn't see it myself, but the high brightness LCD on the T400 offered pretty good contrast and above average angles.

I have not seen a CCFL/non-high nit screen on the T400 and am afraid to!

Perhaps Lenovo decided to give my T410 the best TN screen on earth or something, but it is fairly OK from a transition from my T43's Flexview panel.

It does lack the blacker blacks of the IPS panel, viewing angles are pretty good compared to some of the junk I see in the 15.4" and 17" mediabooks.

I have the WXGA+ screen on mine and these settings helped a lot:

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=45&t=85851

Movies are watchable now and the display colors look almost normal.