T430 HD vs T420 HD+

[vngr]

I'm a happy owner of a X220 and I'm looking at picking up a second thinkpad with a larger screen. I'm currently considering between the following: (a) T430 (HD screen, i5-3210M, 4GB RAM, 180GB SSD) and (b) T420 (HD+ screen, i5-2540M, 4GB RAM, 320GB HDD). The prices are about the same and I'm leaning towards the T430 for being a newer model with better battery life and USB 3 ports.

Is the HD+ screen on T420 significantly better than HD screen on T430 to go for T420 instead? I'll be using the laptop for emails, web browsing, watching youtube and not for gaming. Thanks in advance for any advice!

[TPFanatic]

If you get the T430 and you're comfy with modding you can still upgrade the screen later to a decent screen, see here: http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=45&t=122381

These are the viewing angles you're looking at with stock HD+, I presume HD would be a little worse. But they're 14" TN panels, so there's really not much to expect anyway.

http://www.notebookcheck.net/fileadmin/ ... 1b7977.jpg
http://www.notebookcheck.net/fileadmin/ ... 420_bw.jpg

[brchan]

Do not get the HD (1366x768) screens because they are very low quality. The HD+ screen is decent, but nothing worth writing home about.

[vngr]

TPFanatic & brchan: Thanks for the helpful advice! I think I'll look around some more for a T430 with HD+ screen.

[kony]

I had the HD screen in my T430 and replaced it with T420's HD+. Both suck, but the HD+ has better brightness and slightly better colors. However, the viewing angles are terrible. I guess HD+ is a better choice, because HD was just too dim to use during daylight even indoors. If you'll be using external monitor most of the time, get T430, if not, then I'd choose the T420 with HD+.