Just ordered a T420!!

I just finished ordering the T420 with the following specs:



Intel Core i5-2410M Processor (2.30GHz, 3MB L3)
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64
Display type 14.0 HD+ (1600 x 900) LED Backlit Anti-Glare Display, Mobile Broadband Ready
System graphics Intel HD Graphics 3000
Total memory 4 GB DDR3 - 1333MHz (1 DIMM)
Keyboard Keyboard US English
Hard drive 500 GB Hard Disk Drive, 7200rpm
Optical device DVD recordable multiburner
System expansion slots Express Card Slot & 4 in 1 Card Reader
Battery 6 cell Li-Ion Battery - 55+
Power cord Country Pack North America with Line cord & 65W AC adapter
PCI adapter IEEE 1394a port
Integrated WiFi wireless LAN adapters Intel Centrino Wireless-N 1000
Integrated mobile broadband Integrated Mobile Broadband - Upgradable
Language pack Language Pack US English

I bought it through the barnes and nobles link and used the coupon at checkout for a total of 685.92 (742.96) after taxes.

My one question and fear is Lenovo's 1600x900 display quality. As the display quality is one of the most important aspects of a laptop to me, I really hope its not that crappy as I hear around the internet.

My question is that I've seen a buddy's T400's anti glare screen and I really do like it and was wondering if the T420's screen quality is comparable?

 

I don't have an answer for your question, but I do have another question!!
Do you know if the 1600x900 option HD+ screen on the T420 is IPS or not? or is it just a higher resolution TN panel?
And I should say, this deal is sweet! Did you create a new account after going through the barnes and noble link?

Thank you

 

No T420 screens are IPS.

 

Yes, I created a new account and just applied the coupon at the cart to get the deal. Make sure to select 4GB of RAM (ends may 26) as well as the 500GB 7200rpm hdd are both free. I also read on threads about switching to the Intel Centrino Wireless-N 1000 which is better than the thinkpad b/g/n.

From what I've read and heard on these forums, the 1600x900 is not an IPS panel but a TN panel.

Now I'm ok with a TN panel but I hope its not so dull as I love antiglare screens + LED backlights. I hope the colors pop a bit due to the led backlighting as well as it looking clean from the anti glare coating.



I know its always much different looking at a screen in real life as to through a video but here in this YouTube video, it seems that the screen looks pretty good in my eyes in the color department. As for the griddiness, I noticed most anti glare laptop screens have this characteristic and hopefully its exactly what I'm expecting when I receive the laptop.

YouTube - ‪Lenovo Thinkpad T420 HD Video-Preview‬‏

 

Alright, thank you.

 

What website?

 

Thanks a lot. I will give it a try. I am hoping to see the X220 in this kinda deal. It did appear a while back but I hadn't decided then. Now I am stuck between T420 and X220. Screen is my main criteria, second portability, then battery life.

 

I am not sure about OP, but I saw this deal on slickdeals.net

 

You might need to tweak the display settings. The panel on my T420s was looking horrible at one stage but is now very acceptable. I have the LG panel which, I suspect, is one of the better alternatives.

John

 

Could you tell us what you have changed the settings to?

 

I tried various settings starting with Windows 7 Cailbrate tool followed by the clearType tuner. However, these gave mixed results. In particular what I thought looked to be the best ClearType setting (looking for the blackest text) ending up looking horrible (see a screen photo near the start of the T420s owners's thread). I ended up using the first of the ClearType options on each page except for selecting something different on the last page. It is possible that the entry for these two registry keys represents my ClearType settings.

(a) HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Avalon.Graphics\DISPLAY1

(b) HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-21-3694637172-1726569135-871360188-1000\Software\Microsoft\Avalon.Graphics\DISPLAY1


Use at your own risk.

However, the most noticeable effect was to make two adjustments in the Intel Graphics control panel: (a) reduce gamma to 0.9 for all bands and (b) reduce saturation of blue to -2. It is unclear to me whether these settings are in addition to any tweaks made by Calibrate. The other setting is to keep the display running at close to full brightness.

John

 

Do you still have coupon code?

 

When your checking out on the right side it shows you the coupon code to use.