Asus Q500A BHI5N01 upgrade to AUO B156HW01 v4 1080P screen?

I've seen some very inexpensive Q500A BHI5N01 and BSI5N04 laptops in various places used\refurbished and they fit most of my requirements for a laptop. Including a good 3rd Generation i5, backlit keyboard, optical drive, replaceable battery and solid build quality (according to reviews) for as cheap as possible. The screen resolution is a rather depressing (but standard) 1366x768 but I was intrigued to see that the more expensive Q500A BHI7T05 has a 1080P screen. For all intents and purposes, the systems seem to be nearly identical, aside from the CPU, a digitizer layer for touch capability, and the screen resolution. At the very least I was considering buying a 1080P screen from the BHI7T05 for one of the cheaper models (in one case I could get the computer and the screen for $320 roughly).

After doing some research I stumbled across all of the rave reviews of the AUO B156HW01 v4 (I prefer matte screens) being used in many Asus, Lenovo and Dell systems... and I must say I am VERY interested in getting one of these working in a Q500A. Basically, I'd have as much computer as I should need for quite some time, with one of the best laptop screens on the market for at most $360.

Are there any models that are close to the Q500A that people have successfully done a similar upgrade on?

Also, if anyone owns one of these laptops (preferably the BHI5N01), I'd like to see the Hardware ID of the monitor from device manager, so I can look up the specs of the exact panel.

Any input is welcome! I'm not dead set on anything at this point, but if this seems feasible, I'm willing to give it a shot. I've done several laptop screen replacements among other things of this nature, so the actual work involved is not a problem.

EDIT: Read on, IT ACTUALLY WORKED!

 

Well, I just purchased the Q500a BHI5N01 on eBay, in great condition but with a cracked screen for $239. Pretty amazing deal. I searched for part numbers for the Q500a motherboard to determine if the different models use different boards with possibly different LVDS connections, but they all seem to be the same part number. So it seems likely that because the higher end model has a 1080P screen which would require a dual LVDS connection, and they all seem to use the same board, then this computer should have that capability as well. Now its just a matter of getting an AUO B156HW01 v4 for a decent price without getting scammed.

Anyone know of a reliable place to get one?

 

I just ordered one from here:

P1 New 15 6" LED Screen B156HW01 V4 Matte | eBay

he has one left and appears to have good feedback....

 

Thanks, I did see that one! I actually found a seller on eBay that seems to be a major reseller of harvested laptop parts. They had a used but apparently pristine (A Grade) B156HW01 v4 pulled from a Lenovo T530 for the awesome price of $49.95 shipped, so I ordered that.

I've tested the computer and it works perfectly... it looks brand new! I also found a cheap but solid charger for $8, and now the screen is on its way for $50. In total, I'll have about $310 into this and I'll have a system sporting an Ivy Bridge Core i5 3210M, 6Gb DDR3-1600, 750Gb 5400RPM drive (silent and seems reasonably quick... but may swap it out with an SSD at some point), backlit keyboard, very solid construction (lots of aluminum), replaceable battery, optical drive, two USB 3.0 ports (and one 2.0), bluetooth, WiDi AND a 15.6" 1080P screen with superb color and contrast. That's really tough to beat. It isn't light weight by any means, and it isn't razor thin, but it is much thinner and far more attractive than just about any system I've seen in this price range. NO shiny black plastic AT ALL... every surface is either aluminum or black soft-touch plastic.

It has no warranty, but honestly if anything goes bad in it I'll fix it and it'll still be cheaper than if I'd bought one new.

Plus, I'll be selling my current laptop for $150-ish. Not bad! =)

 

EDIT: Holy cow, I actually got it working! See the next post.


Well, I've got the screen in... it only took a matter of minutes to install. Sadly, my LVDS cable must be single channel because I get a distorted\doubled picture at 1366x768 and when I try to add 1920x1080 it says that the resolution exceeds the interface bandwidth.

I'm in the process of trying to find a dual channel cable from the BHI7T05, since it should be nearly identical in shape, but as an alternative, are there any other systems that use 40 pin cables that are flexible enough to use in a variety of laptops?

 

Well, after struggling to dig up information about this laptop and how to get a 1080P screen working on it, an Asus parts store in Europe was the only place that would give me any information and they said that both my model and the 1080P model use the same LVDS cable. So I actually pulled back a bit of the tape on the cable to see that it does indeed have well over 20 wires inside it.

I had all but given up hope, thinking that somehow they neuter the LVDS interface on the cheaper models after assembly (since they all use the same board)... which doesn't make any real sense.

I just started messing with it again, on the off chance that the cable just wasn't connected or something. So in desperation, I reconnected the cable on both ends, did something majorly stupid (left the battery in) and saw the backlight flash on while trying to connect the cable. Considering how things had gone, I expected to find that the screen was now fried. After getting it connected solidly, I turned the system back on, and to my utter astonishment, IT WORKS!!!!

I don't know if it was actually the reconnecting of the cable that did it, or if the system just required several reboots to realize that the LVDS capabilities had changed, but holy crap... this screen looks phenomenal!

It works beautifully! Especially with a calibrated color profile I found online. So, for $310, I've got exactly what I wanted. I still can't believe it started working after looking so bleak...

So, spread the word... any model of the Q500A can use a 1080P screen, including the AUO B156HW01. =)

 

Cool, a lot of companies do just cut out those LVDS wires (and save $0.001) but the V4 is a very nice panel, you maybe just did not have the cable all the way in the last time (maybe it came out) the LVDS cable can be a bit finicky.