Lenovo T430 for watching movies

Right now the T430 seems like the perfect laptop to me, but I've read a lot of bad things about the screen on the T420, and it doesn't look like they changed the screen on the T430.

How bad would the screen be for watching 720P movies/tv shows. After work I tend to watch a lot of movies, so if the screen is really THAT bad I may have to consider getting the X230 instead.

It is worth noting as well that this will be my main desk machine as well, the main PC/laptop I use for everything

 

I've had a T420. Contrast is below average and color reproduction isn't great, but it isn't completely unusable.

 

If it's going to be a desk machine I probably sway towards the 15.6" variants such as the T530 or W530 due to the much better panels those sizes generally have. That said if the T430 shares the same panel as the T420 then as said, it's not that bad but it isn't spectacular either. I find the AUO panels anti-glare coating to be pronounced so you may find some of the images a bit grainy.

 

I have a T420s and a Dell Ultrasharp U2412M at work. Every time I look over to the T420s screen, I wanna chuck the thing out the window. Comparing my personal Dell Ultrasharp U2312HM and W520 at home, I feel a lot less tempted to chuck my W520, though I do get annoyed at the contrast shift on the TN panel.

 

I don't want a laptop that is too heavy either, would the X230 be the best option for me?

 

If the X230 with IPS screen would be the only computer used for "everything," including watching movies, then okay, yes.

IMHO: T/W520 FHD > X220 IPS > T/W520 HD+ > T420 HD+ > T420 HD.

 

I have the T420, and use it regularly for movies/tvshows. I also have a Dell Ultrasharp IPS screen and an older 15" Thinkpad with IPS screen, and my god i do hate Lenovo for not making IPS an option anymore. But the screen still isnt unusable, viewing angle is awfull, but colours/sharpness isnt THAT bad imho.

I also concidered x220/230, simply for the IPS screen, but for my use, i dont want the big tradeoff in size. I think it is too small for regular video viewing.

 

I have yet to find an angle at which I can view the T420s screen without some part of it shifting noticeably in contrast in the month and a half that I've had it. The colour is pretty bad in my opinion, my 2.5 year old HP Mini has a better screen. It's not 100% unusable, it's just that I would definitely prefer using the screen in the W520, or the Dell Ultrasharp.

 

I haven't seen T420, but T410 1600x900 screen is just horrible compared to X220 and W520 FHD. It's enough for office/text work, barely, but for multimedia it's as bad as it gets. One of the worst screens I've ever used. If the standard 1366x768 is worse still, Lenovo have really outdone themselves

T520 1600x900 is better btw. FHD is much better, despite being a TN as well.

 

^^^ Well said. I should enhance what I've said slightly:

T/W520 FHD > X220 IPS > T/W520 HD+ >>> T420 HD+ >>>> T420 HD

Even some "consumer" laptops have much better screen than most ThinkPad's.

 

I am thinking about purchasing the TF30 with HD+. Is it really that bad?
I will mainly use this for office use, but sometimes I will watch a movie or show online. Will it be so bad that I will turn it off immediately?

Can't find any youtube videos with the quality.

 

If you watch alone, and look precisely at the middle of the screen, in a relatively dark room, its watchable. Some details in the shadows and highlights will be lost.

There are screenshots of the HD+ in Review Lenovo Thinkpad T420 Notebook - Notebookcheck.net Reviews

It's all relative. The best laptop for movies, is the one connected to a good plasma + a sound system anyway

 

my previous laptop was a cheap acer with 1366x768 res, and i prefer it to this hd+ t420 panel. Viewing angles are so poor that even looking at it dead center will leave the corners looking washed out when watching a film, it's embarrassing.

 

I think they need to realize what a massive mistake they have made with this.
Their competitor Apple, is doing the complete opposite, going with better and better screens. While they install screens that are among the worst u can get.
Its a shame, cause the computer is great otherwise. but its decisions like this thats gonna force users to other companies.

 

Unfortunately, Apple is not Lenovo's competitor. Apple is not even on the radar, not even in the top 5 of PC sellers worldwide. And Lenovo is #2, with HP to beat.

Tbh. I'm certain this is deliberate, or they wouldn't have done it year after year, and particularly with 14" laptops. Perhaps their corporate customers, buying many thousands of machines, want exactly the machines that are only good for office work, especially if this saves some money (someone will get a bonus ).

 

^^^ Did the corporate cusstomers ask for the keyboard change?

 

Doubt it. But I suspect Doris from accounting, as 98% of the corporate users, couldn't care less where exactly on the keyboard PgUp button is located. And about 99%, except maybe some really hardcore Excel users, have never used Scroll Lock either.

 

Only in terms of number of "units" shipped.

Market valuation, anyone?

And practically none of them care about doing RAM and SSD upgrades!

Eh, Scroll Lock is for terminal emulation (when the mainframe application keeps dumping lines and lines of text on the "screen"), not for Excel, where Doris herself does the scrolling (with the wired mouse, because the trackpad is so bad).

 

Market valuation is merely investor expectations. It's one thing today, another thing tomorrow. There was one company called RIM, investors expected a lot from them in 2008...

Plus Apple's valuation does not have much to do with their laptops. Which are good, but IMO compete with those from Lenovo not more than BMW cars compete with Ford, GM and Toyota. Except a few models, its quite different price levels, different customers, incomparable numbers in units.

Doris does not use terminal, so scroll lock function is limited to Excel. But yeah, Doris uses mouse, because it's just better than trackpad and trackpoint

 

Any company can go belly up next year, including Lenovo.

Many Dorises in banks still do. The Windows window is just a window to a mainframe application's output. Oh yeah, those COBOL mainframe apps are alive and well, as is IBM 3270-style forms filling. (Sorry if this sounds like "Greek" or "Cantonese" to some folks.)

Anyway...

 

My T420s' screen had this bluish tint right out of the box but the right icc profile made a whole lot of difference for me.

 

I didn't mean in a pure numbers sold way, I meant more as a company offering a premium laptop.

I realize they can save some $ on having fever options available. I think even apple is giving up their biggest 17" model. But still, its optional right? as long as they have a model WITHOUT IPS, those sales shouldn't be affected.
And they can charge a pretty big premium for the IPS screen.
So they save on having fewer options, but on the other hand they loose customers, and sales on not having those options.

I also understand many office companies dont have a need for IPS, but many other companies do. What about everyone in media, graphics, etc.
I know of some big companies that have switched to Apple from IBM/lenovo.
And their sales are rising pretty quick I guess.

Heard about that, need to try it. But I guess it can only do so much right?

 

Everyone serious in media, graphics etc. uses external monitors much larger than 14", with 10 bit processing etc. Most laptop screens don't cut it even close, with exception maybe of some RGBLED screens in HP and Dell mobile workstations. Plus the large part of this crowd have been using Macs anyway, for decades, and for reasons unrelated to laptop display quality.

Still, Lenovo's 15" FHD, which according to Lenovo's ads is directly oriented towards a group of people who do need to do something with video/photo while on the move, is not bad at all. Built-in color sensor is quite usable too, and is compatible with i1display external sensors etc. It's not bad to the point that given a choice between 15" glossy IPS, and matte FHD, I'd choose the latter.

X220/X230/230T have decent IPS screen too.

It's only 14" that has been a disaster forever, with good panel options left for 12" and 15" even in the IBM Flexview days.

 

My gripe with the T420 screen isn't with the color reproduction or the "bad" viewing angles. I'm used to that with my Dell Latitude. Something about the screen makes me want to always increase the brightness (every few minutes) until I get to level 15. I've never had that with my other notebooks. I've always stayed two or three levels down from the max on the other machines.

 

Yeah, it's rather dull, or lifeless.

But, I keep hearing that the large corporate/government customers specifically demand it. Then, why upgrade to Ivy Bridge for Excel-pushing accountants while Pentium is more than enough???

Me, I'm no big corporate/government worker, I go with 15.4" 16:10 2880x1800 IPS. Glorious!

 

Well, I was going to purchase a T430 but seeing as how I tend to watch a lot of movies and series on my laptop I decided to go for the T530. I've been using 15"+ machines for a while, so weight is not an issue, and the 1920x1080 screen on the T530 sounds delightful

 

Good choice.

 

I'm guessing you are gunning for the new MacBook Pro, then?

 

How prescient! (Funds already reserved since Christmas, in anticipation.)

 

I was disappointed that a Retina 13-inch MacBook Pro was also not announced at the same time, but apparently, Apple really wanted to stuff discrete graphics into that model as well (in order to differentiate it from the MacBook Air), but thermals require more work.