Will discontinued screens become rare treasures?

Many people prefer the 4:3 screens. Also many like the high resolution of X200s. Both are discontinued. Will they become rare treasures so that the prices of these screens will still be comparable to new products? Just curious.

 

I don't think so.. As soon as the market is flooded with 16:9 screens some manufacturer (probably Apple) wil 'reinvent' the 4:3 aspect ratio.

 

I seriously doubt that as there are NO manufactures making 16:10 panels let alone 4:3 panels for laptops. In fact on the Lenovo forum their rep said that even Apple will have no choice regarding 16:9 panels and that their next refresh may use 16:9 panels on their MBP's.

I think 16:10 laptops will become rare as time passes and their price will at least hold steady but I don't expect them to climb especially for older hardware.

 

Display manufactures will make whatever the market is asking for (at a price) At this moment 'cheap' seems to be the most important factor but this could change over the years.

 

That's the reason why mfg's went the 16:9 route. If Apple is the only ones building laptops then it would be possible but there are still too many PC companies going the low cost route and that is 16:9.

 

What about the WXGA+ screens of X200s?

 

treasure? well that depends, but given how these products are mass manufactured it will take a while before people would think of them as treasures.

 

I would think that a BOE Hydis UXGA Flexview display definitely is - and will stay - a valued treasure for all those T6x 4:3 lovers, including me.

 

Were all of the T60p UXGA displays Flexview IPS? I have a 2623-DDU in a cabinet and now you have me wondering what it's worth. How do I tell what FRUs were used to build it?

 

These are notebooks not cars.

 

check the parts list here (if the panel is originally shipped version).

Lenovo Support - Parts Lookup (CY)

otherwise use softwares like HWinfor32 to check the parts number of the list.

TFT display - ThinkWiki <-- this is the list of all the old UXGA used in the thinkpad.

 

As far as i know, all 15" T60(p) with SXGA+ or UXGA had Flexview/IPS displays. Only the UXGA displays were by BOE Hydis, while the SXGA+ displays were produced by some other manufacturer (LG?), and were not as good quality wise as the BOE Hydis made panels. The 14.1" machines always only had crappy displays at best.

Just don't forget that TFT's, whether they are IPS/Flexview or not, tend to become old while being used and lose their brightness over time. So just because it is an UXGA made by BOE Hydis does not really make it valuable. If it is still unused and in mint condition, being virtually new, then the perspective changes a bit.

 

the aging is due to the CCFL backlight and not really the LCD panel itself.

 

This may be unfounded, but my hope is that as LCD TV sales slow as they are now doing, over production capacity will force LCD makers to start offering other options to make sales.

 

I think the rise of Tablet machines, will eat up the excess supply in the TV industry.

 

Most of the tablets I've seen are 4:3(iPad, HP) or 16:10(Android). To some degree it will depend on how much it slows. Most people who want a HDTV probably already have one.

 

I don't think 4:3 will be so much a treasure but more of a pleasure to have. I have 2 4:3 laptops (my D600 with SXGA+ and my T60 with SXGA+) and I love it. 16:10 is better for ultraportables (as SXGA+ was rarer than WXGA+) but the 1368x768 is the max we are getting on sub 13" laptops.

 

The TFT foils of the BOE Hydis UXGA IPS tend to develop a yellowish tint over the years during normal use, and unlike the CCFL, this can't really be fixed. It is a pity!

EDIT: While not for the BOE Hydis, here are some sample pics for the SXGA+ Flexview TFT made by LG, clearly showing the aging effect:
LG SXGA+ Flexview aging effects: forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=90382