XPS 15 (L521X) - The display thread

Dell UK technical support said they didn't even have a New XPS 15 in their offices for testing yet! So I guess they'll realise after a few months and maybe make a new revision. Unfortunately I'll have a different laptop by then.

 

Had the new XPS15 on my desk for about a day. Calibrated the screen, but still the same vertical 'grid' lines, especially on light backgrounds... Even the windows 7 Start button still loolks like a sliced tomato..
Dell UK offered next day repair, or refund...

I am sorry to say I bailed out, and went for the money back..

 

Why do you guys don't post also in the owner's lounge? Bill checks only that thread and the one about wifi, and it looks like this issue has been forgotten by Dell....

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You can also PM Bill to come have a look at this thread. Title your PM appropriately to attract his attention.

 

You can also connect to his twitter

https://twitter.com/BillatDell

 

I am having the same grid issues...called dell today they are sending me a new screen I have no idea if it will fix the grid issue. I told the tech that a lot of people are having this problem and to check this forum, he told me that I am the first to call him about this issue. I had to take picture of my screen as well so he could see it in remote assistance. I hope this screen is good lets hope it fixes the issues!!!! Also there is an "urgent" driver update for the video card "Dell NVIDIA GeForce GT 630M version A00 8.17.12.96.01" released on 27/06/2012 you guys think it will help the issues or not?

View attachment 81310 View attachment 81311 View attachment 81312


My Screen model is, Hopefully Bill you can help me out, thanks... :


6985X

Liquid Crystal Display, 15.6FHD, Wireless Local Area Network Card, Top Latch, Assembly, Au Optronics Corp

 

Can anyone please let us know if they have got a new Dell XPS 15 with a good screen? And if anyone had a bad screen did the replacement one cure the problem?

 

Here is a good screen, no problems at all, so far. I noticed many complains, even a few post with really bad once.
I calibrate it and compared with RGBLED, the white is better than yellowish of RGBLED and the red of RGBLED is brighter than XPS 15

 

No vertical lines in white (or light) screens (like this forum or google homepage)?

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Well, if I get closer to it, a few inch I hardly see some vertical white lines, I can not say white, everything is white, I think it is the design of it, is normal, even the studio 1537 has it and the XPs 15Z. I think the XPS 16 was the same.


Off topic:
I also noticed that whenever plugged an external HDD (USB 2), the optical drive was making noise (like taking a CD instead). I updated all chipset drivers from Dell and now is quiet, no more troubles

 

Great great news, thank you!

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It sounds like codred2 has the same problem but he is not bothered by it. I'll just have to wait until HP release the ivy bridge Envy series here in the UK or until Dell made a new Rev of the L521X

 

Screen appreciation (or lack of it ) is subjective. My son's L521X screen was replaced because of the "grid" problem. (You have to see it to really feel bad about it, and to wonder how the notebook can pass final verification at all.) The new screen was definitely better, but still showing some faint vertical lines, and my son was not too bothered by it. I, having been using the L502X screen (considered one of the few best TN screens on the market today), could not stand it.

 

As I said, I checked a few LCDs and I do not see the difference. All looks the same in terms of “grid line issues”.
Take a look of the Google page, I just took an image of it. Should I use a macro lens to get a very close shot?
View image: Capture
Shoud I start to complain about this issue too?

 

Can u be more specific on what's wrong with the image? I can't see anything bad there or maybe I don't know what to look for?

Also I think that screenshot would not show this potential issue if someone will look at it using different notebook. I believe what you need to do is just a photo.

Thanks!

 

I was referring to the user Cubed, that was saying that I have the same issue with the screen but does not bother me. It bothers me, but I do not see something wrong wit it.

Difference between the two:
XPS 15 L521x
View image: IMG 3718

Studio 1537
View image: IMG 3725

Taken with 550D and Sigma 17-70 OS lens. I did it as close and good as I could.
Do I have to call the technician to replace it? Even the XPS 15z is the same.



There are two different panels/screens?
AIDA64 shows me AUO B156 HTF
www.notebookcheck says AUO B156 HFT

HTF vs HFT ?

Could be just a mistake?

 

@codred2 I think View image: IMG 3718 is suppose to be tagged as 1537 and View image: IMG 3725 as L521x, right? because I can see grids but on the second picture.

 

NO. The 1537 picture has a white spot (Antenna cables at the back of LCD puts pressure on it, in the middle nearly at the bottom, a technical person could notice this)
Studio 1537 is IMG 3725
The order I put is correct.

WHY YOU people looking for troubles? I presume most of negative guys who intentionally or not are looking for ONLY negative side of L521x looks like; or are Apple owners, or they have nothing else to do!
Who has issues with it RETURN it for refund, that's it.
I will keep it because I have less issues than XPS 1647.

I only found one issue with this laptop; WIFi, otherwise for what I do Is a PERFECT laptop.

 

I guess that the part starting with "WHY YOU people" was not aimed at me? Because what I wrote is that I see no issues with L521x screen photo you took, that's why I though you might have miss-placed them.

Some people are reporting those grids issue so I wouldn't be that brave to call all those people basically lairs. I haven't seen that issue yet so I was hoping you can show it, but if you don't have this issue it's fine, no need to start flame war.

 

So all the folks that are complaining about the screen . How close is your face to see the lines/pixels ? Just wondering . The reason I ask is the 1 poster that took pictures of the Google home screen the picture was taken at macro settings about 2 inches from the screen and of coarse your going to see pixels/lines . I remember that page . If your going to sit with your face that close to the screen your going to start seeing pixels . I sit about 1.5 feet away from my screen and in looks great .

How close was the camera ?

 

Received my unit yesterday.
Unfortunately the grid issue really exists and is quite annoying.
It's not pokeing you right in the eye but once seen you cannot forget it.

That's a real shame. Never seen this kind of problem before....

Furthermore I doubt there are just few defective units. Rather that some users see it, some don't.

 

It's unfortunate that I just found this forum after I placed my XPS15 order since I just received my laptop & I also see the faint gridlines on any white/bright background. Dell tech support tried updating a bunch of display drivers to no avail. I found that playing w/ the brightness/contrast/color/etc helps a little but I think that I will need to attach an external monitor if I decide to keep this. It's a shame since besides this display issue & the WiFi issue, it's an awesome performer.

 

Seems to me that a notebook with a completely unusable display is a no-go, and should be fixed or returned.

 

That's true but it's not really "completely unusable" - I mentioned that playing with the brightness/contrast/etc does help soften/blur those lines so let's see if I can live with that in the next few weeks. Also, Dell tech support is supposed to try some more "tricks" today so we'll see...

 

If I get close to the screen, I can the grid lines as well. I am not sure how this compares to other laptops, I will check when I get back home on Friday.

 

The L521X is supposed to be a premium laptop. The rest of the "design" (whatever that means) cannot compensate for obvious deficiencies. It's your money and your eyes, after all.

The grid lines were quite obvious on my son's L521X. The tech came (twice!) to replace the screen and try various "tricks" (sigh), but the improvements were minor. There was absolutely no "wow!" factor. My son was trying to live with it, but ended up returning the notebook. He was fascinated by the look, but ultimately reality dawned on him.

I've been using an XPS 15 L502X with absolutely beautiful FHD 1920x1080 screen. The L521X screen is nowhere near that one. Pity!

Absolutely.

 

I would really like if someone could compare displays of XPS 15 and Inspiron 15R SE.. Anyone who used both?

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1 inch far from it.
I posted more photos, even blue once to see if I get the same as you. If I look very close of it I only see vertical lines of the LCD design like most screens ..... those "grid lines" are not deforming/modifying the colour like the one you have (blue photo, it looks like each pixel is surrounded by black lines). I think it is the design of gorilla glass. These vertical lines are more are more visible on white background.
From 1.5 feet (50CM), far is ok.
I have not seen any Dell Rep. commenting on this issue.
Yes, I would like to have the same as MacPro with retina display which is perfect, but no possible

 

I don't think the problem is related to Gorilla Glass. The Lenovo ThinkPad T420 and T430 HD+ screens are sourced from LG, Samsung and AUO. The Samsung and AUO screens exhibit similar "grid" appearance as seen on the L521X. (All of those there are pretty bad, with one slightly better than the other, and it's like a lottery which one you'll get when you place the order.)

No need to go far. The L502X FHD screen by AUO is awesome enough. Now, Gorilla Glass is likely the reason why this same screen is not carried over to the L512X: a thinner panel is required.

 

+ 1 my smartphone has gorilla glass and 480x800 res, but no grid.
I heard that the Inspiron 15R SE display is great too...

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Anyone noticed a "pooling effect" on this particular screen? I noticed in word, I left the page opened, while closing/opening the lid is like the liquid is moving inside of it.
It is normal? Could be something behind putting pressure on it.

 

I find this normal behavior for pressing on ANY "LCD" display, depending upon how you're leveraging the lid I'd not be surprised by this - the hings is nicely stiff - needs to be to hold up the display properly.

BUT,

With the theoretical solidity of the top case, as long as you're not pressing anywhere directly on the glass (and I mean anywhere) I'd not expect the lid should warp enough to cause this.

I've surely not noticed it with my machine, but then I haven't been looking specifically for it, and I tend to only leverage the screen from the top edge, pressing from the outside, never at all on the glass.

(FYI, I'm normally VERY sensitive to visual artifacts, too many years doing computer game development peering at the screen going "why is THAT PIXEL wrong!!!")

 

Will you return for the grid issue then?

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I would if I had an issue.

But with a full-white screen, various brightness, "splendid" or normal color settings, from 4" to 3' away shows no problem for me.

 

From the XPS 15 (L521X) Owner's Lounge:

The grid issue with the screen is there and is sooooo annoying and gets really bad when on a white background.

 

Ah ok, I misunderstood your last post

 

I know, and is normal when pressing on any LCD having pooling effect.
Pooling defects/rippling effect of the liquid crystal material, are noticed when I close the lid, no pressure on it whatsoever.
Anyway, because of Wi-Fi issue the Dell Tech is going to change; the LCd. wifi card and optical drive, it might be better or worse.

 

Wow that screen photo looks horrible. I haven't noticed it on mine, but will take a closer look when I get home. I'm already returning it because of the wifi issue, but I'll weigh in on whether my system is affected with the screen grid too. Is this something that, like the wifi problem, is showing up in most units?

 

Two display-related comments from XPS 15 (L521X) Owner's Lounge:

... the "pixel grid" is still there. I'm beginning to wonder if this is just the way the screen is supposed to look. (It's very subtle and almost bearable, but it's really distracting on some pages, and it makes most images look over-sharpened. I've just never seen this issue before.)

... two Dell XPS 15 laptops now and both have the screen grid issue.

 

I have noticed another issue with the screen. Find a website that has a white background, but also a large section with black background (i.e. a black footer for example). As your scroll down to the footer, you will the colour shift considerably on the white background. Its almost as if the screen is dimming itself to display the blacks hence the whites go grey. Really odd!

 

The same is happening with mine. Dell replaced the screen and the max brightness is very poor, beside lots of dust in it, while on a webpage the background is black and change the page to white one, I see an increase of brightness to some point, and as you said on black background is dimming itself.
Other screen was working perfect and the max brightness was better.

 

The only way I can see a grid on my XPS 15 is by holding a camera practically up against the screen, so no grid issues for me.. I guess I should consider myself lucky.

 

Well, that is perfectly normal. I'm using a XPS 15 L502, with the awsome 1920x1080 B+RG LED, but if I place the camera 1cm from the screen, supermacro mode, this is the result

L502x FullHD B+RG LED Display 1 cm away

So I think your screen is good

 

Thats not a bug it's a feature!
It's called "intelligent display" and you can turn it off. According to dell it helps saving battery life.

 

I have the gridlines but they are very fine and you can only see them when your nose is very close to the screen. More annoying for me is the blue tint, I've tried dialling the blue down a bit but it's really hard to get rid of it without it looking even worse. It would be nice if these expensive top of the range laptops had correspondingly good screens....

I noticed some people mentioned changing the color profile to help with the gridline issue, can you tell me how you changed it to a more natural color, I've been using the Windows 7 display wizard but I get the impression you guys/girls are using something else?

 

It should be windows key + x , and then use normal colour (or something like that) instead of "Splendid". Sorry, I can't be more specific, I don't have the laptop and am trying to remember

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I tried this ( My xps 15 has no grid issues) I don't see a difference changing the color settings.

 

For Reference

 

I just wanted to say that I too have the pixel grid problem, it was the first thing I noticed when I turned on the laptop for the first time. If I am sitting with my head within a foot of the screen, it is very visible to me, less so if I move a bit further away.

Comparing with other laptop and even desktop screens by putting my eye an inch away from them, I see that those other screens do not have anything that resembles the pixel grid from the l521x.

Reading this thread, I see some claiming that they don't see it at all and others claiming that replacing the screen fixes the problem. I wonder if the replacement is just a placebo, if claims that people don't see the grid is a case of most people not having perfect eyesight, or if this screen with visible pixels is just the screen that Dell chose for this laptop and I'm going to have to live with it.

The screen irritates me quite a bit but perhaps not enough to return it or schedule to have the screen replaced without a confirmation that a replacement really will fix the problem.

 

I'll chime in and say that I have the pixel grid issue as well. It's not as bad as a few of the pictures posted here, and in and of itself wouldn't be enough for me to send the computer back, but my wife and I both notice it on light colored backgrounds and it can be distracting. Definitely disappointing given that this is a "premium" laptop.