16 ms·

I can’t even bear to look at a low DPI screen for more than a few minutes. Anything under 150dpi just looks so awful to me at this point. Basically ruins all ol

I can’t even bear to look at a low DPI screen for more than a few minutes. Anything under 150dpi just looks so awful to me at this point. Basically ruins all older laptops from my perspective.

nvy 3y ago
I have one of the lcdfans modded Thinkpads. It's a "T70"—a T60 with an i7, 16GB of memory, the old style keyboard, a giant SSD, and, importantly, a high DPI display. It's an awesome machine but it might as well be a desktop because it's so bulky and heavy that I never take it anywhere. I travel with my M2 Mac but that Thinkpad sure is a sleeper.
jwells89 3y ago
Normal “low” DPI screens I can deal with, but the panels that used to be built into many ThinkPads until pretty recently are some of the worst screens I’ve ever used… washed out, terrible viewing angles, mediocre brightness. I have an old Dell workstation laptop and 15” MBP both manufactured around 2008, with 1920x1200 and 1440x900 panels respectively and they’re both much nicer to use than what you find in a lot of T-series Thinkpads, so it’s not even an age thing… Lenovo just used bargain basement panels.
- BenFranklin100 3y ago
  Agree. I’m not sure the exact years, but starting around 2013 the T series screens were awful.
  - opan 3y ago
    Starting with the *40 gen they changed from LVDS to eDP screens and got access to better screens. This was the start of 1080p being available at 14" where it was only in 15" models before. There's a panel from one of the Razer Blade laptops that was popular to put in the ThinkPad T440p. 1080p IPS. Looks nice. On the older models you can also do a mod to sacrifice your DP port for use internally with an eDP panel. There's one for the X220 to do that. Although if you're okay with 1366x768, the X220 Tablet models all have IPS panels from the factory and don't look too bad.
    - krusli 3y ago
      I did the 1080p mod on both my T420 (AliExpress PCB) and X220 (nitrocaster mod). The X220/X230 mod uses the docking port's DisplayPort lanes, instead of the DisplayPort port. I'm still able to use the DisplayPort port on the X220. The T420/T430 converter doesn't use DisplayPort, but simply converts LVDS to eDP. I used the B140HAN01.3 (AUO panel) for my T420, which my friend also got for a T440p. Colors and viewing angles are great on it, likely the Razer Blade panel you mentioned. The X220 mod was a pain to install IMO - soldering to tiny solder points on the motherboard, soldering the sense wire which needed burning off the enamel from the enameled wire, and having to cut out (I used flush cutters) parts of the top case for the new display to fit. My first install wasn't great either, with a cold joint causing issues I solved later on by reflowing the joints. The AUO 14" panel has better color gamut (IIRC 100% sRGB coverage) than the available 12.5" panels for the mod.
sufehmi 3y ago
Low screen resolution is the showstopper - nowadays everything will look weird, and unusable, in a 1366x768 screen. It still looks good & comfortable to my eyes ; however all kinds of software just become unusable at that resolution. Which is quite disapponting.
pmontra 3y ago
A friend of mine works with his laptop connected to some 40+ inches 1080p monitor or probably just a TV screen, I never checked. "But you can see the pixels", I told him. "No, I don't because I have such a bad eyesight", he replied to me.
- walteweiss 3y ago
  Basically me. I spend a lot of time with an old MacBook Pro 13” with non-retina 1280*800 screen, and I see no pixels and see very little actual difference with my workflow, while comparing to my other retina 13” MacBook Pro. Just watching videos is very different, all other tasks are the same to my eyes.
tonyedgecombe 3y ago
Yes. In some ways I wish I had never seen a Retina display. There is no going back now.
- walteweiss 3y ago
  I felt the same before my eyesight went worse at some point :)

I can’t even bear to look at a low DPI screen for more than a few minutes. Anything under 150dpi just looks so awful to me at this point. Basically ruins all older laptops from my perspective.

nvy 3y ago

I have one of the lcdfans modded Thinkpads. It's a "T70"—a T60 with an i7, 16GB of memory, the old style keyboard, a giant SSD, and, importantly, a high DPI display. It's an awesome machine but it might as well be a desktop because it's so bulky and heavy that I never take it anywhere. I travel with my M2 Mac but that Thinkpad sure is a sleeper.

jwells89 3y ago

Normal “low” DPI screens I can deal with, but the panels that used to be built into many ThinkPads until pretty recently are some of the worst screens I’ve ever used… washed out, terrible viewing angles, mediocre brightness. I have an old Dell workstation laptop and 15” MBP both manufactured around 2008, with 1920x1200 and 1440x900 panels respectively and they’re both much nicer to use than what you find in a lot of T-series Thinkpads, so it’s not even an age thing… Lenovo just used bargain basement panels.

BenFranklin100 3y ago
Agree. I’m not sure the exact years, but starting around 2013 the T series screens were awful.
- opan 3y ago
  Starting with the *40 gen they changed from LVDS to eDP screens and got access to better screens. This was the start of 1080p being available at 14" where it was only in 15" models before. There's a panel from one of the Razer Blade laptops that was popular to put in the ThinkPad T440p. 1080p IPS. Looks nice. On the older models you can also do a mod to sacrifice your DP port for use internally with an eDP panel. There's one for the X220 to do that. Although if you're okay with 1366x768, the X220 Tablet models all have IPS panels from the factory and don't look too bad.
  - krusli 3y ago
    I did the 1080p mod on both my T420 (AliExpress PCB) and X220 (nitrocaster mod). The X220/X230 mod uses the docking port's DisplayPort lanes, instead of the DisplayPort port. I'm still able to use the DisplayPort port on the X220. The T420/T430 converter doesn't use DisplayPort, but simply converts LVDS to eDP. I used the B140HAN01.3 (AUO panel) for my T420, which my friend also got for a T440p. Colors and viewing angles are great on it, likely the Razer Blade panel you mentioned. The X220 mod was a pain to install IMO - soldering to tiny solder points on the motherboard, soldering the sense wire which needed burning off the enamel from the enameled wire, and having to cut out (I used flush cutters) parts of the top case for the new display to fit. My first install wasn't great either, with a cold joint causing issues I solved later on by reflowing the joints. The AUO 14" panel has better color gamut (IIRC 100% sRGB coverage) than the available 12.5" panels for the mod.

sufehmi 3y ago

Low screen resolution is the showstopper - nowadays everything will look weird, and unusable, in a 1366x768 screen. It still looks good & comfortable to my eyes ; however all kinds of software just become unusable at that resolution. Which is quite disapponting.

pmontra 3y ago

A friend of mine works with his laptop connected to some 40+ inches 1080p monitor or probably just a TV screen, I never checked. "But you can see the pixels", I told him. "No, I don't because I have such a bad eyesight", he replied to me.

walteweiss 3y ago
Basically me. I spend a lot of time with an old MacBook Pro 13” with non-retina 1280*800 screen, and I see no pixels and see very little actual difference with my workflow, while comparing to my other retina 13” MacBook Pro. Just watching videos is very different, all other tasks are the same to my eyes.

tonyedgecombe 3y ago

Yes. In some ways I wish I had never seen a Retina display. There is no going back now.

walteweiss 3y ago
I felt the same before my eyesight went worse at some point :)