horrible vertical view angle on T61...

I just got my T61 tonight!

It's a wonderful machine. A lot heavier and bigger than my X60s, but it feels really sturdy. And the keyboard is much better than the one on my X60s.

The only thing that I don't like is the vertical view angle on the SXGA+. it's simply horrible...

also, the 6 cell battery wobbles a bit.

Do you have similar problems?

 

My T61p SXGA+ has not arrived yet, but my current T60 has a 14" SXGA+ screen which has a narrow view angle. It is said that the SXGA+ on T61/p are the same type that was used in T60. You can find information about the view angle of the 14" SXGA+ T60 from here.

 

Most laptop screens are very good in terms of viewing angles unless they're a FlexView.

 

I didn't notice this on the x60s. I guess the reason is that it has a much smaller screen.

 

I assume..you mean very bad in terms of viewing angle for most notebooks?

 

That's true, but some are worse than others. I think the Macbook's vertical viewing angles are absolutely terrible.

 

aren't, pardon me.

 

Greetings everyone! (especially Jor) besides the poor vertical viewing angle..any thoughts on the brightness and clarity of the SXGA+ screen? I can't wait to take delivery of my T61 SXGA+ and share my thoughts with the rest of you. Thank you for your time!

 

It's basically as bright as you need it to be.

 

I agree with ZaZ, I don't have problem with the brightness or clarity. It's as good as I need.

But the start up is kind of slow... I might consider a clean reinstall later.

 

I don't think viewing angle is a problem, unless you want to use T61 as an multimedia notebook, which it should not meant to be so at all. however, the color tune on T60 is always kind of blue.

 

In some situation the viewing angle could be a problem. I often need to tilt the screen of my 4:3 SXGA+ T60 when showing something on my screen to my officemates, usually when I was sitting in front of my desk and they are standing behind me. It's not a big deal, but still a bit annoying.

My T60's screen doesn't look blue, although a little bit red I would say.

 

Let them download their own pr0n then?

 

jor,

I haven't really checked for vertical viewing angle on mine but I was briefly watching a dvd on my new SXGA+ last night, and noticed that if I moved slightly to the left or to the right, it was as if the movie disappeared on me.

Not that I care - I won't be watching movies on it that much anyway. Just an observation, really!

My first impression of my thinkpad yesterday was how lovely and small it was - just the perfect size, for me. Definitely, that 14.1" form factor is quite nice. Elegant - though that word is co-opted by Apple, I believe.

As for brightness. Well, I was, to an extent, expecting something from the dark ages, but to my surprise, the standard screen was much brighter than I was expecting. So, I've no complaints on that score.

Two things I've noticed. Damn, but there's a heck of a lot of hard disk activity going on. I got Vista biz. Maybe, a clean install one day. Not yet, though.

And the other: The font size is a bit smaller than I'd expected. I'd been playing around with a 14.1" WXGA+ before I ordered the SXGA+ so I kinda knew what to expect, but definitely the font on the standard seems a bit smaller than that on the widescreen. Or maybe, it's my imagination.

I got a nine cell. No wobble that I can discern.

No mangy pixels that are visible to me - I'm not going to go looking for them either.

 

Windows vista seems like it is always hitting up your HD, and it is. Follow this: http://mostlysavingmoney.com/2007/06/top-10-windows-vista-speed-tweaks/ and you'll be able to tweak vista a bit to clean it up without doing a clean install.

 

bradd, I'll have a look at that link later. Thank you - esp since I'm not really up to a clean install right now. Maybe next month, I'll follow Stallen's guide, etc.

 

As I've mentioned it numerous times before, the 14" SXGA+ TMD displays do have horrible vertical viewing angles.
The display seems to be the only option when opted for a 14" 4:3 model.
But I'm willing to overlook that shortcoming. This is a perfect size machine (for me).
BTW, I've returned a 15" Flexview (they're not perfect either) and gotten this 14-incher instead.

 

My battery doesn't.
Lenovo's 6-cells are coming from a veriety of manufacturers.
My T60 came with a Panasonic 6-cell.
The T61- Sanyo.

 

Glad you like yours too!

but... being a X60s owner, when I first got the T61, I felt the opposite way. it's so huge and heavy!

I am trying to decide what should I get for the T61's ultrabay. I definitely don't use the optical drive a lot.

A 2nd hard drive or a ultrabay battery???

placed an order with lenovo for a ultrabay hard drive adapter, but it seems to be stuck...

comments?

 

both my roommate's and my T61's have this problem...

but it's not bothering me at all. battery... should be thrown out in 1yr.

 

I'll agree the SXGA+ viewing angles are terrible. So bad that simply sitting in front of the screen slightly tilted away from you, it's noticeable in the top left corner (File, Edit, Forward, Back, etc). Using IE7, the default greyish toolbar fill color appears black unless I literally move my head up and to the left to face that part of the screen head-on.

 

hwo would you guys compare the viewing angles with the standard wxga screen? thanks

 

My new T61 has a 9 cell battery and it too is loose in it's socket. I can hear it clunk as I move the computer around on my lap. Perhaps the tolerances vary among the battery suppliers.

 

My battery jiggles a bit too, CSR said it wasn't a problem so I don't care about it.

 

Vertical viewing angles are not good on T61. But, I found that recalibrating the screen (from my usual viewing angle) helped a bit in making things better. Now the contrast/colors don't go out of whack so quickly for small changes from my usual viewing angle.

 

I have had my 14" T61p for about 2 weeks now and I'm pretty disappointed with the screen. The rest of the machine is completely satisfying, however the viewing angle of the screen is a real annoyance and source of disatisfaction for me. The vert viewing angle is so poor that I find myself tilting the screen back and forth just to get a clear view of the bottom and tops. I'm not too concerned with the horiz angle but that is also not great. Even much less expensive consumer notebooks have better vert angles than mine.

I am seriously considering a return for the 15" WSXGA+ screen if that screen is better.....can anyone fill me in? I didn't want such a big laptop, but a better screen is needed here.

 

If you don't care for the 4:3 aspect ratio size, then just about any screen currently on the market should have better viewing angles.

 

From my limited time with both T61 SXGA & WXGA models, I'd say WXGA.

Though, have never compared them side by side, which would be a better gauge I suppose.

 

Hi Everyone
Since so many of mentioned how bad the vertical viewing angle on the SXGA+ is. Do you still feel the sacrifice to have a T61 in a 4:3 form factor is still worth it? also has anyone productivity been affected by this bad viewing angle? it seems kinda ridiculous to have to tilt the screen back and forth often. Thank you for your time.

 

stringbeans85

For me, yes, well worth it, as I wanted the 4:3.

Incidentally, I've nothing against widescreens; it's just for me, vertical pixels are more useful, much more useful!

As for tilting, I've not had to do any such fiddling in order to clearly see the top and bottom of my screen.

 

Same here.

 

Well we know there are two different 14.1 manufacturers Lenovo uses, this goes to show the LG is considerably better. I wouldn't recommend it, but you could place an order, check the FRU on the screen, and cancel it if it's not the LG...and keep doing that until you do end up with one... I suppose that's one way to be satisfied with your viewing angles...

 

Well, we all know that Lenovo sources the 14" SXGA+ screens from a sole manufacturer, which happened to be TMD.
No Samsung or LG alternatives, unfortunately.
Can't blame Lenovo though. It looks like the TMD screens are the only 14" 4:3 ones left on the market.

 

Updating my previous post, I don't want to put off anyone from buying this machine. It's really great in all aspects other than not the greatest viewing angles on the screen. It's not horrible, just not really fabulous. If you are going to use it facing head on and not changing your viewing angle much, I think it's fine. If you want people to stand behind you to view the screen simultaneously, I'd say you may want to consider a different model. Sorry to vent earlier, I stand behind my comments, the screen is not really up to the standards of the rest of the machine, but I do still recommend it overall.

 

I have a T60 with WSXGA+, and I don't have any issues with the viewing angle, it seems very good. I don't know who makes this screen. Have also used a T60p, and don't recall any issues with it either, so maybe I'm too tolerant. But the screen is one of the main things I like about the T60, and I don't like the glossy screens (like a mirror, but beautiful under the right conditions).

While typing on my T60 right now, I'm tilting the screen back and forth and it seems perfectly usable over a wide range, when the brightness is set between medium and max. There is an angle of optimal brightness I'd say, but gradual decline from there.

However when I dim the screen to its minimum, now it is important to have the screen angled perfectly to be satisfying, which is not really a surprise to anyone. I'm embarassed to admit it, but for a while I thought the Thinklight was a microphone, and I was wondering why the heck there was another microphone slot near the keyboard. Duh.

 

we are talking about 14" standard screen here.

 

This is what I was responding to. Hadn't tried the quote feature, until now, thanks for the motivation. I don't know for sure if the WSXGA+ on the T61 is the same as the T60 or not, but it would seem likely.

 

I don't know about the WSXGA, but the WUXGA that I received is worse than what you describe, plus it had severe light leakage - Lenovo 'says' it's within their quality specs.

I think you either have to live with it or return it and get a different brand.

 

Ahhh he's back!!!

Your severe light leakage was due to you leaving the shutter open for a long time!! Try fixing that and it'll look better in your pictures!!

 

My new Fujitsu T2010 convertible tablet seems to have a flexview like screen, check it out:


Could it be the LED backlighting? The brightness is amazing too, it's as bright as the 300 nits on my 20" Dell LCD. It does not distort like the other laptop LCD I have seen.

I wonder why no other laptops use flexview technology, it's so much better.