No more standard 4:3 screen?

It seems all the thinkpad and ideapad (at least S10) are wide screens? Does Lenovo still make 4:3 screens?

 

why are you sad?

they will make what is demanded...

 

If you put a normal 15" XGA screen next to a 15.4" WXGA screen the difference is very dramatic. The 15.4" has much more usable space on it. The only reason I would use (and do) is for old games that do not support widescreen, so it stretchs the images.

 

Just run the game in windowed mode and you'll be fine.

 

I don't play games at all I use word processing a lot and 4:3 is for that. Web browsing also prefers 4:3. My two eyes are not that far apart

P.S. This may seem trivial for some, but for me, two big reasons I choose Thinkpad is: Matt (anti-glare) screen, and 4:3!

 

Word processing is better on a 16:10 screen, you can fit two 100% size Word documents side by side.

 

Thanks for the windowed hiint.

I'm sorry that you can't get that screen. I know different people like different things. I think some business HP's might have 4:3 matte.

 

The trend towards 16:10 aspect ratios and believe or not it will move towards 16:9 in the future is due to cost. It is cheaper for the laptop LCD manufactures to similar aspect ratios and left over pieces from TV production.

 

I'm a software engineer, and just about *everything* I use my laptop for requires vertical space (reading text docs, viewing code in IDE's, editing text files, having many text consoles on the screen at once where I need vertical viewing area, etc.). I absolutely hate the lack of availability of 4:3 screens now... honestly, it just does NOT provide the vertical resolution I need. Ideally I'd have a 1600x1200 IPS panel, like the old A31p had. Hopefully they'll make a model with something like that again in the future.

- Tim

 

word processing sucks at 4:3, i'd rather have the ability to have 2 windows open at once.

web browsing also sucks at 4:3, same thing. 2 windows

 

I'm a programmer... and i hate 4:3 ratio.... which IDE are you using? Cause a lot of the IDE's i use have very good organizational panels and workspace division. Meaning i can get like 4 different "classes" split into 4 windows.. I love the horizontal space.. as i can compare two codes side by side.

I use two 24 inch widescreens.... but in my defense.. i use to have 17inch crt and use to work on 15.4 inch widescreen (laptop lcd)... and currently if i'm not at my desk.. i'm working on a 12.1 inch widescreen.

 

so why not get an LCD with 1600x1200 and rotate it.

 

That's not exactly true. Widescreen panels cost less to make, which puts Lenovo in a tough spot. They have to compete on price, but if you use more expensive parts, you'll either have to raise prices, which will cut into sales or eat the extra cost and make less money.

You could still pick up an under warranty used T60 in good shape with a UXGA screen. They usually go for around $1,000 in the Marketplace forum on ThinkPads.com. The performance difference between it and what you got now probably isn't that much.


I prefer 4:3 as well, especially on a 14" notebook. SXGA+ is almost as wide as WXGA+, but has much more vertical resolution, which translates into less scrolling for Office, Internet and the like. More white space on the side doesn't do anything for me. I personally find anything below WSXGA+ not really conducive for viewing documents side be side. There's nothing wrong with widescreen. I just wish it wasn't jammed down my throat with no choice. The IPS screens offered in the past were better than anything that's available on the market right now.

 

Exactly what ZaZ says!

There was a lot of demand for te T61 14" 4:3, but the shipping times were horrible.


To all those "two windows side-by-side" posters: well, you can really fit a second window in 40 pixels, huh? And you didn't do anything with that 150 pixels vertical you lost? Come on, give me a break.

14" 4:3 was 1400x1050, 14" wide now is 1440x900, so it dropped from useable to 'scroll yourself into RSI'.

The same goes for the IPS screens: there is demand for it, but they just dropped it. Nobody asked them to drop it.

 

I prefer 4:3 ratio screen too and I bought my 14" T61p because of that. and I love the screen. Besides, it's more portable than the 14" widescreen model. It's kinda sad that they don't make TP with 4:3 ratio screen any more.

 

You can only look at one page at a time, yes? And you prefer the page that you are looking at to be right in front of you, in the center, don't you?

One of the nicest things about Thinkpad used to be that 4:3 brick-like appearance. I'd rather they offer 4:3 at slightly higher price.

 

Yes, indeed it kinda sucks no more Lenovo's 4:3, since Thinkpads are originally geared to enterprise level, why the heck change to WS since enterprises can afford to buy those laptops.

I also got lucky when I got my T61 4:3 SXGA+, I upgraded to the same resolution (1400x1050) pixels. I see no more SXGA+ on eBay right now, but they appear from time to time on Thinkpads.com forum.

 

4:3 here ... and loving it.

- how can you say that web browsing or word processing is better on wide screen vs. on standard, lol. Even when open 2 docs/pages you still see/work on one at a time, and that one will be smaller than if you had opened only that one on standard screen.

 

Calling it 'wide screen' gives the wrong impression that it is a larger screen, when in fact it is narrower vertically and the area is actually smaller. The 4:3 also fits most bags better.

 

T61 W with 6 cell battery actually has a 15" T60 4:3 footprint. So there is nothing to gain with 14" wide, only to loose.

 

Well today the options for more then 1000 vertical lines are 1680x1050 and 1920x1200 on the 15.4" and larger screens (the second resolution one is simply ridiculous for laptop use). Personally 1680 lines on the horizontal are something that I don't need at all...
Somebody figured out that recently that wide was better for viewing then 4:3 and movies were widescreen...all this shift to wide is for profit only.

 

I use Eclipse - yes, one can spread out windows horizontally, but I don't like to do that. I can expand a given window to fill the whole screen, but that *still* does not give me enough vertical space for viewing a page of code.

I'll also have 4 or 5 Vim windows open, and the more vertical space I get for each of them the better. I don't mind if they are staggered (and a widescreen LCD isn't nearly wide enough to have them all side-by-side anyway, or even 2 or 3).

Personal taste, anyway.

- Tim

 

What 1600x1200 laptops do you know of that are not widescreen? And you want me to turn my laptop on its side? ;-)

I think you're talking about using an external display - I already do use a 1600x1200 external display at home, so when my laptop's docked, no problem. But that doesn't help on the road.

- Tim

 

I could, but I already bought this here T400 so I'll use it (and get used to the resolution) until such time as I'm ready to get a new laptop... maybe by then there will be more options.

Yeah, I agree - I wish they were still selling them on new laptops.

- Tim

 

SXGA+ here (14.1" T60). I love it. Sadly, though, I don't see 4:3 screens making a comeback. We're going to have to get used to widescreens.

 

There's always Panasonics.

 

yup fully agree it's personal taste... i guess the best way for you is to get external mons... and maybe put some in vertical mode.

 

Put blame where it's due here. The reason why 4:3 and IPS screens are no longer available is that the LCD manufacturers decided to stop making these classes of panels.

The demise of IPS in laptops and sub-$1000 desktop monitors is a classic case of bad products driving out good products through adverse selection. It's much more profitable for LCD manufacturers to hide information from consumers in order to mislead them into purchasing TN high profit margin panels than it is to sell IPS panels. As a result, IPS has vanished from the market.

 

Yup. Knowledge is power.