X220 display has: light bleeding, burn-in and low brightness

The bleeding is obvious on black screen (during boot for example). Comes from about 5 directions, mostly bottom.

Burn-in is also visible on black screens after showing the same image for a while. For example the Setup Win7 install screen is visible (ghost) on the dark display during boot.

Brightness is quite low, I have to keep it at 12+ (out of 15) to be remotely acceptable.

Amazing, how crappy this display is. If it wasn't IPS... But I think it was the crappiest and cheapest IPS available. I am starting the believe that the MacBook Pros' TNs are better than this awful IPS.

 

That sucks. You might want to compare notes with this guy:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/lenovo-ibm/582608-x220t-issues.html

And look at the X220 owners thread and see if you see similar complaints or if it's just for a specific type of screen / screen manufacturer.

 

I know what you mean. I just had to deal with just about every Lenovo rep to get a replacement for my x220 because of the ips screen...with the backlight bleeding. Mine was coming from 6 places, all along the bottom of the screen. The ghosting can be fixed by switching up what is on the display. The IPS screen just doesn't like when you leave the same image up for, let's say, more than 4 hours at a time.

I know it's kinda annoying, but the colors on the IPS are wonderful.

 

TheLoneRaven, did they end up replacing your screen? What was the key to getting it replaced? How did you get comfortable that the replacement screen was not going to have backlight bleed (or did it?).

Many thanks,
Petrov.

 

Well we shall see. I know that most IPS screens have some form of backlight bleeding, I can live with that. But I didn't want it to the extent that I saw with my original x220. The fan problems were more or less fixed with BIOS 1.16, but I wanted a better screen. The laptop is being shipped to me today--so I hope that it's better than my old one--but to be honest, I really don't know how it will be. It should be better than my old one--that one was pretty bad.

 

Pretty unacceptable. Lenovo/LG should've caught on a long time ago. Maybe that's why the IPS option is $50? But still...

 

I haven't experienced ghosting and backlight bleed isn't terrible on mine. However brightness is definitely lacking; I would definitely say 12 is the minimum in, say, a well-lit room. By contrast, my old S6F TN screen (which is pretty good for a TN) is fine at maybe 25%. I wonder how prevalent this complaint is...

 

Yup,
I have really no complaints about the screen ghosting or bleeding but the brightness does suck.

I use 12 as well. My HP has twice the brightness of the x220 on full setting.
It could be the glossy making it look brighter.

 

Right? It could very well be the gloss. Anybody here knowledgeable about this kind of thing care to comment?
Oh, and one of the things I was looking forward to, because this is a matte screen, was visibility outdoors. But just like glossy screens, you need to crank it up to the max to see anything (though of course the situation isn't nearly as dire).
Low brightness of say 6 is usable if there's no other light source around; otherwise it's quite useless.

 

IIRC, IPS dimness is inherent in it's design.

 

^^^ Huh!? (IIRC? Volatile memory. )

 

If I Remember Correctly

 

^^^ Yeah. IIDNKTASGSWTMWII. (If I Did Not Know That, A Simple Google Search Would Tell Me What It Is. )

My "Huh!?" was about his "questionable recall" that IPS dimness is inherent in its design. (The part in parentheses was joking about his "bad" memory.)

 

Right, I figured it was something like that right about I posted

 

I'm an unhappy owner of a brand new X220T having the exact same problem as Nick_r.

1. Very low brightness making it almost useless outside
2. Bleeding from the bottom on black screens
3. Burn-in on static screens
4. Battery is drained during sleep,
5. Battery life: I only get around 4 hours from a full charge running Ubuntu. I have to use almost max brightness to be able to use it with comfort.
6. Anoying fan noice (high pitched) even with BIOS 1.17.

This is not what you expect from a $2000+ laptop. Is the X220 (non tablet version better, anyone?)

Regards,
Beckz

 

IPS by it's nature will have a lower brightness with the same backlighting (due to two transistors per pixel).

 

Ok, so I must choose the default LCD screen on a X220 (non-tablet) to get a higher brightness? What about the Outdoor/Gorilla Glass option? Has anyone seen the difference between the multi-touch IPS and the Gorilla screens?

Regards,
Beckz

 

Sorry, these statements are not factual.

(I've used T43p Flexview IPS, HP EliteBook 8740w DreamColor2 IPS, Dell Precision M4600 PremierColor IPS, Dell UltraSharp 2410 and 2311H PremierColor IPS, and X220 IPS. Only this last one has had a lot of quirks.)

Not definitely.

 

Actually, IPS technology by its very nature requires almost double the backlight intensity compared to TN technology to achieve the same level of brightness. In layman's terms, IPS panels don't let as much light through as TN panels. This is why IPS monitors consume more energy and give off much more heat compared to TN monitors.

PRAD | Lexikon

E-IPS was supposed to fix this and it does to some extent, but a LED backlit e-IPS display still requires a stronger backlight than a TN display of the same size.

About the backlight bleed issue.. I've been using IPS displays only for the last 10 years except on my laptops. I've had a couple of completely 'backlight bleed'-less screens (one of them is on an Acer Iconia A500 tablet, which uses a PVA display), but apart from them every display I've owned has had some form of noticeable backlight bleed.

I haven't received my X220 yet, so I can't comment on how it fares in this respect. It would be helpful if owners posted a photo of their X220's screen displaying a fullscreen black image in a dark environment, so that we can have a common measure of what is 'normal' and not normal for this screen.

 

this is also why IPS monitor's backlight tend to dim off faster than your normal TN monitor.

 

For all those complaining about how the screen is so dark, try updating your Intel HD driver to Intel's latest driver. The 0 level on the Intel (2361) seems around the 4 level on the Lenovo (2342). Not sure about the higher levels since I really don't use them in my environment. But the low levels were significantly higher with Intels drivers. Which leads me to believe it isn't really the screen, it is how the drivers are setup.

 

Brightness sucks?! I am sitting in a bright Café with the window behind me and the visibility is great with brightness 8.

 

Yes, try the 2361 drivers. Makes a nice difference in this respect.


This display really isnt dim as far as actual backlight intensity goes. It's plenty bright in that respect. The brightness DOES lack on the software/vid driver side though, which I'm pretty sure is the main contributer to the whole thing looking dim overall.

I thought the same thing when I first fired up my X220....like damn, brightness is at max by default yet I dont want to go any lower, . After some new drivers and playing around with settings, I'm much more relieved and get just as saturated picture at 8 as it did with 15 out of the box.

 

And that is how I feel. I don't even use the Intel Drivers because I don't feel the need. I actually really like the 0 level of the Lenovo driver.

 

I must be the only one who doesn't see any difference between the latest driver from Lenovo and Intel's. Either way, the brightness at level 15 is just bright enough. Any lower and it wouldn't be, but it's perfectly fine where it is.

 

for those of you using the 2361 drivers, where are you downloading it from? when i try to install the drivers from here i get an error message "The driver being installed is not validated for this computer"

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/7689456-post1685.html

 

Well, I guess that's a matter of personal taste. I am now sitting in room with lights on (it is 7.20pm on an English summer, i.e. cloudy and grey) and I have brightness 9. I would need sunglasses with 15. Everything that bright just tires my eyes really quickly.

 

Exactly. I don't get the complaints about the dim X220 IPS screen either. I have a hardware calibrator and with it I measured the brightness at level 15 to be 300 cd/m2. The industry-recommended brightness for LCD screens is 120 cd/m2. Actually, 120 is for desktop LCDs, for laptops 80 cd/m2 is recommended.

If 300 cd/m2 is dim for somebody, then they really need to fix the ambient lighting in their room, because that is the problem, not the display.

I do agree though that the Lenovo brightness scale is ridiculous. The first seven levels or so could easily be compressed into two, making space for intermediate values between the higher levels. I measured the difference in power usage to be just 0.5W between levels 0 and 9 (and level 9 is less than 50 cd/m2), but it's 1.0W between 13 and 14, and again between 14 and 15! I think this craziness started with LED-backlit screens. My CCFL-backlit T42 and T61 had a lot more reasonable brightness scale (and a lot darker maximum brightness!).

 

Yeah I usually run my T400 at 4-7 indoors.

As a rule of thumb, if you imagine a camera taking a picture as your POV, the luminosity of your screen should not be brighter than the surroundings.

Also, perceived brightness isn't linear, so the brightness indicator has to adjust for that. An naive brightness value that goes from 0 to 1 is more apparent than a change from 14 to 15, so it must be compensated for. This should explain the massive jump in power consumption as measured.

 

Hello NotebookReview Forum members,

After reviewing the forum I could not find definite answer for my question.

I am planning to buy the X220 (with i7) and want to purchase it with this new IPS premium display. I heard that it is amazing and it is worth the upgrade but reading through the Lenovo sites I found this long thread in the Lenovo forum about the IPS screen image retention aka ghosting. ( Lenovo Forum Link) In this thread I found the official explanation ( Here) and answer.

My questions are:
1) Is it really normal for an IPS screen to retain images after 10-30 minutes? This is what the posters are saying there.
2) Do you X220 owners have the same problem with this IPS display?
3) What is the difference between the IPS HD screen and the regular option?

I really like this X220 but it would be annoying to have this screen issue.

Thanks

 

Not sure how to make a poll. I still have not ordered the X220 for 1 reason alone: cheap screen. I mean what's the point of paying for IPS if it will have ghosting / bleeding issues..

Does your X220 IPS screen have any issues ?

 

Also, those who say these issues are a part of IPS design..

My Iphone 4 is IPS, it's superbright and has 0 issues...

 

1) No but the X220 screens seem to be an unwelcome exception
2) Yes
3) Better viewing angles and contrast

 

jcm3, thanks for the answer. So it is true that Lenovo sells more or less defective IPS displays. I haven't seen image retention on an LCD for at lest 10 yrs so I thought that was the past. It is a shame because this should have been sorted out way before the X220 announcement.

In terms of #3. I understand the viewing angle part but
a) What is approximate difference in contrast between IPS and TN panels?
b) Is there color accuracy (quality) difference?
c) How about the brightness?
d) Surface? I know the IPS is not matt

 

I think that is a ridiculous statement. I am working on my X220 IPS everyday and although my screen has this lightbleed and ghosting I never see it when I'm working. Do have like to look at black pictures? Then yes, you will notice the bleed. As I prefer to work instead of staring on my screen I don't notice it. This screen is so superior to all other Laptop screens I have ever seen, so I find these statement really absurd.

 

You have to consider, these lenovos are not cheap. I mean, we could just get a cheap hp / dell / acer.

Then you have to pay a premium to get IPS.

Look at the iPhone 4. It's an AMAZING display. INSANE pixel density, VERY bright, resolution of 960 x 640 (not far off from 1366 x 768 considering size)

Does it have any light bleed / ghosting issues ? no...
Same with good IPS monitors, they don't have an issue...

So why should the X220 ??? If we pay a premium, it should not have issues.

Here is what I think:

Lenovo needs to ditch their IPS manufacturer and find someone better.

I would rather pay $150 more for a 1600x900 IPS or $100 for 1366x768 IPS vs $50 for a CHEAPO IPS.

 

From what I've gathered here you haven't ordered the X220 yet. Did you see the screen in real life? If not you should do so and not just rely on Forum opinions.

The iPhone 4 is not a Laptop screen. There is no 12,5" Laptop with 1600x900. As I said I do not see the two issued mentioned here at all when working with my Laptop. If someone has the Laptop and cannot tolerate this faults I can understand that, but someone should build its own opinion.

At the moment I don't see an alternative to the X220 with IPS. And I wouldn't want one. Silent, fast, 1TB HDD, (for me) amazing screen. I'm happy to pay 1200 Euros for that.

 

I think from a historical perspective that would be inaccurate. If you bought a X60 five years ago when it was released, how much did it cost? Probably $1,200 and that's with a crappy TN panel. Price points are down across the industry, not just Lenovo.

As always it's about balance. Balancing features and price. The X220(i) is a fantastic notebook, probably the best one being sold in my estimation. Is it perfect? Absolutely not, but Lenovo has done a great job giving you a sensational notebook for little more than a netbook. I'd call that pretty impressive.

When has anyone sold a laptop with an IPS screen for these kind of prices? I mean I paid $750 shipped for my X220i. That's with the IPS screen and people seem to be doing even better these days. If you want to save $100 and get a Dell, Acer, HP, etc., I think it's your right, but it's not they I'd go.

 

As one has to look at the screen in order to work I would say the screen is pretty damn important. Perhaps the most important.

I think maybe you got a good IPS screen sample. I can clearly see the outline of windows closed on the black ThinkPad wallpaper provided and a little less so with the blue. Pretty much exactly the same on both of my X220s. Light bleed is worse on one of mine versus the other however. I would say it's pretty 'meh' as far as IPS displays go.

For $50 it sounds like an incredible deal but you get what you pay for. You get an IPS display but you get a substandard one. Is a substandard IPS display still a better option? I don't know as I have no X220 with a TN display to compare.

It really all depends on whether you feel the benefits of IPS in general outweigh the drawbacks of using poor quality panels.

I have two X220s and one is worse than the other so there is definitely some variability.

 

I have not experienced that. If you think it's that bad, call Lenovo and get it replaced.

 

It seems to me that unfortunately it is safe to say that Lenovo most likely has some quality issues at hand with this IPS displays. Some experience more ghosting others less and I am afraid that Lenovo will not change that so it is a kind of gamble.

What is the difference between the IPS HD screen and the regular TN option? Jcm3 pointed out that viewing angle and contrast but:
a) What is approximate difference in contrast between IPS and TN panels?
b) Is there color accuracy (quality) difference? (I want to do some on the field minor photo editing)
c) How about the brightness?
d) Surface? I know the IPS is not matt but what about the regular TN?

Does anyone have (or seen) both displays?

And finally, with all the problems this IPS has would you select it again? I mean with all the issues the IPS has is it that much better than the regular TN option? (I know this is a bit subjective)

 

‪Display: TN vs. IPS at Lenovo Thinkpad X220‬‏ - YouTube

Buying the IPS is a no-brainer. Do it !

 

You determined this how? While these forums do an overwhelming amount of good, this is really one problem with them. A person comes here, particularly the uninitiated, seeking information and sees a few posts about a problem, then assumes they're all like that. While I'm not trying to minimize others concerns, the fact remains the most users of the X220 will probably never experience this problem. I myself have never seen it.

The people here tend to be enthusiasts and nitpick everything. That will hopefully help Lenovo make better products down the road, it does have a tendency to skew the perspective negatively.

 

ZaZ, thank you for the lesson but that's not what I asked so I politely ask you to keep that for others. Thank you.

Yes, I determined that maybe there is a problem with this display by:
1) Looking at the 100s of posts in different forums complaining about the very same issue
2) Looking at photos that showed the ghosting issue
3) Looking at the response from Lenovo which i think is not acceptable this day and age
4) Looking at other brands' (NOT Lenovo) IPS displays that do not exhibit this issue.
5) I could not find image retention related posts on any forums for a laptop display made in 2011 except Lenovo X220 IPS
I agree this is not scientific but it does make you think before you buy something.

If you read my posts carefully I mentioned that the reason why I have concerns is because I want to do photo editing (not much but what is necessary on the go). I also asked questions clearly numbered (and a second batch with letters) to make sure it will be easy to answer them. But you gave me a lesson and did not answer my questions.

Thank you.

 

fair point.   what response would you personally consider acceptable?

 

I was told by them that it was 'normal' for IPS screens and they referred me to a FAQ on their website.

 

I can imagine something like this (if that is the case)
Due to the supply problems after the Japanese Tsunami Lenovo received some batch of displays that may exhibit a certain degree of image retention. We are trying to eliminate those and we stand behind our product and value the customer.

I mean, there is nothing wrong with honesty....

Bottom line is that no other laptops with IPS displays made in 2011 exhibit this issue.

I think maybe some part is exaggerated so it would not be a bad idea if we can put up a poll. It cannot hurt with 2 simple 2 questions.
1) Do you have this problem?
2) Does it bother you in your normal usage?

 

I have to disagree with the notion that people only post when something goes wrong applies here. When Lenovo has a FAQ on their website explaining how it's "normal" for IPS displays it's clearly a widespread issue. I've never seen this on any other IPS displays by the way. In fact I haven't seen it on any display since the early laptop days of the 1990's. The issue is present on both my X220s.

When I close a window and it leaves an image of itself behind I don't think I'm nitpicking, especially when I payed extra for a "premium" display. Add to that the light leaks and it is a less than positive experience. I'll stick with one of my X220s as I need to get some use out of it before moving on to something else but this is my first and last ThinkPad. I just need to sell my Intel 310 SSD as the one I'm keeping has 3G. I've had no mSATA problems mercifully.

 

I would be interested if there is a "test" and a "definition" for the ghosting effect. The only time I noticed ghosting was when I left the screen on with the same picture for several hour. In normal work I never see it. I just tried it and waited for 5 and 10 minutes and ghosting was not apparent. How long do you guys have to wait until you see it?