Thinkpads Forum

Hi there,

yesterday I got my new Thinkpad T420. It is awesome exept for the display.

When I'm sitting infront of the Thinkpad I can see very clearly the pixel grid of the display. And it really pisses me off!

The following picture shows the problem:

http://www.swg-idstudio.de/t420.jpg

To all T420 owners: Do you have the same problem?

When I'm sitting infront of the Thinkpad I can see very clearly the pixel grid of the display. And it really pisses me off!

I doubt that very much, unless you're sitting quite close to the display. I suspect what you're actually seeing is the grainy effect caused by the matte display coating.

When you look up close, or when you take a close-up photo, yes, you are seeing the individual pixels -- but at arms length your eye most likely can't actually resolve the boundaries between individual pixels (though admittedly this might be incorrect if you have abnormally-good vision).

I would doubt that too if one would tell me my story but I am not new to computers and so I have seen a lot of displays in the last years.

My last Laptop was an Thinkpad T500 with 1680x1050 and matte display aswell. It was not as bright as the T420 display but I had a sharp and clear display infront. Now I really can't believe how bad the view is.

Isn't there anyone with a T420 who has noticed the same?

I have a T420, and I have indeed noticed a slight grainy effect caused by the panel's coating. I haven't noticed a "grid" effect due to the visibility of individual pixels because... well... my eyes are merely those of a mortal, and thus cannot make out the inter-pixel boundaries when I'm sitting a reasonable distance from the screen.

My last laptop was a T410 (actually it still is -- that's my work machine), but I've also owned a WSXGA+ T500, a UXGA T43p, two SXGA+ T60s, an XGA T41, an XGA 600X, a X200 (with a TN, and later a PVA panel), an X300, a WXGA+ X200s, an X61s. an X60s, and a 750cs (plus a few other ThinkPads), not to mention a slew of various desktop monitors and a couple different Apple laptops spanning the PowerBook, iBook, MacBook, and MacBook Pro product lines of the last 8+ years.

Based on my past laptop usage, I'm pretty confident when I say that the "grain" effect is a) not unique to the T420 display and b) almost certainly the result of the panel's anti-glare/matte finish.

I could be wrong though.