T41 and Resolutions with Latest Lenovo Video Drivers.

[dpm_dpmartin]

I wanted to get some feedback, if possible, from anyone out there who might be using the latest Lenovo Video Drivers located at http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... 41918.html, with version number 8.133.2.1.1.1-070206a and a release date of 2007/09/19.

Some time earlier, I had been trying to get a 1400x1050 resolution working with an external widescreen monitor that could go right up to 2048x1536... including the very nice but too small 1920x1200 / 1080 HD equivalent, see this article here: http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=28673

To get this I had to use the modder tool and the latest Catalyst drivers. However, recently I have been wondering whether I should get this uninstalled and try out the new Lenovo drivers. I am also have a few problems with Direct3D, i.e. dxdiag tells me it is disabled for some reason!

Has anyone installed the latest Lenovo drivers on their T41 and is now using their Thinkpad with a good external widescreen LCD monitor? If so, what resolutions can you get... I am especially interested in the lowly 1280x768 to be honest... that's what I like. Although 1400x1050 is also supposed to work with these drivers without panning too... and I'd take that at a pinch.

If people have had any issues then, of course, I might steer clear of them.

[sjthinkpader]

The new ATi driver posted on www.lenovo.com dated Aug 31, 2007 has a pretty wide compatibility. I've even used it on the lowly A30p Rage.

Using it with external monitor, the best is to use a DVI/HDMI cable. Without digital interface, you will need a monitor driver with wide resolutions.

I am using a 1280x720 HDTV (1366x768 native) as an external monitor and here is my experience:

If you are only using the external monitor as extra desktop space, you can set the Thinkpad LCD and external monitor with their respective native resolution.

If you want to use the external monitor as the main Window, set same resolution on the Thinkpad LCD and the external monitor; then you can switch between the two freely. I use this method because the photo slide show software cannot run on the slave monitor.

[Padhead]

Dang! SJthinkpader is hot tonight. I am curious to see how this works out. I have a t41 that I might retire to a desktop PC with an LCD.

Does it matter what the native resolution is on the T41? Mine is 1028 768

[sjthinkpader]

No it doesn't. You XGA should PAN. The slide show program is a freeware called XnView.

My second laptop was a 755CDV. Yes, I still have this transmissive projection display machine from the days of OHP. Now it is dedicated to making bootable FDD since it is stuck at the Win98 generation. First laptop was a mono Compag Aero. My Thinkpad 560 literally fried in my lap. Next was a X20, then T41 and now a T60. These are for work.

At home we started with i1600, then A20m,A20p, A22p, A30, A31, A31p. The kids used T20, T22, T23, T40, T43. They like the mobility.

So sometimes a newbie is not quite a newbie.

[dpm_dpmartin]

OK,

Uninstalled all my ATI Catalyst drivers and installed the latest Lenovo drivers for the T41. As kinda expected, I didn't get an option to choose 1280x768 in the normal display properties. I did get 1400x1050 without panning - which looked very nice, but was way too small for me (even with my 27" Dell Ultrasharp).

One positive is that both 1024x768 and 1280x1024 looked really crisp on this display also. Anyway, I used Powerstrip in the end to try and set a 1280x768 resolution - but that looked really nasty. So I settled on using Powerstrip to add a 720p - 1280x720 - resolution to my system and I am using that.

It's very pleasant... very square... possibly a tad unnaturally so, but I think (maybe) the 1280x768 that the Catalyst drivers provided me with previously might have dropped some pixels on the Y anyway.