7 ms·

More configurability? Great. When can I order one with a screen that isn't some low-res 16:9 TN monstrosity?

by Zak 14y ago

muhfuhkuh 14y ago
When people stop buying cheap bric-a-brac with just-enough-for-youtube-480p integrated graphics from HP and Dell for 499.
- qdog 14y ago
  Last time I bought the cheapest dell laptop with a discrete card it was maybe $600, now it appears to be $719. That's only on the 'small business' more brick-like ones, though. The 'consumer' ones don't even offer discrete, but hey you can get Skull Candy[TM] speakers for an up charge! Even the cheapest comes with a dual core processor, though, so you can share your memory among 2 cores and an integrated graphics engine. Progress it ain't.
  - dman 14y ago
    Joe Q Public had been subsidizing performance for quite some time. I think that era is ending because most of Joe's use cases can now be met with a ~1.5 Ghz arm tablet. I think the high end of the market is going to become more expensive unless a use case emerges where everyone wants that performance. Intels been hard at work trying to invent such a use case, but so far theres been little to show for it. Making games more realistic is one reasonable use case but those efforts have recently been stymied by content creation costs.
  - gareim 14y ago
    If people shopped smarter, they could find laptops with discrete graphics for significantly cheaper. After the deal I found, I'm paying about $420 for a system that comes with an i5 Ivy Bridge, 6gb RAM, NVidia 630M... And it came with a free bookbag to boot.
- streptomycin 14y ago
  Integrated graphics aren't bad these days.
- zem 14y ago
  my previous (bought in 2005) laptop was a dell inspiron 1440 that had a 1400x900 screen. when i replaced it (in 2009) the best i could do for a similar price and cpu performance was an inspiron 15 that had a 1366x768 resolution. it's not a matter of people being cheap, screen resolutions really have retrogressed.
  - rsynnott 14y ago
    I think a lot of manufacturers took the shift to 16:9 as an excuse to sneakily reduce resolutions.
    - Zak 14y ago
      At the low-end, I think they've actually been going up on laptops: 1024x768 -> 1280x768 -> 1366x768 but the trend reverses at the high-end: 2048x1536 -> 1920x1200 -> 1920x1080 Apple's 2880x1800 display is an exception, but so far the rest of the industry doesn't seem to be trying to imitate it.
- viraptor 14y ago
  And what's so wrong about them? I bought those when I was a student and I was pretty happy with the result. They're very reasonable quality and they're definitely enough for any work that doesn't require 3d, or heavy virtualisation. They're also very likely to be supported by linux - a long time has passed since that hardware became available.
mbrubeck 14y ago
The Lenovo ThinkPad x230 is available with a good quality IPS display (though still widescreen and low-resolution). I own an x220 with the same IPS display, and I'm very happy with it.
- pearle 14y ago
  Likewise. I also own a X1 and the X220 screen is far better.
- dgudkov 14y ago
  Yes, but 12" is too small for dev work and it's still not possible to order T430 or T530 with IPS display.
  - tammer 14y ago
    Why not have it drive one of these[1] on your desk and use the smaller size to its more portable advantages? [1] http://www.engadget.com/2012/10/02/viewsonics-vx70smh-led-ips-monitors/ http://www.engadget.com/2012/10/02/viewsonics-vx70smh-led-ip...
    - deleted 14y ago
      [deleted]
    - deleted 14y ago
      [deleted]
  - jim_h 14y ago
    I have my X61t, with 1400x1050 res 12" display, hooked up to my HP IPS 24" 1920x1200 res display. It's a good combo for portable (yet usable res for real work) and then even better when it's docked at home.
  - sandfox 14y ago
    12" too small...? There is a small amy of developers running off 11" MBAs out there. I guess usability depends on what IDE etc you are using though. EDIT-- It probably helps that the MBA has a higher pixel density screen and resolution.
JL2010 14y ago
This plus their tried-and-true keyboards. I'm not sure if I like where the new keyboards are headed, I never thought I'd see the day where a T-series would have a chiclet keyboard! Real keyboard + 16:10 hi-res, high quality display and real thinkpad (IBM era) build quality and I would be willing to pay north of $1500
- Scramblejams 14y ago
  Am I the only one who misses 4:3? I pull out my old T42 from time to time and it's so relaxing to code on such a screen ratio.
  - listic 14y ago
    I miss 4:3 on X60s/X61s because it was so much smaller. I like how widescreen makes keyboard bigger though; I just wish for more portable laptop, more like Air but still user-configurable.
  - eckyptang 14y ago
    Agreed ten times over. I've been trying to grab a 4:3 (1400x1050) T61 for a while off ebay as they're cheap and upgradeable to a reasonable spec. Unfortunately I can't seem to find one :(
    - Zak 14y ago
      They weren't hard to come by about half a year ago when I bought one. It came without a battery or AC adapter. I paid $256. Edit - I just checked eBay and searched for "T61p". I found: * A 4:3 T61p with an incorrect description for $500. That seems high. * A 4:3 T61p missing its palmrest and other parts, auction only. * A T61p in a T60 chassis with a QXGA panel, SSD and other upgrades for $1300. That sounds high unless you've tried to find a QXGA panel; they're over $400.
    - JL2010 14y ago
      Did you guys miss this one? http://www.ebay.com/itm/Lenovo-ThinkPad-T61-8892-02U-14-1-1400x1050-2-2GHz-Nvidia-140M-3GB-RAM-NO-HDD-/190731259043?pt=Laptops_Nov05&hash=item2c68780ca3 http://www.ebay.com/itm/Lenovo-ThinkPad-T61-8892-02U-14-1-14... 1400x1050 14.1" !
CountHackulus 14y ago
Right now? I'm using a Lenovo laptop that has a 1920x1200 15" screen. It's great.
- JL2010 14y ago
  T61p?
  - CountHackulus 14y ago
    Yup, love it.

More configurability? Great. When can I order one with a screen that isn't some low-res 16:9 TN monstrosity?

by Zak 14y ago

More configurability? Great. When can I order one with a screen that isn't some low-res 16:9 TN monstrosity?

When people stop buying cheap bric-a-brac with just-enough-for-youtube-480p integrated graphics from HP and Dell for 499.

qdog 14y ago
Last time I bought the cheapest dell laptop with a discrete card it was maybe $600, now it appears to be $719. That's only on the 'small business' more brick-like ones, though. The 'consumer' ones don't even offer discrete, but hey you can get Skull Candy[TM] speakers for an up charge! Even the cheapest comes with a dual core processor, though, so you can share your memory among 2 cores and an integrated graphics engine. Progress it ain't.
- dman 14y ago
  Joe Q Public had been subsidizing performance for quite some time. I think that era is ending because most of Joe's use cases can now be met with a ~1.5 Ghz arm tablet. I think the high end of the market is going to become more expensive unless a use case emerges where everyone wants that performance. Intels been hard at work trying to invent such a use case, but so far theres been little to show for it. Making games more realistic is one reasonable use case but those efforts have recently been stymied by content creation costs.
- gareim 14y ago
  If people shopped smarter, they could find laptops with discrete graphics for significantly cheaper. After the deal I found, I'm paying about $420 for a system that comes with an i5 Ivy Bridge, 6gb RAM, NVidia 630M... And it came with a free bookbag to boot.
streptomycin 14y ago
Integrated graphics aren't bad these days.
zem 14y ago
my previous (bought in 2005) laptop was a dell inspiron 1440 that had a 1400x900 screen. when i replaced it (in 2009) the best i could do for a similar price and cpu performance was an inspiron 15 that had a 1366x768 resolution. it's not a matter of people being cheap, screen resolutions really have retrogressed.
- rsynnott 14y ago
  I think a lot of manufacturers took the shift to 16:9 as an excuse to sneakily reduce resolutions.
  - Zak 14y ago
    At the low-end, I think they've actually been going up on laptops: 1024x768 -> 1280x768 -> 1366x768 but the trend reverses at the high-end: 2048x1536 -> 1920x1200 -> 1920x1080 Apple's 2880x1800 display is an exception, but so far the rest of the industry doesn't seem to be trying to imitate it.
viraptor 14y ago
And what's so wrong about them? I bought those when I was a student and I was pretty happy with the result. They're very reasonable quality and they're definitely enough for any work that doesn't require 3d, or heavy virtualisation. They're also very likely to be supported by linux - a long time has passed since that hardware became available.

mbrubeck 14y ago

The Lenovo ThinkPad x230 is available with a good quality IPS display (though still widescreen and low-resolution). I own an x220 with the same IPS display, and I'm very happy with it.

pearle 14y ago
Likewise. I also own a X1 and the X220 screen is far better.
dgudkov 14y ago
Yes, but 12" is too small for dev work and it's still not possible to order T430 or T530 with IPS display.
- tammer 14y ago
  Why not have it drive one of these[1] on your desk and use the smaller size to its more portable advantages? [1] http://www.engadget.com/2012/10/02/viewsonics-vx70smh-led-ips-monitors/ http://www.engadget.com/2012/10/02/viewsonics-vx70smh-led-ip...
  - deleted 14y ago
    [deleted]
  - deleted 14y ago
    [deleted]
- jim_h 14y ago
  I have my X61t, with 1400x1050 res 12" display, hooked up to my HP IPS 24" 1920x1200 res display. It's a good combo for portable (yet usable res for real work) and then even better when it's docked at home.
- sandfox 14y ago
  12" too small...? There is a small amy of developers running off 11" MBAs out there. I guess usability depends on what IDE etc you are using though. EDIT-- It probably helps that the MBA has a higher pixel density screen and resolution.

JL2010 14y ago

This plus their tried-and-true keyboards. I'm not sure if I like where the new keyboards are headed, I never thought I'd see the day where a T-series would have a chiclet keyboard! Real keyboard + 16:10 hi-res, high quality display and real thinkpad (IBM era) build quality and I would be willing to pay north of $1500

Scramblejams 14y ago
Am I the only one who misses 4:3? I pull out my old T42 from time to time and it's so relaxing to code on such a screen ratio.
- listic 14y ago
  I miss 4:3 on X60s/X61s because it was so much smaller. I like how widescreen makes keyboard bigger though; I just wish for more portable laptop, more like Air but still user-configurable.
- eckyptang 14y ago
  Agreed ten times over. I've been trying to grab a 4:3 (1400x1050) T61 for a while off ebay as they're cheap and upgradeable to a reasonable spec. Unfortunately I can't seem to find one :(
  - Zak 14y ago
    They weren't hard to come by about half a year ago when I bought one. It came without a battery or AC adapter. I paid $256. Edit - I just checked eBay and searched for "T61p". I found: * A 4:3 T61p with an incorrect description for $500. That seems high. * A 4:3 T61p missing its palmrest and other parts, auction only. * A T61p in a T60 chassis with a QXGA panel, SSD and other upgrades for $1300. That sounds high unless you've tried to find a QXGA panel; they're over $400.
  - JL2010 14y ago
    Did you guys miss this one? http://www.ebay.com/itm/Lenovo-ThinkPad-T61-8892-02U-14-1-1400x1050-2-2GHz-Nvidia-140M-3GB-RAM-NO-HDD-/190731259043?pt=Laptops_Nov05&hash=item2c68780ca3 http://www.ebay.com/itm/Lenovo-ThinkPad-T61-8892-02U-14-1-14... 1400x1050 14.1" !

CountHackulus 14y ago

Right now? I'm using a Lenovo laptop that has a 1920x1200 15" screen. It's great.

JL2010 14y ago
T61p?
- CountHackulus 14y ago
  Yup, love it.