Question to T500 owner with WSXGA+ screen

I've just received my Thinkpad T500. The laptop is really great aside from the screen. I've noticed the following problems with mine:
- the display is a little dim even at full brightness
- there is some grain (not as much as other screen I've seen)
- it looks a little bluish

My screen is a LG Philips LP154W02-TL06.

What screen do you have and do you have the same issues ?

Thanks.

 

Think your 200 nit screen is too dim? Try mine at 150 nits. I don't find it too bad on the upper levels, but on the lower levels it's almost unusable. ThinkPads are also known to have a bit of a bluish tint to them. You can calibration software to correct it to some degree. I suppose you could ask for a new screen, but careful what you wish for. The new may not be any better and could be worse. If you want a brighter screen you should probably go with the LED screens, which are significantly brighter, but the one on the T500 is only WXGA.

 

Very often WSXGA+, if you indeed used this as a correct abbreviation for a 1680x1050 resolution screen, tend to be grainy. I have no idea why, but have observed this more often than not. Even more often with WUXGA (1920x1200).

Also, mind you, historicaly and CCFL Thinkpad screens are noticeably dimmer than pretty much any consumer laptop screens. Except of course specific screen models, but I dont remember what were the market names of these.

Even my T61 is a good deal dimmer/fainter than a Packard Bell consumer laptop model from the same year with that abomination of a CPU called Intel Pentium Dual Core (NOT Core Duo design).

 

I don't know the exact model number of my screen, but it's also an LG/Philips WSXGA+. It's dim, it could probably use some color calibration, but I don't think it looks grainy at all. The only issue I've noticed is backlight bleed at the center of the bottom edge, but that gets covered when watching full screen 4:3 video, so it's really a non-issue in practically any situation.

 

I have a wsxga+ on my W500. Just thought I would add I'm in the same boat as you ^^ I don't know the manufacturer, but the screen is good enough for me so I figure it's a waste trying to figure out if I could get a better screen. It might be a slightly bluish and a little dim, but I don't see the grain. Of course I'm not too picky, coming from a 5 year old Dell laptop, so maybe you have more demanding needs than me. I bet getting it calibrated would improve it a bit, so I may get around to that someday.

 

My screen is an LG screen (From parts lookup), and I don't see any grain whatsoever. The screen could be a bit brighter, but I have no issues using it at all. In fact, I'm using it two notches from brightest right now.

Colors seem fairly accurate to me, although if I was forced to choose a side, I'd say it is a bit bluish.

 

What is the reference of your screen, please ?

I've seen people with a Samsung screen (LTN154P3-L02) who told me they don't see any grain and found their screen bright enough.

If I can find a reference for a screen with no problem like grain or brightness maybe I'll try to order it and change it myself.

 

I have a LG-Phillps screen on my T60 and its really clean and fine. although it does have the slight weak lighting being a thinkpad.

 

I have the same screen and I've noticed the same things that you have.
Plus:
- Some blacklight bleed.
- Unbeliveable narrow vertical sweetspot (not angle). At the point that if the upper part of the screen looks ok, the bottom will look much darker.

However I like about it that it is not bright but I find the contrast (the difference between darkest and the brightest point) to be very good. I had a WSXGA matte screen before that was brighter but it was much duller.

Also I like the angles, altought there is some yellow color shift when you move off-center you can still make out everything on the screen from very far to the sides and from above.

 

I have had many and my LG 1680x1050 is among the best. The only thing I'd wish for is a bit more brightness, but that's only b/c it's not quite as bright as LED screens. But if you're comparing to CCFL, this is about as good as they get in my book. It is not quite evenly backlit, but I've never seen a CCFL one that was even.

Trust me, save yourself money if you get the Samsung 14" LED on the T400. Don't even open the package and send it back. It is much worse in every respect compared to the LG wsxga+ one that we're talking about in this thread except brightness.

One way may be to work backwards from the top. Start with the macbook pro and macbook air and Sony Vaio Z screens. If they aren't good enough for you, then you might as well readjust your expectations.

 

My T61p has the same screen, FRU 42T0423... Using Asset Manager, here are my LCD details:

Monitor
Manufacturer............. IBM
Plug and Play ID......... IBM2887
Data string.............. LP154W02-TL06
Serial number............ n/a
Manufacture date......... 2005, ISO week 0

I'm thinking that the reported manufacture date might be wrong because I'm having trouble believing that Lenovo is still using ancient parts.

Here's another thread of someone with the same LCD on a new W500: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=311572

 

My T61p came with the exact same p/n panel as you list for yours and it was exactly as you describe it to be above. Please go read my posts on this page: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=352647&page=2
I didn't care for this either, so I switched to glossy (almost identical part number but just has gloss finish), and I am much happier now. ScreenTek has an explanation on their website that explains why the same identical panels one with matte finish and the other with glossy can look so much different as far as brightness and colors go. If you read my stuff, you should be able to see why I switched to glossy. The only way I like matte anymore now, is if it is an IPS Flexview panel like my A31 has on it. Now that is a good panel, but Lenovo discontinued Flexview due to high cost of manufacturing. But this glossy is the nicest, closest thing to how clear the Flexview one is (closest you'll get). See my screen-shots on that page

 

Sometimes setting the screen brightness with the Fn + Home keys all the way to max still isn't your full brightness.

For example, when I switch to integrated graphics on my W500, the screen automatically dims a small amount and also becomes a little bit grainy, despite the on screen display (Fn + home) showing full brightness. However, if you right click on the small blue square in the systray which is the "Intel Graphics Media Accelerator Driver for mobile," then choose "Display Settings" then click on "Power Settings" and then click on "Modify Settings," you'll get a few options one of which is checked as "Intel(R) Display Power Saving Technology."

This is usually adjustable with a slider from "Max Quality" to "Max Battery" (however the setting will be used whether on battery or not if you are on integrated graphics).

For me, I had to slide the bar to Maximum Quality to really achieve full brightness on integrated graphics.

This might be worth exploring if you are losing brightness especially on switching to integrated graphics.

 

I also like to go into the BIOS and disable screen-dimming from there so when it's on battery it wont override everything and dim the screen.