About the T500 WSXGA+ screen

Hi all,

I finally have the opportunity to buy the T500, and I plan to get the WSXGA+ screen. I will have no chance to see this screen in real life before I buy the machine. But I've seen people report that their screens have been manufactured back in 2005... Is this the norm?

Does it make sense to pay premium for a T500 (Europe...) and get ancient parts? That's what's holding me back a little... I probably need some encouraging words from T500 owners regarding the screen's brightness and general quality, compared to newer LED screens.

I appreciate any opinions on the matter!

 

I have the wsxga+ screen on my T500 and I'm very happy with the brightness, I've never owned a LED screen, and I don't see why I would want the screen any brighter. Its probably not bright enough to use outside but inside during the day I have it all the way up, at night around 2/3rds.

I can't comment about the screens being made in 2005, but even if they were I wouldn't really give 2 s about it - at least its not 16:9 format right?

 

I have the WSXGA+ screen. It is 16:10 and i watch movies and play games on this screen regularly

 

The only way to find out when the screen was actually manufactured is to take it out and look at week and year of manufacturing on the back sticker. The thing that everest gives you is an EDID readout which Lenovo for some reason does not update. From what i've seen its always set to Week 0 of year the screen was probably first manufactured. Don't be scared of an older screen, back then average quality was much superior.

As for LED, it is nothing more than a method of backlighting that is more energy efficient. What you need to look at is the quality of actual panel when it comes to color reproduction, contrast ratio and viewing angles.

If you look in Lenovo's tabook which gives you specs of all the screens, the WSXGA+ screen is superior spec wise. The brightness is the same as LED panel at 200 nits, resolution is obviously higher and, most important in my opinion, the contrast ratio is higher (500:1 vs 400:1 on LED screen). Unless your eyes can't handle the higher resolution, WSXGA+ screen is a no-brainer.

 

I had the LG wsxga+ one, and it was a very nice screen. I found it to be comparable to the one on the macbook pro, just not as bright. 200 nits is not bright enough for me only if I am watching movies. 300 nits is what I would want for that.

 

If the screen was built a few years ago, and is new, no problem. They were very good screens then, and still are. My backup notebook has a screen in use from 2005 and it started brilliant and still is. I have another LCD from 2001 and it is still as good as new. Your screen has never been used, so will be in perfect new condition. It is a 2009 screen.

 

Thanks for your comments guys. It's good to hear positive feedback.

I think there is one thing that is rarely mentioned in the spec, the response time of the screen. The older it is, the higher response time I guess. It will affect gaming, (ghosting issues). Anyone noticed this?

 

I scribbled a bunch of random junk in my virtual notepad and I'm not at my laptop right now to verify this, but according to the notes I have, I supposedly have the LG Philips LP154WE2 panel in my T500. According to this site, that panel has a response time of 16ms. I've never played games on the laptop screen though since I dock it and output to my HDTV when gaming.

 

The WSXGA+ CCFL screen on my T500 is very nice, and I'm very satisfied with it. If I had to critique it, I have two issues:
1.- The right edge is very slightly not as bright as the rest of the display. Not visible 99% of the time, but on solid colors, I can just discern it.
2.- I wish it went even brighter, although it is quite good as it is.

I use it in my bright room facing the window at 2 notches from brightest, although downstairs in a darker room I can use it only a few notches from the dimmest setting.

I haven't had any response time issues, but then again I'm not a very intense gamer. I have played through Bioshock and Mass Effect without issue though.