thinkpad T60- very dim screen

After reading all the wonderful posts on this website, I ordered a T60 14inch with 128MB X1400 graphics card last month, and I finally got it today.

I have 2 big complains about the screen. First, it is very dim. Even at its brightest setting it is dim. I am able to change the brightness with ATI control center, but at non-default settings it doesn't look good. Second,when set at its native resolution (1400x1050) text is too small for my eyes. When i change it to 1024x768, text size is good but it is blurry. Is there anything I can do to fix these issues?

I am very disappointed by it. Which laptop brand/series do you recommend that has good contrast ratio and brightness? I should have asked this question before. It was a HUGE mistake on my part.

 

If you are used to a glossy screened notebook, most business class notebook will be dim by comparison. There is the MaxBright screen on the Z61m which is 300 nits, but that will be a bit heavier. You can increase the DPI if you are having trouble reading the SXGA+.

 

You do know you can use the Fn+Home key to increase the brightness through the hardware, right? I'd also suggest enabling ClearType. That makes text much more readable.

 

someone I know just got a Z61m and the first thing I noticed is that the screen was quite dim. He had the brightness all the way up too - but it was running on battery. Anyone know if there is a way to override the battery auto-dim?

But the dim screen is probably the only negative thing I can think of on these Thinkpads.

 

There is a setting in the BIOS that allows the laptop to go one notch higher on battery. It would be the "max" as one AC power.

 

With LCDs you always want to be at the native resolution. If that makes the type too small, go to right click on the desktop, properties, settings, advanced, and go to a bigger dpi.

 

Thanks for your suggestions.

It looks much better now. I increased the dpi, but for some reason text was getting blurry. So i changed it back to 96 dpi. I changed the screen settings to the native resolution (1400x1050) and increased the font size in all the applications that I most commonly use. This seems to work for me.

Just in terms of brightness, I compared my T60 with my friends X60, which he got quite recently. Clearly, I think X60 has better brightness. On a side note, my old sony screen, which is not glossy, still looks better than new T60. Sony has other issues, so I would still not recommend sony to any body!!

Is there a way to find out the brightness and contrast ratio of T60? I searched quite alot on the Internet, and I couldn't find it.

 

Have you checked your setting in the "ThinkPad Configuration" utility? < Start > < Access IBM > < ThinkPad Configuration >

 

I went through all the options in "Thinkpad Configuration". Still couldn't find nit or contrast ratio.

 

I don't know the contrast ratio but the 14" screen's brightness is 150nits.

You said increasing dpi made things blurry? Was that before or after you went back to the native resolution? I would play around with that, since that usually doesn't happen. Remember, you don't have to use the 25% jumps that you get when using the drop down on custom, you can also type your own. Try 110%.

 

T60 comes with one of the hydis, samsung or toshiba displays.

here are the specs for the hydis display:

Screen size 14.1"
Model HT14P12
Resolution SXGA+
Outline Dimension (typ.) mm 299.0(W)×228.0(H)×5.2(D)
Active Area mm 285.6(H)×214.3(D)
Number of Pixels 1400(H)×1050(V)
Pixel Pitch mm 0.204(H)×0.204(V)
Weight g 405typ
Number of Colors 262K
Supply Voltage v 3.3
Power Consumption 5.2
Brightness (typ.) cd/㎡ 150typ.
Contrast Ratio 200 : 1
Backlight 1CCFL
View Angle (typ.)
(CR 10:1) L/R 45° / 45°
15° / 35°
Signal Interface LVDS 1ch/2ch Selectable
Response Time ms 25typ


The specs for the samsung display are as follows:

SIZE 14.1"

RESOLUTION SXGA+

NUMBER OF PIXELS 1,400 x 1,050

ACTIVE AREA(mm²) 285.6 x 214.2

PIXEL PITCH(mm) 0.204

NUMBER OF COLORS 262K

Color Gamut(%) 45

CONTRAST RATIO 300:1

BRIGHTNESS(cd/m²) 175

RESPONSE TIME(ms at 25 °C) 25

VIEWING ANGLE(U/D/L/R) 20/45/45/45

INTERFACE LVDS(2ch)

OUTLINE DIMENSION(mm) 299.0 x 228.0 x 5.5

WEIGHT(g) 420

PRODUCTION Mass Production