Thinkpad monitor specifications?

[A32]

Hi all,

I'm hoping someone here might be able to tell me what my Thinkpad R61i (8932CTO) monitor specifications are.

The reason I ask is because I've been doing some shopping around for monitors for my other computer and can't seem to find one that doesn't make me want to look away from it every 30 seconds. I can stare into my R61i's monitor all day long and it doesn't bother me at all. CRT monitors have never bothered me either but I've not got the room for those anymore. Maybe if I knew my laptop's monitor specifications, I could try to find something similar.

So far, these are the ones I've tried:

DELL U2410, 24 inch VIS UltraSharp Widescreen,Flat Panel,Opti,FPWS
This was an IPS monitor and while the color was awesome, reading black text on a white background made my eyes water from strain!

Asus VE245H 24" Widescreen Flat-Panel TFT-LCD
This was an okay monitor but when reading text, the same eye strain happened.

I have a feeling that, maybe it has something to do with the back-lighting hardware being too bright (300 cd/m2). The other thing that I haven't tried is buying a smaller monitor. Maybe 24" is too large.

Anyway, any information you could give would be appreciated.

Thanks!

[RealBlackStuff]

Your R61i can come with the following displays:
XGA (1024 × 768 resolution) TFT color LCD
SXGA+ (1400 × 1050 resolution) TFT color LCD
in either 14.1" or 15".
Rightclick anywhere on the desktop, select Properties, then the tab 'Settings'.
You will see the Resolution there. Make sure the slider is all the way to the right.
The figures underneath will tell you what your LCD has.

You may want to look at 19" LCDs in 5:4 aspect, and with a resolution of 1280 x 1024, such as the HP LP1965.These are not widescreen , but 'regular' monitor sizes, such as on your laptop.
I have one and just love it.

[Neil]

maybe it has something to do with the back-lighting hardware being too bright

Could be. I have trouble looking into a bright light, so I always adjust the monitors brightness to a lower level (even my Thinkpads) unless the ambient light is very bright.

[A32]

I just found my receipt!

It says it came with a 15.4 WXGA (1280x800 native) ..

But what would the cd/m2 rating be for this monitor?

I've tried lowering those other monitor's brightness but can't ever seem to get it to look right. My thoughts are that maybe the Thinkpad's monitor:

1. Has a single CCFL (as opposed to dual, and maybe a different frequency which could be straining my eyes).

2. Has a lower cd/m2 rating (my Thinkpad is always set to full bright - and it doesn't hurt my eyes). Maybe it's a 200 cd/m2 backlight. From what I understand, changing the brightness on a CCFL changes the modulation/duty cycle. Maybe its that modulation that's stressing my iris when I change the brightness on those overly-bright monitors.

3. Is significantly smaller than the big ones I've tried.

I think maybe it could be a combination of all 3. Who knows.

I guess I'll just have to keep buying monitors and sending them back! lol.

[pianowizard]

Are you driving these external monitors through the VGA output of your Thinkpad? Then the image may be fuzzy. Try the monitors' "auto adjust" button first. If that doesn't solve the problem, adjust the pixel phase mamually.

[A32]

Are you driving these external monitors through the VGA output of your Thinkpad?

I did at first but the result was completely unacceptable (wavy pixels, etc what a mess)

So I hooked it up to my big custom box through DVI.

[pianowizard]

So I hooked it up to my big custom box through DVI.

Okay, with DVI, you may have the opposite problem: text looks too fine! Your Dell monitor may have a "sharpness" adjustment (my Dell 3008wfp does) -- reduce it and see if that helps.

[A32]

I never even thought of adjusting the sharpness?

Unfortunately, those monitors I've mentioned were returned within days..