So I got my T61 today...

Delivery was quick. Took them only 6 days to get it to me (w/ standard shipping from HK to California).

Everything about the computer is great except my screen has a dark vertical band on the right side of the panel. Other areas of the screen is plenty bright with some leakage from the bottom, which is a pain if you use a black/dark background.

I'm gonna play with it tonight to see if anything else is wrong before I call Lenovo tomorrow to return it for a new one.

I know that Thinkpads are very cheap right now but that shouldn't excuse a company like IBM/Lenovo to send out LOW QUALITY screens like this (a very common problem on this board). Very unprofessional..

Here are my specs if anyone is curious:

6465CTO THINKPAD T61 WIDESCREEN-1Y
42V8295 SBB UN(TRACKPOINT TOUCHPAD)
42V8164 SBB 80GB HDD,5400RPM
42V8172 SBB DVD REC.8XMAXDUAL LAY UB-S
42X0805 VBB PC CARDSLOT EX CARDSLOT
42V8177 SBB INT.WIRE.WIFI/LINK4965AGN
41W1508 SBB 6 CELL LI-ION BATTERY
41W1787 SBB CPK NORTH AMERICA
42V8339 SBB LPACK US ENGLISH
42V8607 SBB INT.WLAN ANTENNA 15.4"
42X5977 SBB INTEL GMA 960 W/WWAN,AMT
43Y3428 SBB INTEL CORE2DUO PROC.T8100
42V8063 SBB MS WAU ENGLISH NA-U MODELS
42X1232 SBB NEWINTELLAB_DUALCORE/CEPRO
42V9665 SBB FCC, LABEL
42V8629 SBB 15WSXGAW/OBTW/OWWANW/OUWB
39T6440 SBB 56K V.92 DESIGNED MODEM
42V8653 SBB CL.PLATE T61 WLAN
41W1748 SBB GEO LABEL US WLAN
93P7250 SBB THINKPAD LOGOPLATET-SERIES
42X0884 SBB MT 6465 SYSTEM LABEL
42X0850 SBB MECH MISC PARTS
42V8010 VBB MS WIN VISTA BUSINESS
42V7972 SBB MS LABEL (VISTA PREMIUM)
42V8601 SBB NO UWB ANTENNA
42X0995 SBB PC CARD SLOT EXP.CARD SLOT
42V8612 SBB ST LCD COVER/BEZEL 15.4"
42V8300 SBB 1GB PC2-5300 DDR2 667MHZ
42T6638 SBB PACK. US, 15.4"
42V8504 SBB MS WIN VISTA BUSS.32 US EN
42X5602 SBB MS XP PROF. US ENG.RCD
42V8287 SBB 15.4 WSXGA+ TFT
42X5974 SBB INTEL GMA X3100 GM 965
41W2063 VBB 2GB PC2-5300 667MHZ 2DIMM
42V8195 SBB KEYBOARD US ENGLISH

 

congrats .

 

care to show us a picture of what you mean?

 

I will post pictures soon to show you guys the crap screen..

 

OK, here are some pics of the screen (take note of the dark vertical line/bar on the left panel)







On the third picture I used a yellow background to make the dark line/bar stand out.

 

Wow, that is bad. That looks like a defect to me, they should fix it for you. Bummer to have that on a brand new machine though...

 

Also, the screen is quite dim (even at 100% brightness) for my taste. Any chance they will switch in a much brighter panel? I tried to find out the manufacturer via Lenovo parts lookup but had no luck...

I was hoping the brightness on the WSXGA+ would be good.

 

the last picture looks like the dimming effect that windows sidebar does. It does the same to mine also, but its a software feature.

Although you are probably right that its a hardware issue

 

Yeah I know what you mean. It's not the sidebar where the "gadgets" like the calendar and clock are. The dark vertical bar is quite asymmetrical as seen in pic 1 and 2.

 

Wow! I must say thats pretty bad. One can only wonder if they even bother to turn these machines on after they built then to see if they work.

 

probably did turn it on but were too lazy to fix the problem.
I finally made my mind. I'm not buying a thinkpad. i'm in kuwait and ordering it online from the US with this kind of defects existing will be a suicide.

i guess its now down to dell and apple... maybe even hp :/

 

First, hide or close the sidebar and other applications that alter the desktop appearance. You can hide the sidebar by pressing WinKey+D, the show desktop shortcut key. Take a look again and see if the problem persists.

Another thing you can try is to make sure you are in TN panels' sweet spot. Tilt the display toward you a little and keep the display slightly below your eye level. I see the photo are taken from a POV below dead center with the display tilted slightly away. TN panels have very perceivable color shifting when viewed from this position.

 

Looks like the Vista Sidebar app.

 

I was just thinking the same myself - great quality assurance program they have running over there.

 

I did check this hoping that it was just the sidebar... but it's not..

 

Wierd that it isn't the sidebar. I had the same dimming effect and once I shut off the side bar it went away.

 

If it isn't the sidebar, I believe there is a right-side dimming issue that is acknowledged by Lenovo and that would warrant a repair; however, it might be a right-hand bottom corner dimming problem that is the actual acknowledged issue.

There are some reports of dimming, but I'm not sure exactly what details are related to those cases. Try the Lenovo forum to see if others have had the problem.

 

It looks like the dimming effect that windows sidebar does, but given all the responses I'm reading in this thread, I guess I'm wrong.

 

Are you absolutely sure it's not the vista sidebar or an aero effect of it? you can clearly see the sidebar +/- in all the pics and the gradiation looks just like the sidebar w/o gadgets added.... try killing all the sidebar.exe's from task manager and see if it goes away.

 

Any chance you could open Internet Explorer, bring up google.com, maximize Internet Explorer, and then take a picture and post it?

 

Wow, this is ridiculous. It's Windows sidebar. I zoomed in the image and I see the plus sign to add gadgets on the top left hand of the sidebar. This guy is just playing around with us. He has no screen issues.

 

Agreed, but I honestly think he may not know how to close the sidebar.

For the OP - Closing all of the gadgets doesn't close the sidebar. To close it completely: Locate the icons on the taskbar in the lower right hand corner of your screen, click the arrow that points to the left so that all icons are shown, hover your mouse over each icon until you get one that says "windows sidebar", right click on that icon, then click exit.

Also, as an aside...if you want the sidebar gadgets without the dimming effect, you can right click each gadget and choose "detatch from sidebar", once all gadgets are detatched you can right click the dimmed portion of your screen and select "close sidebar". The gadgets will remain and the dimmed portion will be gone.

 

okay sorry for being a complete dumbass, you guys...I resolved the issue with the dark band. Since there weren't any gadgets on the right side of the panel when I did my first boot, I assumed it was a hardware issue. I didn't know why the sidebar was there without gadgets. This is my first time with Vista. Sorry again.

Anyway, my T61 is still a bit dim for my liking. But overall, it's great. Sorry for any nervous breakdowns I've unintentionally caused.

 

lol...faith in lenovo's product restored

 

Part of what sparked my immediate panic when I saw that disgusting asymmetrical dark band on my screen was spending months doing research on T61 screen quality on this forum and hearing so many horror stories. I mean I would've noticed that the dark band was part of the sidebar if there was actually something on the sidebar itself (ie. gadgets). Plus, why make the sidebar so ugly and defective-looking?

Anyway, most of the blame falls on me. I'm just getting used to Vista and all the nuances of this new OP. Overall, however, I would say that my thinkpad is great. Screen can be much better but I'm satisfied.

 

Lol, had me worried for a moment ... anyways, hope my new t61 coming in has no such "banding" issues

I'm more worried about the "dim" screen though. We'll see.

 

ok this is silly lol.

 

Can you add an edit to your original post regarding the "banding"?

As if thinkpads need any more damage regarding screen quality...

 

Nice notebook. Let's see some pics!

 

op, its good to hear that you resolved the problem.

Although I hope you dont treat your brands and other products the same way. You're just going to give yourself a heart attack by changing brands that quickly.

The thinkpad brand is a SOLID brand and in my opinion, going to a dell or hp can be a backwards step (depending on which model, minus the workstation and business class lappys)