T61 screen brightness

[ushir]

Hey all,

I was playing around on the T61 on my campus book store today as I am interested in purchasing one. The bookstore has the 14inch widescreen model with the WXGA+ screen. Is it just me or is this display horribly dark? This notebook was next to a macbook, and when comparing the two it almost seems as if the thinkpad's backlight is broken or something. Do all you T61 owners out there find that the screen is really badly lit?

I cant see anyone using a laptop like this... I feel lucky that I didnt purhcase the laptop without seeing one in real life - how can Lenovo sell such a laptop? (Just so youll know, I did try to increase the brightness using the function key and the brightness-up key, but it was at the max)

Just incase there was something wrong with the notebook on display, do any of you out there find that it is really dim?

Thanks
Ushir

[singularity2006]

Most likely the brightness was turned down..... when plugged in, my T61 is actually too bright and is dimmed a bit... but if set to lowest, it can be quite dim - dim enough that it makes it difficult to do work. I doubt anything was physically wrong with that floor model.

[ushir]

Well yeah like I said, I thought it was the brightness setting too and I pressed the brightness-up button and it wouldnt go higher (and to verify that I was doing this correctly, i pressed the brightness-down button and the screen became dimmer).

So unless there was another setting somewhere on the laptop to deal with brightness, then i suspect either that the display is horribly bad or that the showroom model was farked.


Message Edited by ushir on 01-12-2008 06:47 AM

[carbon_unit]

I suspect that the showroom model was borked.

[badblood]

Did you try checking the 2d driver control panel settings? If the brightness and/or gamma level was turned way down there, no amount of FN+Brightness key will help.

[dizneeland]

I just received a T61 14.1 Widescreen + and am very pleased with the brightness.  Beats both home and work desktops.

[Bajpai]

I am pretty happy with brightness on my T-61. In fact I tend to use with brightness turned down to almost minimum levels.

[ushir]

Hey all and thanks so much for all your replies.

Okay, so I think perhaps my wording was poor here. I think instead of brightness, I should have maybe said colour reproduction. I went back to the bookstore today and played on the T61 there and tried my best to play with the Nvidia display settings - but I just couldnt get a very good setting. I find the colours on the screen to be very washed out and the screen is a bit dim. I couldnt help feel that compared to the macbook pro, this screen was awful. Im having a tough time here because other than the screen, I really like the laptop alot. Its the perfect size, the keyboard is awesome, its got a decent graphics card and the resolution is also pretty sweet. But then I look at the macbook pro and I see the wonderful screen, the camera, the awesome gfx card (256mb nvidia 8600 gt) - not to mention that the MBP has a 2.4ghz processor whilst the T61 being sold at the bookstore has a 2.0 ghz processor.

So heres what I like about each:

Macbook Pro:
Pros:
Better Processor - 2.4ghz
Better Screen - 300 nits
Weight is slightly lighter (5.4lbs)
Awesome Graphics Card - nvidia 8600GT
2 Operating Systems (OSX and Vista)

Cons:
A little larger than I would like
Dont like the keyboard and mouse (no right click)

Thinkpad T61
Pros:
Awesome keyboard
Perfect Size
Runs nice and cool
Rollcage
Hard drive bump detection

Cons:
Crappy display - 220 nits
Crappy processor - 2 ghz
Mediocre gfx card - NVS 140M
No camera

So at the moment, Im leaning slightly toward the MBP. Can someone post some pictures of their WXGA+? Im interested to see if the showroom model is farked... Because frankly, the screen is the deal breaker...


Message Edited by ushir on 01-14-2008 10:04 AM

[ushir]

Hey guys,

After much deliberation - I went and purchased a Macbook pro today - I am extremely pleased with it. Please dont be offended I was really on the fence with this one, and the awesome LCD really swayed me away from the thinkpad. Thanks again for all your help. Maybe when I start working in a couple months theyll give me a Thinkpad - haha , then that will truly be awesome

Cheers
Ushir

[RealBlackStuff]

Right-click an a Mac: here's how you can do it.