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For me deciding whether to get a 14.10" screen or a 15" screen has been the toughest part of deciding which Thinkpad to get.
In my opinion, what makes it especially tough is that two of the most critical aspects of laptop design are the quality of the keyboard and the DISPLAY. That’s because laptops are inherently less ergonomic than full sized systems, so if you’re going to be working on a laptop it’s a good idea to get one with the best keyboard & screen you can find. IBM devotes more attention to ergonomics than other laptop manufacturers do, and that’s why my favorite laptops are ThinkPads.
Okay, so choosing the right screen is an important decision that significantly affects your experience of using the laptop every minute you spend working on it. However, when it comes to choosing between the 14.10" and the 15" T-series laptops what makes the decision even tougher is the fact that both screen sizes have unique advantages and in choosing one you have to sacrifice the advantages of the other.
I recently had a chance to compare a 15” T42 with a 14.10” version, and after many, many hours of using them side by side, here’s what I found.
14.10” screen advantages:
The smaller screen makes the whole laptop smaller, sleeker, and lighter, making it easier to pick up, easier to maneuver and reposition, and easier to pack away and carry. Due to its reduced power consumption the 14.1" screen also allows you run the machine longer on a battery charge.
15” screen advantages:
Only the 15” screen incorporates IBM’s “FlexView” technology, a marketing term for IPS (“in plane switching”) which is an LCD technology that makes it possible to see a clear, vivid image on the screen regardless of the viewing angle, whereas by comparison the non-flexview screens will look less clear and slightly washed out from any angle other than the optimum viewing position.
Also, the backlighting used on the 15” screen makes the colors appear more intense and vibrant. If you’re watching a DVD movie the skin tones look more lifelike, whereas on the 14.10” they looked washed out making everyone look as though they were standing under bright fluorescent lights.
When doing text work, the black letters look blacker on the flexview, blue highlighting of selected text looks darker, and looks like a washed out pastel hue on the 14.10” screens.
Obviously, the 15” screen also gives you more space to work with, which is great if you like juggling a couple of open windows at once.
In theory, the number of windows you can have open at once is determined only by the resolution, not the screen size because SXGA+ resolution (1400x1050) lets you juggle the same amount of data on a 14.10” screen and a 15” screen (or on a ONE inch screen) but the smaller the screen the tinier each window has to be to fit on it. On the 14.10” screen I find myself wanting to ZOOM text size upwards to make it more readable and that fills up the available screen space in a hurry.
Speaking of resolutions I favor 1400x1050 because I use 1600x1200 on a beautiful 22” Samsung SyncMaster 213T LCD monitor which is a joy to work on, juggling open windows galore, but while 1600x1200 pixels worth of information is perfectly comfortable for me to view when it's spread over a giant 22” monitor, it feels like a strain for me to view the same amount of detail shrunk down onto a 15” screen. It doesn’t actually HURT my eyes, by “strain” I mean that somehow the act of making out all the fine details on the screen is something I can do with ease, but when doing so I notice that I start getting into a rigid posture that forms a solid "base" for making ultra precise head & eye movements (so I can stay tightly focused on the fine details). This wouldn't matter if I were performing engineering work that emphasizes precision more than creativity, but I need to maintain a looser creative state when I'm working on creating novels and screenplays.
If, for me, 1600x1200 is just too much squeezed onto a 15” screen, then I feel like 1024 x 768 is too much of a step down compared to the 1600x1200 worth information I’m used to working with on my 22" monitor. I think 1400x1050 is the perfect compromise. It’s still a heck of a lot of information, and while it IS readable on a 14.10” screen, it is even MORE readable on a 15” screen, so I consider that combination perfect for me.
But back to comparing the advantages of each size:
When I was working on the 15” and 14.10” machines side-by-side my testing always seemed to favor the 15” flexView, but why? Eventually the reason became obvious. The moment you are actually working on the machine, at THAT moment you will tend to favor the 15” screen, because when you are actually working on it, at that moment what you FEEL most is the quality of the screen and keyboard. The big advantages of the 14.10” screen (lightweight, compact, sleek) are not that noticeable once you are busy working on the machine.
The advantages of having a sleek, compact, lightweight 14.10” model is fully appreciated only at those times when you are picking up the machine, repositioning it, or packing it away and carrying it somewhere.
So to properly decide between the 14.10” screen and the 15” you absolutely have to get a clear sense of how much of your time with the laptop is going to consist of you sitting and using it (which favors the 15”) Versus how much of that time is going to consist of you picking up the machine, repositioning it or packing or unpacking it, and carrying it.
Here are a few scenarios:
People who travel a lot and take a laptop along for use on a plane or train. People like that can easily recall the last time they were lugging heavy laptops and for them the advantages of a sleek, compact, lightweight machine can be so significant that for them those benefits greatly outweigh the benefits of a 15” flexview screen.
Ditto for someone who doesn’t travel but uses the laptop very sporadically for brief moments at a time to check emails, to dash off memos, to look something up on the internet, etc. Out of the total time they spend on the laptop, so much is spent on lifting it, maneuvering it, re-positioning it and packing or unpacking it that they will get more joy than other users do from having a machine that is lightweight and compact.
Another scenario is someone who rarely moves the machine and tends to use it for a long stretch once they get on it. Maybe they use it mostly at home, or mostly at work, maybe getting the machine to work each day is an easy drive in their car that doesn’t involve much lugging the machine around. For these people what’s most important is having a machine that is a joy to work on once they sit down to work on it. For them having a really nice screen gains added importance--after all, what do they care how light or compact the machine is while it sits on their desk or lap for hours and hours when they work on it?
To sum up, no one should claim to know which screen size is “better”. Each has advantages and the one that is best for you depends on how you will be using your laptop. I hope my thoughts on this subject will help some people to get a clearer picture of the advantages that matter most to THEM, be it the joy of a sleek, compact, lightweight notebook or the joy of working on a larger more readable screen with flexView technology.
Lastly, I just want to share one personal dillemma that complicates the 15” Vs. 14.10” debate for me. I will be using it mostly at home, and once in a blue moon at a cafe, and usually for many hours at a time until I get a novel written, so you’d think I care more about the laptop being a joy to work on than I do about it being a joy to lift, pack, and carry.
But...because the work I’m doing on it is entirely optional and lends itself to procrastination (working on a novel) I can’t help wondering if it’s possible that I might get the urge to reach for the laptop--to grab it and get some novel writing done more OFTEN if I’m always picking up a wonderfully sleek, lightweight 14” model than I will if reaching for the laptop always means maneuvering a bulky 15” model. Since I don’t have both models at home, I can’t answer this for sure, but something tells me that if getting my novel written depends on having a laptop that is easier to pick up and reposition when I'm using it mostly at home, then my dreams of making it as a novelist are seriously in question.
All the best,
-Inky
