It's Alive..........It's Alive..........Muahahaha..........

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Intro
I bought a X200 with the plan to upgrade it to the AFFS screen. I thought I'd give a little detail about the whole process in case there's some others who may be considering doing the same. I didn't think about it until after I was done, but I should have taken some pictures along the way. Oh, well.

Screen
For the X200 to be upgraded it needs to have the CFFL backlit LCD for it to be a straight swap. You can do the LED screen as well, but more parts need to be swapped to make it happen. The screen you need to do the swap is the BOE-Hydis HV121WX4. There's three variants of the screen – the 100 and 110, both of which are glossy, and the 120, which is the matte version. Since these are tablet screens, a lot the available screens have a touch surface and digitizer, which must be removed to make the swap. There are a few availbe where they are removed. If you can get one of those for not too much more than one with it, I'd recommend it. Taking off the digitzer can be a pain in the rear. More on that later.

Buying
I prefer to get the matte version of the screen, but they are scarce and more expensive. I decided having a better screen was more important than spending the extra money. I went with the glossy screen. I looked around on eBay and elsewhere, and decided the glossy 110 version of the screen from Skyline Engineering. You can find a link here. The package arrive pretty quickly as they're just in the next state over. It could have been a little better packed in my opinion, but it seemed to arrive unharmed.

Taking Apart the X200
I've done this swap before on my R60. I did the swap on my R60 in about 20 minutes. I didn't even take off the LCD. I was going to go that way with the X200, but couldn't get my hand behind the LCD to take off the cable. I needed to take off the LCD, which lengthened the process. Since the X200 is a smaller machine, it's a little harder to work on. The X200 is much more tightly packed and takes more finesse to take apart and get back together. I don't consider myself to be a guru by any stretch, but if you have some knack for this stuff, it shouldn't be too difficult.

Preparing the Screen
When trying to decide which screen to get, I learned there's two types of touch surfaces – a glass one and a non-glass one. Hope for the non-glass as the glass surface is harder to take off. Unfortunately, I got the glass one. For use in the X200 it must be removed. The glass is bonded to the LCD with very strong glue. To remove it you must take a razor blade and cut between the glass and the LCD from, but you got to be careful not to either damage the screen or break the glass. After the touch surface is removed, you should remove the excess glue. I found taking the razor to peel enough up to grasp it with your fingers made pulling off the rest pretty easy.

Here's the funny part. The LCD one I got had two surfaces - plastic one, which came off easily. I actually started to put my machine back together without taking the glass off, thinking the plastic one was the touch surface. When it wouldn't fit, it dawned on me I still had to take the glass off. Quite a bit of force is required to cut the glue between the glass and the LCD frame. I actually cut a couple of my fingers just pushing the razor through. I don't think you'll damage the screen if you keep the blade closer to the frame, but be careful with the glass. You don't want to break it.

I couldn't find a good way to take the digitizer off without taking apart the screen, which I didn't want to do. I taped it down and left it. It's pretty flat so there's no issues there and it only weighs a half an ounce, if that.

Screen
After finally getting everything together and turning it on, I saw the lovely ThinkPad logo the first time I booted it up. Hip Hip Hooray – I didn't want to take it apart again. As for the screen itself, it's very good, much better than the one it replaced. The picture above doesn't do it justice, but it's all I got. It has a very large sweet spot as opposed to the 5° on the Samsung the X200 came with. I did notice when I pushed it back all the way it did seem to get a bit darker than my R60 screen, not inverted, but darker. I don't know if that's the gloss or something else. Though it is a glossy screen, you could hardly tell. Only when there's a light source directly behind you, can you see much reflection. This is compared to say the U150 I had, which was pretty much a mirror at every angle. It looks most glossy when it's off.

Conclusion
There's my thoughts on the AFFS screen upgrade. I hope it can help anyone who's thinking about doing it. A big thanks to your fellow mod erik, who provided invaluable guidance along the way.


Oh yeah, anyone know where to find some X200 screw covers on the cheap? A couple of mine went flying when I was taking them off and I'd like to have them back.

 

Nice job Zaz! Would be nice if you give credit to me, the original modder as well














Nah, just messing with ya! Hope you'll start enjoying the screen as much as I have been.

 

Wow, Nice Job!

Can you get the screw cover caps direct from Lenovo? Or even eBay, that's where I got some for my Latitude.

 

the colour looks nice, better than the matte finish one...

 

I would not deny you were the original X200 modder, but ThinkPadders have been doing this for quite some before the advent of the X200, including myself with the R60. I gave props to erik as he provided know how in removing the touch surface, which is really the hard part. Thanks nonetheless. :tongue:

I kind of figured the one from Lenovo would be expensive, but I'll check it out. Nobody's got the X200 screw covers on eBay yet. I mailed a few sellers of the X6x, but was told they wouldn't fit.

I have no doubt it's going to be a great machine.

 

@ZaZ...Congrats! But I must say that while you make it sound easy, I suspect that there is a little more to it..sounds scary! I wish I could do stuff like this. I am scared of messing up my machine especially since I currently don't have a spare machine. But, for those with stronger constitutions, your experience and description will certainly help.

 

lineS of flight,

It really is not as bad as it seems. I bought my screen with the digitizer removed and the hardest part for me was removing the tape on the back of the old panel and unplugging the connector. None of this is hard, it just takes patience as I didn't know exactly what I was looking for.

If the warranty thing is not an issue, I'd recommend that just about anyone go for it. The key for me was to go slow and not to try to force anything together/apart.

 

Congrats on the new, awesome screen.

 

still don't understand what all the fuss is about, do you have the before upgrade picture so noobs like me can actually know what the difference is.

 

Some things, you just have to experience in real life... pictures don't really do it justice IMO.

 

no problem, ZaZ.   it's good to see everything working.

they're normally only sold with LCD covers and there's no FRU part number for them.   however, you can find them on ebay.

 

Nice job, ZaZ!

 

It's not quite the same, but I distinctly remember the 1 time I saw a T60 with the ultra quality Flexview or whatever tech screen. I imagine the AFFS is like that

 

if the T60 had a BOE Hydis panel then it was AFFS.   if it was made by IDTech or LG then it was traditional IPS.

 

Like I said, just messing with ya!
(But really, the pioneers are the one who go in, purchasing the screen to attempt the mod, without knowing whether the type of connection is compatible or not, and whether the screen is recognized by the laptop or not. I'm not talking about myself but other modders in the Thinkpad community as well. They have my respect.)
If you want to buy the screw cover, they have two types with different diameters available on ebay. Just measure the diameter of your cover, and buy the same kind on ebay. I had to use a few after my mod as well. Good luck!

 

Congratulations, ZaZ, looks very nice! I would never have the guts to do that to my computer

 

No guts, no glory. Actually, I already knew it could be done. There wasn't much courage there. Probably more so with my R60 as the time I didn't know it could be it could be done at the time, though I suspected it would work. Worst case is I would have to put the old screen back.

 

I have no idea what screen that T60 sported. It was beautiful and left an impression

 

you need to get that and a fhd next to each other. angle wont be a contest, but my mommy lets me sit right in front of the laptop.

 

cool! i actually e-mailed BOE Hydis the other day and asked if a 14.1 inch LED WXGA+ version of the HV121WX4 would ever be a possibility and they replied saying yes, they could do a custom order for the right quantity...

waiting on an e-mail back to figure out what that quantity would be

 

Sweet! If my X61 tablet ever dies, I'm definitely going to do this.

 

There's a thread over on ThinkPads.com attempting to get a special order IPS screens. I think they needed a minimum of 15,000 valid CCs before they'll consider doing it. I'd say that's ballpark for the kind of numbers you'd need.

You can swap the screen from the X61 tablet, including the SXGA+, but it's more involved than the X200. You need a special harness and cable to make it work. erik has done it I believe. He'd be in a better position to give you the details.

 

CCs?

10 char.

 

Well, my tablet already has a great screen, I just meant that if/when the laptop dies, I'll get an X200 and do what you did. Hopefully that won't be for a while!

@talin: I think he means credit cards?

 

Credit cards.

The problem is volume. Most business users - the primary target of Thinkpads - won't be purchasing the most expensive screen for better colors and viewing angles. And if there is not a huge volume, it's not profitable for Lenovo to make the option available.

Not to say I wouldn't like it if Lenovo did offer IPS displays again, though

 

Even if it was a substantial markup to upgrade, I think Lenovo should offer that option. But in thinking about it, I just can't see anyone (or most people atleast) caring about screen quality when they are on the road. Most people that take their notebooks on the road are most likely business people out in the field with work to do, not watching a video. Even if it's desk bound, most business people just want to get the job done and don't care for "theatrical quality" displays. You don't need that to do spreadsheets. I think if anyone really wants to enjoy a theatre like experience, they will either use a home theatre system, or buy an external monitor if screen quality really matters that much. Just my opinion though.

 

When these were offered on the T60 they regularly went out of stock, leading to shipping delays, and I think we know how much everyone here gets their panties in a bunch when it takes more than two weeks to ship their notebook. That was on the 15" models too, which don't sell as well as the 14" models. To offer it you'd need a steady supply, which was a problem at least on the T60s.

 

I would definitely pay a couple hundred extra for a better screen. The screen to me is one of the most important things (next to keyboard) of the user interface, which these days is IMO the most important part of a PC. Pretty much any laptop now-a-days has enough power for crunching spreadsheets, writing programs, watching & encoding movies, etc. The limiting factor is the UI, which the screen is a HUGE part of. I'd gladly have a slower laptop with a very nice screen and keyboard than a super-fast one with crappy ones.

 

I would not feel comfortable giving out my credit card information to some random website. I would do it if Lenovo is offering this special order.

 

I did this mod myself too. NOTE: never do this when you are in a bad mood. I had to drill out 2 screws because I stripped them. Then I couldn't remove the glass cover of my screen with a razor. This made me so angry that I just started to force things. My screen now has a few noticeable scratches and a dent because of the broken glass and because I was careless.

The screen btw doesn't deserve the praise its getting though. I thought I would get to see something legendary but it's not any better (or worse) then my sony vaio TZ screen. It's still an awesome screen though. I saw the connector thing and a few pictures on ebays of other ccfl lcd's that looked exactly the same. My question is why did everyone go for BOE-HYDIS. I reckon other displays work just as good and can offer the same quality for cheaper.

I went for BOE-HYDIS because I didn't want to take any risks at all and I heard it was the best of the best.

 

The BOE-Hydis is a straight swap at least once you get the digitizer off, which is why people go for it. I can't imagine your Sony screen has the angles of the BOE. There certainly are other notebooks that offer high contrast displays like the MBP for example, but it's the angles than separates the BOE.

 

Taking a picture is rather pointless to truly get an idea about screen qualities. You really need to see it in person aside from just having an equally bias comparison if two screens are next to each other in a picture.

That being said you have a tablet screen so you shouldn't have any fuss since you already have a great screen .

 

Well aren't other screens on ebay a straight swap too (same size and resolution)? It's a straight swap because of the connector thing right?

I am pretty sure that I can not see the difference between the sony screen and the boe-hydis. Except that that the sony screen looks more blue-ish while the boe-hydis looks yellow-ish. Why are the viewing angles a pro anyway?

 

It depends on what you use the laptop for. Some people use it as a family entertainment device so that a lot of people can sit around to watch some movie on the laptop. In such case laptop with TN LCD with restrictive viewing angle can cause colour shifts if you don't view the laptop head-on.

The wide viewing angle is also useful for people whom do a lot design or photographic work, where there is a group discussion regarding one aspect of work displayed on one's laptop or desktop LCD. In such cases, it is a hassle to have to move the screen constantly to show to other people sitting on the very edge of the screen, on what you are actually discussing in regards to the object or picture you have on the LCD.

Obviously, there is also area where wide viewing angle is bad, i.e. bank, this is where they try to use privacy filters or select LCD monitors with limited viewing angle.

 

Well people who do graphic designing or using it as a family entertainment device wouldn't buy a 12" laptop in the first place or they would use a projector/external monitor.

I only care about the vertical viewing angles and the contrast. Well anyway I just don't agree that the viewing angles of the boe-hydis should be advertised as the main reason to get one every time by enthusiasts. I am pretty sure that most of us don't really care unless its as bad as the original x200 screen. And I personally can't tell the difference between other lcd screens

 

i am just talking about the viewing angle benefits in general, it is not just in regards to 12 inch laptop.

Also, large viewing angle is just one of the benefits of the screen, there are also better colour accuracy, which many people like and willing to spend a lot on.

 

the peak contrast is quite underwhelming.

 

I don't know how much you can tell from the picture about the contrast. It's an excellent screen and the viewing angles are the icing on the cake. If you've used a notebook and adjusted your position, you'd know exactly what I mean.

 

Sorry, but this is offtopic:

you posted in your other thread a picture of the modded screen:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/not...08-fs-x200-w-affs-mod-extras-699-shipped.html

http://img708.imageshack.us/img708/5764/54407730.jpg


Could you tell me what wallpaper this is. It looks awesome!
Thanks!

 

Here it is:

 

great, thank you so much!

 

Would this work for the x201 series?

 

Yes, but since the X201 are all LED LCDs, you've got to replace the LED sub card and cable with the inverter and cable from the CFFL X200.

 

Interesting. Here we have a moderator posting a copyrighted picture from an artist. The original work is from Leonid Afremov.

Zaz, this is totally uncool.

 

Are you now the copyright police?

 

I downloaded a whole bunch of his pictures from his own page at DeviantART. They weren't highest resolutions, but it worked great for a "small resolution" of 1280x800 on X200.

 

I have a high degree of respect for artists. My wife is one. So yea, I don't condone copyright violations or theft. Apparently this site does.

 

Does posting a picture I found on NBR mean I condone copyright violations or theft? Am I or is everyone now expected to research the provenance of every picture posted on the Internet? I hardly think reposting a picture I found here constitutes theft. Whether that's a copyright violation I don't have a clue. If you feel that strongly about it you could certainly contact Mr. Afremov. He could send NBR a takedown notice or sue me. Oh yeah, how about next time you shoot me a PM instead being a drama queen about it.

 

Both of you could have used PMs, either to share image or to ask about artists copyrighted material

Either way, I hope new ThinkPad screens are going to be tad bit better, because the one in my R400 isnt bad, but not too good to watch movies.

 

I brought it up because ignorance of US law isn’t an excuse. I hear that from the youngsters all the time and unless you challenge people publicly about it, the activity and behavior continues. It needs to stop. It is theft. The artist does sell his work if you like it.

You could have easily removed the pic and this would have been over. I do think you shoud do that. As a moderator you shouldn't allow members to do that in the forums, and that goes for you as well.

So why don't you take the high road and set the right type of example instead of ignoring a violation of US law?