Display
Powered by ATI's Mobility Radeon 9600, the 15.1" LCD SXGA screen has obvious flaws. I didn't want to start this section of the review on a low note, but there's no escaping what a disappointment the screen is. While focus is excellent, the display pin-sharp and using it with Windows XP's ClearType technology makes things gorgeous to look at, it's actually getting a good look at the screen that's the problem.
The brightness is all over the place, uneven over many patches of the display meaning that if you move your head to look at certain parts of the screen, other parts fall into comparative darkness. There's no position for looking at the screen that gets you excellent, even brightness over the whole screen area. Adjusting the panel brightness using the controls on the keyboard or using the MR9600 display driver doesn't help. You simply make the problem worse if you make it brighter, or you make the display too dark to use for any length of time.
Watching DVDs on the screen is poor, unless you're sat directly in front of the screen. Watching a film with a friend or two sat around, while on the train or out and about, is useless. The friends in your peripheral vision, to your left and right, won't get a good view of the display, not enough to enjoy it anyway.
Bah, it really drags your enjoyment of all that power down to 'I can't be arsed turning it on' levels. Absolutely key to getting good usage out of a portable computer is a good screen, so it beggars belief that Time were happy with their purchase of the shell and its display, for sale as such a prestige, range-topping product.
If it's a sample peculiarity I'll surely retract my words; it'll be interesting to see what Tarinder makes of the same screen on the Voodoo PC. But personally, with the sample loaned to me for testing, it's horrible.
Too reflective with uneven brightness, both making the other excellent parts of the display (its size, focus, clarity when you can actually see it) a royal pain in the arse.
