Why did they have to equip the Alienware 17 with a POS TN panel?

Serious question. Why does a 2k+ laptop come with a washed out, horrid TN panel? The viewing angles are horrendous as is the colors. Everything looks washed out gray. It seems like there is no color gradient to speak of. Just white, black, orange, blue. Does anyone know if the next generation coming out soon will have an IPS display? Did they remove the ips display from the alienware 18?

Sorry, just frustrated. I love the laptop, but hate the screen.

 

Have you tried calibrating the screen?

 

I did to the best of my abilities without a program.

 

give this a try, it may help a little bit

Calibrize

 

Thanks, tried it and it does help a little bit but I guess I just can't get over the TN panel after coming from an IPS display! lol much appreciated.

anyone know if the next panels will be IPS and swappable from the current monitor?

 

LOL, I have a hard time going to most current IPS displays after coming off of a very high end calibrated 10 bit IPS on portable workstations most of the day. as for swapping panels I have no idea as I have seen very few IPS 17" panels out and about yet and could be transplanted. I would say stick in the Premiercolor 17" IPS panel but the AW M17X cant drive it due to a few hardware limitations

 

I thought Alienware displays you for the most part cannot upgrade as you'll destroy the plexi-glass front? Sometimes Full-HD isn't much better than a normal LCD if the viewing angles/color gamut sucks. My current Sager has like a stock 70% NTSC color gamut screen, WAY better than my 15.6" Clevo's washed out 15.6" Full HD screen.

 

There isn't a glass on the AW 17. It should be easily replaceable/upgradeable.

They do need better quality screens. They're good, but not as good as they should be for a premium gaming laptop.

 

If you want a better display, then research your laptop’s display BEFORE you buy your laptop! Otherwise, if people buy laptops with crappy displays, then manufacturers will make more laptops with crappy displays. A lot of the displays on today’s laptops are junk.

My two-year-old phone has a 3D Super-AMOLED display that beats the vast majority of LCD displays built into laptops. OLED-based displays have the vibrant saturated colors currently only available with RGB-LED-backlit LCDs, they have the broad viewing angles only available with IPS LCDs, and the 120Hz refresh rates for 3D only available with white-LED-backlit LCDs. Plus they have near-infinite contrast ratios and draw less power than LCDs. All in one display (and it’s NOT an LCD!). Their development has been slowed by the economy, they’ve just recently hit the TV market but have high prices due to low manufacturing yields, but should hit the laptop market within the next couple of years. They’ll achieve price-parity with LCDs probably shortly after that.

Until then, research the gamut, brightness, contrast, viewing angles, and bits-per-color-channel of displays you purchase, OR SUFFER! Resolution is important too, but for the most part is independent of the above measurements. Notebookcheck.net reviews contain detailed measurements of laptop displays that are extremely useful and are easy to understand. Also, displays like that on the Retina MacBook Pro contain an anti-glare coating that significantly reduces reflections without the reduction of image quality that matte displays can cause (I’m typing on one right now). INFORMATION IS POWER! So use it!


P.S. - If you have the display manufacturer’s exact model # of a panel you’re considering as a replacement, Notebookcheck.net’s reviews contain those model #’s. So you can search for the display’s model # on the site to see its detailed review.

 

You can't really compared a phone LCD to a laptop LCD, they are far bigger, and harder to produce without dead pixels.

Of course, one should always research a laptop model before buying, that should be a no brainer.

 

You may very well be able to swap out the lcd with a ips, first you need to find the pin type for the plug, then go to Global Panel Exchange Center - Panelook.com and find a screen with the correct pin setup, and in the correct size.

I did this with my m11x and got a 12.5in ips display working. I never mounted it though as its just slightly too big to fit into the lid.

 

I'm curious about replacing my AW 17 display with a Dell precision m6700 "covet" IPS display. They sometimes rarely pop up on ebay. I don't know if they have the same connector, but I figure if it doesn't I can resell it easily.

Does anyone know how many pins, and the location of the display connector?

Edit: Found this on Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/Dell-PRECISIO...UTF8&qid=1390412065&sr=1-2&keywords=m6700+ips

 

Wont work due to the fact the Intel IGP comes into play. ( and it is a special iDP connector ) any laptop that connects display out via intel IGP is a no go as they can not process the 10 bit color interface.

Aikimox, my husband and a few others have thought of this for many 17" models but nothing that isn't already sold with the same or similar panel can use it. ( m6700, m6800, Elitebook 8760W, Elitebook 8770W it seems the Zbook 17 is different again )

 

That's too bad. I was hoping that since the AW 17 has the ability to turn the IGP off it might work (the f5 key and restart). Didn't know about the connector though.

 

I thought 3D models didn't use IGP? But I guess it would have a completely different connector altogether (like 50 pin or something).

 

That's correct. A different connector from the MB is used (don't know the specs) and the iGPU is fully bypassed. Not even seen in the bios...

 

I think I read in one thread it was still LVDS @ 8 bit. you could possibly do it if you tapped the display port and managed to wire in converters etc, but that would be a massive undertaking.

 

regarding researching your laptop before you buy - I did. Build quality is #1 priority to me. I've owned MSI gaming laptops in the past and their plastic build quality is absolutely horrendous (to me). I couldn't stand the feeling of almost breaking the laptop every time I lifted it up with one hand. I knew the Alienware laptop screens were pretty bad, but I had no other alternative.

 

While I was initially skeptical of the TN panel (coming from the MacBook Pro), I can say the 120Hz screen is fantastic and has very good color accuracy, brightness and viewing angle.

 

I'm fairly happy with my calibrated r3 1080p panel. I personally love it over my friends g73 screen that as it seems super dim. My r3 screen though is super bright compared to my benq 2420TE. My opinion is probably gonna change once I upgrade to a 1440p monitor for my desktop so take what I say with a grain of salt.

 

MibuWolf, notebookcheck.net's Alienware 17 review shows that your display isn't too bright, has poor viewing angles, but the gamut is decent (97% of sRGB), so a good hardware display calibrator should provide accurate color. Use the included calibration software, or the more sophisticated open-source dispcalGUI software. Colors change as the display ages, so you re-calibrate periodically. You can use someone else's hardware-calibrated profile for the same display model, although it won't be as accurate. Eyeballing it is for the birds.

The 17" Alienware 3D displays (currently $150 extra) are usually better than the 2D displays (buyers should research this for the generation in question, because Dell sometimes changes displays). Gamers like the higher brightness, wider viewing angles, and greater realism (higher refresh rate) of the 3D display, even if they're only using it for 2D. You lose integrated graphics and Optimus, but IMO those are useless in a 17" behemoth anyway.

ThatOldGuy, the 17" Alienwares from at least the M17x R3 onward, and the M6700, all have both an LVDS and an eDP (Embedded DisplayPort) interface on the motherboard, and the internal PremierColor display (10-bits-per-color-channel, IPS, 100% AdobeRGB) connects to eDP on the M6700 [ 1] [ 2] [ 3]. Internal 3D and PremierColor displays use eDP (which is physically driven by the discrete GPU), and all other internal displays use LVDS (which is physically driven by the integrated GPU, which can't handle 120Hz refresh for 3D). You lose integrated-graphics/Optimus if you use eDP. But you'll only be able to drive the PremierColor at 8-bits (you need a Quadro or FirePro GPU for 10-bits, and this is set by the GPU and video driver, over the eDP interface). And on a 100% AdobeRGB display, color in most games will look over-saturated (neon-like) because most games aren't color-managed (you can get around this if Dell provides software to put the display into "sRGB emulation mode"). Plus display response time may be slower for displays that support 10-bits. Because it uses eDP, installing the PremierColor is probably similar to installing the 3D display in a 2D machine. I don't know whether it will work. I would instead just buy a similar external display (much easier, it won't brick your laptop, it won't void your warranty, and you can use both at the same time, plus you keep Optimus). I drive a calibrated external 10-bit, IPS, 100%+ AdobeRGB display with my M17x R4, at 8-bits for my image processing work, and it's stunning.

Tsunade_Hime, of course you can compare OLED-based displays and LCD displays:

Is the Samsung KN55S9C, a 55-inch curved OLED TV, the best HDTV ever?

They will do for displays what digital did for audio and images. Once they hit laptops, viewing an LCD display will be like listening to Edison's audio recordings on wax cylinders.

Good luck with the display issues, folks!