Mark, I researched this extensively a year ago before buying a laptop myself. My conclusion then was that no laptops with smaller than 17" screen has any of the higher quality panel types. That also included the offerings from Apple.
The IPS-based FlexView series of screens from IBM/Lenovo ended with the T60 model. After researching the available panel types of all the screen mfg.s I could find a website for, I believe there are probably no reputable makers of high-quality panels in small sizes anymore. It looks like they are all waiting for OLED to happen, and in the meanwhile compete over TN panels with the least power consumption rather than colour accuracy. Even in the >= 17" segment, I found only 4 laptops _claiming_ superior colour rendition; Dell precision 6400, Apple's 17" macbook, Lenovo's monster ThinkPad W700 (you'll need one heck of a lap to insist on it being a laptop), and HP EliteBook 8730w. I could find no in-depth information on the Apple, but the others appear to have PVA panels. Dell source their panels from different vendors all the time, and there are many reports of Dell screens with same model number but different panel types depending on availability at the moment of production. I found no direct reference to the Presicion 6400 in particular, though. I also found out that most glare-free laptop screens are actually glossy screens with a sheet of matting foil on top. My impression is that opting for a matte screen reduce reflections, but at the same time trade higher translucency for a smaller viewing angle. IOW, not really a good bargain. Anyway, things may have changed in the past year. From experience I strongly recommend you find one with LED backlighting whatever you do. LED has more even illumination towards the corners, does not require warm-up before colour rendition is stable, and consumes less power than do CCFL. However if you find you have to go with a CCFL based screen because of other model specifications, make sure you find one with at least two tubes to get decent brightness. The recent Lenovos like W400 for example, have rather weak illumination. Personally I ended up buying a Dell Precision 2400 (14" 1440x900px matted LED-lit screen) which is no more than half-decent when calibrated. But it has a weight and bulk I can live with. hth, Jostein 2010/2/4 Mark Roberts <m...@robertstech.com>: > Anyone know of any laptop computers with good (IPS/MVA/PVA) displays? > Particularly any reasonably sized ones? Last I heard there weren't any > high quality displays under 17" and I'd prefer something smaller than > that if possible. > > My current laptop just died. It's a total "nothing lights up" failure, > so I have a sneaking suspicion that it's something very basic and not > a prohibitively expensive fix. But if fate does bless me with an > expensive repair that justifies ditching it and buying a new computer, > I'd like to be prepared... > > -- > PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > PDML@pdml.net > http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net > to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow > the directions. > -- http://www.alunfoto.no/galleri/ http://alunfoto.blogspot.com -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
