T42 Screen Choices

The SXGA+ display on the 15" T42 is the flexview display. I think it is beautiful, sharp and bright. The resolution of 1400x1050 is great, unless you really have poor eyesight I recommend you opt for the SXGA+ display, It's not the reflective type display like Sony's Xbrite but I'm not a fan of those displays.

Yes the Flexview SXGA+ is notiecably brighter than the XGA display. Flexview is a term IBM has applied to this particular display (like Sony did with Xbrite), it is a brighter and wider angle display.
Remember that only the 15" T42 uses the Flexview display, the 14" T42's SXGA+ display is not Flexview.

1. In terms of "sharpness," remember that a higher resolution first and foremost lets you fit more information on-screen, it is not inherently "sharper" than a lower-resolution screen. With SXGA+, websites will appear smaller than with XGA, the upside being you can fit more application windows on-screen. Some people complain that they have to squint to see text clearly on SXGA+ because it appears too small, but you quickly get used to it, and having more space to place things on-screen is an addictive quality.

Flexview is included on 15" T42s only. The 14" T42s have great screens, but none are flexview. AFAIK, you don't have a choice of whether you want flexview or not, you choose by deciding on whether you want 14" or 15".

It's not the ONLY advantage, but it is the biggest one. There are settings and utilities that let you expand a high-res display to show things as big as they would appear on a lower-res screen, and some are quite good. But while text is easily-scalable this way, graphics are not, and it's always a hassle trying to deal with these programs and settings. Also, regarding "sharpness", lower-res screens are not inherently "fuzzier" than high-res displays, but seeing more data packed into a smaller area has a certain density effect that impresses people.

In general, whenever anyone asks me what the difference is between XGA and SXGA+, usually XGA is just fine. XGA screens are also marginally (not very noticeably) lighter than SXGA+ or UXGA displays.

The exceptions are mainly as you mentioned: SXGA+ is usually brighter, and Flexview is brighter still, with a greater viewing angle. If you play games, one significant difference is that the XGA-equipped thinkpads come with less-powerful video cards than the SXGA and UXGA ones - again you'll only notice this if you try to play games or do any other 3d-intensive work.

Note that for the 15" t42, only the SXGA+ and UXGA screens are flexview - the XGA 15" T42 is NOT flexview.

At first pass, it sounds like you would be more than happy with a 14.1" T42. The smaller size is significantly lighter and lasts longer on batteries. I don't think you'll be missing much by going with XGA rather than SXGA+ either, but if you actually work with real programming or use large spreadsheets, that's where the SXGA+ will make a difference.

I've done everything on notebooks ranging from XGA to UXGA, and you learn to cope with whatever you have

You would only notice the brightness difference if the two machines were right side by side - the XGA display is not dim by any means, especially on AC power.

The SXGA+ screen will be fuzzy and poorly-aliased if you switch to XGA mode - that's one of drawbacks of LCDs - they don't look good outside of their native resolution.

Since it sounds like your excel/programming work will be limited/infrequent, I'd say save the money and go with XGA, sounds like you won't be missing much.

It won't be possible to switch video cards because IBM chose to solder the chip directly onto the mainboard of the laptop.

Jeff is correct, you can upgrade the CPU (which generally isn't worth it) but the video chip is soldered to the motherboard and cannot be removed.

Yes absolutely. I think a 64mb video card is the least you should get in anticipation of Longhorn. Just my 2 cents.

Chances are Longhorn won't be out until late 06 if at that, so that's probably 1.5-2 years away, realistically. But if Avalon is ported to XP, chances are it'll take some serious firepower - MS says DX9 compatibility is required, and I think MR9600 will be an absolute minimum for that.

Does that mean you need to worry about upgrading to Longhorn? I'm not so sure.

Display "modes"

Hey all, I'm hoping people with a t42p could help me out. I want to get the new 24" dell widescreen lcd display and use it is a secondary display. It requires a 1920x1200 resolution. Do any of your t42's support that output resolution?

I currently have a t40p and it does not appear to support it so I will upgrade but only if the newer models can use that display device...

Joe

1. You don't want to use the VGA port to drive a 19x12 display. It would look HORRIBLE. It looks horrible enough at 12x10. So you'll need to get a port replicator 2 or minidock with DVI.

2. The native IBM/ATI drivers only support 1280x1024 throught the DVI port. The hardware can do it, the software is just crippled. Someone recently posted that using recentCatalyst drivers, they were able to drive this very resolution from DVI. Others have claimed luck using the Omega drivers.

In short, you can do it, and it's not hard, but it'll cost money for the port replicator and you'll have to update your drivers.

Thanks for the info, I really, really appreciate. I will look into those other drivers...and make sure I get a port replicator with my new thinkpad so I can drive the external monitor with DVI...

Thanks again,

Joe