T61p: 14.1" SXGA+ screen calibration?

So I've been using my new thinkpad for a few hours, and the washed-out and blue-tinted colors of my TMD panel are beginning to drive me crazy. A nice laptop, but the screen is certainly annoying. I tried calibrating by hand and with the program in someone's sig and the screen is just not getting anywhere near decent colors ...
Does anyone have an ICC or any other ready-made good color profile I can *borrow* for my machine? It's the SXGA+ TMD panel. Thanks in advance

 

Anyone ? Just ran the software 2 more times, seems to dim contrast and adds a different color cast instead of the blue :\

 

i agree this screen is horrible, I wonder how the Samsung screens look in comparison to these screens? Anyone with a t61p 14:1 have a samsung screen?

 

There is a link in my sig that worked great for my TMD 14.1" You have to follow the directions and do it right for it to look its best. Of course you also need to recalibrate if/when you change light sources.

 

Yeah, I actually used that link. Ran it about 4 times, each time i get a different profile and none actually improve my screen Is there a way I could try out your own profile or something?

 

If you are running OS X, you need to set up the video driver property.

System preferences will guide you through a calibration process.
Normally, it holds afterwards.

 

lol, OS X? I wish it were that simple

 

Hmm maybe I just don't know what a good LCD looks like. I agree the blues are kind of weird but running that program seemed to make things much better for me. Ill see if I can upload a profile.

 

Thanks My main point of comparison is a 24" Dell LCD I use with my desktop. Setting up the same wallpaper on my laptop as on my desktop made me go
Hooking up the laptop to the monitor looks something like the attached images. No, the lighting in my room isn't orange, it's just the camera ... The brightness on the external monitor has been turned all the way down for most of these, and the brightness on the T61p is all the way up. Sigh ..

 

uploading config now.. expect incoming PM..

 

could you send that to me too please? i woulndt mind trying it even though im on a 15.4 wxga samsung

 

I don't think there is a point to try it if you have a different screen. Have you tried the program in my profile first?

 

7evendeuce I think there is something wrong with your screen mine doesn't look nearly that dark/blue.

 

yeah i have tried it, and maybe im just doing it wrong, but i rarely see a difference when i use it. i will give it a try again in about 10 minutes

 

i think the bigggest problem i had was step 2 of the second part of the calibration. i dont understand what it means by 'move the sliders for each box until the inner box blends well with the outter test pattern'. it seems like after step 1 the midranges are already set...

 

Make sure you are two feet away as it says. When you are doing step two, there should be a distinct point where the inner box blends with the outer box and seems to disapear. Squinting seems to help.

 

Got it, thanks. However, with your profile my screen still lacks contrast and actually gets a bit too red on skin tones and such... Arrg. So far I get the best results by changing Digital Vibrance to 17% in the NVidia Control Panel, along with reducing the brightness of Blue to 40% and Green to 42%. That works as long as I don't open the same image on my desktop to remind me how dim and contrast-less and just *wrong* the T61p screen is.

Funny, because running that program myself I keep getting settings with too much red even though I get all the boxes to match fine...

Uh oh I'll give Lenovo a call and see if anything can come out of that. Unfortunate, because otherwise mine's well-made and has the ALPS keyboard which I like...

 

There was a thread on here in the past few weeks with someone that had a dark screen that looked really bad compared to their other LCD in the comparison pics. When I saw your pics it kinda reminded me of that. I've tried to find the thread but if memory serves me correct lenovo replaced something, I dunno if it was a screen or cable, or what, but it worked out well for him, I remember that. I'll keep looking for it..

 

Was it this thread? http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=173721
I bet I need to have an upgraded warranty to get an onsite technician to do something though. Bah

 

yes depot warrenty will do the same thing, but you'll have to ship it out.. its overnighted to Atlanta, fixed, and overnighted back to you, in most cases does not take a long time.

 

Made the call, waiting for the box now So far a much better tech support experience than I've ever had with HP or Dell...

 

Let us know how it works out!

 

Ugh... This morning I got a call from some lady at the repair center who told me that the technician found nothing wrong with my computer. I complained about the screen some more, and she said she'll let the technician know and they'll test it again or something.

 

DAMN IT... lol I'm working on a customer's computer right now, and she has a brand new T61 with the same exact 4:3 SXGA+ screen. Hers is a Samsung panel (versus TMD on mine). And honestly, hers is damn near perfect. There's a slight reddish/bluish tint if you compare whites with *actual* white, but overall it's so much better. I don't want to open the control panel and go wild on the screen settings on hers, like I do on mine.

I called the people at the depot, and a tech was supposed to call me back but I think they were too busy. Guess I'll call on monday to explain this to them. Somewhat annoyed that they saw nothing wrong with mine.


EDIT: It also seems brighter and has actual contrast. In general, it looks like any other decent laptop screen I've seen.

 

we are waiting for your feedback man on monday

 

I just got my blue down to 42% brightness .. and it looks much better now.

 

Ugh... So the status has been "OS 11/09/2007 15:11:00 P Machine being repaired " since that date. Before, it was "Hold for customer information". Anyway, gave them a call early this morning. Of course the techs were "busy" again, and I was promised a call from them, or at least from the guy I spoke with yesterday, to follow up on this. Nope, no call, nothing so far.

At this point I wouldn't be surprised if they were actually toasting marshmallows with my laptop, instead of doing anything with it... I need my computer

 

Finally got a call from some guy over there who sounded like he knew what he was talking about. I explained the whole Toshiba vs. Samsung thing, he made no guarantees (because to him mine is fine, and looks like most other T61s), and yes.... maybe they'll switch it out for something better, but I'm doubting that ..... :\ We'll see.

 

Hmm... more nothingness. I think I got a call last Friday at 6:49 AM from them, but I obviously wasn't awake to pick it up. Great.

 

Well... they're going to send me the original laptop, nothing fixed. Their official stance is that there's nothing wrong with it, looks like every other t61p, etc. etc. The reason they can't swap in a Samsung LCD is something about every computer being completely different even if they're both 8891CTOs, something about part numbers on paperwork, etc. etc. Fine, marginally believable. The guy told me to call the tech support line again and go down a different avenue with them. I think I'll see if I can get a full refund on this, because I'm not sure I can live with this laptop as is, or live another 2 weeks without a usable laptop. Argh.

For anyone still reading this thread, I really don't want to move up to a 15.4" T61p (especially since I have a non-returnable 14" Zeroshock III case waiting at home), but are their screens better overall? I'd pay an extra hundred or so if that means I can get something usable, with a Lenovo-quality build (for example, I'm not a fan of the solid but somewhat cheapish-feeling metallic Dell Latitudes).

 

come on man, mine is also a TMD display and it looks decent. As I said, I got my blue down to 42% and it looks much better. Mine is also 14" 4:3 laptop. If you're so picky, then just hook up an external monitor, I have one too but don't use it at the moment

 

I'm HELLA picky I do have an external monitor for my desktop, but that kinda defeats the purpose of a laptop, lol. The current thinkpad screen just isn't acceptable to me..

 

My 14.1" has a TMD display, too, and the color is way bluer than the other T60p's around. I first noticed the color when I set up the dual-display with a LCD.

 

Ok, I have the laptop again. What did they do? They bumped up the Brightness setting in the BIOS to "High". Does it make it brighter than before? Sure. Does that make the screen any less painful to look at? No. The colors are just... muted and wrong... Thanks to the absymal contrast, it manages to look dark even at maximum brightness. Adding Digital Vibrance, reducing Blue to 42% all just artificially shifts colors slightly. Overall it still sucks.
Oh well.... waiting for them to get back to me on the return/replacement inquiry.

 

have 4 beers before working with the laptop .. and it should look fine.

man, I'm starting to think that you have other problems in your life, so you lay it down on the laptop ))

 

Duuude. lol
I get a headache from using this laptop (using it right now) . I suppose it's adequate outside, but inside it's arrrggggh. Yesterday I put mine next to the T61 with the Samsung screen. I definitely prefer the Samsung to this. Anyway, I got an RMA number and I'm getting a 15" T61p as a replacement tomorrow if UPS doesn't get delayed

 

I got my display replaced, and it is much better than old one: the color is not overly blue, and the bottom of the display does not "leak" light. I'm much happier now.

 

Im thinking about having the onsite tech come by and replace my crappy TMD with the Samsung, is there a particular way to go about this?

 

I just told the tech about my display color problem: everything seems to be bluer, very noticeable when compare to other laptops and the LCD's; changing settings of gamma, brightness, and contrast did not help; posts from the Internet (this forum) indicate a replacement of the display fixes the problem.

 

did you specify the samsung panel, or by chance thats the panel the tech brought?

 

Ever try using a Pantone display calibrator?

 

I did ask for Samsung.

 

Me? Nah.. didn't seem worth getting one if I'm only going to calibrate a single screen once .. Happy with every other screen I have BTW, got the 15.4" T61p today, the screen is much better Not perfect, but I can certainly live with this one.

 

Said one last goodbye to the 14.1" T61p as I was restoring it to factory state before shipping it back. That screen was just spectacularly bad... I really doubt even a hardware calibration tool would have helped. But moving on.....