T420/T420s Screen Reconfiguration Speculation

I ordered and returned a T420s, though prior to my return I put in an request for service during last August to replace the screen. The screen was out of stock then and Lenovo claimed that the replacement screens were delayed due to earthquake(s) in Japan and should be available during the second week of September. The screens apparently still are not available as I get recorded voicemails every five or so days saying that the part is back-ordered. I wonder if enough people have complained that they are redesigning the screen or ordering different stock. I am curious if new T420/T420s will ship with a different screen once the part is back in stock. I'd love to get another T420s, but couldn't stand the screen.

 

I'm with you man... see my post here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/lenovo-ibm/574678-thinkpad-t420s-owners-thread-60.html#post7933295

 

Ouch! I hope I fair better. I just bought this unit. I hope I can tolerate the screen. I have Samsung panels on my desk and my TP have been UXGA and FHD so they have been pretty good. I'm downsizing but the cost may be too great if this holds...

 

Apart from the screen, the T420s is a fantastic machine. It's a good size, not too big, and definitely not too small. The keyboard is great too and so is the size of the palm rest.

The one thing that I didn't like is that the left and right click buttons at the bottom of the trackpad are too small (they obviously did this to give you a larger trackpad surface) and I find myself trying to click the buttons with my thumb when surfing and I end up hitting the trackpad.

The speakers sound great too and the headphone jack has no hiss that I could detect from earbud headphones.

And the end of the day though, the screen is the killer. I mean I think most people could even live with a low quality keyboards as your fingers will adjust to spacing, key size, bounce etc... but I'm not sure one can adjust to the gird lines. They're just too apparent.

 

It is completely naive of me to hope that the delay is because they are addressing these problems?

 

I'm an optimist too! So was Bayer for that matter! We've all read about the display but bought it anyway, LOL!

 

Ha! Yeah, I figured it couldn't be THAT bad. Sadly, it was.

 

Like you all, I did the same thing. I've found over the years that things seem to be sensationalized on forums or just completely blow out of proportion. This was definitely not the case here. The screen is terrible.

Like I said before, I could maybe live with the grid lines if the contrast was good, or I could live with the washed out colours/contrast if there were no grid lines, but you can't deal with both. I mean you need to make a physically and not just psychological effort to not notice either.

What made it worse for me is that I use IPS panels for 8hrs of the day and coming home to the T420s TN panel just amplified the flaws in the display.

On the bright side. I purchased the T420s at a pretty good deal ~28% off the sale price, and a cousin of mine purchased the x220 with the IPS panel together with me... well long story short, I brought my T420s over to his place and he really liked it, so we'll end up trading machines. When his x220 arrives via UPS next week, I'll take the x220 w/IPS and I'll hand over my T420s to him.