CCFL to RGB-LED Swap

Just curious, has anyone attempted this? I searched some threads, but people have talked about it, but never tried it. I'm considering doing a LCD swap on my current notebook (going from an LG Philips LP171WU3 to a LP171WU5 with a matte finish).

 

As long as the displays fit i don't see any problem

 

I'd like to bump this.

Does anyone know of any specific concerns with this sort of swap? Are voltages different, connectors, etc.? I'm thinking I'll want to upgrade my dim CCFL screen to something nice like the Samsung RGB LED found in Dell's M4400.

The screen I'd swap out would be a Thinkpad W500 WUXGA. I've sent emails to Samsung, and a couple laptop screen resellers, but I haven't heard back yet.

 

That's not the only issue. The display will physically fit into the frame, sure, but CCFL displays have backlight inverters. LED displays do not.

 

you can pm "somms", he is the lcd specialist on this forum.
i think you need to change the whole lid, not just the lcd panel.

 

The LCD is the same for both CCFL and RGB LED. Only the backlight and its driving circuits are different.

 

Do you know if that circuitry you describe is integrated with the panel already, or if it's a component of the motherboard? Meaning, is there something different about, say, a Dell M4400 motherboard with RGB LED vs a M4400 with a CCFL vs any other laptop with a CCFL? Otherwise, if it's part of the panel, it really does sound like it could be almost a plug-n-play package that would be ready to swap in...

 

Well.. it's not that simple like you said..

I believe they're half integrated. Part of the circuit (the leds) are probabably located in one of the LCD pannel layers, and the other part comes in a daughter pcb board which is independant from the motherboard. This daughter board controls the input signals and supply power to the backlight and lcd pannel.
Thus, the motherboard of Dell M440 with RGB LED is the same with M4400 with CCFL motherboard.

Disassembling the laptop to switch another LCD screen and its driving circuit will be the hardpart. The actual process of switching LCDs and the driving circuit is very easy. It's almost plug n play package.

 

Is the daughter board you're talking about also called an inverter or converter?

So, in your estimation, the hard part would probably be getting the motherboard to play well with a new pcb daughterboard (which is included with the screen)?

I wish the screen I'm looking at was cheaper, I would just buy it and see how it goes. But right now I only see one seller on eBay and they're $500!

I'm surprised there is so little information on this sort of thing available. I would think notebook users would appreciate being able to upgrade their screen easily with the help of internet resources (which I can't seem to find!).


EDIT: Alternatively, I wonder if anyone could suggest a really bright, good quality 15.4" WUXGA CCFL screen that would be an easier swap.

EDIT 2: I did find this: http://www.greyhead.co.uk/wiki/Installing_a_high_resolution_display_on_a_Macbook_Pro which seems to be the closest thing to a "guide" available. It also seems to be somewhat encouraging? The W500 seems to be on using the Montevina platform which is the same as the M4400, which I hope increases chances for success with a transplant like this.

 

No.. What i mean was the hardest part was opening the laptop without damaging the unit. The Swaping process takes like 1 minutes after you expose the screen.

The daughter borad that I was refering are commonly called inverter, DC-DC voltage booster or whatever you want to call it.

There are so little information on the internet is because there are only a handful people who have the guts to try it out. I got my experience from fixing a couple broken thinkpad screens.

 

you may be better off just buy a new laptop with rgb led screen, its nearly impossible buying just the rgb led screen alone .

 

No, they're all over sites like eBay.

 

Okay, I see what you wrote now. Is it your experience that Thinkpads are especially tricky to remove LCDs from?

I'm tempted to try this just to see if it can be done, for curiosity's sake. I think worst case is I'll have to put the dim CCFL back in and have to mess with reselling the LED.

Assuming I don't break everything in the process.

 

Switching a LCD in thinkpad notebook took me about 5 minutes to take the laptop apart and 1 minute to switch the LCD screen and 3 minutes to put it back together. It's very simple to do.

Inexperienced "modder" will probably take 10-20 minutes to disassemble the laptop and 5 minutes to switch the LCD and 10 minutes to put it back together.

 

That sounds easy enough, you guys are very brave in experimenting with your laptops.. My hands would keep shaking if I try to open up mine.