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Professional Photographer Rob Galbraith undertook the task of figuring out which notebook has the best screen for others of his trade, and according to his research the Dell Mini 9 finished the rigorous testing with the highest marks.
He considered three notebooks when making this decision: Apple’s MacBook Pro, the Dell Mini 9 and Lenovo’s W700. His point of reference was an Eizo ColorEdge CE240W, due to its in-plane switching LCD panel and even screen brightness.
While Lenovo’s W700 did come up near the top of the list thanks to its built-in pantone calibrator, the Dell Mini 9 took the top spot. That’s right, a $300 notebook has a display with better “overall huge accuracy” than the $2000 MacBook Pro, which apparently sports a display that is “one or two steps below a good desktop.”
Check out his full evaluation here.
Image Credit: Rob Galbraith
Comments are closed on this article
Zeroblizzard
January 29, 2009 at 12:36pm
“overall huge accuracy”
I think that this is supposed to be "overall hue accuracy".
Just trying to be a good anonymous editor.
big_montana
January 28, 2009 at 3:57pm
@Andy, did you read the same article that I did? It lists two Lenov laptops AHEAD of the Dell mini. The reviewer gushes over both Lenov laptops and the only negative about the W700 is it's size, as it is more of a desktop replacement than a portable. You need to re-read the review again. The order of finish:
Ordering the displays with an emphasis on colour accuracy, the list looks like this:
- Lenovo ThinkPad W700
- IBM/Lenovo ThinkPad T60
- Dell Inspiron Mini 9
- Apple late-2008 MacBook Pro 15 inch
Ordering the displays with an emphasis on viewing angle flexibility, the list becomes:
- IBM/Lenovo ThinkPad T60
- Lenovo ThinkPad W700
- Apple late-2008 MacBook Pro 15 inch
- Dell Inspiron Mini 9
Show me again where Dell is number one? The reviewers final comments below:
If you yearn for a laptop display that rises above acceptable, one whose colour accuracy matches a good desktop display, there's only one in this test: the ThinkPad W700. In fact, for us, it could just about replace a desktop display for colour critical work and even soft proofing for print in Photoshop (a task that lays bare any weirdnesses in a screen and its monitor profile).
Just about, but not quite: Practically any good 24 inch desktop monitor (that is, one with the same 1920 x 1200 pixel resolution) will eclipse the W700 in screen evenness and viewing angle flexibility, including the Eizo ColorEdge CE240W used as the reference monitor for this article. So, given the budget, a separate external monitor will still be desirable.
The fact that the W700's screen can even be discussed as a possible desktop screen replacement, though, is a testament to what Lenovo has achieved. On balance, it's the best laptop display we've ever seen, rivaled only by the ThinkPad T60 and its 1400 x 1050 pixel FlexView display from a couple of years ago.
Coming up the middle is the Dell Inspiron Mini 9, the laptop whose price tag should mean it can't compete on screen quality, but somehow does. For those who can accept that its usable viewing angle is quite narrow, it rewards with surprisingly good colour accuracy.
whitneymr
January 28, 2009 at 1:47pm
Read this yesterday on Ron's site. Now I want to see a comparision between the Lenovo and a Sony AW with a HD display.
