Guess it's back to ThinkPads. This will be my 3rd ThinkPad. I previously had a T42, and T60 before. I am interested in getting a T520, but finding one with a 1080p screen is a little pricey. I am thinking about getting one with the integrated graphics and then upgrade the screen myself.

First, do I need a dedicated card to run the FHD screen? Secondly, will the AU Optronics B156HW01 v3 work in the T520? I saw a previous thread that said it would work in the T510, but just wanted to make sure it will work in the T520?

Thanks for your help.

Intel's HD graphics can handle 1080p with no issues at all (assuming you don't have gaming in mind).

Yep. And even if you do have gaming in mind, the latest generation of Intel's GPUs are actually pretty darn capable, even compared to some of NVIDIA's mobile GPUs from a few years ago.

I thought about video editing and wasn't too sure if I needed a dedicated card to do so. I am a little leery of replacing the LCD, but I think I read it not too hard to do. Thanks for the help!

I have seen some laptops (Acer 5755-6699 is one that comes to mind) with i3-2330m and Intel HD 3000 that have WEI scores as high as 6.2 and 6.1 for graphics. I do not know if they were factory freaks or what, but it is amazing what Intel is getting out of those sandy bridge chips.

Yeah, it doesn't surprise me. SNB is a massive improvement to an already-strong GPU line. The 4500HD was (IMHO) the first decent integrated GPU that they put out, and it's just been getting better from there on.

Now they still haven't broken their (at this point long-standing) tradition of wacky errata for each new generation, nor have they gotten better about adding features to the hardware that the drivers are never able to actually use correctly... but at least they're making serious progress on the performance front.

If only they hadn't canned Larabee...

That sounds really high for intel video.....
My T410 with i5 - 540M @ 2.53Ghz(8 gig ram) with Intel HD graphics(HD5700) only has a WEI of 4.4(desktop) and 5.3(3D gaming).

That's one generation older than SNB.

No, really: SNB is a *serious* performance improvement.

That is better than my T410 with the 560M. It only gets a 4.3 and 5.3 when I am using Integrated only. Not every computer is the same, it is funny how that works.

5.7 (desktop) and 6.2 (gaming) on my i5-2540M T420 here.

The integrated graphics are very capable and a massive improvement over those in my previous T61. It's happily running dual screens with the a 20" 1600x1200 display and the laptop screen.