Thinkpads Forum

I'm about to upgrade from a t500 to a t520. I primarily use the computer for software development, and I'm hoping to hear other's experiences picking a screen resolution on a 16x9 display laptop.

My t500 has the lowest resolution (1280x800 I think). I'm comfortable reading the screen at this size but definitely would like to be able to fit more on the screen, as it can be a little challenging to fit everything I need on the screen at once when I'm coding.

Going up in resolution sounds like the obvious choice, but I don't have the best eyesight. It's not terrible with my glasses, but I'm very comfortable with the lower resolution. I'm hoping someone without perfect eyesight can comment on their experience with the HD+ screen on the t510 (or of course t520 if you've tried it). I'm hoping that the screen will be of higher quality than the t500, and this will make up for the smaller text sizes. I think I could actually handle my wife's 13 inch macbook, but that would be pushing the limits of my comfort zone, maybe even too much.

By the way, I do know that you can increase the global font sizes in windows, but I HATE the way it looks. I know that I will be able to increase the font in my IDE that I use to code, and increase the default zoom in the chrome web browser, but I'm just curious to hear other people's experiences.

Perhaps I should go for the higher rez and then replace the display if I'm not happy. My experience with other laptops has been that the screen not run at the highest (native resolution) has looked blurry... would this be the case with a t520? If not, maybe I should even go for FHD?

Thanks in advance!

To have a similar text font size, you can decrease dpi in windows settings. The newer the windows is, the better. Windows 7 is better in decreasing dpi than XP.

The HD+ and FHD panels from the T510 are better than the low resolution display you have.

I bet the T520 uses the same or at least similar panels like the T510, both use 16:9 displays with the same screen size.

I opted in for a T520 with HD+ as I will decrease dpi anyway and from tests the FHD has a more even backlight, but contrast is around the same.

What kind of development do you do? Are you using an IDE?

I'd go for either the HD+ or FHD panels (don't bother with the 1366 x 768 HD panel since you'll find it terrible).

The HD+ panel is fine for doing things in MATLAB (command window on one side, editor on the other), but if I bought my T510 again I'd probably go for a better vertical resolution (which would be 1920 x 1080 so you can see more vertically).

16:9 is suboptimal for software development anyways but with an FHD panel you'll get quite a bit of that lost resolution back (1680 x 1050 equivalent).
The FHD panel is expensive, though, but since you're picking a T520 now I'm assuming you should be able to swing it: I would if I was a software developer and used this computer for a living.

Before you buy, though, hit up your local laptop shop and see if laptops with 1920 x 1080 screens don't blow your eyes out, so to speak.
If they don't, you'll probably like the increased vertical space.
If they do, then the HD+ should be just fine- I can fit quite a bit on this screen as it is.