T61 screen resolution and wireless issues

[harpoon45]

I just got a new T61 with the discrete graphics nVidia card, with the WSXGA+ 15.4" screen.
The issues that I'm having are:

1. The screen doesn't seem very bright at all. I have Dell laptop and the white on it appears quite sharp. (I have messed around w/ brightness; but it didn't help.)
2. If I change the screen resolution from 1680x1050 to anything lower, the fonts look fuzzy and everything seems streatched horizontally.
3. After the screen resolution change; I lose my desktop background.

I've experienced all the above problems with and witout nVidia Desktop manager.

Also, even though I have 2GB of memory on a 2GHz, and running XP things seem quite a bit slow startup, desktop background change etc.

Adding to this; I got the Intel/Pro wireless card. Everytime I restart the machine I have to manually connect to my AP to get the internet up and running.
Basically, the connection starts off with "Limited or No Connectivity". I have to disconnect and then reconnet to get it up and running.

It just won't connect automatically.

Has anyone seen issues like these?

[dr_st]

2. If I change the screen resolution from 1680x1050 to anything lower, the fonts look fuzzy and everything seems streatched horizontally.

Well, this is a problem with all LCD screens, because whenever you run them not at their native (highest) resolution, they interpolate the pixels, causing things (esp. text to be quite fuzzy). And of course, if you change to a res that doesn't match the 8:5 aspect ratio of 1680x1050, everything also stretches.

[rayZR]

Also, even though I have 2GB of memory on a 2GHz, and running XP things seem quite a bit slow startup, desktop background change etc.

Adding to this; I got the Intel/Pro wireless card. Everytime I restart the machine I have to manually connect to my AP to get the internet up and running.
Basically, the connection starts off with "Limited or No Connectivity". I have to disconnect and then reconnet to get it up and running.

It just won't connect automatically.

Two of my friends have been having these same problems... since my laptop hasnt arrived yet.. It would be nice to know what the cause for this is .. and how to avoid it.

we have a few hypothesis..
1. Turbo memory
2. disabling "Deep Smart Power Down" option on the Intel Pro/1000 PL Network Connection
3. Lenovo bloatware...

If you find reasons and solutions... I am really interested as well.

[Crunch]

There is an excellent application that will display any non-native resolution just as clearly. It's called LiquidView. However, it is a general rule that any computer (desktop, laptop, whatever) without third-party apps like LiquidView, will run best in their native resolution, meaning the highest setting, and will look like crap the lower you set the resolution.

[Altadena_Mark]

I have a X61s, XP Pro and am using the Intel ABN wireless card. I had problems coming out of sleep mode with connecting to the AP. I had to connect manually. No problems on boot-up. I un-installed Lenovo's AC and let Windows manage the connections, and I no longer have problems connecting to the AP.

[dr_st]

There is an excellent application that will display any non-native resolution just as clearly. It's called LiquidView. However, it is a general rule that any computer (desktop, laptop, whatever) without third-party apps like LiquidView, will run best in their native resolution, meaning the highest setting, and will look like crap the lower you set the resolution.

You're mixing two things here. No application can make non-native resolutions look sharp on LCD monitors, because the cause for the blurriness is interpolation in the hardware.

What LiquidView attempts to do is to allow comfortable viewing for those who find the default font size too small at the native resolution. I haven't tested it so I cannot know whether it really does something more useful than the built-in Windows tool to increase DPI/font-sizes. My bet is that it is just a convenient manager for font size settings of the desktop, some common applications and web browsers.