T/R series WXGA+ screens?

I'm on my third Dell Vostro 1400 - the first two wobbled noticeably when used on even the flattest of flat surfaces and the third is becoming more and more frustrating to use because of the LCDs extraordinarily poor viewing angles. The vertical viewing angles are atrocious - if the top of the screen is clear, the bottom is washed out; if the bottom is clear, the top suffers from that "negative black" shimmering effect; if the middle is clear, both the top and bottom look horrible. In addition, the viewing angles from left to right require that you place yourself approximately 10 degrees to the left of center to get the entire screen clear from left to right.

Why am I complaining about this in the Lenovo forum? Quite simply, my love affair with Dell might be over at this point, and I'm preemptively looking at other options.

How are the higher resolution screens on the Thinkpads? Has Lenovo gone the way of Dell and sourced the absolute cheapest screens possible with no regard for image quality and usability?

 

You can try your luck but I'm afraid that Lenovo has pretty much the same problem. I'm using a 15.4" T61 and its pretty much the same as you described. Viewing angles are pretty much the same on all laptops using TN panels since its the cheapest technology that screen manufacturers use.

If you want something with good viewing angles then you should look for a older 15 inch standard screen T60 with flexview. It'll have good viewing angles but it wont be brightest laptop around.

 

Well, that's disappointing. It's like I'm asking for to much to want a notebook that can sit stable on a flat desk and display images without inducing headaches from all the washed-out colors and shimmering, holographic-like black levels.

At the very least, I think the matte screens offered by Lenovo (or possible the Dell Latitudes) might improve things at least a little bit. At this point, I'm battling both the horrible viewing angles and the ridiculous glare produced by the mirror-like screen.

 

I'm a big fan of matt screens myself, and that was the direction I went in.

 

If you're OK with a 15" standard display, find a T60 FlexView SXGA+ - amazing viewing angles and colors. IMO the ThinkPad WUXGA (I have a Z61p) is pretty decent - no complaints on my end. However that doesn't mean the more recent panel suppliers for T61p WUXGA haven't gone down hill.

The UltraLight screen that is on some of the X Series is pretty good too, but it's only 12" XGA of course