X301 vs T400s screen

I currently have a Lenovo X301, and generally, I love the machine. However, I'm looking to upgrade in terms of CPU power and the display -- especially the display. Even after trying to calibrate the screen through the Intel display settings and Windows 7's color calibration, colors seem so washed out -- especially when it's next to my Dell 24" LCD or MacBook Pro 13". My friend's years old X60 even has better colors (though it's definitely dimmer).

So, I was wondering about the T400s. It looks like a great machine in general, but can anyone comment on the color saturation of its display?

 

Pretty sure the screen is not going to be any substantial increase in quality. Lenovo's best panels currently are in the x200 tablets. Unfortunately they are not offering any high quality screen options otherwise on other machines.

 

The W700 is supposed to be very good, though would not be regarded as portable.

 

Good screens depend on 2 things: panel and backlight. LED can give much better color gamut than CCFL in general. Unfortunately, 99% of all laptops use the cheapest TN panel type, which is poor in most aspects for those that have a keen eye and/or require it for photos and graphics. None of these laptops will ever be close to a desktop panel, especially a non-TN panel. The only Lenovo that doesn't use a TN panel is the X200, which I believe uses one of the best AFFS panels, based on IPS technology from Hitachi (formerly Boe Hydis).

 

So, to get nice, rich colors and a bright LED screen on a Lenovo laptop, it looks like I need to go with a much larger/heavier laptop (e.g. W700) or an X200T. Or, I could go with a non-Lenovo (had bad experiences with the Dell E6400 and the VAIO Z though).

I suspected this, but thanks for confirming guys.

 

That's pretty much it, although the w700 display is actually CCFL (albeit very bright). One other option is the T400 with high-nit LED. It's a high contrast LED display of higher quality than the other ThinkPad displays (w700 and x200T excepted).