Looking at a T51p

Hi everyone,

First of all, this is my first post here; I've been browsing around for a few days and I want to congratulate you on an excellent community of helpful people

Now, to my question. I'm looking at getting a Lenovo T61p ThinkPad, 15.4" 1920x1200 display, 2GB RAM, Core2Duo 2.2GHz, 100GB HDD.

I've also been speccing out MacBook Pros, and my main question is: Can you get the T61p with a glossy display finish, or can you only get it with the normal matte finish?

Its not going to be the deciding factor, but it is a fairly important one for me. My mom's laptop (an LG) has a glossy display and I love it. The colours are so gorgeous! I recently bought a 24" 1920x1200 monitor for my desktop, and it has a matte finish. While I love the monitor, it certainly doesn't have as nice of colours on it.

I suppose my second question would be, what do you guys prefer, glossy or matte and why?

Thanks in advance for any input,

-Aikon

 

Regarding gloss. One of the lead Engineers of Lenovo said in their ThinkLive event that the only ThinkPads that will have a glossy screen 'in the future' is the R-Series. ThinkPads don't incorporate glossy screens in their line as the ThinkPad is still very much a business machine. In a work environment glossy screen reflect too much against florescent lights and matte prevents that.

Personally I 'tried' to like glossy, but I can't. Matte is easier to read in daylight, and I don't have to look at my mug everytime the screen dips to black in a lighted room.

 

Just a warning, 1900 x 1200 is going to be difficult to read text?

 

I think if you wait a while you might see some more glossy displays on thinkpads. They have just introduced their first glossy display into the thinkpad line. It is only available on a low end machine right now, which is the R61e. That machine comes with a WXGA glossy screen and celeron processor, but you can pimp it out with the highest core 2 duo and a nice harddrive to bring it up to spec. However, you are still stuck with the integrated graphics on that R61e model. Also the R line, as opposed the the T line is a slightly bigger machine machine (slightly) and their might be a few other differences as well.

The reason thinkpads have not been big on glossy screens is that.. well.. they cater to a different audience then Apple ever has. Thinkpads are business machine and they were always built around being the rugged business man machine. They were never intended to be used for serious gaming machine or vivid high def screens. ..Only now since lenovo has begun to take over are we seeing some marketing and changes in their machines that would lead the consumer to believe they are starting to broaden their marketing scope. I think if you check back in a few months you might just see some more glossy screened thinkpads.

With that said, I detest glossy screens. The reflections, the glare, it all makes my eyes tired. I feel that matte screens suit me just fine, easier on my eyes, and I don't feel like I'm looking into a mirror while on the computer.

 

Ugh, I hope they (glossy screens) never get further then the R series. If I had to put up with all the dark shadows and reflections on my Thinkpad then I would be sure to see how "rugged" it is. By throwing it out of a window in disgust

 

Thanks for the input, everyone; I definitely see your point regarding the business orientation of ThinkPads.

Regarding the resolution, I have a 24" monitor now that runs at 1920x1200.. Its nearly 1m from my face, and I can read it just fine. I can't see a 15.4" monitor that's sitting about 30cm from my face being much different. Besides, I use Linux and can change the DPI to whatever I want, but the higher resolution will still result in a far crisper image.

-Aikon