Flexview Screen

I wonder what the Flexview screen of the Thinkpads R50p and R51 looks like. I cannot find any of those models in any store in Toronto, Canada.

The Flexview screen is supposed to provides 170° horizontal and vertical viewing angles and is 25-50% brighter than standard UXGA TFT display?

How does it compare to the Fujitsu Crystal View Screen of the N5010?

Does anyone know?

 

Hi,

Flexview screens use IPS technology. here is a white paper: http://global.lgphilips-lcd.com/en/technology/down.html?tg=data&file=35_b_Super-IPS%20White%20Paper(2003.Jun).pdf

IPS is also used on some Asus notebooks (L5GA series). Have a look to the following page and you will understand how good is IPS technology : http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/asus_l5000ga/page4.asp


Note: Flewview is close from quality of XBrite screen used on Sony VAIO


Bye

 

Thank you Gizmo for the info on Flexview. I finally decided on the IBM Thinkpad T42 with Flexview. The screen is great especially in the top resolution. For a laptop, it is ideal for photo viewing and retouching. Finally a screen that does not "disappear" when you tilt it up or down! Compared to Fujitsu's Crystal View Screen, it is not as stricking (sexy) but it is not as glossy and its viewing angles are better.

However, for watching a DVD (and perhaps playing games) it is awful; the response rate being far too slow. Since I don't intent to use the T42 for those purposes, it does not bother me.

Again, thanks for your help.

 

oh.. and I forgot this article

FlexView's 170 Degrees Of Freedom
http://www.tomshardware.com/mobile/20020306/a31p-06.html

 

Hi dh1t! If I answered you this is because i'm looking also for a notebook with good screen quality since several days... I want a desktop replacement mainly for office softwares, web surfing and also photoshop. Here in France, I found an afordable Thinkpad R51 with Flexscreen (T42 too expensive..) and some Vaio A series with XBrite tech. According to your experience, do you think Flexscreen has a better response time than XBrite?

thanks

PS: have you read this review?
http://pmw.org/~gardnerj/Thinkpad/

 

Salut Gizmo,

Small world: In live in Canada but I am actually from France. I need a laptop when I go to France to visit my parents for a couple of months at a time.

I have read the review on the T42p you mention in your post. It is the same model as my T42 but more expensive (the "p" costs a lot) I disagree with the review about watching DVDs. I watched part of the movie "l'Adversaire" and although it is by no mean an action film, I found it unwatchable. It only takes someone in the film walking or turning his head to notice the slow response time of the display. In a couple of forums, I read that it is about 60ms. Check this link: http://notebookforums.com/archive/index.php/t-27827.html


I don't know about the response time of the Vaio but I would think that it is better than the Flexview's. If you are not going to watch DVDs or play games, the response time is of no importance.

In any case, if you order a Thinkpad directly from IBM, you have a month to try it out and return it with no questions asked, if you are not satisfy.

According to IBM, the T42 is better than the R51, if you are able to navigate through the maze of Thinkpad models, you may find that you can get a T42 for practically the same price as the R51. That is what I found out. Also when IBM has special promotions, sometimes when you configure your unit by adding more memory for instance, you get a discount. However, if you don't add anything, you don't get the discount. Their marketing sucks!

I would not buy a Sony. Toshiba has also notebooks with TruBrite display that are not bad. Check them out.

Bonne chance dans ta recherche. Si tu as d'autres questions, n'hésite pas à me les poser.

 

Flexview is not an ehanced display like CrystalView or XBRITE. IBM doesn't offer anything along those lines at the moment, and in talking to them Monday, don't seem too interested in offering it any time soon.

Editor in Chief http://www.bargainPDA.com and http://www.SPOTstop.com