brightness on X61?

I'm just about ready to pull the trigger and buy this laptop, but I read a review saying that the screen display isn't that bright. I'm replacing a HP Compaq NC4200 which has in my opinion too dark a display, and I'm trying to figure out if the Lenovo X61 has a brighter display. I intend to use the Lenovo for photoshop among other uses. Thanks for any information you can provide.

 

I find the brightness level to be in the average range of modern notebooks. However, if you need to increase the brightness, you can always manually adjust it (along with contrast and gamma) in the Intel driver panel.

In any case, I think you should reconsider getting the X61 if you plan to use it extensively for Photoshop. It is after all only 1024X768.

Don't get me wrong, it is a lovely and very fast ultraportable, but for graphics work I'd get one with a larger resolution and a better screen.

 

Agreed 100%.

 

$0.02:

i have an x61s with the ultralight display. the ultralight has 180nits compared to the standard x61 screen's 150nits (UL 20% brighter?). the screen is very bright indoors or at night. i turn down the brightness at night. however, it's very dim out in sunlight. i'd suggest finding out the nits rating on your current laptop and compare.

 

Most laptops don't work well outside due to the overwhelming power of the sun. There are some notebooks that are better suited to working outside like the Dell ATG with the 500 nits screen or the Fujitsu A6030 which offers a 450 nit screen to name a couple. Neither of those is really an ultraportable. Sitting in the shade will help some if you can will help some or getting a second battery cause you're going to have to crank the screen up.

As I recall, HP business class units are no better or worse than ThinkPads brightness wise.

 

Thanks for the quick responses. Do you have any suggestions for other laptops that may fit the bill? My key needs are: (i) lighweight, (ii) 802.11 Wifi and mobile broadband (EV-DO), (iii) nice display in terms of brighness and resolution for using CS3 - doesn't have to be big, just nice, and (iv) a processor capable of handling CS3 - doesn't have to be the zippiest but just workable while I'm on the road.

I'm less concerned about price and battery life, and I don't need an internal optical drive.

By the way, I considered the Dell Lattitude D420 but can't get it quickly and I'd like to have it before leaving town on 8/30.

 

Ever consider a MacBook?

 

Not really. I'm a Windows kind of guy, and I heard that there are problems running Windows on the Mac. However, maybe I should consider it. There are very little differences using Photoshop on a Mac vs. Windows environment.