Any 14" T-series with 1080p in coming months?

I've bought 2 T-series in the past as many years, a T-420 and a T-430 for my sister & wife respectively and these laptops are nearly perfect in terms of bulk and form factor and they have been very content with it except for the absence of HDMI slot and the weird placement of the Fn key. The T-420 was a 1080p laptop but we couldn't find a 1080p one last year and hence we bit the bullet and bought the lower resolution. Working on that is not as much efficient as is with T-420 for a programmer who multi-tasks a lot as there is limited screen space. Now I myself am in the market for one and all I could find is a T/W530 which gives a 1080p resolution. There were talks of T-431 coming out and that has been a disappointment both being an ultrabook and having lower resolution. Is my only option the heavier, bulkier and bigger T/W530?

So my question is whether its advisable for me to wait for couple of months in anticipation of a higher resolution portable laptop in the 14" configuration or is it a wild goose chase? There have been news of higher res laptops being released mid-year ever since CES but I've not found much evidence to back that. Any info on this would be really appreciated.

 

The Thinkpads will be refreshed for Intel's Haswell CPU generation that has just been released to end-consumers, but there's no ETA or other details on that yet. Given the trend towards higher resolutions available on laptops in the last few months, I think there is certainly a possibility the new 14" T-series will have a FHD panel option, but that's definitely not guaranteed at all.

A more likely possibility (IMO) is that the 14" T-series will still top out at 1600x900, but the X1 Carbon could be refreshed with a higher-quality and higher-resolution display to keep it in the premium bracket.

So, if you don't need a new laptop right at the moment, you can wait a few months just to what the new model will be like.

 

Yes, I think that is a possible. Lenovo has just introduced their first UltraBook with a 14" FHD screen (the IdeaPad U430), so I think it is very likely that Lenovo will use these screens within the new 14" T line. Dell will also start to offer FHD in their 14" business-notebooks, so Lenovo has to do the same (as Dell is one of their main competitors in the Business segment).

The new ThinkPads will be available in Fall, very likely September/October, as the new Intel Core Dual-Core CPUs (37w TPD) with vPro will be released then. Don´t know when they will be announced, maybe in July, maybe in August.

 

The 35W Haswell processors (M series) are expected to launch in Q4 of 2013. I would not expect a thinkpad refresh before that.

Some of the laptops that use the U series could see launches (like the X tablet).

Given the industry tends to ultra high resolution screens, I would imagine Lenovo will put at least a 1600x900 screen on their 14 inch model, but I would not be shocked to see one much higher.

 

To each his own, but IMO the T530 is the far better deal (over especially the older T420 and also the newer T430).

Lenovo's Outlet is starting to show more T530 refurbs (or scratched ones and sometimes even "new" (not very common for a current model)) at decent prices. And that volume will continue to increase as the new Haswell competition increases.

At most you'd simply have to check their Outlet site for a week or two, to find a T530 to your liking.

For some specific ideas on this, see: http://forum.notebookreview.com/har...-wait-until-christmas-kaveri.html#post9231864

 

I'll make it simple for the Lenovo product managers. I have been a Thinkpad customer since the days of the 755c and 701 butterfly. My current W510 will be my last, unless Lenovo stops the race to the bottom with crappy, low resolution, TN screens. It is ABSOLUTELY UNACCEPTABLE that my 7 year old R51p had a gorgeous, IPS QXGA screen (2048x1536) and now all I can buy on the best Thinkpads (like the Carbon) is low res 1600x900 garbage. Until it gets at least a 1900x1080 screen (and preferably a proper 16:10 format like the MBPr, Thinkpads are dead to me.
People buy Thinkpads to do WORK. This means high res, quality screens (that can display full page without scrolling). It means quality keyboards, and keeping the trackpoint. What it doesn't mean? Cheap. I don't care if it costs $3k. Apple sells plenty of macs at that price, and people will pay for quality and performance!

 

Do I miss something or that W530/T530 still offer one of the better screens?

 

I never heard of any 14 inch FHD notebook before. Will U430 be the first one in history? Please enlighten me.

 

Compare the T530/W530 FHD displays with the 15" rMBP (2560 x 1600) or even Google's Chromebook (2880 x 1800)...no contest, their display options win every time. And quite honestly they nailed it on their anti-glare glossy coatings, the glare isn't even a factor on the new models. Even Samsung even quadrupled the 1600 x 900 resolution (3200 x 1800) in their upcoming 13.3" Ativ laptop.

And here we sit with our matte displays, hoping they are better in some way, but in the end finding no resolve for our investment as half of lenovo's panels have the screen-door effect (at least on my x120e and T430s). I'm with proteus77 on this one, even my T61 from FIVE AND A HALF YEARS AGO has a proper 16:10 display. I do understand that many businesses don't need or want to buy their employees expensive machines, but really? At least give us the upgrade options, it's not like they've got a ultra-refined, non-configurable chassis like the MBPs.

With that said, I am still hopeful they offer FHD on the 14" line (else I'm not getting another ThinkPad!).

 

Here is where the individual taste comes into play. I played with rMBP for several hours at a local apple store and was not impressed. The colors were a bit dull and the glossy screen gave me a headache after a while.

 

All depends on what you're comparing it with...

If you're looking for a comparison over the ThinkPad line, definitely, bar none.

However...put it next to a DC panel and...oh well.

 

As long as my little kids say it's good, it's good.

 

Smart man.

My kids are not spoiled when it comes to laptops. It's us adults...:hi2:

 

To appreciate the Retina screen, you really must try it in the settings you intend to use it in. I don't think Apple got the 15" right. The screen was nice, but I think the gpu switching code in OS X couldn't handle the scaling properly. It never felt right to me and I have used a couple for several months each.

The 13.3" rMBP is quite good for my needs. I wanted a 13.3" at 1600x900 or slightly higher with decent color, contrast, blacks, etc. I run mine at 1680x1050 and it never feels sluggish like the 15". My surmise is the single Intel GPU ano switching like the Optimus chipset of the 15". My 13.3" is the i7, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD model.

It appears Samsung may have killed the 15" Series 9 models. I was hopeful we would finally get a Series 9 15" with a PLS screen and Haswell chipset. But it didn't happen at their event on the 20th.

Less competition for Lenovo means less incentive to offer options.

 

I'm pretty sure we are going to see it. There is the newly released Alienware 14" with IPS FHD screen (made by AUO) and there is also a Clevo W740SU (or System 76 Galapogo UltraPro) with the same panel... so I'm really hoping to see a notebook by Lenovo with this screen. The above mentioned screens are matte by the way!

Links:
System76
Clevo w740su