questions about Flexview

I am most likely going to purchase a T42, but have a few questions for those who have used the different display options. I don't game, but I will be editing photos with photoshop on the machine, so display quality is reasonably important. My old 600E screen shows a very noticeable contrast gradient top to bottom without moving viewing location when a neutral gray background is used, making it rather useless for editing. other random laptops I have looked at in the past few weeks are better, but still not very good. Is the Flexview SXGA screen noticeably better than the 14" SXGA as far as consistancy of view? If it is not a decent improvement, I'll take a 14" for the smaller size, but if Flexview is worth it I definitely want it.

also, I looked at the local Office Depot, and the only Thinkpad they had was a XGA 15" T43. do any other retailers likely stock Thinkpads?

 

Well, I can only tell you that Flexview offers 100% consistent view. How inconsistent the 14" is I never measured exactly.

 

thanks. does it impact battery life?

 

Yes. First of all, it's 15". Second - it's brighter. Third - the panel itself might require more energy, although I'm unsure of that. All around it will eat more battery, but you should be able to get 3 hours out of it. Maybe not on max brightness, and not with heavy processes running.

 

is that with the 6 or 9 cell battery?

 

That's got to be with the six cell. I eck out 5+ with the nine cell on the machine in my sig.

 

I got nine cell and the modular batteries with the FlexView screen. I get about 6-6.5 hours on medium setting.

 

Yeah, six-cell, of course.

 

ok, thanks. I'll probably go with a 6 cell to start with, and pick up a 9 cell if I find myself needing it often.

 

Just today I had another opportunity to test the battery life. I was using the laptop in a normal environment, surfing the net through WiFi, with the Flexview screen on max battery brightness (still a tad lower than max AC brightness). The battery went from 100% to 15% in 2 hours, indicating an approximate of 2:20 total battery time, which isn't bad. Considering that now on minimum brightness it has been sitting on 5% for like 4 minutes, I'd say one can easily squeeze 3-3.5 hours out of the six-cell on medium settings.

 

yeah, my T43 arrived yesterday morning. Tossed it in my bag and went to work, in ~ 1 hr from wherever the battery started (indicated ~90%) it dropped to about 57%, screen at max bright battery setting (not the max bright AC).

The screen rocks. now I need an IPS screen for my desktop.

 

You will have to go to 19" or higher for this, and they will be expensive too. But worth it!

 

Dell 2005FP is IPS, and supposedly drops to ~350-400 USD if you catch the right coupons. probably what I will get.