t60 screen resolution

Dear T60 users,

I have a Lenovo t60, probably a couple of years old. The laptops's native (best) resolution is 1400x1050, but it is way too small for daily use. I tried resolution at 1280x1024 and it seems better (size wise) but the fonts become blurry. My question is: what else can I do?

I do realize that the display settings can be manupulated, but that does not improve things.

thanks

 

I'm afraid not much. LCD screens as you've noticed don't look good running at a non-native resolution. If it bothers you that much, you could sell it and get something with a lower resolution screen.

 

you do not mind the tiny fonts? how can people work like this?

just curious

 

You can enlarge your fonts as follows:

Control Panel->Display->Settings->Advanced->General

and then adjust the DPI dropdown box.

 

Also make sure you have ClearType enabled.

Control Panel > Display > Appearance tab > Effects... settings

 

When I first went over to SXGA+ from an XGA notebook, I too was concerned that it would seem to small. I adjusted pretty quickly. It was a 15" T42. It probably helped it had the FlexView screen, the best laptop screen ever made. Then as I went down to a 14" I was again concerned, but I adjusted in short time. I will say it can cause me eye strain if I use it for extended periods. My biggest complaint about the screen is the dimness. Cranked up it looks good, but if you go a more than a few notches below the top, it gets harder to use. My next notebook is going to have a brighter screen. I'm mostly using Linux now which does in my opinion a better job than XP with font sizes. Screen resolution is such a personal preference. One person can stare at SXGA+ all day while another thinks it's hideously small.

There's not much you can do about the resolution, but as noted can mess with the DPI and clear type. If you are running Vista it actually does a pretty decent job increasing font sizes. Some font size are hard coded which gives XP more trouble.

 

I find that over time, your eyes will get used to and adapt whichever resolution you have it set to. I went from 1024 x 768 on a 15" CRT monitor to 1280 x 800 on a 14" LCD panel. I used to think 1024 x 768 was as high as I would ever want my resolutions to be until my eyes got used to a higher resolution. Now I think 1024 x 768 is huge!

Also, with a larger resolution, you can multitask much easier and do a lot of work. Many people would prefer the advantage to do such a thing over font size.

 

You're also going from 4:3 to 5:4, which in my opinion is the biggest reason why the image is distorted. Try another resolution with a 4:3 aspect ratio.

 

how dedicated are you to resolving your problem?

The t60 14.1" (which I'm assuming you have) was available with two screen resolution options: 1400x1050 (what you have) and 1024x768 (what I have on my t60).

I looked into replacement screens, etc. Read the maintenance manual, part numbers, etc. etc. etc.

The only part that is different between the two screen resolutions are the screens themselves. The cabling, hinges, bezels, etc. are all the same on both resolutions.

If you're ok with opening the computer up yourself, you can just buy a 1024x768 t60 screen off ebay for about $150 ( http://search.ebay.com/search/searc...ftrt=1&ftrv=1&saprclo=&saprchi=&fsop=1&fsoo=1) and just unscrew/unplug one screen and put in the other.

Of course, if they ever find out you did this, you'll forfeit whatever warranty you have left. But, in all honesty, it's not that hard. It's about 5 screws to get the bezel off, a few more screws to get the screen off, unplug it, and plug/screw the new screen in.