It'd not as bad as it sounds in practice. The screen is also 12.5 inches so pixel density is ok, and if you break lines at the 80 columns mark in your code (as you should ;)), you can sit two vim windows side by side in a terminal.
Just have to zoom out these trendy websites who think it's "in" to design a layout with 40px font size for copy and everything fits well in Firefox.
Oh and if you're really adventurous, the x220 and x230 make for pretty good hackintoshes, I hear. Plus they have matte displays.
It's true that most Lenovo laptops come with horrendous, low resolution, TN panels. Some models come with IPS variants (like the i7 x230)
I guess it's fine for me because I spent most of my time in the terminal so no GUI with tons of icons but I can see how it could be a problem for other workflows.
If you open any window with toolbars, it's not okay anymore.
I used to work with the laptop everyday. The density is not up to today's standards, and it never was.
Lenovo puts sub-standard displays in their laptops, even the high-end models haven't improved in brightness in many configurations available though retailers.
Just have to zoom out these trendy websites who think it's "in" to design a layout with 40px font size for copy and everything fits well in Firefox.
Oh and if you're really adventurous, the x220 and x230 make for pretty good hackintoshes, I hear. Plus they have matte displays.