Thinkpads Forum

I wear glasses and constantly zoom in texts when I read. I am considering getting a T530 which has a bigger screen which I hope will ease my reading compared to my X220.

I have ordered T530 with a 1366 x 768 resolution, but heard negative things about the color and viewing angle of this screen. Now I am considering ordering T530 with a better screen plus the ease of reading.

Please tell me what is best for my situation:

1. I read from my laptop a lot
2. I prefer big font sizes and always zoom them in from the default size
3. I sometimes edit two text files side by side
4. I prefer a decent screen with good colors
5. Come from X220, like the screen color but think the display is small for me

So what shall I choose? 1920 X 1080 or 1600 X 900?

Having nice colors, viewing angles and contrast does help you see better, but IMO the most critical factor is still pixel density. I think you should get a screen with a lower pixel density than your 12.5" 1366x768, which is 125.4 DPI. In addition, to view documents side by side, 1600x900 is much better than 1366x768. Thus, I recommend getting 15.6" 1600x900 (117.7 DPI). Things look quite small on 15.6" 1920x1080 and scaling doesn't always work well. If you don't mind getting a humongous laptop, get 18.4" 1920x1080 (119.7 DPI).

Another possibility is to rely more on external monitors. A 24" 1920x1200 IPS or PVA monitor would be perfect for you. Use the laptop's internal screen only when you are away from your desk.

With Windows 7 you can change the font size on a high resolution display independent of the display resolution. You always want to stick with the native display resolution on an LCD monitor/display.