W540 Glossy screen?

In the W540 lenovo discussion page an "expert" claims that there is only a glossy option for W540.



This can't be true right?

 

The "expert" is wrong.

 

Thanks this is what I thought too. I don't understand what Lenovo is doing exactly with all these staff experts that don't know a thing about their top laptop.

 

The only glossy screens on Lenovo's high-end machines are gonna be the touchscreens as far as I know

 

Even these are not Glossy, the are semi-matte-glossy.

 

Concerning the W540 and T540p, those of you who are going to be wanting a FHD (1920x1280) AHVA panel with 700:1 contrast, 16.2m display colors,antiglare, 72% color gamut basically the same specs that the T440p and T440s are shipping with you will be disapointed to know that is not what you will get.

The T440s and T440p use the AUO B140HAN01.2 FHD panel or equivalent. The T540p uses the AUO B156HW01 ver. 3 or equivalent which is a TN panel with 262k display colors 400:1 contrast, antiglare, 60% color gamut. I confirmed through the Lenovo Parts FRU, Tech Support and looking up the panels. Of course Lenovo can change the Mfg's anytime or even up the specs but how will you know when they have sold out of the older spec panel?

The above is what kept me from buying the T540p and instead I purchased a T440P but the order was canceled and I currently looking into the matter and have since been doing further research. I did discover some good information today! AU Optronics (AUO) makes a 15.6 inch AVHA panel with the same specs as used in the T440p and T440s called the B156HAN01.2 but Lenovo has not yet seen fit to implement the better spec panel but instead offers the same base price for the T540p and T440p because the panel in the 15.6 inch T540p has lower specs.

Panel model # for AUO can be interpreted as such: 156=15.6 inch, 140= 14 inch, HAN= AHVA panel technology, HW= TN panel with better viewing angles, HTN= worst TN panels.

There is hope if enough customers demand that the B156HAN01.2 15.6 inch FHD panel or equivalent be used in the T540p and W540p laptops. See the following Links and look at both the overview and spec tabs at the top.

1. AUO B156HW01 V3 Overview - Panelook.com

2. B140HAN01.2 Datasheet download - Panelook.com

3. AUO B156HAN01.2 Overview - Panelook.com

Lenovo's FHD panel choice for the T540p is currently the biggest reason to hold off purchase if you want a thinkpad mobile workstation. I hope everyone follows suit to complain about this issue.

 

But they advertise it as IPS panel-15.6" FHD IPS anti-glare (1920 x 1080)? I still think that we have to wait for first reviews of T540p and you made right decision when you canceled your purchase.

If it is true that 540p will have TN panel and FHD then T540p series will be completely impaired.

 

The 3K Display is IPS, so if you want IPS, you always can choose this one.

 

I agree, but how good is that resolution on 15,6 screen?
And how can you be sure that even that screen is IPS? When they advertise something as IPS and then deliver TN panel that is called fraud.

 

If you have good eyesight, its really great I think (because the additional room on the Display is just wonderfull).

If you have problems you can use the scaling. 125 % works very well for the most Windows programs (with some exceptions).

 

Never saw it, can't really say but i think that screens should work in native resolutions. 3k on 15,6 gives 0.1124mm dot pitch.

 

I partly agree, but we are in new territory using 3K for production work. I am older (vision) and currently use a 30 inch HP LP3065 S-IPS 2560x1600 with reduced resolution along with 125% scaling and enjoy but I don't see how for those that can't see as well as when younger can scale down resolution and scale up the font's enough on a 15.6 inch without distortion on many programs. I want a better FHD AHVA panel option for work purposes.

 

They won´t offer a AHVA FHD display on the T540p for several reasons:
- The price would increase for the T540p, as well as for the base W540 models, since W540 is only sold with FHD and 3K / FHD++
- Lenovo uses the same displays for E540, T540p and L540. A IPS / AHVA display would be too expensive for these lower class models
- They have 3 screen options for the T540p: HD, FHD and 3K, compared to HD, HD+ and FHD on the T530. FHD is their mid-range option here, not high-end. The HD+ screen also did not have the same quality as the FHD screen on the T530

I don´t think they will switch to the AHVA screen. They use it with the T440p, but there it is the top-option (because the T440p has HD TN, HD+ TN and FHD AHVA).

 

I agree with you about their diplay panel type, price and strategy but it's still not logical and therefore should be updated to reflect the correct needs for Laptop users that have been patiently been waiting for a high quality FHD in 2013 and 2014. 3K and 4 K should only be for large monitors and TV. I have patiently waited since before last Christmas for a mobile workstation with FHD/AHVA, 802.11 AC, SSD's, driver bugs to be fixed, etc.. only to have Lenovo jump to AHVA/IPS/3k and no choice for FHD/AHVA/IPS option. No way to convince knowlegable customers that 3K display on 15.6 inch panel will be easy to scale. Will be good for movies I'm sure but not spreadsheets. I will continue to be patient and urge other to do the same. Of couse if you don't mind( I do mind) spending lots of money the HP Zbook 15 and 17 mobile workstations offer IPS Dreamcolor panel with great panel reviews. Just too expensive. I am very upset because I have been ready to buy for over 1.5 yrs and now it looks like I will have to get the T440p with the 14 inch display instead of a 15.6 inch. If I knew the W540 would be coming out with a FHF/AHVA panel I would wait for it but as you said before they will be using the same panel choices for it also.

 

The FHD used in the T530 was high quality despite that the viewing angles were not perfect as IPS screens, but very wide for a TN screen.

There has been many more people that wanted Lenovo to adopt high-res ("retina" like, though I hate this marketing buzzword) screens. So thats what Lenovo gave them. The sales of the Retina Macbooks speak for themselfs.

There are many users I know (programmers for example) that will disagree with you on this.

How about trying it out first before judging it?

 

From what I have read it takes very high quality display technology like whats used on the Galaxy S4 and probably like on the rMBP 15inch for 3k to look excellent. In 2014 we want excellent. Are you saying that the AHVA panel technology in the T540p 3K is the same panel techlnology used in the Galaxy S4 or the 15 inch rMBP. I'm certain they are not the same from what I have read. I would like to here from some programers as well as others who try the T540p 3K panel after using a spreadsheet. I can even read small print on a galaxy S4 because of the excellent display quality plus it's touch so I can enlarge it easily. So the only way I would consider a 15.6 inch 3K display is if it had excellent quality and it was touch and I was using Windows 8 metro which I plan to avoid forever except if I were to buy a Tablet for couch browsing.

 

You obviously have some misinformation: AHVA is a technology owned by AUO. The T540p 3k screen is made by Panasonic, and therefore no AHVA screen. It sould be an derivate of IPS, maybe AH-IPS or e-IPS (I don´t know for sure).

rMPB screen is also IPS (made by Samsung).

I am very sure the 3K screen is exellent.

There is something called "scaling", even for Windows 7., which also allows to enlarge the fonts.

 

I agree, I was not able to find info on the Panasonic 3K panel and do not have the specs to compare. I made a mistake to insinuate that the Panasonic was AHVA Technology. I am still wondering how good the specs are on the 3K. It would be nice if all Mfg's would post panel specs like in the old days. I still believe the 3K will be more suited for a Touch Panel using Win 8 in a Metro setup. Like I mentioned in previous post, I use Win 7 Prof on a 30 inch HP LP3065 2560x1600 WQXGA scaled to 125% but non-native resolution of 1920x1080 FHD and it's perfect. I still do not believe I will be able to successfully adjust a 3K 15.6 inch panel based on my experience.

 

I decided to compare the FHD panels used in the T540p and the W530 and also printed out the Lenovo Personal Systems Reference ( PRES) for both the T540p and the W530 to compare the FHD panel used in each. I found that last years model W530 uses a higher quality panel with 95% color gamut based on advanced TN panel technology(based on Panelook.com search). The current FHD panel being used in the T540p has a 60% Color Gamut(panelook.com ) and also does not use the same Lenovo FRU Panel parts as the W530. In conclusion I do not believe that you can expect the same quality from the T540p FHD panel as in the W530 FHD panel. So in conclusion to those who want a non-touch FHD T540p or W540 it's not even clear that it will be as good as last years model.

Per Lenovo Tech support the current FHD panel now being shipped with the T540p is the AUO B156HW01 version 3. They were using Innolux but have switch Mfg's but same specs.

http://www.panelook.com/B156HW01 V3_AUO_15.6_LCM_overview_685.html

It has 60% color gamut ,262k display colors, TN panel Tech, 500: contrast etc...

 

I was just thinking about another important issue concerning the choice of using a 3K panel verses a FHD panel is the power draw on the battery plus the extra heat produced by the CPU/GPU to run it. It is confirmed that the Haswell MQ series I-7 CPU's run hotter than Ivy-Bridge and use more Watts (45 watts vs 47 watts). I would like my new expensive mobile workstation to last a several years and the best way for that to happen is to not have the laptop run any hotter than is necessary. I suspect that older laptops made before last years Ivy-Bridge will out last this years and last years laptops because the current generations runs hotter. The 3k panel just adds to the issue. A nice high quality FHD IPS panel choice for the W540 and T540p would have been a wiser choide for a Windows based PC mobile workstation instead of copying Apple's 15 inch rMBP.

 

Think about alternatives too. Ativ book 8 for example, very good PLS panel in FHD resolution with good battery life.