NH58RAQ/NP6855 - Screen Upgrade Experience

TLDR;+
Yes upgrading from FHD >> QHD is possible
Do your homework on the HW specs of your device
Make sure you ask for an EXACT model as there is almost 100% guarantee that they will send something other than what you purchase
Upgrade from LP156 WFC-SPD1 FHD/60hz >> NE156QUM-N66 - 4K/60hz + 6-43-N85H1-010-2S (EDP 4K cable)
Get both the panel + cable in the same shipment from kreplacement.com
https://www.kreplacement.com/product-11030.html
https://www.kreplacement.com/product-11028.html


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Let me start our saying that this place played a pivotal role in the experience and was quite helpful.

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I started this process with the intent to replace the LG LP156 WFC-SPD1 / (LGD0563) panel that my laptop shipped with from ebay a little over a year ago. I primarily jumped into the Clevo/Sager band camp for the specs over popularity.

HM370 / Ii7-9750H / GTX1650 / etc...... but the biggest differentiator at the time was 2 x NVME slots for under $1K. FHD va QHD 4K didn't really matter at the time as I had already switched from a Dell 7568 (4K touch) to a Lenovo Y720 (FHD) and gotten used to the FHD lack of real estate again.

So, anyway, got the laptop and fired it up to make sure it was working and had pre-ordered an AX201 / 16GB Ram to put into it when it arrived as well swap out the HDD for NVME's. Works great w/o any issues. One day though I happened to put on my polarized sunglasses and noticed the screen looked like it had a polarized privacy film on it while wearing the sunglasses. Didn't think much of it at the time. As time went on though it was clear the screen was causing my eyes to feel dried out a bit more than the other laptops. Again, didn't think much about it for awhile. Well, it's slowly led to not adjusting vision near/far as quickly and I'm thinking it degraded fine detail distance vision to the point of not passing a DMV vision screening. Mind you this is a bit anecdotal at this point since it's only the 3rd day of having this new panel installed but can feel the difference already and with some more time it will either prove to be the correction needed versus going to the eye doc and getting a RX.

Anyway.... onto the meat of the swap out. I dug around the usual suspects looking for panel info / comparisons. Looked in the manual and found 4 upgrade options:
N156HCE-EN1
NV156FHM-N4K
LP156WFG-SPB2
N156HGA-EA3

Looked into them as we do when we want to do upgrades outside of the spec of the OEM and wasn't really impressed with any of them. Which led to looking into similar panel sizes and weighing the 30/40 pin cable replacement expense with going with a 40 pin panel vs swapping a direct 30 pin replacement like:
https://www.panelook.com/modelcompare.php?ids=38454,36617,40445,41166,45536
B156HAN10.0 (need a 40 pin cable upgrade to use this model (6-43-N85H1-010-2S)
LP156WFG-SPF2 (need a 40 pin cable upgrade to use this model (6-43-N85H1-010-2S)
LP156WFG-SPB2 (need a 40 pin cable upgrade to use this model (6-43-N85H1-010-2S)
NV156FHM-NY4 (30 pin /144hz)
N156HCE-GN1 (30 pin /60hz)
6-43-N85H1-010-2S (EDP 4K cable) $18-$35 + shipping from China ~$40-$45 total + long delays waiting for it to arrive

Started pricing things out / specs to compare / deciding on the 40/30 issue / 60hz/144hz and so on. There isn't much info on this particular laptop in comparison to popular models here and elsewhere though. That's when the HW specs and experience building PC's from component level up comes into play. After looking into the slight upgrade models above the pricing was ranging from $90-$160 for FHD!!! So, I took a stab at the GN1 monitor through laptopscreen.com and that's when the slight of hand started and getting very specific with dealers started from a lesson learned in which you order a particular model and they ship something completely different like N156HCE-EN1 ...... 30% price difference to start off....
https://www.panelook.com/modelcompare.php?ids=41166,30969
GN1 is 500 NIT / 1000:1 contrast
EN1 is 300 NIT / 700:1 contrast

Sorted that out with them and dove back into research mode and looking for a direct replacement EXACT model for which to purchase stumbled upon kreplacement.com after probing the likes of ebay / aliexpress / alibaba and all of the usual haunts that popup when looking for screen models. The site felt a little different than the big name sites and landed on a page that listed the coveted GN1 but wasn't found on the shopping side as an item listed. This is where your spidey senses will kick in though if you've been through any online shopping experience.. There's a hotmail address listed and well yeah.... So, I went over to aliexpress and rolled the dice on a GN1 and my card got declined and they wanted ID/front & back of the card uploaded to approve the sale.... SMH

Came back to KR and sent them an e-mail to the hotmail address just to see what happens and listed out a few models to get quotes on since they're not readily listed on the shopping portal. A day or two go by and no response... Still rummaging through other options to pass the time and then the response pops up. Prices are in line with everywhere else if not slightly cheaper and they have the cable needed to go from 30 pin socket to 40 pin panel. ((Finding panel + cable from the same retailer is almost impossible))

So, we're playing ping pong in what turns out to be a 13 hour time difference... I'd ask for prices / get prices / change my mind on models...Looking at the prices + shipping vs technology / resolution it made more sense to look into 40 pin / QHD... dug around everywhere and everyone says don't switch the resolution or pin out!!!!

Well, I'm not one to listen to things of that nature and just accept them. Started digging some more into 4K specs / models / refresh / contrast / HDR or not / 8 or 10 bit..... such a rabbit hole to go down... came up with:
https://www.panelook.com/modelcompare.php?ids=42501,43684,36194,40964,40776,39623,45287,39913
B156ZAN05.1 - 4K/120hz - wanted this one and added it and the cable to my cart on KR
B156ZAN05.0
B156ZAN03.4
NE156QUM-N62
NE156QUM-N66 - 4K/60hz - ended up with this one
NE156QUM-N63
LQ156D1JW42

Based off the 350.66mm×216.25mm size requirement it really limits things when it comes to selection vs having the ability to go up to 360mm wide. So, with the list above... wanted ZAN05.1 but got the N66 instead since they didn't have any stock of ZAN at the time due to lock down in HK. Other sources had the 5.0 AG 25% haze model but not the true matte. I ordered the 5.0 + cable but when it was processing on their end I get an e-mail from the guy I had been talking to saying they would be sending a "compatible" model like the ls.com situation mentioned earlier and that led to the comparison of things again and resale value if it failed to work. After some back and forth on making sure that if I picked N66 that's the model that would actually ship and not some other model that's compatible like before they confirmed an exact model. So, all in all the panel + cable were $100 and the shipping just adding the items to the cart was $45 on that sliding 7-20 day scale. For the whole compatible model snafu post submitting payment I pushed for expedited shipping at no additional cost to make up for the pseudo bait and switch attempt.

Took about 15 minutes to swap the cable / panel out... Already had the casing screws out from other upgrade I did while sorting out the panel upgrade. The longest time expense was pulling the existing cable and routing the new on along the same path from the mobo to the panel. You have to undo bothe hinge sides (4 screws) to get the wiggle room and clearance to route the cable under the hinge bar to keep it from being a pinch point on opening / closing the lid and then through the inside portion to get it into the lid.

Went against my better judgement of just dry fitting it and hitting the power to see if it worked before rerouting and replacing the cable. Fired things up and the panel lit up....BIOS displayed the splash as usual...(recently upgraded to 1.07.09 from https://repo.palkeo.com/clevo-mirror/NH5x_70_RDx_RCx_RAx_RHx(Q)/ ((repo/repo)) from another post listed here on NBR) .... some other posts mentioned locked BIOS / EDID problems along with whitelisting issues...

Got past the splash screen and no prompts or anything... got the windows loading... no issues... got to the desktop and figured things are good. Let everything load and started swapping the resolution over to QHD from FHD settings.. things seemed a bit sluggish.... I think the panel was just warming up to the new home it has.... the sluggish feeling went away within a couple of minutes.

WOW.... there's a huge difference in colors and clarity compared to the SPD1 that started the whole experience. I dug into the specs w/ HWINFO and verified it's a legit panel / played with windows colors and confirmed 10 bit / HDR options / WCG.

Birghtness controls work when using HDR or not
HDR kind of feels a bit dim to be using during the day in a normal room as it cuts the brightness to what feels like about 60% and is dimmer than w/o HDR at 40%.

It doesn't appear to have a huge effect on the battery life in comparison since the specs are inline with the original panel vs the ZAN05.0 which would be an additional power draw in V/W... which also reminds me of this post as the 5.0 voltage is a bit higher @ 9V vs 5V for the lamp unit on the N66. Maybe a blessing that they were out of stock on the 5.0... After getting the panel though something caught my eye that the panel was listed as "oxide" aka IGZO which is a step up from IPS in pixel density and lower power consumption.

Also, after leaving the screen going w/ normal use like before w/ SPD1 it stays completely cool tot he touch whereas the SPD1 put off a little bit of heat after awhile....

Side note... for the ZAN5.0 panel through discussions with a seller on e-bay to support the panel they said a seller of cables had an off label cable that supports 120hz vs 60hz output. From a technical stand point through this seems like rubbish as the pin out would be the same. The only thing I can think of would be they upgrade the gauge of wire to support the higher Voltage and push 120hz but since the standards in place don't mention a different cable requirement it doesn't make much sense. One poster somewhere mentioned cabling differences as:
1. 30-pin eDP 2-channel (used for FHD without touch)
2. 40-pin eDP 2-channel (used for FHD + touch)
3. 40-pin eDP 4-channel (used for higher display resolutions, touch and non-touch as I understand it)

From the builder standpoint this somewhat makes sense sort of like a PWM vs 3 pin fan cabling where you get speed control with PWM and not with the 3 pin fan. So, it's possible the "upgraded cable" enables further options than the recommended cable for 144hz FHD / 120hz QHD....I sent the inquiry over to KR but didn't get anything back regarding a potential beefier cable option.

 

Side by side of the panels..... Left is the original SP1 and right is the N66