Laptop wish list; suggestions needed

[videobruce]

I'm looking into a new Laptop (Notebook, if you prefer) with the following 'wants'/preferences;

1. AMD based (preferably no Wintel),
2. Greater than 1366 x768,
3. Widest vertical viewing angle possible,
4. 15"-16" screen
5. Serial port
6. HDD size and memory not a issue,
7. CF card reader,
8. HDMI/DVI out (instead of VGA),
9. No Compaq, E-machines or Sony,
10. No web cam,
11. Preferably under $1,000

My biggest concern is vertical viewing angle since every laptop I have seen has had a very narrow vertical viewing angle. I also don't want/need a huge HDD or GB's of memory.

[danrok]

You can get something quite substantial for well under $1000.

For example:
http://www.aoaforums.com/frontpage/n...-notebook.html

[videobruce]

What are the common Laptop resolutions above **** x 768?

[danrok]

I think a 16:9 aspect is popular which can be...

1366 x 768 usually about 15"
1600 x 900 usually about 17"
1680 x 945 usually about 18"

[Aedan]

and 1920x1080...

[videobruce]

Isn't it 1440x900?

[Gizmo]

I seriously doubt you're going to get a good vertical viewing angle for under $1000.

Pretty much every laptop on the market today uses a display based on twisted-nematic technology. One of the drawbacks of such displays is the low viewing angle.

IBM/Lenovo used to offer an IPS display option for some of their laptops (T42, T60), but as far as I know they discontinued that. At this moment, I don't know of anyone who makes a laptop that uses anything other than a TN-based technology for their display.

The sad reality is that if you want/need good color rendering and/or wide viewing angle, you're probably going to have to go to an external monitor. Your best bet would be a display based on S-IPS technology, followed by PVA or MVA.

[videobruce]

That's what I was afraid of.

[videobruce]

Are any Laptops available with a PVA panel?

[danrok]

I don't think so. But, PVA is not so far ahead of the rest any more.

Apparently the best screens are found on the Dell Precision M6400 and the HP Elitebook 8730W. Which is an 8-bit WUXGA RGB LED display, with wide viewing angles.

[Gizmo]

There's some suggestions on the net that as recently as last year, the Lenovo X200T was available with a PVA display, so you might check into that.

Being as Lenovo used to the offer the T60 with an IPS display, maybe the best thing to do is just call Lenovo and say "Hey, can I get a laptop with a PVA or IPS screen?" and see what they say. If you'd rather go with Dell or Fujitsu, then call them up and pose the same question.

You've got nothing to lose but a little time, and you might accidentally get what you are looking for.