T530 - Buy with cheapest screen, and upgrade to FHD myself, or go with HD+ straight from lenovo?

So I'm pretty much set on the Lenovo T530.

The only thing I'm not sure about is the screen.

Should I just get the stock screen which is crap (1366x768), and then order the FHD display for ~$100 shipped from laptopscreen.com and replace it myself? Keep in mind that lenovo offers the FHD screen for $250 ... which is ridiculous.

Or should I take the middle road and just drop an extra $40 and get the HD+ (1600x900) screen straight from Lenovo.


I'll be mostly doing work related stuff (programming). I think I would benefit the most from the FHD screen.

 

Why, if it's a better screen, is $250 ridiculous? I would question, without knowing anything about it, whether it's a genuine Lenovo part, which you want. You should probably know that swapping the screen will more than likely void your warranty. If you do a good job and swap the old screen back they may never know, but if they want to make an issue of they can and there's nothing that can be done about it.

 

Notice that the 1080p display upgrade is $250 in part because it has a much higher NTSC color gamut than other 1080p TN panels, which is pretty important for those working in graphical applications but don't have the money to buy a great IPS panel like the Dreamcolor2 or similar. Granted, it's not important for programming, but it's definitely better for programming than either the HD or HD+ displays simply because of resolution.

I'm with ZaZ on this. Not only is there the question of "is this real?", but also it's much more involved to replace a display panel as it is to replace RAM or storage drives. Don't forget that you can actually haggle over the price of a laptop as you can with a car. For example, my W520 was $2167 retail price, but I only paid $1665 thanks to haggling, B+N discount, and the 10% email promotion they had on the site.

 

I've had two T530's side-by-side, one having the FHD screen and the other having the HD+ screen. I like the FHD much better. It is noticeably brighter. It is crisper and sharper because of the higher resolution. The colors are deeper and more saturated. I do have to increase the font sizes in browsers more for the FHD, but that's easy to do and is no problem. The HD+ machine was returned for that and some other reasons.

I can't speak to the cost or technological wisdom of upgrading a screen on someone else's behalf. However, the cost difference between HD+ and FHD under the discount structure I got was only $150. To me-- and I'm a cheapo--that was well worth it for the very part of the computer my eyes will be staring at for several hours a day for (hopefully) the next five years.

 

For more involved parts like the screen, I would recommend just going with Lenovo's display upgrade. It's much less hassle, and in the event that something goes wrong, you do still have your warranty intact.

 

For programming in various IDEs, the extra pixels offered by FHD screen, both vertical and horizontal, are very useful if you can't connect to an external monitor. Color/color gamut etc. differences between FHD and HD+ are negligible, both are OK small TN panels, FHD is a bit better, but not more than that.

Yes, the very panel can be bought for $100 elsewhere, is easy to replace, and you may sell the existing panel too. But it's not a CRU, so Lenovo may potentially refuse warranty service.

 

All 3 points are true.

(I did it a few times for myself and friends.)

Wondering who gave you the nudge.

 

You get to choose v4 for matte, v7 for glossy or 72% if you wish to.

It is almost even consider the time you spend waiting/replacing/maintaining(2-5 hours least)

If you have fun doing it then it is another story.

 

Don't recall if that one was a nudge, a stiletto or a sledgehammer, but it was someone around these parts who can wield all three . . . accurately.

 

majority here said don't do it. I do agree with them, however, if you really want to do it, go ahead. It is not rocket science and if you pay attention to details, you will be able to do it. I saw my laptop dismantled and assembled, it is not as big of a deal. The screen might be a little more hassle, but you can do it provided you really want to.

Would I do it? no, because I don't want to void the warranty and I wouldn't be sure if the screen is genuine and last long. I'll be damned if anything breaks while I'm at it costing more than just a $100. So I'm just saying that you can do it, but if I were you, I wouldn't.

If you still go ahead with you plan of adding the FHD screen yourself, let us know how it went.

Also notice that it doesn't cost you $250 even-though it is listed as $250, when you add the monitor the $ changes by approx. 200(what happened when I bought it a week or two ago).

 

That's a lot of words just to say "no."

 

OP, I personally believe an external monitor helps a lot in programming than having an FHD screen alone. Get the laptop with a lower resolution screen and put that $200+ towards a good external monitor , if you add another $200 on top, you can get one of those dell ultrasharp IPS monitors...

I started with a yes and then it turned into a no.

 

well here's the guide on how to replace it
Replace Lenovo Thinkpad Screen: Replacing the T530's screen

plus there are a few posts here in notebookreview forums of some users who have done the replacement themselves.

Lenovo charges way too much for customization.. even the freaking ram from 4GB to 8GB is $80, when you can buy 16GB for like $96 on newegg/amazon.


I've decided to just go with the HD+

it's only $50 more, actually it's 25% off on the T530 today, so it's $37.5

If 1600x900 doesn't do it for me, I can always upgrade later.

Just ordered
Processor Intel Core i5-3210M Processor (3M Cache, up to 3.10 GHz)

Operating System Windows 7 Home Premium (64 bit)

Operating System Language Windows 7 Home Premium 64 - English

Display Type 15.6" HD+ (1600 x 900) LED Backlit AntiGlare Display, Mobile Broadband Ready

System Graphics NVIDIA NVS 5400M Graphics with Optimus Technology, 1GB DDR3 Memory

Total Memory 4 GB DDR3 - 1600MHz (1 DIMM)

Keyboard Keyboard - US English

Pointing Device UltraNav without Fingerprint Reader

Camera 720p HD Camera with Microphone

Hard Drive 320GB Hard Disk Drive, 7200rpm

Optical Device DVD Recordable

System Expansion Slots Express Card Slot & 4-in-1 Card Reader & Bezel

Battery 9 Cell Li-Ion TWL 70++

Power Cord 90W AC Adapter - US (2pin)

Bluetooth Bluetooth 4.0 with Antenna

Integrated WiFi Wireless LAN Adapters Intel Centrino Ultimate-N 6300 AGN

ThinkPad Business Topload Case

That deal was too sweet to ignore
it was $599 for the base (barnes and noble gold log in, with their 3 day coupon)
in total 25% off everything on the T530

i paid $862 after tax with a business topload case

so excited