15" XGA quality?

As I am narrowing down the choices of laptops I am hovering over the Lenovo T60. I'd love to get the FlexView but I really need to stay with the 15" XGA resolution. Trust me, you're not going to talk me out of that. So my question is, how is the basic 15" XGA Lenovo screen? I already know that I will be downgrading with my screen since I am currently on a Sony but for tons of text, all day, some photo work and site design, will this still be a good choice for me? It meets all my other needs, though it stinks that I can only get 1.83 processor with this screen, I'll live.

Thanks for any info.

 

I know you are set on the XGA but I did want to make sure you knew that their were two different flexview screens in the 15" size. One is UXGA (1600x1200) and the other is SXGA+ (1400x1050). I'm not sure what your resolution on your Sony screen is but more are greater than XGA.

I can't really answer your question though as I haven't actually seen the 15" non flexview screen. I've heard that the 15" screens are better than the 14" screens overall. Apparently, it is tougher to make a 14" screen. (I don't know why just stating what some other posts have said).

Maybe someone else could chime in. It might also be helpful to hear from someone with a SXGA or UXGA 15" Flexview and see what the quality is like when you run it at XGA resolution. I've had bad luck with regular LcD screens at non-native resolution but I heard laptops were a bit different.

 

Thanks for making sure I had all the appropriate info. There are so many things to consider when making a purchase like this that it is easy to miss things but the multiple flavors of resolution is something I am aware of. I have spent hours upon hours going to stores, visiting cubicles at work, and finding friends with various brands, sizes, and resolutions.That's why I know I'm still stuck on the XGA. I'm running a 2 year old Sony PCG K17 right now, with a 15" screen and a native resolution of 1024 x 768. Every time I've gone around looking at the various high res screens and then bumped them down to 1024 x 768 I've been less than pleased.

Interesting that it might be harder to make 14" screen than a 15" screen.

Thanks.

 

I'm kind of in the same situation in that I write books on my laptop - only my screen has been 1024 x 768 on a little ultraportable 10.4 inch screen. So now I'm moving up to about a 14.1 inch screen. I'm trying to figure out what that same resolution (1024 x 768) is going to do on a 14.1 inch widescreen. The higher resolutions seem to make everything very small and I'll never be able to write like that. But I still want it to be bright and clear. Why can't there be a store with a bunch of different Thinkpads to see up close and personal!

 

No no no .... you dont understand.
First, XGA on a 15" screen sucks for quality. And it's not a quality flexview screen, doesn't come in XGA.
Second, when you changed the resolution, it looks bad because the LCD is designed to use its native resolution.
Instead of channging the resolution, you need to change the DPI and fonts size... this effectively makes small things larger on the screen - but you have the advantage of higher resolution creating much clearer text & pics.
Think of XGA of being like a 1-megapixel camera and SXGA+ as a 2-megapixel camera.... now when you blow up (enlarge) your photo (by changing the DPI and fonts), which picture offers better quality.

Both of you seem to be candidates for SXGA+ with IPS FlexView... but you need to learn how to use it right.

 

Thanks, Skibunny, but I'm pretty sure I do understand. I've been running XGA on a 15" screen for about 5 years now. I'm very VERY happy with it. It is what my eyes need for looking at pages and pages of text all day. I'm an author and it is all about the text with me.

>And it's not a quality flexview screen, doesn't come in XGA.

Yes, I know that. That's why my question is, what is the T60 15" XGA screen like.

>Second, when you changed the resolution, it looks bad because the LCD is >designed to use its native resolution.

I know. But because there are always people here that say "just change the resolution" I wanted people to know that I have tried that and it doesn't work for me. My Sony runs XGA native and I love it. And I wish I could keep this machine running for a long ling time. But I can't and it's time to look to a new brand favorite.

>Instead of channging the resolution, you need to change the DPI and fonts >size... this effectively makes small things larger on the screen - but you >have the advantage of higher resolution creating much clearer text & pics.

I have done that before and have not been pleased with the results. But since you bring it up around the Flexview screen I'll make a point of going and taking a look at them and seeing how I feel then.

 

To add to skibunny, I too have not been happy with just changing the resolution to a lower non-native resolution. The way to go about it is through dpi and font change which doesn't have the problem of creating fuzzy text. But there are still instances where tiny text appears (e.g. on some menu bars, websites that control fonts, etc.)

I'm pretty good at searching and spent some time trying to find a review on the 15" non-flexview screen but had no luck. If anyone has this screen and could comment, that would be great. I'm curious to know as well.

 

They are pretty average in my opinion. They might have some at OfficeDepot if you want take a look.

 

If you're truely intent on an XGA screen, you might consider the 14" a little more. The inch won't have much impact on font and object size, but you'll get a lighter package with significantly less bulk. I suspect the 15" XGA exists mostly so they can have a 15" screen with integrated graphics, padding the battery life estimates for 15 inchers.

 

My T60 comes with 14" XGA and I'm very much content with it.

 

I'm an academic, and I have the T60 14-inch with SXGA, which makes certain things small. But word processing is not an issue at all since Word has total scalability with ClearType enabled. In "Reading View" mode, I can even fit two pages side by side on my screen and they're quite readable.

Bottom line, the font size issue is relevant pretty much only to Web surfing. You may not need higher resolution, but it won't hurt you as far as working with text.

Chris

 

If you're using Opera, there wouldn't be any issue regarding font sizes. Any web page can be scaled up or down, with a different tab at its own zoom setting.

 

Firefox does that too, it allows you to set a minimum font size as well.

 

Hi,

As someone who works primarily with text all day, and thus for whom all day text use with a minimum of eye strain is of primary concern, here's some info I hope will help:

My wife has a 15 inch T60 with XGA (model 2623-D9U). She LOVES her T60. She also uses it all day every day. It's her first laptop (and first LCD). She reports no issues -- but she hasn't seen a lot of other LCD screens, either. She does lots of text work (both reading and writing), OCR stuff, Paint Shop Pro work on her digital pictures, lots of web browsing, etc.

To me, the XGA has a relatively poor vertical viewing angle on her laptop. When she got her laptop back in April, it had no bad pixels. Now there are a few dead pixels. Have no idea why. She takes great care of her laptop.

Also, the screen on her T60 isn't too bright; it's a tad too dim in my subjective view. I think the 200 nit Flexview would be nicer than the 150 nit XGA on her T60. The HP NC6230 they gave me at work recently has a 180 nit screen that seems OK brightness wise; to me the 180 nits is bright enough. It's too bad Lenovo only puts the Flexview on their higher end models, since a high end CPU and graphics card isn't needed for text work. I hope they soon let folks configure as they please whatever they are willing to pay for.

As stated above, I work with text all day and prefer a larger text size for all day reading. I can set my HP 14 inch at work to 1400x1050 and up the DPI, but as noted in a post above, not all elements on all web sites adjust. Some text on some sites (and in some Window dialog boxes) is quite small and pretty unreadable. I can figure out the words, but can't clearly make out the letters. The HP's SXGA+ screen gives me no eye strain at 1400x1050, but does give me eye strain after a while if I adjust the resolution down and read for a few hours at 1024x768. I do notice I can read faster at a 1024x768 resolution, since it's easier and quicker to make out the larger letters at 1024x768 .vs 1400x1050. I'm going to try using the HP at 1400x1050 periodically for all day reading and see if it "grows on me" as some others have found. So far, (most of the time anyway) I use the HP with a 19 inch desktop LCD that has a 1280x1024 resolution. That's the setup they gave me at work (Sr. Programmer/Analyst).

I recall reading a post on another forum by someone who mentioned the Flexview was much easier on his eyes after all day use. Based on this consideration (and some other factors of course) if I were to order a T60 I would try the Flexview with SXGA+. I've read several post stating that over a few days or weeks a 1400x1050 becomes OK -- that it's mostly a matter of getting used to something new -- but as a myopic who wears glasses I'm not too sure.

BTW, I have a Z60m on order with the 300 nit MaxBright screen. The IBM rep told me it's a glossy LCD. I hope it's actually a matte screen (tabook doesn't specify), but wanted to try a brighter screen and a wide screen prior to ordering a "longer term" laptop sometime next year after Santa Rosa, C2D, Vista, et all have been out for a while. IIRC, the 15.4 inch screen on my Z60m is 1280x800. I figured this should show text that is about the same size as text on a 1024x768 laptop screen. The Lenovo rep did say Lenovo suggest a matte screen rather than a glossy one for all day use to keep eye strain at a minimum....so I ordered a docking station so I can hook up a desktop LCD if the screen is a glossy and I get eye strain from extended use.

One point to remember if you get a docking station...make sure the laptop graphic card and docking station combo you get will display to a desktop LCD via the docking station's DVI port at the resolution you're planning to use (rather than just via the docking station's VGA port).

I think I recall reading that the Lenovos having integrated GMA950 graphics display through the docking station's VGA rather than DVI port. The Lenovos with dedicated graphics cards display via the docking station's DVI just fine.


I hope this helps. Best wishes in all regards,

Louis

 

Thank you, Louis, for that very detailed post. You gave me a lot of the info I needed and more to think about. Oddly enough, the thing that most worries me now is lack of brightness in the screen. With my aged eyes and glasses, that dim screen concerns me.

Thanks again to everyone for all the info.