Study of X60 Display Dimensions

Like a few other people on this forum I'm a little uncertain how to make a decision about the SXGA (high resolution) and XGA Multitouch (lower-resolution, stylus and finger-driven) displays. One of my main concerns is regarding the balance of screen real estate and text legibility.

To help myself understand and visualize these matters, I spent some time today and put together a gallery of pseudo-screenshots that attempt to represent the two display options in a variety of situations. I've posted this informal study to the web and welcome anyone interested to take a look. Hopefully it will help you, too.

Click here to visit my "Lenovo Thinkpad X60 Displays" study.

Feedback and comments are more than welcome!

 

Hey, thanks for doing this. I had pretty much decided on ordering a multi-touch display, but your comparison helped me confirm my choice.

BTW, what application did you open the PDF file with?

 

Hey, thanks for the work that went into putting this together. I think the pictures give you a sense of how much more realestate you've have, but it doesn't really give you a sense of the size of text you'll be seeing in front of you, but thanks for the help.

 

That's Adobe Acrobat 8 Pro.

Thanks for the feedback. I'm glad the images helped confirm your decision -- now if I could just make mine!

 

I couldn't agree with you more, and that was bugging me. I updated the page with a zip file containing my original Photoshop documents. If you print off the layers in these documents you end up with images that are pretty much the precise size of the X60's screen. The contents are then much more meaningful and do a better job of representing the visual differences between the two displays.

You can click here, too, to download the PSDs.

 

I can't help you there . I really wanted the touch screen capability, so that's what tipped the scales for me. I use a 20" widescreen monitor at work, and I almost always have two windows open side-by-side in vertical format. I calculated that 1/2 the screen is about 1050x800, which is pretty darn close to 1024x768, so at least in tablet mode I know feel comfortable working at that resolution.

 

What's the draw of the touchscreen for you, and what about it made you decide to go that route? Have you had a chance to try one and, if you have, what's it like?

Also, are you going to wait until Lenovo starts pre-installing Vista on the X60s or are you going to buy a unit with XP?

 

The draw for the touch screen is that I think it will be easier to navagate in tablet mode rather than picking up the pen every time I need to do something. I played around with an HP desktop at a store with a touchscreen last week and really liked it. I also have wrist pain when I mouse a lot, and so I think the touch screen will be a big plus if I'm just web surfing or navagating around without needing the stylus.

I ordered it with Vista preinstalled and called to verify, that yes -- it will be preinstalled when it ships.

 

Thanks for the comments. I'm leaning towards a touch screen for that versatility, as well. Like you, I think it'll outweight the question of screen real estate.

Sigh. As soon as they start pre-installing Vista on these things for the Canadian market I'll get in line. Please report back when you receive yours to let us know how you like it.

 

Will do. It's not scheduled to ship until 3/26, however.