Vostro 1400 LCD quality

Just got my Vostro 1400 yesterday!

Overall, the unit is nice. When I ordered, I was unsure I'd like the all black, and since Dell's pictures of the units aren't that great, I wasn't clear exactly how they looked. I'm happy with the "charcoal" color, and with the shiny chrome buttons, it looks ok (not great, mind you. It's still a big black hunk of computer).

Keyboard feels nice. I'm not happy with the decision to put the DC power jack on the side!!! I hate having big protrusions sticking out the side of the computer! Bad choice in design if you ask me. Obviously, the back doesn't have much room with the battery there, but they could have put the (rarely) used modem jack on the side and put the DC jack on the back!!!

The DVDRW, when sliding it open or closed, has a metallic rubbing sound. I think the rails it slides on are metal on metal or something. Kind of annoying.

One other annoyance--the multimedia buttons at the top of the keyboard are not level. Two of them look like they are not seated right, but after pushing them down, they still sit above the others a bit.

Lastly, and it may irritate me enough to send the unit it back, is the LCD. Although at first glance it looks beautiful (uniform colors, vibrant and no graininess), it suffers from that backlight/angle problem. (Mostly when on a dark screen), it is almost impossible to position your head so the whole screen is uniformly black. I wouldn't call it "bleed", but some other effect of the backlighting that as you move your head around, the screen gets brighter, almost like changing the contrast. Move your head to the extremes, and the screen almost becomes white. Yuk. BTW, it's a SAMSUNG (SEC4457).

I ordered both the Vostro 1400 and 1500, since they have an unconditional 30 day money back guarantee, to see which I liked the best. I haven't unboxed the 1500 yet. I was planning on getting rid of my XPS M1210 in favor of the 1400, and I think the 1500 will be just too big, so I haven't opened it yet (even though I ordered it with the WSXGA+ high-res screen, which I'd like to see!).

Anyways, if anyone has any questions about the 1400 I can answer, bring 'em on!

 

Yeah, the LCD seems to have a very narrow window to get the picture perfect.

I am returning my 1400 because the glossy screen is impossible to watch a movie on the Long Island Railroad. I could shave on the train with how bad the reflection is. At home in a dim room the screen looks really nice but I want to watch movies everyday during my commute. So back it goes

Other minor annoying issues are fingerprints all over the case and a battery that wobbles.

 

My 1400 has the Samsung screen, which is not great at all compare side-by-side to my 640m with the AUO screen.

Since I am using the M1210 and the 1400 is for my gf, I still prefer to keep the M1210 as it is still more powerful and more mobile.

 

A agree the M1210 is more mobile, but I needed more screen resolution and the M1210 has no higher res options, so I thought the 1400 would be a good replacement. But, this screen is lousy.

 

You can probably call Dell support and make them replace the LCD by telling them the screen flickers. They replaced mine with the nice AUO.

 

i just did the exact opposite. i cancelled my 1420 order and bought a nice 1210 for 800$

if i need more res, i just hook it into my 22"

 

Does anyone know what manufacturer is LPLF300?

 

LG Phillips

 

Sorry to bump an old thread, but I wanted to get some advice. I just received my 1400 today and one of the first things I noticed was this very problem. I literally can't find any angle where the whole picture looks nice. Either the bottom is washed out or the top is overly dark.

My question is, is this unique to the SEC4457 (which I do have) or is this how all the 14" screens look? I find it absolutely unacceptable considering this thing costs a grand. However, the rest of the laptop is pretty nice, so if you all can tell me that other screen manufacturers look better, I'll go for an exchange instead of a return.

 

I have a LG (LPL3000) and it has the vertical viewing angle problem. Unfortunately a lot of laptops have this issue now as manufacturers cheap out on the screens and consumers demand lower prices. Its an easy place for a manufacturer to cust cost.

Also, SEC IS NOT SAMSUNG!!!

 

That's very disappointing. Isn't LG consider the "good" screen? I don't know how anyone can put up with this. Maybe I'm hurt extra-bad since the main forums I read are have a pitch-black background, but still...even watching videos and stuff, it's really noticeable.

 

I really haven't had that bad of a problem with mine. It has minor backlight bleed to it which isn't really noticeable at all unless a black screen.

I do have a little problem finding "the perfect viewing angle" on it but I'm not going to be jogging and on my laptop at the same time.

And it isn't grainy.

I just dont think it is as bright as it could be.

I thought AUO are the screens to stay away from???

 

The SEC is less grainy, but has horrible viewing angles. The AUO can be very grainy.. it was on mine. I now have a LG on a new HP dv6500t and that screen is amazing. Its as nice if not better then my samsung 931b 19" LCD. I am not sure how the LG's are with dell, but the LG on my new HP is years ahead of either the SEC or AUO I had on the 1420 I had for a brief time. If you really want a nice screen and don't want to risk it, then go with HP. HP and Sony are probably the best for good displays. I recommend going with the regular wxga with dell. I think the hi res displays as a general rule give you more issues then the added benefit of higher res. Your better off going with the lower res and saving a few bucks as well.

 

I wanted to go with a low res (I was pretty determined), but at the time of my order, pre-configured model with WXGA+ was just a LOT better deal so I decided to give it a shot.

I ended up getting a SEC panel. No graininess, more/less uniformly backlit screen, but as others already mentioned here - terrible viewing angles, simply ridiculous - I cannot position myself in a way where I could see the entire screen well - either top gets too dark, or bottom looks washed out. I cannot believe this is considered acceptable quality LCD by DELL :-/

Other than that - I really like the look and feel of Vostro 1400. Too bad I'll have to return it due to its LCD
Can anybody comment on matte WXGA? Do those have similar viewing angle issues?

 

You're wrong. I have a vostro 1400 with SEC4457 panel.
I opened my notebook up and confirmed with my eyes it is a SAMSUNG.

 

You sound awfully sure...sure enough to use ALL CAPS???

Too bad you're wrong, because I also disassembled my Vostro 1400 LCD (and SEC4457) a few weeks back just to prove my point, and posted pictures in another thread.

It has SAMSUNG stickers all over it.

So, SEC IS SAMSUNG!!!

 

Posting few pictures I took last night, in case anybody's interested. However, I would strongly advice to preclude from making any kind of judgment calls based on these images - no matter how hard I tried to take more/less realistic picture of my display - it comes out far worse in the pictures than it looks in real (True?) life

I used Nikon D70 SLR camera with a Nikkor 50mm prime lens (stopped down to f/20, with really low shutter speed - around 1 second, to ensure I eliminate the wavy-line interference patterns).

The vignetting (or light fall-off) that you see on the first image is only "visible" to the camera - I do not see it with a naked eye. If you think you see graininess - I would first suspect 1) jpeg compression, 2) In-camera settings/processing (ISO, noise reduction, etc), 3) lens resolution
and only then, may be, the screen itself.

 

Those pictures look grainy though????

 

not to me, no... I see no grain whatsoever. My only concern is viewing angles. Colors were a bit off out of the box, but I have Spyder2, so I color-calibrated it, therefore I'm happy with the colors as well.

 

As I noted in another thread, at least MY graininess would be very hard to capture on camera as the effect is very much amplified by movement and by having two viewing sources (eyes).

The effect to me seems very much like taking a piece of thin cheap plastic wrap and putting it on the screen so there are no wrinkles or creases... the slight oilyness causes a weird sort of rainbow/grain/oil slick effect that if motionless is fairly hard to detect with one eye.

But since it depends on the angle at which you see it where it shows up, two eyes see different things which gives it a sort of sparkle and make it more noticeable.

Hard to explain but maybe you can understand from that...

 

Please help.

When placing Vostro 1500 with WXGA and 1400 with WXGA+ side by side for comparison, the 1400 LCD is consistently dimmer (by almost two "notches"). I have maximized the brightness setting on both. Display settings on both are the same. In fact, I didn't change anything and verified that they have the same settings.

Is this a common problem for Vostro 1400?

I ordered both to compare. Found 1500 to be overly bulky and heavy to carry around. Leaning toward keeping 1400 but can't live with the much dimmer LCD. Is there a way to tweak it to make the 1400 brighter beside the brightness setting?

Appreciate your input.

 

Just got my 1400. Trying to figure which screen manufacture. PCWizard2007 has GR5517N14113-14 inches. Have to be honest was surprised with how good it looks. I chose matte wxga..........not the 'shiny'. XD media card not working in slot. Vista is terrible. Would like it better if XP was a choice

 

how's brightness of your matte ? Viewing angles ? do you have anything to compare to? I'm about to return my wxga+ and re-order... but not sure if I should go with truelife or matte

 

I'd like to know this too...I'm actually on hold waiting for CS after having just spoken with Tech Support for 15 minutes about my screen (horrible viewing angle SEC4457). I am planning on doing a downgrade to the matte, both in an attempt to avoid the graininess/viewing angle problems of other screens AND because after having seen the Glossy True-Life crap in person, it is horrible.

Just got through to CS and he said the only solution is for me just to return the whole thing for a full refund. No exchange or credit, just all my money back, and I can buy another Dell 'at my leisure.' Go figure. Guess now I have to wait on another coupon to pop up

 

the LG panel on my 1400... sent it back for a refund.

 

Is it at full or medium brightness?

 

yep...i also had a XGA LG panel....the bottom part had a backlight problem similar to bigempty's.

 

Everst home edition has monitor id CMO1426. I couldn't be more satisfied and surprised. Brought this with matte fully expecting to return as the 'no worry return/no fees' was the only reason I decided to take a chance. I had ruled out 'true life' so it was only the matte. The cost was $628. I've been trying to find a reason to return. Media card for 'xd' .........not working. See what goes with that. Hate to steer anybody wrong, but to me the screen is best thing so far with this rig. Solid build for sure. I'll sing out if I find a problem.

 

are matte screens much better than glossy ones??? Whats the difference? Any advantages?

 

Just got my Vostro 1400. Has a SEC4457.

Problems? Generally washed out colours and poor viewing angles, not to mention the backlight bleed at the bottom of the screen.

The laptop is great otherwise, but the damn screen...

 

welcome to the club... I also noticed that screen looks the best at approx 25-30 degrees from the right, as opposed to straight on...

 

So which WXGA+ screen is the best for 1400/1420?

CMO, LG, Philips, SEC?

Grossy, Matted?

 

sounds like LG

 

I've heard more complaints of graininess with the glossy screens, as it might have to do with the coating put on the glossy TrueLife screens. I have not heard many complaints from those that ordered the matte.

 

Hmm... I am reading and looking etc. I have the SE4457 and right now it looks ok with a few windows up. Just surfing a bit. The viewing angles are worse than my IBM T60 but nowhere near horrible etc. I think I till keep this one. Will try some DVD's etc. first.