Need laptop with SSD/screen that rivals Macbook

I have a Thinkpad T-something series and it's held up really well. I have not been happy with the screen brightness though, esp. outdoors. Can you make a recommendation on a new notebook, with a Macbook-bright screen and an SSD drive? I'd like to run Win7 Pro and have enough power to run Adobe CS5.

Thank you!

 

If you want a notebook that can handle SSD and have a display suitable for outdoors I probably would recommend the X220 Tablet in this instance. The standard X220 models have optional IPS screens though I can't fully confirm on whether its bright enough to frequently use outdoors. It does have LED backlighting so it should be strong enough to cope in theory.

 

I did see that one -- looks cool. Doesn't look like it comes with any of the enhanced graphics that the W series has, and the screens are only 12.5 which is a shame. Too bad they don't make a larger screen for that line.

 

Agreed. Lack of better screen options has lost Lenovo quite a bit of business to the competition, including Apple.

 

Thinkpad W520 with 1920x1080 screen (95% gamut) and color sensor

 

That looks very nice. Any comments on screen brightness with the FHD display?

 

T-something, eh? Is it an older one with a CCFL screen? Then it would be quite normal that the brightness is a bit on the low side, especially when it's older. In that case you could just go go for a new T-"something"20..

 

Any notebook can take an aftermarket SSD and match whatever the MB offers. As for screen brightness itself, there are quite a few good screens with enough power to run CS5. Notebookcheck has a good review of screen brightness in models that they test, you'll be able to find many based on the criteria you suggested. If you want a really bright screen, look into outdoor panels or transflective finishes. I think you should fill out the FAQ to narrow down choices such as screen size and budget. If you're specifically wanting a Lenovo, there are the models listed above. I'd avoid the 14" T series since they have pretty poor quality panels that aren't very bright (unless they've gotten a new supplier recently).

 

It's the T61 (had to look!) -- I had it outdoors and a client had a Macbook Air. His screen was bright and crisp, mine was so dim I couldn't even find the cursor. Embarassing. I really don't want to go the MB route, but want to make sure the screen for a new laptop is bright enough to be viewed outdoors/in a bright setting, esp. when unplugged.

 

Yeah, the older CCFL screens really are pretty inferior to modern LED-backlit ones in terms of brightness. Every time I use my T61 I'm reminded of that...

 

I don't think it's the technology per se, but screens are just brighter these days. As I recall Dell had a 600 nit Core Duo AGT Latitude that was 600 nits.

 

Well it kinda is due to the technology. CCFL laptop screens didn't get *really* bright until fairly late in the life of the technology, partially due to their power consumption -- plus they tended to lose peak brightness very quickly. LED backlights allowed for a lot greater brightness at reasonable power levels, and -- more importantly -- they don't lose brightness over time.

 

the single colour LED backlight does lose brightness overtime, but more importantly they produce a colour shift (towards yellowish tinge) after 2 years of continuous use (10 hrs per day).

 

Is that what notebooks and monitors use?

 

Thinkpad X200 (three of them) with:

Samsung LTN121AT03 42T0478

 

X220 is the only Thinkpad with such a backlight that'll have that issue? What about other models, like the X220? If Lenovo drops IPS (seems possible considering how much people have *****ed over minor backlight bleed and ghosting), I'll keep this machine very long-term.

 

i think this is an intrinsic problem of these type of single LED screen (blue LED with yellow phosphor layer.

http://www.hadco.com/Hadco/Upload/C...n_Brief_Making_White_Light_with_Blue_LEDs.pdf

 

Hmm... Perhaps I should have qualified my statement with "appreciably".

What I meant was this: I have LED backlit panels that seem (to me) every bit as bright as when I got them a few years ago. I don't have any CCFL-backlit ones for which I can say the same thing.

As far as a color shift, I'm afraid I don't know enough about color calibration to worry about that. I don't really do much photo work, so that's not something that I tend to notice. A very valid point though, and worth considering if you are a graphics person.

 

not quite true, one of the best outdoor screens ever found was the 1000-1200 nit CCFL backlight screens in the Toughbook CF-18, 19, 29 and 30

now I know its not Lenovo but the 10 bit IPS screen in the Elitebook 8560W or 8760W sounds more on par with your needs depending on budget, its still not excellent in direct sunlight but much better than most glareomatics and some matte.