Possible to swap Lenovo FHD TN panel with similar IPS screen?

I have a T530 with the FHD panel. It's better than the really awful panels Lenovo uses on many of their machines, but still not very good. In particular, contrast and color at lower brightness is poor. Compared to my T61 (upgraded with a 1600x1200 IPS panel), video and photos just look awful on the T530, even after spending way too much time on calibration.

There seem to be more and more machines coming out (even from Lenovo) with 1920x1080 IPS panels. Has anyone looked into the feasibiliy of swapping one of these into the T530?

- Jay

 

I was wondering the same about the T430/T440p, but the only answer i've heard thus far is no

 

It is not possible due to different connectors. The old panels used LVDS while the new one use eDP. Unless you can find an adapter, it is impossible.

 

i know converters exist, would this work?

 

On T430 (going to the FHD panel of the T440p) the BIOS would most likely bark as well...

 

Just did a little searching and there seems to be at least one LVDS IPS 1920x1080 15.6" panel out there (LP156WF4-SLB1/2 from LG; see http://www.displayalliance.com/storage/1-spec-sheets/LP156WF4-SLB1.pdf). However, it doesn't appear to be mechanically compatible with the panel in my T530 (AUO B156HW01 I think), and I'm not sure the connector is the same (although the pinout seems to be compatible). Might not work with Lenovo's BIOS either. Pity, since these panels seem to be well-regarded and you can pick them up for ~$100 on ebay.

Guess I should just be happy Lenovo plans to offer decent displays in a T-series (after, what, 10 years?). Just hope I can live without dedicated mouse buttons.

- Jay

 

When did Lenovo become all annoying with BIOS and changing of connectors? I've done my X61t XGA to X61t SXGA+ from X60t LCD swaps, T60 XGA to SXGA+.

 

Those were the CCFL days, my good man. And even then there were (on *60 series) EDID whitelists. You were swapping the screens that were "approved" in BIOS to begin with.

Try putting a modded tablet screen into a conventional X61 and see how standard BIOS reacts. It's not going to be pretty.

The path that I had to take to get the QXGA panel from R50p working with a T61 board was an absolute PITA.

Nowadays, with UEFI BIOS and connectors changing on every other generation, forget about it.