NC6400 WXGA+ mediocre display quality

I just switched from the Dell D620 (with it's horrible grainy display quality and light leakage), to the nc6400, a little bit less horrible, but still not good.

I've checked and it seems that the hp uses a newer panel that the d620, the AUO1147 and the D620 often uses the older AUO1047.

Are there no good wxga+ 14.1" panels?! My main problems are firstly grainy looking light surfaces, and secondly too much light leakage at the bottom.

It's many leagues below my previously excellent dell inspiron 6400 wsxga+ glossy truelife screen.

What to do?

 

the only other wxga+ notebooks i know of is the asus z62j or lg r1. but they won't be as durable as those notebooks. have you been purchasing these with dedicated gpus or with integrated gpus? i have heard that at least with the d620, there was a noticeable difference in lcd appearance with dedicated graphics...but if you did have dedicated graphics, i guess that won't be good enough.

 

I have the dedicated ati x1300 version.

 

It seems to me that there might be two notebooks with good screens, albeigt heavier, the thinkpad T60 14.1 SXGA and the Toshiba tecra M5/M7, the tablet ability of the M7 actually makes it even more desireable, but it might lead to added weight?

I guess the nc6400 is the lightest in its class.

 

the nc6400 with the WXGA screen and Intel GMA950 is great

although the VGA output is poor through the laptop itself (it's much better from the docking station)

 

How do the D620 and the NC6400 compare otherwise? After countless hours of study, i have narrowed down my options to these two machines. Screen quality is not my prime concern, as i spend most of my work day with an external display.
Uses: jboss/eclipse, web development, modelling, reporting & statistics applications, database tools, writing, dozens of open web pages,

Priorities: silence (my current aging nx7000 is driving me and my co-workers nuts), performance, size&weight.

 

i can confirm the light leakage and grainy display on the nc6400 wxga+ x1300 model, sadly.

 

I can only second that... my nc6400 (ati x1300, wxga+) suffers from these issues as well. Significant light leakage at the bottom, grainy looking light surfaces (especially gray tones), poor vertical viewing angles. I was really disappointed by such a mediocre display on a premium class business laptop.

Even the build quality is somewhat below of what I expected. It's not to say that it's bad, just comparable to nx6100, which I also got hold of, costing however one third the price of nc6400. There is some slight keyboard flex in the left part of the keyboard (particularly around tke keys R,D,F). The LCD latches seem to be not symmetrically mounted - the left latch engages just instantly, whereas to engage the right one, the lid has to pushed a bit more towards the base. Also the LCD lid is a little weaker and can be twisted while holding it with one hand on a side (no ripples though).

I have purchased a user-customised model (available through HP TopConfig service here in Czech Republic), apparently assembled in Hungary. Once the notebook arrived, I had to disassemble the unit first to properly seat the switch cover in the base, as it was protruding good 1 or 2mm above the top cover. Speak of quality control there!

One last thing - I wanted to ask those of you with the same notebook, if you could send me the standard HP wallpaper for Windows (blue with plus sign and hp letters). I didn't have Windows installed with the machine (because it was cheaper to buy it separately as almost all the upgrade options - really overcharged) and I quite like it. Thanks.

 

Sad to hear, seems like there are no good quality 14.1" WXGA+ Screen out there atm, maybe IBMs 14.1" T60 with SXGA is better, but then again that machine cost lots more.

D620 VS NC6400, well, NC6400 has a slightly better screen and uses the widcomm bluetooth stack, it also has a scrollfunction on it's touchpad (blessing/curse) and a fingerprint reader for those who are into supersecurity.

The antenna might be a bit better aswell, but you've got to HACK THE BIOS to be able to use any internal wifi card other than the default intel, not good HP.

HP gives 3 years customer support as default.
I slightly preffer the D620 keyboard.
The nc6400s built in VGA output is poor.
The nc6400 has a sd card reader and the d620 does not have one.
The nc6400 is a bit lighter.
The nc6400 has a external underside batt, the d620 has the option for a default 9cell + media bay batt, probably prefferable.

 

After investigating the matter a bit more in-depth and reading a few other posts around the web concerning the quality of 14.1” WXGA+ displays in various laptops, I must say that I’m slowly reassessing the marks for the one in my nc6400. While my expectations were higher and I’d still rate it as average at best, it’s nowhere that bad to make it unusable and stands in contrast to what many users have reported for their machines.

The weakest point seem to be the narrow vertical viewing angles combined with the light leakage from CCFL at the bottom of the screen. When I align the display to see clearly (with sufficient contrast and brightness) from within a normal viewing distance the top and middle of the screen, the lower part (a band of approx. 2-3 cm) appears seemingly “washed-out” (like too much brightness, too little contrast). I believe that this is caused by the declining contrast and is further emphasized by the light bleeding from the bottom. Windows taskbar is particularly affected and is considerably brighter than captions of windows, although both should be the same colour. Having to accommodate the eyes frequently to this brightly lit yet low contrast area is causing a fair amount of eye strain. If I tilt the display backwards, the lower part gets better contrast but the infamous grainy patterns start to appear on the top, not to mention that it’s not very comfortable to look at a display tilted that far.

I wanted to ask fellow users of nc6400 with WXGA+ screens if they could post here or send me via email pictures of their panels from different angles and with black background. I’d very much like to have a comparison as to whether my display is just standard or inferior. I’m especially concerned with the light leakage as I believe the narrow viewing angles are rather a common sign. I’ll try to take a few pictures of my notebook once I get hold of a better camera (the current one wouldn’t do, unfortunately).

The whole point is that I’m trying to decide whether it’s meaningful to ask for a replacement of the display under warranty and if it’s reasonable to expect that it’d be better. I’m a bit reluctant to pursue it, as I cannot afford to be without the laptop for a longer period of time and I definitely don’t want to end up with an even worse display. Please share your experience with me.

The LCD panel that I currently have in my nc6400 is made by Quanta Displays (Model: QDS 0054, Part: QD14TL03).

Btw. I had a chat about this issue with an alleged HP support expert through HP Active Chat and it was like a joke. I think that I clearly stated what my problem was in the opening description and all I got were some useless words of advice. The “expert” then drove his point home by concluding that it “does not seem to be an issue as I should be able to resolve the issue by changing the brightness and contrast using FN+F9 and FN+10 keys”. Really stellar!

 

Stick with it until you can afford something better, maybe a comp with a LCD screen. 14" wsxga+ screens are generally bad atm, if you want something a whole lot better you've probably got to spend gazillions.

 

Well, I’m little uneasy about your suggestion, as I’ve already spent quite a lot on this notebook. Yes, I connect the notebook to an external LCD when I’m at home and so I haven’t paid that much attention to the quality of the display initially. But now that I have to travel more and have to work on the notebook’s display for longer periods of time, the shortcomings of the screen are becoming more apparent.

I’ve narrowed it down to the light leakage at the bottom. Otherwise, the display seems to be acceptable – sufficiently bright, adequate horizontal viewing angles, poor but bearable vertical viewing angles, slightly noticeable but not bothersome graininess. However, the declining contrast (due to poor vertical viewing angles) and higher brightness (due to light bleeding from CCFL) give the bottom of the screen a kind of “washed-out” appearance. I feel my eyes straining when looking at the lower part of the screen and it’s rather uncomfortable.

I find it difficult to settle with the thought that I’ve paid a premium for a top-of-the-line business class notebook (at least it’s the current position of nc6400 in the HP’s product line) and received one with a display of worse quality compared to various other notebooks costing half the price of nc6400.

You find the light leak on yours acceptable, grkn? Mine is clearly visible on darker backgrounds and when looking at the display from above, I could see a very bright line of light at the bottom. While watching movies or viewing photos, it’s certainly disturbing and annoying. Do you think it would be possible for you to take a few pictures of your notebook’s screen and either post them here or send them to me? (I would PM you my email.) Thanks.

 

Well, it's better than the D620, still not good but it works and I'm used to it
The light intensity is also adequate. Whem O recommended buying a new one I meant buying one in a couple of years w/ new technology.

I have a crap camera so photos might not be feasable.