the A70 screen, WOW

I've been shopping for a notebook over the last few days and checked out quite a few Toshiba models. Most of the screens from the M70 series were fairly disappointing, until I stumbled upon an older A70 model on clearance. I don't know why but this screen is just unbelievable... the colors are so pure and rich and I could just stare at it for hours smiling.

I thought this was due to the TruBrite glossy coating but I was wrong - there was a cheaper A70 model right next to it with the standard matte coating and that was almost just as good (if not better, since there's less glare). All of the newer M70 models have comparatively lackluster screens, unusually the 17" M70-SR6 is the worst of them all as it suffered from a strange "sparkling" effect that I've noticed in a lot of other notebooks LCD's. The SR2 and SR3's didn't have the sparkling effect, but the screen didn't even come close to the two A70 models.

I'm wondering, what's up with the LCD quality in Toshiba notebooks (for that matter, almost any other brand seems to have the same problem). They had a great winner in the A70, and then they revert back to worse screens for the M70?

 

Hmm....

Toshiba screens aren't usually that bad - did the M70s you were looking at have TruBrite or were they matte screens?

 

The screens on the M70's SR2 and SR3 were not that bad (they were all TruBrite BTW), true, but when you put them side by side with the A70's, no comparison. The SR6 was pretty awful as it has that strange sparkly effect, remniscent of cheap Mag Innovision monitors from the 1990's. Strangely I'm beginning to feel that TruBrite is really just a simple glossy finish and nothing more, as the quality of the A70 display easily shone through a matte finish on a cheaper model.

I definitely think Toshiba swtiched LCD Panel manufacturers after the A70 and that's so unfortunate! Even the super-expensive Qosimo line had a brighter screen but the overall quality in color tones and black levels still couldn't compare to the A70.

 

Oh, I should also add, Toshiba's "newer" M70 models, the FE5, CD6, and such, also had the same "sparkling" problem as the older M70-SR6. So the ranking sort of goes like this:

A70 >> M70(SR2/SR3) > M70(SR6/FE5/CD6)

More or less, the older the model, the better the screen. Weird.

 

Hmm....

Maybe its just a problem in the M70 line. Try looking at other models as well, such as the M40/M50/M60.

 

I have to agree with you that the A70 screen is just amazing.

Before I got my current laptop, I had an A70 and I miss the clarity and viewing angles that the A70 screen provided me.