T400: Which panel is this?

Hey all,

My T400 is on its way and after looking up the serial number, I get this information:

14.1 INCH LCD DISPLAY FRU
MFG# 42T0700
FRU# 42T0701

It is a different set of numbers than what I've seen in searches so what does this mean? LG or Samsung? Thanks!

 

What is the resolution and backlighting of the panel on order?

 

Oops sorry.

WXGA (1280 x 800) w/ LED Backlight

 

in that case you might be the first one to find out, because the WXGA LED option was just recently introduced. The only reported WXGA LED panel is 42T0592 which is made by Chi Mei (CMO), and is described to be terrible. Run everest when you get it and report about who makes that one, if you can.

 

Hmm I see. Well at least I didn't get the CMO one! Should I run everest or PC Wizard that I also hear about? If worse comes to worse and it's not a good quality screen and if Lenovo is uncooperative to replace it with a top notch screen, I found WXGA+ LG for about 125 bucks anyways and can get it installed I guess. Thats the plan at least.

Question: If I feel that the resolution is too low, can I change it in the custom setting and set it to x% to get it to feel like a higher resolution? I know I can easily change MS Office and Internet sizes but also the overall feel of it so I don't have to keep changing the size of text in apps. ANYONE?

I'll keep this updated.

 

UPDATE:

I used Everest and it IS an LG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

When I first turned it on and went through the process of whatever the computer makes you do at first, I examined the screen and initially saw how bright and exact it was in terms of color depiction. Before using Everest I told myself whatever it tells me I want to keep it because I like it and there are no faults with the screen (dead pixels, whites not looking white, etc). But I was certainly pleased to verify it was indeed an LG.

I can look up the exact LP# later when I'm on that computer again.

Now we know in case anyone else has the same issue. Now, time to deal with tech support since some drivers did not feel like installing properly . . . .

 

very cool, i wonder which exact LG model are they using.

 

Your wish is my command . . . . LP141WX5-TLP2 made in 2009.

I now made the desktop icons smaller so it looks as if there is a higher resolution. Now, I honestly wouldn't be able to tell you if this were 1280x800 or 1440x900 without looking at the specs. So far loving it!

 

I got a Chi Mei LCD Panel. The bright is bad. The screen is flick and black in 1->2 seconds every time i plug-in or pull-out the AC adaptor. I want to ask Lenovo for exchange another one.

 

very cool. The WX5 panel has better specs than 1440x900 WP2 panel. Better contrast ratio and viewing angles. Makes me kind of wish i would have ordered the 1280x800 screen. Although from what I understand the Chi Mei alternative is dreadful.

 

I assume the WP2 panel you mention is the LG version of the WXGA+ LED? How did you find that info out? I would have gotten the WXGA+ LED had it been in stock but now I'm not even interested in returning it in case that option popped up again soon. Guess I lucked out. I also don't have other panels to compare it too and I'm not very adept at determining the angles and all that technical stuff.

I ordered on May 13th and considering the horror stories I read about while configuring and all that, I checked up on my order status every 4 days so I can stay in control of the situation. They said it would be until the 25th until the WXGA panels came in stock (so of course I was expecting this to be the start of the runaround crap) but that is when it ended up shipping!

So I guess this most recent shipment was LG or at least partly LG.

 

The WP2 is the WXGA+ LED panel. I have it right now in my T400. All this time this option was available through educational ordering if you are an employee at certain universities. I ordered one in the end of april and received in less than a week. It originally came with a Samsung LED panel, which developed a streak on it after a week, I had to send it in and they put in an LG instead. I am not particularly impressed with either of the panels. Neither come close quality wise to the panel on Asus G1S, which has some problems of its own such as graininess. Crappy vertical viewing angles and sup par contrast are the biggest problems of both Samsung and LG panels.

How do the blacks look on the WX5 panel? Properly deep or grayish with poor contrast?

 

I went through education site as well and didn't see it for my school or random ones I selected. But it's all a moot point anyways considering this screen is great and I detect no faults.

And the screen is important but I would really value that as a critically important factor if I were in the digital photography field or something detail-oriented like that. Only then would I make sure to get a top notch digital notebook with a top notch quality screen. I'm not nor am I a huge massive techie-know-everything guy so this works perfectly. But I did say to myself how great contrast and clear colors show up when I first booted it up. And the viewing angles issue isn't so important considering I'm always head-on when using the computer so it goes unnoticed. Everything ultimately has its pros/cons anyways.

But to answer your question, I'm not sure how to respond. To me it looks great but it's a subjective concern so you may be more picky/smart about panels than I. With that said, I'd be more than happy for you to send/post an image that you'd like to see from my panel and I can take a screenshot of it and post it back up for you to compare panels more accurately.

 

This link provides an option to configure with the WXGA+ LED screen:

14.1 WXGA+ TFT, w/ LED Backlight [add $80.00]

http://shop.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/controller/e/web/LenovoPortal/en_US/systemconfig.runtime.workflow:LoadRuntimeTree?sb=:00000025:0000265B:&smid=DB4659A39A0B496DA1EB0BBC77D1D2BC