Lenovo T420 screen quality question!

I'm still waiting for my T420 to arrive but I have a question regarding the quality of the screen. I've seen comments about the screen being awful because of the griddiness but I was wondering what everyone else thought about the screen.

What is this griddiness that I keep hearing about? Does anyone have a high quality picture of the screen quality on the T420 (1600x900)? If so, could you please post?

I've been looking at the screen quality of the T420 from this video clip. If you set it to 720p video quality and fast forward it to 5:07, you can actually take a look at the screen quality and from this video it looks very good to my eyes. I know its always different looking at something from a video clip even if it is high quality as to looking at it in real life but does this video clip reflect the true nature of this display in real life?

YouTube - ‪Intel Demos New VPro Features On Sandy Bridge ThinkPad Notebooks From Lenovo‬‏ Fast forward to 5:07

 

The screen quality if fine for normal use. Initially I noticed the graininess on a regular basis, but after a month of use I hardly see it at all. It just looks like check boxes in the background, and the way I've previously described it is that it's a similar effect to the "magic eye" pictures that required you to relax your eyes to see the hidden picture. I don't have any problem with the graininess. It's fine for email and all work-related tasks. Don't expect great color accuracy in games or Photoshop.

 

Here's an easy way to tell if you'll have problems:

1) Do you regularly sit with your eyes < 18 inches from the screen?

2) Are you going to spend a lot of time looking for a problem?

3) Do you care more about finding every flaw in your notebook than you do using it?

If you answered 'yes' to any of the above you may have some issues with the screen quality.

If, on the other hand, you answered 'no' for all three, then I suspect you'll have no problem with the T420 screen.

There is a slight diffusive effect from the anti-glare coating on the T420's screen. It's not uncommon on matte displays (particularly not on AUO panels, which I've always found to have a "strong" matte finish) but the fact that most manufacturers have embraced glossy panels makes the T420's display seem even more out of place in this regard.

If you don't go out of your way to look for it, you'll probably forget all about it in a day or two.

 

Just got my T420 yesterday. I am IMPRESSED with the screen quality. I read all the horror stories about how bad it was. The picture is very crisp, and the screen is surprisingly bright. Yes the graininess is kind of there, but it is there on MANY other laptops. This is the trade off for having a matte-style screen. I am loving my T420 so far.

 

I'm curious whether you got the AUO panel or the LG panel. Lenovo seems to shuffle it up a bit sometimes, and the LG is slightly better than the AUO.

To find out, could you download this program: HWiNFO32 Download
Then once you run it, what does it say under "Monitor"?

 

I have attempted to summarise my thoughts on my T420s' display in this review. It took a lot of tweaking to get what is now an acceptable result but I'm running at at almost full brightness indoors which leaves little headroom for bright lighting conditions. The display is quite usable although it is better that I don't directly compare it with my Dell E6410. The bigger pixels of the latter's panel help improve the user experience.

John

 

The T420 screen is very grainy indeed. In fact, screen brightness is the only thing that T420 does significantly better than T61.

 

Well it's also higher resolution than the T61 screens. And it's LED backlit.

But yes, it does indeed have a more visibly-matte finish.

 

I think this graininess or griddiness that everyone is talking about might be a regular characteristics of a Matte display. Some people dont like it because they like that super pop look that semi glossy or glossy displays offer.

If I think its that type of graiddiness/graininess that I think it is, I think I will be happy with the display quality as I love Matte displays and its characteristics.

 

No, it is not a regular characteristic of a matte/anti-glare screen. Take a look at the W520 or T520 FHD screen, or for that matter X220's IPS, which is also a matte screen or the matte screens on MacBook Pro's and you will not see any griddiness there.

 

It is a regular characteristic of *some* matte displays. I've noticed it on other AUO panels before (such as some of those that were shipped for the 2006-2007 MacBooks).

You may not have seen it before, but that doesn't mean that it's a new phenomenon.

 

Well I was talking about TN panels with matte type displays. Your talking about IPS panels which is a completely different story.

I've owned macbook pros since 2006 all the way up to the newest one (17" sandy bridge i7), I remember back in 2007/2008 there were three type of panels with AUO, Samsung, and LG. I exchanged my macbook pro 5 times due to the yellow tint issue and finally settled for the samsung one.

At the time LG's display was brighter but the most washed out out of the three with the AUO looking good in the middle of the pack with it not being washed out but still had pop to the matte display. I remember Samsung was the most vivid and colorful but the bottom 1/3 was yellowish.

I just hope its not super washed out look like the LG display on the macbook pro back in 08. As long as it doesnt look super milky washed out, I will be happy with the quality.

 

ThinkRob, what you wrote means exactly that it is not a REGULAR characteristic of matte displays but rather certain matte displays from certain manufacturers (although the matte FHD display on the T520 and W520 is also made by AUO).

 

The matte display on the W/T520 is not IPS neither were the displays on previous ThinkPads such as that on the T43, and those didn't have the griddiness. AFAIK the displays on MBPs are not IPS either.

 

Ok, let's not quibble over wording...

Allow me to clarify: it's not seen on most matte displays, but it's not an uncommon phenomenon, nor is it one that I would consider to be strange or indicative of a problem/defect.

It's not new/unique to the T420, and honestly I think it's been blown way, way out of proportion.

 

Yes, it's not as bad as it may sound and the severity of the problem is definitely perceptual/subjective. Therefore, I would recommend that the OP finds someone with a T420 and then decides whether the screen looks acceptable to him. It wasn't in my case and I returned the laptop. Again, display quality is very important for me, probably more important than anything else. I am quite picky in this regard and all other aspects of the T420, which I just loved, couldn't outweigh the disadvantage of the screen griddiness.

Anyway, I agree that this topic has been discussed more than it deserves to be as most people would probably find the screen OK, not great but acceptable.

 

I tried to look for a T420 from everywhere (office depot, best buy, comp usa, etc..) but couldnt find one. The only thing for me to do is just to order one and see for myself if I like it or not.

What I DID see is the T400's display. I'm not sure what the display options were for that model but my friend had one and I got to use it a few times. I thought the matte display on the T400 was very good and from what I hear that the T420 improves upon the T400's screen? Especially the 1600x900 screen, so I would figure that the screen on the T420 should be more than acceptable in my case. But I guess I wont know until I receive mine sometime in a week or so.

Thats the thing that bothers me though, as screen quality is probably my number one priority in a laptop. I'm very picky as well and if it bothered you that much, I have a feeling that it might bother me as well. If I cannot live with the T420's screen quality, I'll just have to ship it back to Lenovo and exchange it for a T520 with the FHD screen.

But then again, I really dont want a 15" laptop that weighs more, that 14" 1600x900 seems like the sweet spot to me and it just feels like a vintage Thinkpad at 14" with the build quality that doesnt creek and all of that.

Looking at the video clip from youtube, the screen quality looks very good to me. If it looks anything like that on the clip, I'm sure I'll be fine. Damn it, why couldnt Lenovo build the machines any quicker.. I'm so impatient.

 

mine is the AUO screen and I don't think anything is wrong with it. And I have better than 20x20 vision. Doesnt bother me.

 

I thought T420 was the perfect laptop for me, until I read about the screen quality.

My four year old HP nc8430 needs replacement as it doesn't handle HD-video and photo very well. I had to replace the screen recently, with a older nx8220, which is ok, but not good.

If the screen on the T420 is a little "gritty" isn't very important to me, but a decent screen would be nice.
A bigger colorspace than I have now would also be nice, but compared to my five year old screen it actually looks like it is smaller on the T420. Especially in the green and blue areas.

Is there any chance that Lenovo will offer a upgrade-screen?
Or do I have to buy a 15" to get a decent screen?
Or is there another 13-14" laptop with a screen that is closer to sRGB?

 

are we talking grit like on a tablet say x200t or 201 with muti-touch? that kind of trainees..
and is that also a issue with t410s as well?

 

When "social" is defined by the browser, this method of product quality assessment is certainly meaningful.

 

I just got a W520 after having been the mom of a T61P. I have the high density screen and I'm amazed at the quality of the pictures on the screen. Actually I have an extreme also. It's relevant because all three have PerfectDisk on the and son of a gun .... that line I had always thought was black...is a dark red!!!!

I don't know what the screen on a 420 is like but on a W520 it's wonderful!!!

Renee

 

^^^ Yes, the FHD display on W520 is wonderful.

 

FYI, the T520's FHD is the same display as the one on the W520 and is indeed fabulous. You may want to use the color profile posted on NotebookCheck's W520 review page (or create your own) to fix the over-saturation that you get with a wide gamut display.

 

I have a t60p 15'' ips, t400, t420 HD+, and w15 fhd. The old ips screen is an amazing display. The new FHD display quality is very good. The rest, while being great laptops (especially t420 -- sweet laptop -- light, fast, solid built, amazing battery life), the screens absolutely SUCK -- while very bright, the image quality is terrible -- washed out, with very poor viewing angles to the point that you can't position the screen under such an angle where top to bottom it looks uniform in brightness. And yes, I did calibrate my screens which helps very little, and no it is not a defect, though one might consider it one.

Message to Lenovo -- please offer a premium display on the T420. Something with better image quality and smaller bezels (don't waste screen real-estate). I would be happy to pay lots extra for a screen like that on my laptop, and not have to learn mac OS...

 

Bezels are there for a reason.

 

I still dont know why you guys are complaining, to me the display is very good.

Only when the display is tilted too much upwards or downwards it looks awful but then who uses the display at such extreme angles? Once you use it head on it looks fantastic. The black levels are excellent and it looks quite vivid to my eyes and I am very picky.

For example, I exchanged my 15" macbook pro 8 times in 2 different apple locations just because I wasnt satisfied with my display once.

The display on the T420 is definitely not the best I've seen but IMHO, it's quality is a bit above average.


If it were that bad as people on here were describing, I would eat up the restocking fee and exchange it.

Hell I've even thought about exchanging once since hearing about the T520's magnificent FHD screen but then I dont want the other things that come along with the 15" version.

Such things that comes from the 15" T series as not as solidly built (creaks a bit when carrying it), much heavier and bulkier (14 is is perfect!), some people complaining about fan noise (I'm sure its subjective though). Also, the 14" is the flagship version that has always been known and made the T series what it is today (well at least in my eyes).

The 1600 x 900 resolution is fantastic on the screen and I love this build quality to death!

 

I am a confused NOOB. We have a thread devoted to the T420's mediocre screen quality (the upgraded 1600x900 version), yet we have some guys who absolutely love their T420. Is this a cult thing that i am missing?

I am shopping the T420/T520 vs the HP Probook 4430s/4530s (not in stock). I would consider the T520 with the FHD display but that screen alone is an additional $213 over the base display. Are these machines worth that much money?

here's my quote list (all have i5, 4gb, 500gb 7200rpm, NBD warranty):
T420: 709 (x900 screen)
T520: 733 (x900 screen); 895 (FHD screen)

Need some help, please...

 

It really depends on you and how much your willing to spend. For me the screen quality of the T420 is more than good enough for me at the price of $685 that I paid (with the 4GB RAM and 500GB HDD upgrade).

To me the T520 especially with the rumored gorgeous display at $917 (with the i5 upgrade + FHD screen) is too expensive for what it is. To some the screen alone will be worth it but I originally didnt want to spend over $750 ( $685 plus tax came to $759 after I upgraded to the 2x2 wireless card) so it was exactly within range.

I already told myself that when I receive the T420 and the display was good enough at best, I would exchange it for the T520 and pay the $200 difference for the FHD screen. But since receiving my T420, in my opinion its above average screen and I am very glad I ordered it. I love the size, its so perfect!

 

It also depends on which display you get. The AUO screen I had was not good and definitely below average by any standard. Again, this is subjective but I have compared it to a number of available screens and asked a few people around about their opinion and they all agreed that the screen was "meh". As you may imagine, a rational person would not go for a restocking fee of almost $200 (I am on a student budget) if the screen was acceptable. I am not trying to dissuade you from getting a T420, which is a fantastic laptop. However, it seems to me that in the end of the day it all depends on how lucky you are.

Also, in my opinion, the FHD screen is the worthiest upgrade you can get with a T520. Of course, if you can handle the high resolution and over-saturation.

 

I got the LG screen color are not excellent but does the job, however the griddiness bothers me. I fact I'm not sure what I see is griddiness, what I see is vertical line between pixel, if look closer I see the pixel grid which is normal. But even at good range > 30 cm, I still see those vertical line. When I look horizontally I don't see any lines.

Is that the issue you describe? is my panel different? Is it an optical illusion? Should I get a replacement, should get a T520?

 

Did you opt for the 1600x900? I also have the LG screen and I see absolutely no grittyness unless I put my face right in front of the screen. I don't understand how your screen could differ in quality so much from mine.

 

It's the 1600x900 HD+

 

For what its worth, I have a T420s with a Samsung HD+ display and I don't notice any bothersome griddiness. I have to be within 8 inches of the screen and trying really hard to notice any.

 

I've got the LG HD+ panel in my T420s. I found that tweaking the color settings in the Intel graphics control panel (I have Intel graphics) made it more acceptable. The two tweaks were (i) gamma reduced to 0.9 then 0.8 and (ii) the blue saturation reduced to -4.

Give these a try.

John

 

I ran it on my T420 with the 1600x900 screen. It says it's a LP140WD2-TLB1. I believe that's the LG?

I've seen others whinging about the display but I find this one is quite decent. You have to get RIGHT UP TO IT to detect any grid pattern to the pixels. From a normal viewing distance it's undetectable. It's a bit on the bluish side when presenting colors. It also seems to have a fairly narrow viewing angle. Not enough to be a problem, but tighter than I've seen on other machines or monitors.

 

Tried those and it's OK. Better? Not entirely sure. I'm used to seeing how some desktop monitors display color and it's hard to tell for certain.

What also helped was to adjust the gamma and hue on the external monitor right next to it. Now they're both relatively close to each other.

 

Hey guys, after owning the T420 for a few weeks, I've decided to sell it and just ordered myself the T520.

For every day usage with everything else like surfing the net, microsoft word, excel the display is nice enough BUT I couldnt stand watching videos at all!

All the videos I've watched had this hologram look to it (due to the poor vertical viewing angles in dark scenes) and I watch a lot of movies on my laptop too.

So, I went ahead and ordered the T520 with the FHD screen. I sure hope that FHD screen is worth it! I've read reviews thanks to some people on this forum that gave me a link between a 17" hi resolution macbook pro and the W520's FHD screen (same as the one found on the T520) and it seems to be a better screen than even the macbook pros! Next week sure cant come any sooner!

Funny thing is that I ordered the T520 at about the same time (and day of the week) that I ordered my T420! So I have a good idea of when it will ship.

 

is the FHD worth the extra money?

 

The T420 only comes with HD (1366x768) and HD+ (1600x900) panels, no FHD options. Only the T520 has the FHD (1920x1080) option--if you want more information on that screen, I would suggest looking in the T520/W520 Owner's Threads.