What is a LCD Backlite screen?

I am starting to hear this term a lot. It looks like a lot of the newer notebooks coming out are starting to use them and from what I have read it implies that it will be brighter.

How is it different than the current LCD screens? Aren't all LCDs backlite?

 

All LCD screens are backlit the backlighting is what makes the screens light. Without backlighting there would be no light coming from the screen.

Now there are diffrent types of backlighting the 2 that are used are CCFL (Cold Cathode Florecsent Lamp) and LED (Light Emmiting Diode).

Most laptop screens are CCFL backlit they are kinda the standard

The new screens like the MBP and M1330 have are LED backlit. The advantage of LEDs are that they are brighter, thinner, and the backlighting is more even (less or no Backlight bleeding).

So recap all LCD screens are backlit
Most are CCFL
But the new and better ones are LED

 

soon.. looking forward into the future... we will starting to see OLED (Organic Light Emiting Diode) screen yaaay! it doesn't need backlight, because the pixel actually emits lights themself.. so no additional backlight required (goodbye backlight bleed ). think of it as plasma monitor, but without the weight/power consumption of it.. plus it will be razor thin! it will consumes even less power than today's LED lit LCD screen.

currently it is expensive, but the biggest problem is the short operating life it has. give it a few more years, and i'm sure they'll start releasing it on notebooks! infacts! sony actually already started selling an OLED TV recently.

 

Ya it's expensive isn't that sony a 19 or 20in for around $4,000!

 

The other reason for going to white-LED backlit screens is that CCFL backlights use mercury, like all fluorescent devices. It's not much, but mercury is highly toxic, and not using it is environmentally friendly. Far easier to recycle materials that don't have toxic byproducts.

Everyone else's points about lower power consumption, higher brightness, and better uniformity (that is, the evenness of lighting across the display) are all correct as well. Currently, they are a more expensive choice, but I hope to see more of them as time goes by as well.

 

Thanks so much everyone. This cleared things up.

 

This was some good information. Thanks.