Official "swapping the XPS 14 L401x screen" thread

Yea, if you're going to be stuck with a glossy screen, it might as well be a good one.

I happen to prefer glossy, and my screen should be here Wed.

 

I agree with you, I swapped mine a few weeks ago, the difference is abysmal. These LG screen is very very good. I don't know if any has swapped the screen for the one that came with the studio xps 14, i read in the main XPS 14 L401x thread that these screen should work too, any one?

 

I wonder how this LCD would compare to the current LG that everyone is swapping for.

 

as far as i can tell its the one of the inspiron 1440

 

That's the Chi Mei N140O6-L02. Quality-wise, it's comparable to the LP140WD1; I recommend searching for reviews of the Studio 14z with the WXGA++ TrueLife display.

 

I just got my screen today, it's awesome. Much better then the stock one. Hardest part was getting the bezel off, cracked it down in the lower left, can't really see it though.

edit: HP Envy 14 Radiance displays sold out... forever -- Engadget

 

Guys...it "sounds" great based on what people are describing.

But for someone who has never seen it, saying it's "great" doesn't hold much baring. Pics, comparison photos? Side by side pics with the Macbook Air would be nice...

 

i intent to buy this nb and replace the screen;
you are talking about THIS very model, right? Dell XPS 14 Laptop Details | Dell

thanks!

 

That would be the one!

 

Can any screen switchers attest to whether the dimmest setting on the new screen is darker than on the original?

I'm still using the original screen.

The macbooks in the lecture centers at school are probably about half as bright as mine... which is abundantly noticeable if the professor dims the lights for a movie or ppt.

 

Just finished doing the hootoo screen swap myself, and figured I just post that I used a nail file to unsnap the bezel.

I Just took the nail file and used it to gently pry open the bezel all around from top to bottom, taking my time (I took 20 minutes to carefully do it) no cracks or anything wrong to the bezel this way.

The trickiest part is when you have the whole bezel apart except for over the hinges.
At this point you basically hold it with both hands (2 fingers on each hand) above the hinge at the top of the bezel and just pry it down gently, doesn't seem right but it gets it off.

The rest was a cinch, and the screen is beauty (compared to the old)

 

cool, can you speak to whether the brightness is (on the lowest setting) is brighter or darker than the original?

 

I thought it seemed a bit darker on the lowest setting, but It was in a different lighting conditions to be exactly sure.

Oh and for anyone Canadian, The hootoo was free shipping to Canada and 5 dollars off with the coupon.
It shipped in less then a week and there was no boarder tax's at all.

Great deal

 

My 14 is coming next Monday(what a long wait!) and I just ordered the screen from papatek after reading this thread. Doesn't look like anything complicated after all.

And the price is affordable, around 83bucks with shipping, compared to 195bucks from 720p to 1080p on a 15(pretty sure Dell would have asked as much if they have the upgrade on 14).

Offtopic: For some reason Dell just took 14 down on their site(at least the "for home" part), wondering why?


Edit: What do you guys do with the stock screen?

 

Would the next person that replaces their screen mind jotting down the part number for the flex cable that connects to their screen?

I'm trying to diagnose why I'm not able to make a similar change on the Dell Studio 1458 (which did come with a 1600x900 option at one point). I believe there may be two different cables on my model and want to see if either matches this L401X. Physically the screen and cable fit, but the colors are all wrong with the new screen (I've tried 2 different screens).

Thanks,
Jeff

 

Is the LG screen WLED or some kind of hybrid like the L501x's B+RGLED 1080p?

 

It is WLED! BTW, these LG screen is great, very bright and very god view angles. Best upgrade for the L401x!!!

 

I was taking some time reading through all the screen changing posts trying to make my decision on buying the XPS 14. I decided to go for it and boom, they no longer are offering the XPS 14! Anyway, on the chance they bring it back I have a question regarding the new screen... do you folks find that reading text on the 14" 1600x900 screen a lot harder than the standard 14" screen? I've read a lot of folks that say on a 15.6" screen, the 1080p screens are a lot harder to read text. Is the 14" about the same with this resolution? Thanks and I hope they bring the 14" back with a better screen so this all becomes moot point.

 

JeffL the xps 14 is still available in the dell small buisness
area. yesterday shipping was estimated for 3-01-20111
today shipping is estimated at 4-1-2011 ?
Dell XPS 14 Laptop Details | Dell

 

Secondly
Only buy your screen from us electronic or papatek.com...hootoo is $15 to $20 MORE
than papatek.com.
Hootoo and Papatek are the same company
with the same address in Cal. I ordered from hootoo before
I realized it, so when i called them within 24 hours and asked them to match
papatek price they put me on hold for 15 min and told me absolutely
not!! and admitted that Hootoo and papatek are the same company.,
BEWARE

 

Thanks Betmen2, I didn't realize there were still some offered in the business section. But these are all i7's only. I don't want an i7 but rather an i5 for cost and battery life reasons. Almost a 2 month wait? Wow that seems a bit unreasonable for current technology. If waiting that long might as well wait for SB.

 

yup. i just ordered my screen from sunvalleyus on ebay. my intention was to avoid hootoo, because they're such a sketchy seller.

nope hootoo = sunvalleyus.

f#ck

 

JeffL keep your eye open at dell outlet
Dell XPS 14 Laptop Details | Dell
They will have refurbs with i5 and what ever you want. Here a bummer
but i have to tell you. Last week they had 20 xps 14 on the outlet for 20%
off there outlet price. you could get a xps 14 with i5 for 600 bucks. they called it the winter sale.
It killed me that i already owned one and these computer are like only 2 month old
Anyway you wsill get a great refurb with i5 if you just watch every day
and you'll get the compuer in like 3-5 days GOOD LUCK

 

absolutely..as a matter of fact
all three are the same
Hootoo, sunvalley and papatek

 

yeah. no tracking number, and no notification of shipment. they also used USPS to ship and usps stopped delivering because of all the snow... so if its at the post office i cant even get it till monday.

 

Papatek is 73bucks while hootoo is 87bucks though, even if they are the same company. I ordered on Thursday and the shipping status changed to "sending" rather quickly. Though there's no mention of shipping method or carrier. Hopefully it will arrive on Monday.

 

Thats so funny my $98 dollar screen from hootoo is also at the post
office due to bad weather, which was promised by Friday and i had to call
hootoo for the tracking number. Ordered on 1-31 and never heard another word..I just
can't believe they have three companies under one roof
with 3 different prices. sunvalley is a wholsale company but the other 2
are retail with a $20 price differential.
I really dislike this outfit,,, there certainly no Newegg

 

no argument there. I'm in upstate NY so I figured cali to here is about 3 days (which is why i think its there right now...)
are you much further/closer than that? just so i can get a better perspective on ship times?

 

Suburb of Detroit Michigan mine was sent out Monday
by UPS Ground, It was delayed in Illinois due to weather
so i have to wait till Monday. I never realized that USPS
is faster than UPS

 

Now I'm confused. Does "Posting Status : Sending" on papatek order status mean it's being shipped?

 

I don't know... but I know papatek, hootoo, and sunvally all ships
out immediately. I just don't know why mine was sent ups when
they state in the shipping section they use usps

 

I just read some real bad stuff about papatek on the net, though there were some positive ones too.

Well, guess the only thing I could do is wait patiently and find out next week.

Where do you live? It says this on their site:
II International Customers
Packages from international customers will be sent by UPS & Fedex mainly.
Attention: We cannot send the packages to customers from international military areas at this moment.

 

Suburb of Detroit Hockey Town

 

That's still within the US then, weird. But at least it's UPS instead of something people have never heard of, so it should be alright.

 

you will be alright too. Hootoo has a phone number so if
you don't get the screen in a timely fashion call hootoo and
tell them to check or transfer you to papatek there the same
company in the same building and probably sharing inventory..

 

Bought mine on Saturday at 6pm PT and the status showed "sending" 10 minutes later. I think it's automated to change status once the payment is confirmed. I paid via Paypal.

 

Wow, that would of been a great deal on those refurb 14's! I'm kinda thinking (unless a really good deal comes up) that I'll just wait a couple months for Sandy Bridge. I was thinking the WiDi feature would be cool and the SB version has 1080p WiDi vs the current 720p. But if a good deal comes in the mean time I'll probably jump on it.

 

Do you have the link to purchase from papatek.com? I can't find the LCD on the website. Thanks.

 

LG LP140WD1-TLA1 14.0 inch LCD Screen
Buy LG LP140WD1-TLA1 14.0 inch LCD Screen from Papatek.com, who offers LG LP140WD1-TLA1 14.0 inch LCD Screen wholesale, LG LP140WD1-TLA1 14.0 inch LCD Screen with best price, 12 ...

papatek.com/Panel-14-Inch/39234.html

And Ilike this company equally

LG LP140WD1-TLA1 1600*900 Glossy LED 40pins - $78.18 : US ...
US Electronic Supplies LG LP140WD1-TLA1 1600*900 Glossy LED 40pins - LG LP140WD1-TLA1 1600*900 Glossy LED 40pins Item: LCD Panel Screen Model: LP140WD1-TLA1 Size: 14.0 inches ...

LG LP140WD1-TLA1 1600*900 Glossy LED 40pins - $78.18 : US Electronic Supplies, Laptop Battery,AC Adapter, Keyboard, Accessories Store

 

Just benchmarking, I got mine from Papatek on Jan, 19 and it arrives on Jan, 28.

I was surprised that the screen was sent from China, once I just ordered from Papatek cause they "are" in CA.

Anyway, the swap was quite easy, I used a vegetables knife to pop the bezel, placing the flexible blade very close to the clips before putting force over it. No cracks and the whole operation took me less than 15 minutes.

There is no way to compare the screen with the original one. They are from different leagues.

By the way, I live in Jundiaí, near by São Paulo - Brazil and my screen was carried by Fedex. To tracking from purchasing till delivery though....

 

Here an intersting twist !! Dell has discontinued the L401X. I called
dell no information. Historically it was available from home sale along with
xps 15 -17. Then they move it to small buisness last week with a ship date
of 3-1-2011, then over the weekend they changed the date to 4-01-2011.

Today on the web, it say call a sale person to order, when I did the salesman
was befuddled and said XPS 14 is not available. He said maybe its being replaced.
Wow my mind is spinning !

 

so I guess it took a bit longer than i expected... or my screen hasn't shipped yet. did you guys get shipping notifications from suntek/hootoo when you ordered?

 

I received my screen today HooToo. Its not in a
sealed antistatic bag. Its in a blue plastic bag with
biege tape securing the flap. Is that how other people
got there screen ? I hope I'm not taking my computer apart
for nothing. If anyone is out there please let me know

 

Yeah, that's how I got my two screens.

 

Thank you.. I just installed my screen it took me 45 minutes.
It was much harder with one set of hands. I think I'm a pretty good,
wrench(mechanic), and it was really scarey and not for the newbs.
sOlace your instruction was amazing i personally owe you a big thanks
if your ever in Detroit let me buy you a drink.

I broke off 2 nipples, 1 nipples in each of the upper corners thats were
attached to the metal and plastic back.

The upper corners were rough for me, and the hinges were easy.

The font is much smaller now soI have to figure out how to enlarge it.
A little help here would be appreciated
What I didn't realize is the screen resolution makes everything smaller.
You have alot more room you have on the desktop.

Ok enough bit@hing the is screen amazing. its what this unit should have come
with and not as an option,, it absolutely changes the whole dynamic of this
computer,, now its an XPS

 

Yes, the screen is what should have been included.

To change the desktop font size without using CTRL+mouse scroll because you don't want the icons to change also, do the following:

Right Click on the desktop and go to Personalize.
Go to Window Color on the bottom of that window.
Go to Advanced appearance
Go to Icon and change the font size there.

 

I finally got a tracking number for my screen, hopefully I'll have it within the week, so if you or anybody else has any extra tips for not breaking stuff. lemme know!

 

Thank you toy4x4 I'm all set now

I've had this screen installed for 24 hours and here is my conclusion

IT'S A MUST !!!!

I don't care that i broke 2 clips it was well worth it !!

Brightness
Clarity
Color saturation
Viewing angles
Increased destop area
White level
Black level
etc

 

Is it being sent by UPS? I ordered mine from papatek, called them (and they answered as sunvalleytek), got my tracking # but UPS haven't received it yet. Is yours shipped already? I purchased mine last saturday.

 

I finally got my 14 yesterday, reinstalled to windows 7 ultimate and reinstalling all the drivers. Everything seems good so far. Loves the keyboard and everything under the lid, though not much of a fan for the exterior design. Have yet to use the webcam but the speakers are really amazing.

The screen on the other hand, has not yet arrived, nor did they send me any email notification regarding tracking number. I even mailed them on Sunday and have yet to receive a response. Maybe I should call them if it's still not delivered by tomorrow.(I now know why you guys want to swap it so badly, cause the stock screen really stinks lol)