T400 instead of T500 because of display. Warning: rambling post!

I realize there are a lot of threads dealing with screens and resolutions and such (I think I've read most of them!), but I would appreciate any insight you folk would share.

I was all set to order a T500, simply because I am used to 15" displays, but what I've read about screens makes me think I may prefer the T400 with its 14.1" display. The basic reason is the resolutions offered. The T400 can be ordered with a WXGA or WXGA+ LED screen, but the only LED option for the T500 is the WXGA, IIRC.

For my aging sight that already has 54 years of usage, I have gotten along fine with WXGA resolution. That is what my current screen is, though it is CCFL. With LED's now available, I'm yearning for the brighter LED and I take it that LED's do not grow dimmer over time as CCFL's do.

But, perhaps I've been missing something with the WXGA resolution. I think I would really like to try WXGA+ on a T500, but of course that's not an option. The WXGA+ (LED) on the T400, as I understand it, is similar in resolution to the WSXGA (CCFL) on the T500. But on a new computer, I would rather go with LED than another CCFL. Then again, will I find the WXGA+ on the T400 too small for all the reading and writing I do daily?

So, what to do. If I stay with WXGA, I would probably go with the T500. If I become convinced that a higher resolution will gain appreciable screen real estate without causing undue eye strain, I could go with WXGA+ on the T400.

Then again, wouldn't WXGA on a 14.1" be like WXGA+ on a 15.4"? What I mean is this: Would having WXGA on a T400 provide more screen real estate than WXGA on a T500?

Any thoughts are appreciated.

Bill

 

WXGA is WXGA no matter how you slice it. The difference is dot pitch or DPI (dots per inch). Here is a handy DPI chart.

WXGA 12.1" 125 DPI
WXGA 14.1" 107 DPI
WXGA+ 14.1" 120 DPI
WXGA 15.4" 98 DPI
WSXGA+ 15.4" 128 DPI

The DPI will affect the physical size of text and general readability. If resolution is higher you can fit more things on the screen and multi-task easier. To me, WXGA+ does not provide a sufficient bump over WXGA to be worth considering (need to gain at least 200 vertical pixels to qualify as "high resolution" in my eyes), but that is my opinion.

 

Jon, when you write "WXGA is WXGA no matter how you slice it. The difference is dot pitch or DPI," do you mean that WXGA looks relative to a 14.1" screen as it does to a 15.4" screen?

Thanks for the link.

Bill

 

Broadus what i suggest you do is to go to a computer store that sells laptop and have a look at the difference between WXGA and WXGA+ screens... to see which way you want to go........

The font size of WXGA+ on a 14.1 is very small and i am 25 years old with 20/20 eye sight and using the WXGA+ on my T61 and T400 makes my eye hurt.... WXGA on a 15.4 inch or a WXGA 14.1 inch isn't that bad.....

I would suggest that you get a 17 or 19 inch monitor and connect that to your laptop.... this will give you more screen real estate without straining your eyes..........

Eye sight protection is very important... one of my lecturer use 19 inch monitor at 800 x 600 resolution to protect his eye sight.

 

If you are concerned about DPI, also note that Windows 7 (which is around the corner now for everyone) has very nice controls to scale your DPI higher (well, actually your UI is scaled, DPI is constant on a given display - but it changes the perceived DPI ), and it also does a very good job, fairly easily. There are only very few applications not compatible with these settings (and they display a little big messed up UI). Previous versions of Windows also included this feature, but they were not widely known and also did not work really well, in my experience at least.

Windows 7 also tries to be intelligent about this scaling: on my T500 (15.4" 1680x1050 WSXGA+) it scaled to 125% DPI by default, which is nice, because although my eyes are only 28 years old, at the end of the day when I got tired I was thankful for that At my workplace I use 22" displays with the same resolution (1680x1050) and there Windows 7 did not activate the scaled DPI feature.

What I am saying is that - at least for me - the DPI values would not be of such a great concern (or major deciding factor) when deciding on a display, because even if I get an ultra-high-resolution-physically-not-so-big display, I can still adjust the DPI and be happy about it, without my eyes getting blurry of concentration while trying to make out tiny fonts

 

Makes sense, lead org. Thanks.

I'm almost an hour away from a decent computer store, so I try to get all the info I can from you guys.

Eyesight is a concern for me because of poor vision to begin with. I'll try to find a WXGA+ in order to check it out. I suspect that I will need to stay with the WXGA, but I'm open what others think.

Bill

 

That is good advice. Many of us differ on what resolution is optimal, as it's entirely personal preference - it's up to you to decide what is best for you.

Personally, I find WXGA resolution to be acceptable only on a 12" or smaller screen. I prefer smaller and finer text. My vision is by no means good, I am very nearsighted (not farsighted though) - I think nearly 20/50, not entirely sure with these vision scales - but I have no trouble with WSXGA+ on my T500.

 

Interesting. That's something I had not considered. So Windows 7, if I understand you correctly, will give you the best of both worlds if you have a higher resolution.

Thanks,
Bill

 

My vision is corrected to 20/20 with bi-focals. It's something like 20/600+ without them.

I'm sure you're right about it being a preference.

Bill

 

The worse your eyes the more important it is to have clear images on a computer screen. The lower PPI (pixels per inch), the harder for the eyes, all other things being equal. "All other things being equal" mostly concerns having software and software settings appropriate for the user. The trouble is, most programs are not initially set up appropriate for higher PPI, but for lower PPI. So the higher PPI the screen is, the more likely initial settings will be inappropriate, and lead to eye strain, because the screen objects (text, menus etc) will be unpleasantly small. When people say that a high PPI screen will be hard to read the case is rather that the software is not set up appropriately for the hardware. In every case, if the settings are appropriate (the screen objects are not too small), higher PPI equates to clearer objects, and less eye strain. Some software (e.g. OS X, Internet Explorer), has very poor adjustability for higher PPI's, and even a savvy user cannot fully overcome the limitations of the software. An increasing number of software releases have a high degree of adjustability, and so are suitable for high-PPI screens. Each of the last 3 Microsoft OS's have become steadily better at living with high PPI, but there is always a bit more tweaking involved, as each program living on top of the OS has its own settings that may need adjustment. If you can adjust a program to suit, you never have to touch those settings again, and once suitably set, high PPI equates with clear reading and reduces eye strain. On the other hand, if the choice of high PPI is not for clarity of screen object but for real estate, then you really do need excellent eyesight that can read small screen objects with ease - for in that case the small screen is fitting in as many objects as a bigger one, and of course if the objects on the big one are the right size, then those on the smaller one will inevitably be too small. In general, I would suggest only those confident in software configuration use PPI above 128 or so. Improperly configured, high PPI is awful and indeed harmful. Properly configured, nothing beats high PPI. Configuring overall OS PPI to a higher level helps, but is seldom sufficient to manage the hardware ("native") PPI properly for OS and program visuals. The last problem that will not go away for a long time, however clever the software or user is, is that many web sites are designed with only one viewing screen in mind: low/standard PPI - and they will only look as they were intended with low/standard PPI. Increasingly, though, HD (high PPI), is being better catered for by web design.

 

The problem with that is here in the US at least most stores only carry the lowest resolution screens. You'll likely only see WXGA+ on a 17" notebook in a store. Your best shot, if you want to see an example of a 14" or 15" WXGA+ notebook, is if you know someone with one.

 

Apparently, the resolution is not going to be end of the whole saga.... the Win 7 OS supposedly have this new feature to allow for more font size control... so a WSXGA+ on 15.4 or WXGA+ can be adjusted to bigger size to suit the users... i don't have a copy of Win 7 and i will find someone whom has one, to see whether this feature exists....

 

Yup, this is exactly what I tried to explain a few posts earlier. But I do tend to go overcomplicated in my explanations.

To sum it up:
Win 7 has good features to make font size larger and my experience shows it works really good (have been using it since RTM came to MSDN in early august).

 

You lost me there couple of posts back (you were being like my old professor, i asked him a simple question and he gave me the whole deal, which i obviously didn't understand and i was nodding my head for like half a hour and didn't understand a word that he said.....)...... it is good to know that we are on the same train of thought....

 

The capability of Windows 7 to make font sizes larger without distortion makes the WXGA+ of the 14.1 appealing.

If I am understanding resolution properly, the higher resolution naturally produces sharper fonts, which would seem to lessen eyestrain. However, the fact that fonts are smaller because of the way software is programmed increases eyestrain. Windows 7 appears to overcome that handicap.

Or am I misreading this?

Bill

 

Something like that.... For word document and web surfing all you need to do is to increase the font size by clicking on ctrl + mouse scroll wheel.......

 

Keep in mind when moving to WXGA on T400 from your current laptop(HP 15.4 WXGA) the text will already be a bit smaller.

If you do decide to make the 1 hour journey to check out screens then make sure you also check out 12" wxga or 13.3" wxga. They probably are closer to 14" wxga+(someone please post dpi numbers) and will give you an idea of what your display will look like.