IBM Thinkpad...widescreen in the future?

[ceo2b]

The way people rave about the performance of the Thinkpad, will IBM ever consider beefing up the resolution and putting in a better graphics card? For their prices, I just cannot fathom why they have no upgraded some of the options.

 

[ceo2b]

R50p, that is an expensive machine! Any thoughts on performance?

 

[Baronz]

IMO widescreens on laptops are a waste and have no point besides watching movies. IBM has always been aimed at the business-ish market, they don't usually have any frills, what you're paying for is the quality.

 

[Firus]

Originally posted by: Baronz
IBM has always been aimed at the business-ish market, they don't usually have any frills, what you're paying for is the quality.

That is exactly what I was thinking, most people who buy IBM's are not buying them to watch movies or play games on a 'cool' screen. Keep in mind it is 'International Business Machines afterall. Also keep in mind I said most people, so they are just making the machines that will please the most people. I do think though that a widescreen thinkpad would be cool, but the people that would agree would be the minority of IBM's market.

...if that makes any sense

 

[ceo2b]

After my original post, I saw they did have some models with the UXGA, which is a decent size resoultion for a 15"; the difference between a 15" and 15.4 is likely neglibile to most. The R50p is great just so freaking expensive. It would be a lot cheaper to by the DVD-R on the market and downgrade the customized option.

I have heard a great deal about IBM's build quality on laptops and that kind of spark the question in the first place. I see on the workstation they have the 128MB ATI Mobility FIREGL T2. How is it performance levels say compared to the Nvidia Qaudro FX 700 (thats in the Dell M60)?

 

[Firus]

UXGA is not a 'widescreen' screen. It is a wide viewing angle screen...It is what my Eurocom D500p has, 15" UXGA wide angle display. It's just a normal 15" but much clearer and more vibrant from all angles, especially from the sides as compared to SXGA+ screens

 

[TazExprez]

UXGA is actually just a resolution specification, along with SXGA, XGA, etc. Any screen that has a resolution of 1600x1200 is classified as a UXGA screen, whether it has wide viewing angles or not. Many UXGA screens have very wide viewing angles in order to make them more attractive to potential customers. Different companies have different names for their wide viewable angle screens. Dell calls their wide angle screens, UltraSharp screens, while IBM calls them FlexView screens. Other companies simply just state that their screens have wide viewing angles.

 

[TazExprez]

Btw, if companies really wanted to, they could make XGA screens, and even screens with lower resolutions, wide angle viewable. They probably won't do it because they could probably make more money trying to sell you a screen with a higher resolution and larger viewing angle.

 

[IgoByte]

The thinkpads are geared toward people who need to carry them. A widescreen WUXGA screen @ 1920x1200 would be nice on the T40, for instance, because it would increase productivity, but it would make the notebook significantly wider and heavier as well. A better video chip wouldn't hurt, though, but it would affect power consumption, I'm sure. Quite honestly, the way I use my T40, I prefer battery life over a gaming video card. I game on my desktop anyway.

 

[IgoByte]

Originally posted by: Firus
UXGA is not a 'widescreen' screen. It is a wide viewing angle screen...It is what my Eurocom D500p has, 15" UXGA wide angle display. It's just a normal 15" but much clearer and more vibrant from all angles, especially from the sides as compared to SXGA+ screens

UXGA does not mean wide viewing angle. It's also not a wide-aspect screen. UXGA (1600x1200) referes solely to the screen's resolution, just like XGA (1024x768) or SXGA+ (1400x1050).
WUXGA (1920x1200) has the same amount of pixels vertically as UXGA, but has an additional 320 pixels horizontally, making it a wide-aspect resolution. Also, there are no 15" WUXGA screens available on current notebooks. A WUXGA screen would be something like 15.4", for instance. Even Apple, with their 1280x854 resolution 15" PowerBook, uses a 15.2" screen.

A wide viewing angle is something different altogether.

 

[ceo2b]

I never was trying to imply that UXGA was considered or viewable wide-screen option. I merely stated that I realized that the Thinkpad's came in the UXGA option and speaking of the resolution difference between a UXGA and WSXGA. So maybe I was misinterrupted.

 

[IgoByte]

Originally posted by: ceo2b
I never was trying to imply that UXGA was considered or viewable wide-screen option. I merely stated that I realized that the Thinkpad's came in the UXGA option and speaking of the resolution difference between a UXGA and WSXGA. So maybe I was misinterrupted.

Misinterrupted? I wonder why... :Q

 

[UltraWide]

give the poor bird a break guys.
anyway, I think that the G series is aimed as a desktop replacement, so in the future that would be the line to look for widescreen IF they ever decide to migrate to wide LCDs.

 

[ceo2b]

My original post never stated that the UXGA was wide. I even made the distinction in the second sentence.

Originally posted by: ceo2b
After my original post, I saw they did have some models with the UXGA, which is a decent size resoultion for a 15"; the difference between a 15" and 15.4 is likely neglibile to most.

Ultrawide, you are probably right about the G series being most likely to get the w-screen option. I guess with anything in life, you have to give up one thing for another and you definitely comprise weight and battery life on the G series as opposted to the R50p. UXGA should be a high enough resolution to view two windows side by side.

 

[IgoByte]

Originally posted by: UltraWide
give the poor bird a break guys.

I don't believe that anyone was attacking him. As a matter of fact, I too think that IBM should raise the resolution and put better graphics chips into their notebooks, but they're already doing that in some of them and it's not feasible in the X and T series notebooks.

 

[oaaltone]

Why is a widescreen display only suited for entertainment purposes? Some of the first wide-screen monitors were created for use in business environments because of the workspace it offers. In fact, if I remember correctly, the same reason was used to market dual-monitors. More workspace!

I believe in the future every computer will have widescreen monitors... they're so much more efficient.

 

[starwarsdad]

I would love to have a widescreen display for coding. I had the option of getting a new T30 from my employer, but stayed with and A22 just for the 15" 1600x1200 display.