New IPS panels - will Lenovo offer them?

[gaphic2]

OK, the first user pictures of the HP Elitebook 8740w DreamColor LCD's have appeared here. The panels are made by LG (LGD0270) and, looking at the viewing angles, these are no TN-panels!
LG have already stated at SID that they're developing more IPS notebook LCD's, and a recent press release tells us that CMI and Hitachi will bring IPS panels to netbooks.

I'm in the market for a new Thinkpad to replace my T60p. How long will I need to hold out before Lenovo decides that it is perhaps a good idea to offer these panels?

[ZaZ]

The hope is now that HP is offering IPS panels, it will put pressure on Lenovo to do so, but that's not necessarily a given. To answer your question, who knows?

[lophiomys]

Me too, waiting for an 4:3 IPS Thinkpad of the X or T or W Series.

[pianowizard]

Me too, waiting for an 4:3 IPS Thinkpad

The probability of 4:3 making a comeback is even lower than Lenovo offering IPS again.

[emeraldgirl08]

I hope they at least do an 16:10 IPS as I prefer that ratio over the 16:9!

[ThinkRob]

I'm not holding my breath.

There have been good non-TN panels available for a while now, at least for some screen sizes. Lenovo just doesn't care about the (admittedly small) market segment that wants good viewing angles and color reproduction. To them, cheap is more important: it's as simple as that.

(I hope I'm proven wrong though...)

[dr_st]

There have been good non-TN panels available for a while now, at least for some screen sizes.

Which panels? Who offered them in laptops?

[ThinkRob]

Which panels? Who offered them in laptops?

Well there's a Samsung PVA display (which I installed in my X200) and the popular Boe-Hydis AFFS panel also springs to mind. Both of those are still readily available.

As far as who offered them: well... for the former: Lenovo did, just not their normal laptops! The X200t shipped with a couple nice non-TN panels, at least one of which is physically and electrically compatible with the X200. To me that indicates that, had they really wanted, they could have shipped the X200 with a non-TN option. Gateway shipped the Hydis AFFS panel in some of their tablets, and I believe that a few other small manufacturers did as well (although I'm not 100% sure of that.)

[dr_st]

In other words - Lenovo did exactly what every other manufacturer did - use quality panels in tablets, and regular TNs in all their laptops.

To me this marks Lenovo as a company which follows the general trend. They are not any more or any less interested in the quality panels and the market segment that comes with them.

This gives me hope, that once some manufacturers (in this case HP) starts using quality panels for some product classes (outside tablets, of course), Lenovo will eventually follow suit.

[lophiomys]

By thinning out the quality of a trusty brand, like "Thinkpad"
those managers are just destroying it for the short term profit.
That's for sure not a reasonable strategy.
Those people could have done all this cost cutting with the IdeaPads line and the like.
There was no rationale at all to upset so many long-term customers by removing IPS
panels from Thinkpads for example.
If Lenovo managers just follow the mainstream, the cost effective solution is tot fire them
and copy what the other companies are doing.

Hoping for the best.

[bill bolton]

There was no rationale at all to upset so many long-term customers by removing IPS panels from Thinkpads for example.

There is no good evidence that your assumed so many customers are in fact a commercial proposition for vendor to market to.

Time will tell if IPS will be any better commercial proposition in the laptop market this time around, than it was previously.

[crashnburn]

I think it starts with Customer Awareness.

How many people know/ understand / want IPS screens on their laptops? I am not talking about US here.. In general the AWARENESS is low.

Companies.. need to make the market .. the GENERAL.. market aware of it.. and then KNOW how to SELL the product with that DIFFERENTIATION.. Make people want it.. PS: Also make it kinda affordable.

e.g. Apple .. iPhone.. iPad. Highest Rest Smart Phone.. . IPS screen..
e.g. I want HD.. 720p.. 1080p.. I want Blu Ray.. etc etc.

Work with the TV LoB... People.. most consumers hear more BUZZ from the TV industry.

If IPS gets talked about in TV... really BUZZED about.. it might / will carry over.

Get Apple to talk about it.. They are the COOL trend setters.

PS: BUZZ (If anyone here is a Marketing / Advertising professional /expert.. you know this better than anyone.)

[lophiomys]

There is no good evidence that your assumed so many customers are in fact a commercial proposition for vendor to market to.

Time will tell if IPS will be any better commercial proposition in the laptop market this time around, than it was previously.

My evidence is, that f.e. I have seen more people complaining about the poor screen quality in recent Thinkpads, than I have seen people
happily admitting the purchase of a W700, nor have I seen one in any of the CAD, design or constructions offices I visited.

Even it was a small group, I base this on my own experience as a consultant in many different companies, where we always compare the qualities of new laptops.
People do notice the differences of new crappy TN screens, when placed next to my oldish UXGA IPS Thinkpads. I don't care if it's IPS or OLED or whatever,
it should be a brilliant screen in high priced products as Thinkpads of the T and X and W series.

Even if the actual group of buyers is small, still Lenovo is getting the 1:10 factor of unsatisfied customers spreading bad reputation, as consumers tend to
prefer to complain about bad experience in comparison to good ones.

Think of the opposite scenario: if Lenovo would have kept offering a few top models with a brilliant screen and classic keyboard in 4:3 format (SCNR ),
it would be positively noticed by my customers and colleges as a thing you'd only get with a Thinkpad. All these tedious discussion on the board and
elsewhere would simply just not be existing.