Why are the 4:3 T61's $200 more than the Widescreens?

Is the display better or are they just assuming that people are willing to pay more?

 

widescreen lcds are cheaper to make than the standard ratio. that's to my understanding anyways. that's why you see much more widescreen models than regular models.

 

It's called supply and demand.

4:3 screens are in short supply while their demand is still somewhat high. This means that it will be more expensive.

Also, like wuz said, the widescreen ones are cheaper to produce because their the standard now. The 4:3 ones are not standard anymore, so their like a specialty screen thus costing more to produce.

 

I wonder why they still make them...

 

I think in some ways it might be different. Supply and demand can come in different varieties. In this case, the issue is that there is LESS demand for 4:3 panels (because everyone wants primarily widescreen displays now), so the costs of 4:3 panels go up because there isn't a reason to make as many of them.

-Zadillo

 

Some people do still like 4:3 panels, for various reasons (just like the ratio more, the form factor of non-widescreen laptops can be more compact, etc.).

-Zadillo

 

developers, microsoft word users and normal website browsing is better on a 4:3

 

I think the supply/demand situation determines the cost difference. I do know that the 4:3 screens are not any better in terms of quality. I bought a 14" T61 and am returning it due to the poor screen quality (light leak at the bottom, very poor contrast, narrow viewable angle, especially up/down).

I'm curious if the screens on the 14" T61p ThinkPads are any better than the standard 4:3 T61 laptops. Anybody know?

 

Can you run PCWizard2007 and check which monitor model you have? It may help someone out. Either search google with the model number to find out who the manufacturer is, should either be samsung or TMD. As far as I know the T61 and T61p are using the same 14" screens.

 

I beg to differ... I do all of the above. The more real estate, the better, regardless of which direction it is in. There's nothing I dislike more than a low res screen. Work used to supply 1024x768 screens, I was very happy with the 1400x1050 screens, and loved my Toshiba that had a 15inch 1600x1200 screen and my T61p with 1920x1200. I can put two full documents/applications side by side on the same screen.

 

Actually, just about any remaining 4:3 screen has worse specs than the newer widescreen models.
The screen manufacturers don't do any new development in the standard aspect ratio format.
That's a shame.

 

I agree with you, but i think the argument here is on the 14" screens since that's the only 4:3 T61 available. When you have the two 14" T61 variants, the highest resolutions are WXGA+ (1440x900) and SXGA+ (1400x1050)...so the regular aspect screen has more real estate, a 174,000 pixel difference, thus the 4:3 screen is better for those applications.

 

Agree, and FWIW, my T60p (work) 14inch 1400x1050 and my T61p (personal) 15inch 1920x1200 side by side are exactly the same screen height. That was a consideration for me too when I was initially shopping. The 14inch widescreen lost a lot of vertical screen height.

If I had to do a 14inch, I might consider a standard aspect ratio.