HD displays in laptops - any experience?

[Rory]

Anyone here moved to a 16x9 HD (generally 1366 x 768) or HD+ (1600 x900) in a laptop?

I have to change my ThinkPad T61 and find the 4x3 1024x768 just fine - anything smaller I struggle to read.

I'm concerned that the lack of height of the 16x9 displays will be a pain and if I have to run them in a non-native resolution and/or change the font size, that they'll look terrible.

After 2 faultless ThinkPads, I really want another one, but wonder if the display is a real issue?

 

[wemorgan]

My current 15.6" laptop is 1920x1080, were as my previous one was 1280x800.

The screen is quite wide which means quite a bit of white screen when reading web pages, but on the other side of the coin it makes spreadsheets and other work applications very user friendly.

To improve the amount of vertical user space I moved the Windows Toolbar to left.

 

[Rory]

Thanks - I should have said this would be a 14" screen. Even that in a widescreen format increases the width of the laptop by an inch. Going to 15.6" means the machine would be another 2" wide - in total 25% wider than my current laptop.

 

[wemorgan]

Are there are specific applications you're concerned about, or is it simply the size and amount of text on the screen you're thinking of?

 

[Rory]

Just the size of the text in Outlook etc.

 

[gaz_l]

If it's a new laptop I presume it'll come with Windows 7 so it will have the screen zoom feature built in. No need to change the native resolution.. resizes the fonts on the fly.

Cheers,

Gaz

 

[Sp!ke]

1366 x 768 is a horrible resolution imho, normally found on the smaller 12" laptops. This is made especially painful if one spends much time in remote consoles where rather often this resolution will not run natively on the host.

1680 x 1050 is my current laptop resolution and it is fine although if you've poor eyesight you might not want to go much over 1280 but since most if not all LCD panels are now widescreen format you might struggle to find what you are after.

You sure your T61 is 1024? I would have thought it is a bit higher than that as it is only a 3 or 4 year old machine. Still fast too, especially if you slap Win7 on it. Do you really need a new lappy?

 

[Beetnik]

1920 x1080 here on a 15.6 inch screen. Fine - no problem.

 

[Rory]

If it's a new laptop I presume it'll come with Windows 7 so it will have the screen zoom feature built in. No need to change the native resolution.. resizes the fonts on the fly.

Yes, it will be new - do resized fonts look OK with W7?

In the past, running at anything other than native resolution and font size looked awful.

I'm considering Lenovo's T420 or possibly HP's Elitebook 8460p - they're both brand-new out and both use the same 1366 x 768 HD display.

Although I did wonder if, if resizing works OK on W7, I might be better going for the 1600 x 900 HD+ display available on the T420? My thinking is that resizing would look better if starting wiht a higher res screen.

 

[grober]

This is a good review article on display resolution Display resolution - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Its interesting to read the figures for favoured resolutions towards the end! The NEW WSXGA+ Widescreen Super eXtended Graphics Array Plus at 8:5(16:10) aspect ratio 1680 x1050 pp 0.282 mm on a 22" screen with popularity of 18.23% seems to have taken over from SXGA Super eXtended Graphics Array at 5:4 aspect ratio 1280 x1024 19.10%
One thing to consider is pixel pitch [pp] which is slightly smaller in the 16:9 ratio HD screens on a similar size screen pp 0.247mm on a 21.5" screen - more pixels to cram in?? This will make a difference to reading text but if you want to watch HD movies then 16.9 is your ratio. While not strictly laptop size the same principles would apply.

 

[Rory]

...but if you want to watch HD movies then 16.9 is your ratio. While not strictly laptop size the same principles would apply.

I really don't know why makers of business class laptops would put HD format screens on them. There's a blog from someone at Lenovo who is almost apologising for doing it, but he doesn't explain why they did.

 

[Dryce]

I really don't know why makers of business class laptops would put HD format screens on them. There's a blog from someone at Lenovo who is almost apologising for doing it, but he doesn't explain why they did.

Economy of scale. Once consumers went for the 16:9 format en-masse the business laptops are forced to follow. Just like with the change to glossy screens a few toughed it out but capitulation was inevitable.

The 15.6" widescreen format also allows a laptop to comfortably fit a keyboard with a separate numeric pad.

The format has also completely taken over on large screens. We see more companies using large flat screens instead of projectors now for meeting rooms.

 

[Rory]

Just like with the change to glossy screens a few toughed it out but capitulation was inevitable.

The two I'm looking at are both matt screens.

 

[scillyisles]

Most new business laptops have gone down the widescreen route due to panel manufacturers shifting production to this format and dropping the old 4:3 format. I am typing this post on my T61p which has the full 1920x1200 resolution and it works fine. My newer W510 with 1920 x1080 does mean you lose some screen format which does have some impact on document and web browsing.

 

[Sp!ke]

I'm considering Lenovo's T420 or possibly HP's Elitebook 8460p - they're both brand-new out and both use the same 1366 x 768 HD display.

Both of those machines are very expensive compared to what you can buy on the high street.

I buy loads of Thinkpads and Elitebooks for work. The Thinkpads have the edge from my experience but outside of an enterprise where component commonality is key, I'm not sure I'd spend my own money on such an expensive box when for the same outlay I could buy an equivalent Asus laptop plus a tablet and a netbook for good measure - or looking at it another way, I could afford to upgrade each year instead of every 3.

 

[Spinal]

Actually, slightly OT... regarding glossy screens... a few years ago, I remember reading a health & safety manual at work that mandated employers would supply employees with means of reducing glare from glossy screens...

How does this align with the new fad of glossy-screened laptops?

M.

 

[scillyisles]

The two I'm looking at are both matt screens.

Just as an aside my T61p is just over three years old - I bought a new W510 to replace it but in the meantime upgraded the T61p to Win7 x 64 and upped the memory size to 4gb and changed the hard drisk to 320gb from 200gb - the T61p is like a new machine and scores not far short of the W510 on the Windows experience level at 5.7 whereas the W510 is 5.9. I have been amazed at how fast Win 7 is on older systems so much so that I have upgraded all my Thinkpads to Win 7.

 

[Rory]

Just as an aside my T61p...

That's interesting - my original T43 is still going strong (touch wood) at 6yrs old and my current T61 (not the P version) is OK, although the screen is going pink which I gather probably means the inverter is on its way out. I'll change it when I get a new machine.

 

[Rory]

Both of those machines are very expensive compared to what you can buy on the high street.

I buy loads of Thinkpads and Elitebooks for work. The Thinkpads have the edge from my experience but outside of an enterprise where component commonality is key, I'm not sure I'd spend my own money on such an expensive box when for the same outlay I could buy an equivalent Asus laptop plus a tablet and a netbook for good measure - or looking at it another way, I could afford to upgrade each year instead of every 3.

Thanks for that. It is a business machine and I can put the cost through the company but as it's my company it's still like spending my own money!

I get them with a 3yr onsite warranty and change them when the warranty runs out.

I do want a "proper" business laptop - it's got to unfailingly do its job and it has to look the part too. The gutting thing about ThinkPad prices is that I know they're available to large organisations at way lower prices than they are to other people.

 

[Sp!ke]

How does this align with the new fad of glossy-screened laptops?

M.

Corporate laptops do not have glossy screens from any of the major vendors.