Question about x61 display

[thinkpadmba]

Hi Everyone,

I own a Thinkpad x61 and the screen is great for office applications but terrible for photos and movies. The colors seem washed out and pixellated. The contrast between using the machine alone and hooking it up to my dell lcd display is very noticeable. I was wondering if this is just my machine or due to the low resolution screen. Please share your experiences with me. Thanks

[Puppy]

X series displays (except the 12" SXGA+ AFFS in tablet version) have extremly bad quality for a long time. Unfortunately Lenovo is completely ignoring this fact. My X31 has worse display than any cheapest Acer or FSC on the market. Also the TN techology is not able to provide any level of quality regarding color representation.

[tomh009]

Hmmm. I still have an X31, and I recently got an X61. Both have 12.1" TN display panels, which are nothing special, but in my eyes they are no better or worse than any other manufacturer's 12.1" panels. (Puppy, maybe you could point out some competitive laptops with high-quality 12.1" 4:3 displays since you say the X series is by far the worst?)

Pixelated or screen-door effect? I don't see it. Of course the DPI is not very high, but I'm not seeing other problems beyond that. Maybe you could take a close-up photo of your screen and post it so that we can provide some feedback.

[pianowizard]

Puppy, maybe you could point out some competitive laptops with high-quality 12.1" 4:3 displays since you say the X series is by far the worst?

Few manufacturers still make 12.1" 4:3 laptops. Puppy was most likely comparing the X series with 12.1" widescreen laptops made by Acer etc. These 1280x800 screens' higher DPI alone would make them look nicer than the X series' larger but lower res screens.

The Panasonic W series still uses 12.1" 4:3 screens. I wonder how those compare with the Thinkpad X series.

[Puppy]

Puppy was most likely comparing the X series with 12.1" widescreen laptops made by Acer etc. These 1280x800 screens' higher DPI alone would make them look nicer than the X series' larger but lower res screens.

I'm aware of it, I'm not comparing poor resolution here. Apart from that, contrast, viewing angles and backlight bleeding is really subaverage. Check FSC V3205 (it is the cheapest 12" on the market over here) or Prestigio 1200. Yes, both of them have glossy displays (like every cheap models now) but it does not change the fact there is TN panel inside anyway. At least the backlight bleeding is not that bad like X series displays exhibits.

[Puppy]

The colors seem washed out and pixellated.

Make sure you have 32bit color depth in Display Settings.

[pianowizard]

The colors seem washed out and pixellated.

Make sure you have 32bit color depth in Display Settings.

How can that solve the pixellation, which is caused by the low DPI of this screen.

[Antioch]

It's not necessarily caused by the low resolution. If you set your color depth too shallow, you will see color grains that looks "pixelly." For example, if you set your color depth to 16-bit and look at your command bar/file menu area (in XP) you'll see that it's not a smooth gray, but rather a pixelated gray shape.

I've noticed a few of my TPs hopping down to 16-bit color mode. Make sure you don't have some option like "reduce colors when on battery."

[tomh009]

I'm aware of it, I'm not comparing poor resolution here. Apart from that, contrast, viewing angles and backlight bleeding is really subaverage. Check FSC V3205 (it is the cheapest 12" on the market over here) or Prestigio 1200. Yes, both of them have glossy displays (like every cheap models now) but it does not change the fact there is TN panel inside anyway. At least the backlight bleeding is not that bad like X series displays exhibits.

I think neither FSC nor Prestigio is available in North America. And I'll leave the glossy vs matte religious debate for another thread.

On the other hand, having viewed HP nc4400, HP tc4400, Panasonic W5 and Dell D410, I do not see a substantive difference in display quality to the X61. But then my X61 does not (in my view) exhibit unusually bad backlight bleeding, either.

[tomh009]

Few manufacturers still make 12.1" 4:3 laptops. Puppy was most likely comparing the X series with 12.1" widescreen laptops made by Acer etc. These 1280x800 screens' higher DPI alone would make them look nicer than the X series' larger but lower res screens.

12.1" WXGA is only 18% higher DPI than 12.1" XGA -- not a dramatic difference IMHO.

[ecofreak]

I think neither FSC nor Prestigio is available in North America. And I'll leave the glossy vs matte religious debate for another thread.

On the other hand, having viewed HP nc4400, HP tc4400, Panasonic W5 and Dell D410, I do not see a substantive difference in display quality to the X61. But then my X61 does not (in my view) exhibit unusually bad backlight bleeding, either.

My X60s' UL screen is, imo, inferior to that of my 3+ year old Averatec 3120. The amount of backlight bleeding is, well, incredible. And it also suffers uneven screen brightness. Not to mention the fact that the UL screen only boosts 180nits, which is fairly low.

I personally bought 7 laptops since last June, and the X60s I purchased(and returned one week later) on April easily has the worst screen. It's a real pity for I otherwise like the solid performance very much.

[pianowizard]

I think Lenovo needs to be more aware of these complaints about their laptop LCDs. Defending them will make future improvements less likely.

[tomh009]

I don't think you or me posting here will determine whether Lenovo changes its displays.

But, as I said, screen brightness aside (which I did not compare), I find my X61's display panel to be of similar quality as competitive models' non-glossy TN display panels. And if there were SXGA+ IPS or AFFS panels available for Lenovo to use in the X61, I, too, would be begging one of those. However, they use more or less the same TN panel suppliers as everyone else does, and I haven't personally experienced the unacceptable display panels that have been mentioned in this thread.