Just got my first Alienware laptop - Screen replacement questions?

Hello.

I just bought my first Alienware laptop (used) this past weekend. It's a 17" R4 built in 2012.

It's a decent machine with (I think) good specs for the price I paid for it ($600)

i7-3 610QM 2.3GHZ
AMD Radeon HD 7970M 2GB GDDR5
750GB 7200RPM SATA 3Gb/s
128GB SSD (OCZ)
16GB DDR3 at 1600MHz

The only problem is the display that it came with...

17.3-inch WideHD+ 1600 x 900 - 60Hz WLED (Matte finish)

Needless to say I want to swap that out for either a 1920x1080 or 1920x1200 display.

Now I assume that I have a few options here.. (in order of difficulty)

~ Swap out the whole screen/cover/assembly from an m17x with the desired resolution..
~ Swap out the display/bezel from an m17x but set it into my existing back cover..
~ Swap out just the LCD screen itself and keep the existing cover/bezel..


A couple of questions though..

~If I decide to just look for a complete cover/screen/bezel assembly (probably off Ebay) am I limited to just the R4 Case/screens or will any m17x cover assembly fit onto the R4? Or failing that, can the screen/bezel from say an R2 be placed in the R4's back cover and used?

~I've seen the posts with the instructions for just swapping the LCD into the existing cover/bezel and it looks like it is something I can do but there seems be an issue with people creating cracks in the bezel when opening the display up. Is this a common issue? I wouldn't want to buy a new LCD screen but then wreck the rest of the display trying to swap it out.

~ Does removing the screen/bezel assembly from the back cover pose the same issues with potential cracks from prying them apart?

 

you can't do 16x10 on that model, only 16x9.

just buy an LCD from laptopscreen.com and do the change yourself.

there's heaps of videos on youtube to tell you how to do this:



so even if you got a pre built assembly you still need to disassemble it anyway so getting a barebones screen is better.

 

While helpful, that video only takes the removal process down to the entire screen assembly, while the replacement that you are recommending from laptopscreen.com is only for the LCD panel alone.

If I purchased that, then I would still need to remove the bezel and frame from the original panel in order to install the new one and people on the forum have posted that they have damaged the bezel/frame in the removal process.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/alienware-m17x-r3-r4-lcd-panel-replacement-guide.707711/

Since the laptop is currently in pristine physical condition, it is the process of removing the bezel without damaging it that I am actually most concerned with.

 

It is difficult. You will need to heat the glue around the frame of the screen to loosen it. It would be simpler to purchase a FHD panel assembly off eBay

 

The easiest way to swap the screen is get the bezel and screen assembly without LCD back cabinet. Back cabinet is only held by 2 screws at the bottom and then it just slides off. I am about to do the same procedure (except getting 120Hz screen to replace 1080p 60Hz screen) once it's delivered from US. Replacing the screen alone is quite hard as Raidriar mentioned since LCD bezel is glued to the screen and it will be not be easy to separate them without scratching the bezel.

By the way that guy in the Youtube video almost broke some clips. All one has to do to separate LCD back cabinet is undo the 2 screws and then slide it up from the bezel/screen assembly.

 

Its really easy to do, i will find the simple steps to follow and post them in the thread later

good luck

Ian