new T61p

First post here. I've been lurking for awhile and these forums helped me decide which laptop to buy. I wanted something somewhat durable, matte screen, fairly fast, and win xp. The Lenovo seemed to fit the bill so I ordered one last week. With the 25% off sale, 10% off coupon, and 15% back from fatwallet, it seemed like the time to buy. The specs are 2.4 ghz proc, 1 gb ram (I'll get 2 gb from crucial), WSXGA+, bluetooth, blah blah. Ordered on 15 May and had it in my grubby hands on the 20th! I think part of the reason it was so fast was that I asked a customer service rep some questions before ordering and included her ID code on my order; I believe that she helped expedite it (even though I only had standard shipping).
The laptop arrived in perfect condition with everything it was supposed to have, including the win xp disc I asked for. Initial impression was the solid build quality, comfy keyboard, and that it's pretty thin and light. To shorten this up, I'll say that I like everything about this laptop, except the screen. It's absolutely terrible. Very dim, even with brightness turned all the way up. There is only one viewing angle - straight on, otherwise you can't see jack. I've adjusted the display properties which helped a little bit. It's a Samsung screen (of course) and also has quite a bit of graininess, but I can live with that. Unfortunately, I get a headache after about 30 minutes of using it; my wife can't stand it for more than about two minutes.
I called customer support and reached a really helpful guy from their Atlanta call center. He quickly gave me a case number and sent a box to me for the laptop to get shipped to their depot for screen replacement. Hopefully they can get me a good screen and put this issue to rest (for me).
All in all, very good support from Lenovo. It's just too bad there's so many bad LCD's put in these otherwise terrific notebooks.

 

Only when we stop buy thinkpads with these lousy screens, then Lenovo will start using better LCDs.

Thinkpads got good ratings, but whoever did the rating/review is not honest about the screens. Those reviewers must have taken bribes or kickbacks. They should rate any laptop with a lousy screen below average. Let's face it, the screen is the part of the laptop we stare at all day long.

We should start boycotting Thinkpads and demand better screens.

 

That's unfortunate. Hope you will get a good screen in the replacement.

 

Sorry to hear that. I also have exactly same problem like you. Please, remember to leave your result and experience after customer support.

 

hyperq: I agree about the reviews. I saw very little mention of the screen quality from the "big" websites like cnet. There's no doubt the computer manufacturers financial contributions to the websites affect the reviews.
It's hard to believe that my four year old Compaq has a much better display than this new Thinkpad.
I'll keep you guys posted on the outcome of the screen replacement.

 

I don't know that anyone else is offering anything better. I hear bad comments about the D830 and 8510p screens as well. They're all using the same panels. We could go back the days of the FlexView, but of course you'd pay considerably more for your notebook. This is the cost of paying less.

My screen isn't all that great either. I almost bought a Vostro 1500 just cause I'd like something brighter, but I decided I don't want the extra weight. My hope is once the LED screens come on the new ThinkPads as has been rumored the screen quality will go up. Until then I'm stuck with my dim screen.

 

You generally hear better experiences with the WSXGA and WUXGA screens on the HP 8510 and Latitude D830 than you do with the Thinkpads. HP is more likely to be using a CMO/LG for its WSXGA screens as they don't source WSXGA from Samsung afaik.

 

The common thread to all the other brands that have bad screens as well is that they are Samsungs, afaik. Why would the notebook makers allow screens of such poor quality to be put on their products? This has to be costing them more in replacing the bad screens after the fact then it would be in quality control checking them out before they are shipped.

 

Greedy corporations will cut corners where ever they can, Lenovo included. They are using sub-standard LCDs just to save that $5-$10 per laptop. Who loses? We consumers.

We don't have to take this. If you got a crappy screen, ship it back and demand a screen replacement. If they don't, start a class action lawsuit. After paying that much money, no one deserves a cheap screen which causes headache after 30 minutes.

 

The cost for a 14" WXGA lcd panel is about $75-$85, depends on quality. So it costs only a little more for a high quality screen.

I think the original poster should ask the forum moderator to change the title to "new T61p with a terrible screen" to better reflect the content of this thread.

 

I didn't want to make this a totally negative thread. Everyone I've spoken to with Lenovo has been great and they sound like they want to get this fixed for me, so I'll give them the benefit of the doubt.