Y540 Display Second Opinion

Just want a second opinion on this please. Mentioned in the owner's thread for the Lenovo Y540 that, in typical fashion, the warranty runs out and a defect is found.

Spotted the below (not the best shot, but no rainbow effects on photo) around a week after expiration for a 17" model. Looks like a smudgy dead pixel cluster in the upper center of the screen, just above the eye line.

I was thinking dead pixels immediately, affecting around half a dozen. However, now I'm veering towards dust or debris in the panel.

One thing, it disappears when viewing at a side angle, while vertically you can see a 'white cutout' effect.



I've had faults in screens before, either when new or a number of years old, but not one just over a year.

Replacement (AUO449D) is only around £65, but LCD swap is one repair/upgrade I've not done before and I'm wondering if it's really worth the hassle.

 

Looks like a hair/piece of fabric to me. Not worth the hassle unless your budget doesn't include a new model soonish.

Even then, if this will be your first attempt and the budget will be shot for £65, maybe another reason to not do this (yourself).

 

Thanks.

Broad plan was a minimum 3 years (up to 5). I did a number of upgrades when I bought it, memory, SSD, re-pasting, added some additional thermal padding.

The panel was fine on arrival, just some light leakage, neither the best or the worst. Thought I'd done reasonably alright screen-wise, so it's a bit of a bummer to have an issue at this point.

I'm wondering if dust or a hair in the panel at the point of manufacture may have been dislodged when moving the machine or even cleaning the display (last time a couple of weeks ago). I'm certainly not heavy handed with it though, plus it's used as a desktop replacement. Any foreign body ingression seems highly unlikely unless the panel was poorly assembled.

From what I've seen of videos of Y530/40s, replacement doesn't look the worst job, albeit these are 15" models. £65 isn't a king's ransom TBH.

In perspective it's just a mild annoyance, as otherwise the rig has been pretty much on-point. I'll keep my eye on it (since it's getting drawn there!), should something worsen or I fancy taking on the task, then I'll make a switch.

 

Whether a foreign body or something else it's going to be something you think about until it's gone.

15/17" whatever size replacements aren't as daunting as you think. It's worth the time and effort to do it yourself vs taking it somewhere. If you take your time (15-30m) to do it you'll get the satisfaction of achieving a fix on your own and you'll also know how to help others when it's done.

If you decide to move forward with a replacement figure out if you have any other "upgrades" in mind from the factory junk that's currently installed. Whether it's a 144hz or jumping to a 4K panel since all in all the price is usually about the same for the panel / cable if you need to swap them.