I got a W530, and the display is a nightmare.

[StevenD]

Recap: Had a T60p for the last 7 years or so. Typing on it right now. XP, SP2 (SP3 broke my Photoshop). Need to upgrade hardware. Wanted faster memory, USB3, etc. But addicted to my IPS display. Got a W540. Screen too high resolution to be usable for many programs. Its touchpad-mouse-buttons are unusable. Totally unusable. Garbage. Did I say unusable? Tried an HP Z-book: good try, but yuk.

Finally decided to get a refurb W530 with Win 8 Pro. The keyboard is really okay. Touch isn't quite as good as T60p and earlier, but much better than other manufacturers's keyboards. Layout not a huge problem, I think. The display is just awful. It's sooooo blue. I tried Pantone's Spyder, or just using the video card's utility to change the color profile, pulling a huge amount of blue out. But it's still blue, colors still much, much too saturated. Gross. Sure, it gets very bright, and that's good, but I can't make the colors any better than awful. I'm setting up the machine slowly, while I'm still using the T60p 99% of the time.

The final straw was when I recently looked at the MacBook Air a friend has (I have a MacBook Pro that I currently use only for writing Apps.). It's an IPS screen, and it's gorgeous. The colors are exactly right. Beautiful.

Maybe it's time to bite the huuuuge bullet and dump PC's and go to Mac's. Get a late-model 15-inch MacBook Pro. Much worse keyboard, of course, but I could use an external IBM SK-8835 keyboard when I'm at the office (so I can still have the trackpoint that I love), and maybe a big external IPS monitor with the external keyboard, so the keyboard can be in a normal position next to the monitor, and then, when I'm not at the office, just use a mouse like the rest of the world does.

One HUGE advantage of Macs is that, when you upgrade the OS, you don't have to re-install and re-configure all of your programs. The need to do that is part of what has kept me with this ancient hardware for the last years.

Any comments on my rant? Anyone make the jump to Macs because of the deterioration of the TP lines? Any advice on doing that?

Thanks,
--Steve D.

[ajkula66]

Any comments on my rant? Anyone make the jump to Macs because of the deterioration of the TP lines? Any advice on doing that?

Yep, several oldtimers did but they don't post around here anymore for that same reason.

I'm going to take a guess that you've received a V1 instead of V4 panel on the W530, since these are night and day.

Remind me: what went wrong with the Zbook?

Retinas are nice but...personally I don't think I could live with their keyboard. To each their own.

[StevenD]

Hi, Ajkula,
How do I determine which panel I received?

I wrote on another post that the Z-book display was "beautiful," but I don't recall it exactly. The trackpoint wasn't as responsive and natural to use as on the TP's, and the mouse buttons were far off of the midline, so you had to *reach* with your thumbs to click the buttons!. Even on the 530 it's a pain, because if you just press on the very right edge of the left mouse button, it won't respond as a click: you have to press closer to the middle of the mouse button.

--Steve

[RealBlackStuff]

Get this moninfo, it'll tell you what you have: http://www.download3k.com/Install-Monit ... nager.html

[StevenD]

The Monitor Asset Manager says:
Plug and Play ID: LEN40B2
Data string: B156HW01 V4
Manufacture date: 2009, ISO week 1
EDID revision: 1.3

Does this tell us a lot?

[ajkula66]

Does this tell us a lot?

Yep. That's actually the "good" panel.

If you can't get it to perform the way you'd want to, I see an ad for a W530 coming to this forum's Marketplace.

[StevenD]

Yeah, that ad might be coming. I'm going to cogitate on making the big jump to Apple. I'll report back eventually.
/S

[clouds]

Have you tried changing the settings on your whatever graphic card? Because I have a W530 too and I think the display is OP.

[StevenD]

Yes, I tried on the graphics card, in Windows, using a Spyder. Awful. Terrible. It's up on eBay.

I've pretty much decided to go Apple. Sorry, IBM.

/SD

[pianowizard]

The final straw was when I recently looked at the MacBook Air a friend has (I have a MacBook Pro that I currently use only for writing Apps.). It's an IPS screen, and it's gorgeous. The colors are exactly right. Beautiful.

Actually, the MacBook Airs have never had IPS. Only the recent MacBook Pros do.

I've pretty much decided to go Apple. Sorry, IBM.

Or just pick one of the many Wintel laptops with IPS. Be sure to avoid super-high, Retina-level resolutions though.

[Qing Dao]

Yes, I tried on the graphics card, in Windows, using a Spyder. Awful. Terrible. It's up on eBay.

I've pretty much decided to go Apple. Sorry, IBM.

/SD

Really? I used a Spyder 2 Pro recently and it helped out quite a bit with turning my yellow screen from something annoying to something usable. I was never able to manually adjust the screen settings so well. I want to get a Spyder 4 which is supposed to be a lot better and see how that works out. Of course the thing can't do miracles, but it does a great deal. You should wait to sell it until after you get your new computer and see what it does for that screen.

[StevenD]

Hi, Qing Dao,

Thanks for the input. It was the latest Spyder that I tried. Interesting, though, that my screen was horribly *blue*, and nothing could take the blue out.

I've tried several Thinkpads since the T60p I still have, and they are all bad compromises in screen quality. I have a 2011 MacBook Pro that I use right now only for coding iPhone apps, so I have just an introductory amount of info about Apple laptops. I can tell you that, after I decided to pack up that W530, I happened to see a friend's MacBook Pro, and the screen was just stunning. Gorgeous. Even better than my T60p. It's not the end of the world. I just don't want to keep trying to make an old W530 or a new W540 work, when they really can't.

[clouds]

Hi, Qing Dao,

Thanks for the input. It was the latest Spyder that I tried. Interesting, though, that my screen was horribly *blue*, and nothing could take the blue out.

I've tried several Thinkpads since the T60p I still have, and they are all bad compromises in screen quality. I have a 2011 MacBook Pro that I use right now only for coding iPhone apps, so I have just an introductory amount of info about Apple laptops. I can tell you that, after I decided to pack up that W530, I happened to see a friend's MacBook Pro, and the screen was just stunning. Gorgeous. Even better than my T60p. It's not the end of the world. I just don't want to keep trying to make an old W530 or a new W540 work, when they really can't.

Im sure you have some problems there. I have a W530 where its boot speed is faster than a mac when coming back from sleep. I swipe my finger and bump, 1 second literally, mac took like 2 seconds to wake up. (my W530 was slower like a normal thinkpad, and since last month it just became super fast, I was trying to figure out how did it just become a better machine)

also, for the color calibration, im pretty sure you seleted some wrong options? I have a 1080p W530 and the screen is just the best screen ever, even my mac book pro friend got jealous after he realized my screen was anti glare and his screen was like a mirror. Also, my screen never had any ''blue'' problems, im positive that you might unfortunately received a defect screen, just buy a new screen. W530 is by far the best laptop ive ever owned performance wise. btw its also as durable as the older model, last week i fell off my skate board while i had my w530 in my hands when i was skating to my dorm. It fell onto the asphalt street really really hard, well, nothing happened except a small scratch 2 edges and a battery misplace - Meanwhile I remember clearly how a CMC student's mac had its screen [censored] up when a soccer ball we were playing with took it off his hands when it was shot really badly aimed.

[pianowizard]

Also, my screen never had any ''blue'' problems, im positive that you might unfortunately received a defect screen, just buy a new screen.

I wouldn't be so positive. Having strong blue tints is actually rather common for LED panels. My HP EliteBook 8740w and Panasonic CF-Y9 (both top-of-the-line business laptops, more expensive than the W530 when new) have very blue screens. I am not surprised the OP's W530 has this issue, but I am surprised that it couldn't be fixed simply by dialing down the blue channel through the graphics driver. In my experience, monitors with weird red/green balance can be quite tough to optimize, but overly blue LED panels should be relatively easy to fix.

So, why doesn't your W530 have this "blue problem"? That's because Lenovo acquires LCD panels from multiple sources. Source #1's panels could be bluer than source #2's.

Anyway, I don't think switching to Macs is the best solution. Yes, Macs do have decent screens, but many Wintel laptops have decent screens too, especially the IPS models, and most of them cost less than Macs.

btw its also as durable as the older model, last week i fell off my skate board while i had my w530 in my hands when i was skating to my dorm. It fell onto the asphalt street really really hard, well, nothing happened except a small scratch 2 edges and a battery misplace - Meanwhile I remember clearly how a CMC student's mac had its screen *****Expletives removed by Moderator***** up when a soccer ball we were playing with took it off his hands when it was shot really badly aimed.

Drops are highly stochastic events. I have heard of Thinkpads getting seriously damaged in half-a-foot drops. But one thing is certain about Macbooks: due to their light colors and smooth appearances, even minor dents and scratches are very noticeable.