Disappointing LCD's

[jjfcpa]

First, let me state that this is not a troll posting.

I currently own 3 Thinkpads and my company owns quite a few more.

Due to a port replicator issue and some problems with my R50p (networking related and unresolved by IBM), I switched to another brand of laptop. (I won't mention names unless asked.)

Well, after using the other brand for two months, I decided to switch back to my T41p because I'm going to a conference this weekend and it's the lightest laptop that I own. The conference is for developers and we'll be carrying out laptop around ALL day and night.

I have to say, the screen on the T41p is extremely disappointing after using the other brand for the last two months. I find myself constantly straining to view the text (even in this posting), where as the other brand, which has a higher resolution (T41p is 1400 X 1040), is much clearer and brighter. I simply can't believe the difference and may take the other brand because it is so much clearer and brighter. What's another pound or so?

IBM's have so much going for them that I really think they need to address this issue. I'm sure the flexview is better and similar to the screen on my R50p, but like I said, I have some unresolved issues with that laptop and I probably will end up selling it.

[akerman]

I think the sxga+ panel on mine is fine.. just as good as the widescreen sxga+ I had on a hp nx7000 notebook - or at least, text is just as clear.

[atlacatl]

First, let me state that this is not a troll posting.

I currently own 3 Thinkpads and my company owns quite a few more.

Due to a port replicator issue and some problems with my R50p (networking related and unresolved by IBM), I switched to another brand of laptop. (I won't mention names unless asked.)

Well, after using the other brand for two months, I decided to switch back to my T41p because I'm going to a conference this weekend and it's the lightest laptop that I own. The conference is for developers and we'll be carrying out laptop around ALL day and night.

I have to say, the screen on the T41p is extremely disappointing after using the other brand for the last two months. I find myself constantly straining to view the text (even in this posting), where as the other brand, which has a higher resolution (T41p is 1400 X 1040), is much clearer and brighter. I simply can't believe the difference and may take the other brand because it is so much clearer and brighter. What's another pound or so?

IBM's have so much going for them that I really think they need to address this issue. I'm sure the flexview is better and similar to the screen on my R50p, but like I said, I have some unresolved issues with that laptop and I probably will end up selling it.

I think your experience may have been due to exposure to a FlexView display. Or, your current display is not as bright as others. I've seen this phenomenum happened: 2 identical configured laptops with varied sharpness/brightness in the LCD.

Having said this, I think you'd benefit to turn on cleartext font types. Only if you have XP, though. I own a T40p with 1400x1050 display, and it has made a big difference for me. I'm not that bad with my eyes yet, and I'm nearsighted, so the small fonts don't bother me that much, but I defenetely see an improvement...

Good luck in your conference...

[lhsa]

i would definitely agree with the fact that i am terribly disappointed with the 14" svga+ screen. the maximum brightness is extremely low and contrast is lacking. the sharpness is good, but the other problems eclipse it. i had a dell 600m 14" svga+ which was superior in brightness and contrast and my roomate has a R50 with a non-flexview 15" svga+ which is much better, as well.

so now i'm waiting for my 2379-DXU 15" flexview!

[tselling]

I have a company supplied Dell Latitude D600 and 2 personal IBM Thinkpad T41p's (one is my husband's). All have 14" SXGA+ screens. All the screens are of about equal quality to me. The brightness is about the same, as is the contrast. The response times seem to be about equal too. And the viewing angles are about the same. I set the DPI higher on all of them to 125% or 130% (120dpi or 125dpi respectively).

[durjaya]

I've used a T41p with the 1400x1050, 150 nit 200/1 contrast 14" screen and own one of the 15" flexview 42p's as well.

In my opinion - the 14" non-flexview screens are waaay too dim and not sharp at all.

Just wish they made the 14" in flexview as the 15" models are just a smidgin too big.

[taphil]

I think the 14" 1400x1050 screen is incredibly sharp, and I have very sensitive eyes. I don't care about the relatively narrow viewing able because I'm always looking perpendicularly to the laptop when I'm using it, and because I don't want people behind me to see that I'm surfing during class. The contrast is fine to me too.

But I'll agree the brightness isn't as great as other laptop LCDs. While sitting in class, I can look down the room and see other people with laptops - whether it be expensive PowerBooks or cheapo HP/Compaq/Dells - whose LCD's shine maybe double the brightness of mine, although I have mine set to 3 to save battery life, which makes it too dim sometimes. In a bright room, sometimes at max brightness the screen isn't bright enough when running on battery, but on AC the max brightness has never been too dim.

[K. Eng]

My T40's screen is fairly dim compared to a few Dell D600 screens I've seen.

I noticed that the screens on the T40, Gateway/Samsung 200X, and Fujitsu S series were all dimmer than slightly larger units from Dell, HP, and Gateway. I suspect this is to increase the rated battery runtime.

The Dell systems may have brighter LCDs, but they tend to consume more battery power as well. One of my friends uses a D600 regularly, and can only get about 3-3.5 hours out of it, whereas I can get 4-4.5 out of my T40.

However, I would prefer a brighter screen. One can always turn the brightness down to save power.

[tselling]

The brightness on my T41ps is plenty bright enough. But I do have it set HIGH for brightness when on battery instead of NORMAL. You might check that in the bios.

[Chun-Yu]

My T40's screen is fairly dim compared to a few Dell D600 screens I've seen.

Weird... my T41's screen is much, much brighter than my old D600's. I set them next to each other and was impressed by how much brighter the T41 was and how much better the colors looked (still can't compare to a good desktop display, though).

[nikemen]

I just bought my mom a dell 1150 (hey it was cheap and she is dying) and the screen looks much nicer than my T41 or A20. Brighter and a bit crisper. Okay, not too much but noticeably. I was constantly turning it down there, it was usually too bright.