T520/W520 15.6 FHD screen worth it?

Hi all,

Wanted to see what people think about the FHD upgrade for the T520/W520 - it definitely makes a difference to the price and I'm not entirely convinced the 1920x1080 resolution is comfortable to work (i will mostly be on excel, browsing and hopefully some starcraft II on the side ). Main draw of the FHD screen for me is it's supposed to be brighter (270 nits vs. 230) and the higher contrast ratio (500:1 i think vs. 300:1). Is anyone able to comment on the practical difference here?

I've really been spoiled by mac displays over the past couple of years... but they've been jerks about pricing vs. what you get out of the box lately and the lack of page up/page down keys etc. is a real dealbreaker for someone that spends a lot of time in excel.

Thanks

 

From the NBR review of the older t510 the HD+ screen was pretty good, I would assume that they use the same panel for this generation of t5x0 series

Lenovo ThinkPad T510 Keyboard, Touchpad, Screen and Speakers

 

It is not (for me). Tried all HD, HD+ and FHD side by side and the HD+ resolution is the best for 15.6" in my opinion. I would sacrifice some brightness and contrast to have a comfortable resolution.

 

For a 15in laptop its a must for me.

 

^^^ I appreciate it when members offer their views qualified with "for me." Selecting a screen option is dependent on so many subjective factors that it is difficult to make a solid suggestion.

It would be easier if all T/W520 panels were identical except for one thing: the pixel resolution, i.e. HD, HD+ or FHD. The FHD panel happens to be much better than the other two in terms of brightness, contrast and color reproduction.

 

Most programs allow user to zoom in and out. For eg, IE, Chrome, Excel, Word, Adobe all have zoom feature that will make the fonts larger. If you want to see a larger portion of the document, you can zoom to 100% on a FHD screen.

I have a FHD screen on my 15" T510 and thats that I do when I am browsing.

When I am coding on Visual Studio 2010 the extra resolution is real handy as I can open both toolbars on the side and still have enough room to see my code without shuffling.

In most cases the small fonts should not be a problem and you will get used to it and never go back

 

I goofed pleas delete mods.

 

(Edited to remove clarification. I like Sphinx. )

 

Oh ok. I have a short fuse today and Im sorry.

 

The FHD screen is B+RGLED like on the XPS 15. It's rated at 95% color gamut, which is quite good compared to the 45% and 60% color gamut ratings on a lot of other displays. The HD+ screen is good quality too, I've seen it, just don't get the standard HD screen

I do just fine with 1920x1200 in 15.4" with no zooming at all, but not everybody's the same.

 

thanks, very helpful, looks like i'll go with the FHD.

 

95% 1920/1080 on my W510 is eye saver for me who works non stop...

 

The FHD screen on the T/W series makes life worth living. You will NOT regret it. If you do go for it though on the W-series, get the color sensor. Makes tuning the higher color gamut down to normal levels much easier.

 

If you tone it down, dont that go agsint the idear of getting it? Or does it still give much better picture quality than the HD++ ? (I dont need it for photo editing, just going to use it a damm lot so want a quality screen)

 

Well the stuff I am talking about toning down is like the green whites or neon colors blasting you in the face. Screen quality (black levels, color saturation, viewing angles) are still all amazing.

 

Good Just hope its still good even if I dont get the calibrater. I cant choose the config completely from the place I will buy but just being told its cheap and will be top speced and I have no idear how to calibrate so hope it will be awesome even without it

 

I use a Dell Precision M4400 RGBLED display without calibration, and I kinda like the oversaturation compared to other undersaturated displays. It just makes things look more vibrant and I don't really do anything that requires too much color accuracy. (The only reason I wanted the RGBLED display is because I didn't want the 2xCCFL display)

 

But then going back to a normal screen must drive you up a wall..