T560 detailed review

[Puppy]

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Lenovo-Thi ... 119.0.html

An entry-level low color space coverage IPS display again Compare it with Dell XPS 15 in the same price category http://www.notebookcheck.net/Dell-XPS-1 ... 354.0.html

[Ibthink]

Why compare it with a consumer notebook aimed at a completely different audience? The XPS is aimed at consumers/prosumers, people who care about sRGB coverage.

You can compare the T560 to the Elitebook 850 G3 for example. Both are aimed at business customers, who don´t care much about sRGB. And if they do, they always can purchase the 3K display option, which covers > 90 % of sRGB.

[Puppy]

T560 is a consumer notebook ?

[Ibthink]

No. T560 is a business notebook. XPS 15 is a consumer/prosumer device (much like a Macbook Pro is).

What does a business gain with sRGB? Sure, the display is better, but will workers be more productive on a 100 % sRGB display? Don´t think so, unless they work with colors like a designer or a photograph. I think you can argue that IPS is something worth paying a little bit more for, it reduces eye restraint with a better contrast and the viewing angles allow coworkers to also look at the display.

Again, Elitebook 850 G3 is a good comparison. Look at the specs: http://store.hp.com/us/en/pdp/business- ... -l3d23av-1 "SVA" signals that HP is using TN FHD displays here just like Lenovo did with the T550. And these are often even a little bit more expensive then ThinkPads!

[RealBlackStuff]

Looking at the crappy 6-row keyboard, I'd say YES, that's a consumer lappie, regardless of its specs.

[pianowizard]

I agree with Ibthink. With few exceptions, consumer laptops have always been focused on providing the most bang for the buck (i.e. maximizing features and/or performance) at the expense of reliability/durability, whereas most business-class laptops emphasize reliability/durability and having professional-looking designs, and perhaps also serviceability.

[dr_st]

Why compare it with a consumer notebook aimed at a completely different audience? The XPS is aimed at consumers/prosumers, people who care about sRGB coverage.

What's this rubbish? Where is the ridiculous notion that consumers care more about sRGB coverage or any other aspect of display quality more than "business users"? And WTF is a "prosumer"? Another stupid word made up by stupid "suits" to justify their inept corporate strategy?

Somewhere in hell there should be a special chamber where people who make up words like "prosumer" and "phablet" are tortured forever by watching non-stop episodes of Barney the dinosaur.

[Puppy]

Someone has pointed out in this discussion that I did not realize Lenovo insane EU pricing. If the T560 falls in ~800 EUR price category the display is relatively ok.

[TonyJZX]

The T series has never been a bastion for screen quality.

I've worked with a LOT of companies that uses T series exclusively... NONE of them complained about screen quality.

[brchan]

I disagree. T420/T430 1366x768 screens are one of the worst screens ever put in a thinkpad, save for the X300.

[Ibthink]

I agree they are pretty bad. The HD screen in the T420i my mother has is really disgusting.

However, coming originally from a R60 with a 15" XGA screen, my vote for "worst screen" would be this one^^ Milky, dim, low contrast, terrible viewing angles and disgusting low res. The HD T420/T430 screens are bad, but they are at least a little brighter. And are a little bit sharper.

[Puppy]

However, coming originally from a R60 with a 15" XGA screen

While R51 15" SXGA+ IPS screen made by IDTech is better than X220 one in every aspect (no image retention, no backlight bleeding, no low PWM backlight, no white spots, no darkening under 45 degree viewing angle).

Speaking of displays http://www.notebookcheck.net/The-Best-N ... 541.0.html Notice how many cheap customer grade Acer/Asus/MSI laptops have better display than Lenovo T450s and X250 among 25 others. Suprisingly low-cost Miix 700 tablet is the second one. Does Lenovo care about display quality ? Absolutely not.

[bit_twiddler]

I'm surprised that Lenovo has anything in the top 25.
Personally, I would have given anything with a ratio better than 16:9
an automatic 5% ratings boost, but that's just me.

It's not that I don't want something better in the way of gamut, but there are other factors
that go into making a crappy display, such as a low PWM frequency, 16:9, etc.

FWIW, I'm typing this on a cherry keyboard with an HP LP2475w monitor connected to my
eyeballs, so I guess that shows what I'd like to see in a laptop. And, to be fair, both the
T560 and the Elitebook 850 G3 can be ordered with better screens.

[FryPpy]

There was good screens, there was bad ones in ThinkPads, but i dislike overall design of this T560
In addition to chicklet and 16:9 aspect ratio it have clamshell display hinges, lower ports density (i believe it have all needed for everyday running - but there are huge amount of free space where can be added some more ports - eSATA or expressCard ), speakers - to massage your lap and... exchaust to the right.
From all my OldSchool Thinkpads only W70x have right exchaust;)

NO WAY for me

[bit_twiddler]

It is really amazing how much bad stuff Lenovo has come out with lately in the business laptop market.
They just seem to have lost their way. At least they put the trackpoint buttons back in and got rid
of the "clickpad" (from what I've heard.)

It's not like Lenovo is the only outfit which is stumbling. I've seen Dells in the past which
had beautifully sculpted keyboard switches, but I was in the Best Buy (a big-box electronic
retailer) the other day picking up a usb drive, and noticed that they were selling Dells with chiclet keyboards
with flat switch tops, and it was just horrible. I don't know why anybody would design
anything like that except that it "looks like a Mac." Maybe somebody at Dell figured that
some segment of the population would buy it because it looked like a Mac.

I think that the problem is that all of these companies are having an internal debate which
goes like this:

(Faction A): Apple is the only company making money in PCs, we need to be just like them,
except cheaper.

(Faction B:) We need to be ourselves, and evolve from our own DNA.

Probably in the consumer space, Faction A is winning, but so what? In the business and
engineering market we know what we want. If we wanted to buy chic "prosumer" devices
with the RAM soldered to the motherboard, we would already have done that.

[brchan]

Generally speaking, people favor sleek, simple, portable, 'cool' looking designs. Unfortunately, Implementing 'cool' designs often interferes with functional design. This largely explains the route Lenovo, and even Dell and HP have gone.

Remember that Lenovo would not have implemented and kept the designs they have now, unless it maximized profits. They could care less about the minority who actually want solid, fully functional laptops.