FHD Option on T420?

I'm in the market for a new Thinkpad, now that my 5 year old Z61T is on its last leg. They were 5 pretty hard years, including a few spills onto concrete/tile floors from a few feet up, and being run over by a car (long story), and the fact that it survived this long is a testament to Thinkpad quality, so I'm definitely getting another. My dilemma right now is how Lenovo is slowly rolling out the options for the T420 and T420S (discrete graphics, etc), so I'm hesitant to bite the bullet and buy a CTO TP only to have a better option/config that I would have wanted be released a few days later.

One of the common areas of discontent I'm seeing with newer Thinkpads is the quality of the screens. It sounds like the X220's IPS screen bucks that trend, but I want something a little larger than 12.5". I've heard pretty good things about the FHD screen available on models like the T520, but that's on the other end of the size scale for me, and a little too large.

I was just browsing the Lenovo site, however, and under the Features section for the T series, it says "Plus, the T520 and T420 feature a high-end resolution FHD option with 95% color gamut for true color." The spec sheet, however, doesn't list an FHD screen for the T420. Is that a typo? Or is it possible that the T420 might actually come out with an FHD option? Even if it did, is 1920x1080 too-high of a resolution for that size of a screen? That would be 157 PPI after all. Anyone have some insight?

 

It's a typo.

 

I am pretty sure that FHD is only offer on the t520 and w520 series. Personally I think 1080p on an 15.6 is pushing it to the edge, with 157 ppi it is a little much.

 

Today I have seen FHD, HD+ and HD on 15.6". I can tell for sure, that even if they will do FHD on 14", it is too much. In my personal opinion, it is too much for 15.6" too, and even the 17.3" is on the edge. For 15.6" the HD+ is the best resolution in my opinion.

(but it depends what you are doing. If you only watch full HD movies, FHD on 15,6" make sense. But for actual work it is uncomfy for me)

 

tabook:

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store:

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BTW, don't hold the item descriptions on the store page to ultimate correctness. (Even the tabook must be read carefully and Lenovo does make revisions.) Certain people become alarmed, say, with the "fact" that Anti-Glare is missing in the HD+ description: so, it's glossy, then?! Or, if 95% gamut is omitted in the option description, they go: screen quality is going down!

 

Is the FHD on the T520 and W520 the same screen?

 

I'm pretty sure it is the same screen.

 

For T510/W510, it is -- at least with the notebooks I do have my hands (and eyes) on. I suppose, in this refresh, the FHD on T520 and W520 are the same.

 

While its not an option I wish it were...

 

Making screen artifacts, whether text or image, the right size is software-configurable. Get that right, and the more PPI the denser/clearer the text/image, and the easier on the eyes. 1080p on 15.6" is 141 PPI, compared to 147 for the 15.4" WUXGA, and 133 for the 17" WUXGA and the old 15" UXGA. If you see one of these screens in a shop, it is probably not configured beyond the defaults, which are usually not appropriate for most users.

 

I only upgraded the screen on my W520 to the HD+ as the FHD screen I have now on my ENVY 15 has too high of a DPI for my eyes after long use, and I have good vision.

I just hope the quality of the HD+ screen is decent as upgrading to FHD also includes the higher gamut/contrast ratio, ect.

 

I think the HD+screen is pretty decent. Better than the 14" screens but not quite as nice as the FHD screen. I could certainly live with it. Easy on the eyes.

 

You can't have too high a DPI/PPI. You can have software not setup correctly for the particular user and the DPI/PPI of the hardware. The latest iphone has a PPI of 326, and people do not complain of too many PPI. I have very poor eyesight, and I find the denser the image on the screen the easier it is on the eyes, as long as the image is the right size. I can view my 15.4" WUXGA all day with no strain at all. It is not as easy as a good printed book, though, under good natural light - printed text has the equivalent of a very higher PPI. I do struggle with print that has a too small typeface, though - just as I do on a computer. But at least the text size on a computer is adjustable Just as printed text needs a good light source to be as easy on the eyes as it should, computer screens do need the appropriate back-lighting - that is the where my present WUXGA falls down - but the new screens are much brighter, and should not be a problem in that area.

 

I bought the W510 with the FHD and used that reasoning. However, I always run the DPI at something greater than 100% so I have always second guessed the decision.

 

Yep. I have always used 120-125%. Works well for me. Clear as a printed page....I love these screens

 

The iPhone gets away with it because the text is so enlarged... running stuff at the native magnification would be nearly impossible. If I have to magnify my text to make a FHD screen workable then that defeats the purpose of having it in the first place IMHO.

 

While I agree that high resolution isn't the problem, however currently desk OS doesn't play well with high res on a small screen(relatively speaking). Even with Window 7 scaling, there are still bugs and kinks that need to be sorted out. It all depend a personal preference and I would not recommend using 1080p on 15.6 as of now, unless you have excellent eyesight or absolutely need the real estate on a small form-factor.