T400 1280x800 LED Screen Opinions - UPDATED T400 RECEIVED!!

[LambertJohn]

Today, I bought a new T400 from the Lenovo Web site. As there was no option for a 1440x900 LED screen, I went ahead and went with the 1280x800 LED screen. I'm wondering, has anyone out there recently purchased the T400 with the 1280x800 LED screen? And if so, what do you think about it? Is it clear...crisp...bright? I'm not talking about the high-nit screen, just the regular LED backlit screen. Any thoughts would be appreciated. FYI, I'm well aware of the smaller fonts and additional screen real estate with the 1440x900 screen; the loss of that is really not a big deal to me. Thanks all.

[Dead1nside]

I used to be a big proponent of high-res screens and still am, my first Thinkpad a T41p had a 1400x1050 resolution, higher than that of my desktop monitor and it's the way I like it.

When I bought both my T61 and T400 they came with 1280x800 screens, which I deem as inferior to the slightly larger 1440x900 ones, but they are less common and marginally more expensive especially when not buying from lenovo directly.

At first it's a bit of a jump, but I don't think I'm being hampered too much by the resolution. Indeed just the improvement in modern technology made the T61s screen compared to the T41p's look very impressive and bright. Again, moving from T61 to T400 I noticed that infact the T61's panel must have had a slightly yellow hue, but I couldn't notice it until putting it right up against the new T400.

I would still recommend plumping for LED-backlight (thank God Lenovo are offering it now) and I'd go for one of the high-nit screens as well, despite the cost. Displays are important and not only are the new LED-backlit ones brighter, they save power too.

[LambertJohn]

Well, I'm going to answer my own question. Hopefully this answer will benefit all out there thinking of buying a new T400 with 1280x800 LED backlit screen.

Got my new Thinkpad T400 today, fully loaded with 4 gig of ram, 250 gig hard drive, fast fast T9400 CPU, and all the other goodies I could pile on. All except a 1440x900 LED screen. I went with the 1280x800 regular LED screen instead. Regular as in "NOT HIGH NIT." Why? Because that's all they offered, and I need the increased brightness of an LED screen.

The good news is, this computer is really solid. No flex on the keyboard, fast and very well made. The bad news is that the 1280x800 screen sucks! That's right, it sucks! Can I say that on this board? I did a little poking around and according to Lenovo, it's a 42T0592 monitor. When I dug in a little deeper, I found that a 42T0592 monitor is Chi Mei (CMO.) I've never had good luck with Chi Mei monitors. They seem to be the cheap of the cheap.

Just to be sure I wasn't seeing things, I put the T400 right up next to my old R61i bought from Office Depot. I almost couldn't tell the difference. The R61i is glossy, granted, but as far as brightness and contrast, they look almost identical. You can't tell the T400 is an LED backlit screen. Plus, the fuzziness of the screen is really unacceptable. Just for fun, I loaded up PC-Doctor and poked the monitor for specs, and it came back and said the screen was made in the 45th month of 2006. Isn't this 2009??

Maybe I just drew the bad end of a chewed on straw. But man, this really sucks. I mean seriously, a Chi Mei Wal-mart screen made in 2006? Is this normal for a company like Lenovo to include with a new computer? Of course, I'm going to return the computer. But to all who are thinking of buying a T400 with a 1280x800 screen, be prepared for what you might get? You may not be happy. I really wish Lenovo would get their act together with their screen offerings - consistent quality (LG) and size selections (1440x900 LED.)

[Dead1nside]

I've got Lenovo System Toolbox, how do you find out who made your monitor? Mine says it was made in Week 1, 2006 but it's not bad at all. I'm sorry you had a bad experience, perhaps hold out until the monitor you actually want is available.

Granted I didn't pay much for my T400 (specs in sig.), which is why it's a super deal. If I had paid full whack ~£1300 I'd have demanded the highest quality.

[zenit]

did you try playing with the screen color and gamma settings? I just recevied a newly built t400 with WXGA+ LED panel which is made by Samsung. When left untweaked, it did not look too great, but after i reduced gamma and adjusted red and blue channels, it looks very nice. In fact i think i like it more than LG LED panel that was installed on my previous T400. Samsung is not as screaming bright and the colors are slightly less vibrant, but it also is a bit easier on my eyes. My eyes would get tired very fast on the LG.

By the way my wife's aluminium Macbook has a glossy 13" LED Chi Mei display, and it is rather nice panel, with better colors than my Samsung. But apple is smart and loads up a color calibration profile for each type of panel they install on computers. Try messing with the settings, you might be surprised at the result.

[732]

Are you sure you got 1280x800 WXGA with LED backlight? Because to my knowledge, all WXGA screens are with CCFL backlight. Also according to T400 hardware maintenance manual only 2 models of 1440x900 WXGA+ screens are with LED backlight: FRU 42T0498 (LG) and 42T0504 (Samsung).

Go to http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... OOK-WARNTY and check what's the FRU number for your display.

edit: it seems Lenovo has added some new screens lately, including the WXGA LED option.

[Delmarco]

Are you sure you got 1280x800 WXGA with LED backlight? Because to my knowledge, all WXGA screens are with CCFL backlight. Also according to T400 hardware maintenance manual only 2 models of 1440x900 WXGA+ screens are with LED backlight: FRU 42T0498 (LG) and 42T0504 (Samsung).

Go to http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... OOK-WARNTY and check what's the FRU number for your display.

edit: it seems Lenovo has added some new screens lately, including the WXGA LED option.

Does the X301 have LEDs on there hi-res screens?