Thinkpads Forum

I am looking at the Thinkwiki (great site) for Thinkpad screens and am curious about which manufacturer is superior. I have an affinity for LG-Phillips (my T400 and an older R51e screen) as those displays seemed to have better contrast than Samsungs (my sisters R52 has one). The IPS territory is unknown for me at this point.

The site shows there are LG-Phillips (550:1 contrast ratio), ID Techs (400:1 contrast ratio), and Boe-Hydis (500:1 contrast ratio). The max nits are all the same at 200nits. Going by numbers it seems the LG-Phillips would be a great panel but I have read they yellow fast! I'm not sure about the other two panels.

I am looking at an R52 w/ATI X300 that should be able to drive these panels so I'm thinking of working on the R52 and installing one of these panels.

Any tips?

I had a great 15" R52 with IPS SXGA+, driven by integrated Intel graphics.
Sold that to forum member Synchromesh. Contact him for the LCD-details

RealBlackStuff wrote:I had a great 15" R52 with IPS SXGA+, driven by integrated Intel graphics.
Sold that to forum member Synchromesh. Contact him for the LCD-details

Just PM'd Synchromesh RBS. Thanks!

From the brands above, IMHO best is Boe-Hydis, followed by IDTech, followed by LG-Philips.

RBS, IMHO, your opinions on such things carry considerable weight, so I wonder what criteria your ranking of IPS panels is based on. And on a slightly different note, I have an extra A31P panel. Is it possible to use it in a newer chassis? Such as 15" T4x, or R5x?

I rarely see a Boe-Hydis LCD that needs a new CCFL, IDTech and LG-Philips are about even.
All of these are 15" T4x/R5x LCDs.
From viewing these LCDs from all angles, the Boe-Hydis looks the best, but closely followed by IDTech.
Even older ones still look good once the new CCFL is in. LG-Philips looks more yellow. They seem to use different filter material.
But as I said in the beginning, all this is only in MY humble opinion, based only on MY experience!

Don't know the specs of the A31p panel. Isn't that 20-pin and T4x is 30-pin? If so, look for the pin-outs, and if compatible, try one of those 20-30pin adapters.
I myself have a 15" R40 SXGA+ LCD that I'm itching to try out in a T4x/R5x. Both are 30-pin AFAIK.
Anybody try that?

@Neil:

Older A30p/A31p screens are DBU (IBM/Toshiba(?) mix, my personal all time-favourite) while the later ones are ID Tech. Either can be used in T4x/R5x units.

@RBS:

That R40 screen should work out of the box in any R5x/T4x with the proper cable, also in a G4x and A3x.

Been a while, guys...feels like a very long time...

I have all of the screens.
IDTech SXGA/UXGA, Hydis UXGA and a few LG-Philips SXGA. All Flexview.

The IDTech UXGAs on the R50p/T42p are excellent, very even brightness but also very matte and diffuse to the viewing angles. They get darker over time, but do not yellow out very much.
The LG-Philips on the T60 are very crisp, great viewing angles but shi*ty CCFL that turns dark and yellow after just 2 years. You would need to replace them with a high-quality CCFL. Very disappointing.

My current Hydis UXGA on the T60p is ultra-bright (!) and extremely crisp. Beware that they have a light focusing foil on top. Compared to IDTech which have a very even brightness to all sides, the Hydis focuses the light more perpendicular to the screen. So you can turn down the light bars, because less light is lost to the sides.

Unfortunately I figured out that Thinkwiki is wrong. The T60 LCDs did not work on the R5x/T4x series. I tried everything, it does not boot.

@beeblebrox:

I can't say that I've tried the LG Phillips SXGA+ from T60 on T4x/R5x, but will guarantee that Hydis UXGA from T60p does work on T43 and T43p.

My experiences only.

ajkula66 wrote:@beeblebrox:

I can't say that I've tried the LG Phillips SXGA+ from T60 on T4x/R5x, but will guarantee that Hydis UXGA from T60p does work on T43 and T43p.

My experiences only.

You might be correct. I used my 14" SXGA cable on the T43 and no T60 LCD worked. That's when I figured out that the LCD cable was the cause for malfunction. I ordered a new LCD cable now and will report back after some tests.
Because as far as I know, the T60 and T42p/T43p LCD are identical, except the EDID Flash Rom.

Hi,

This is probably not relevant at all as it's not IPS but I put a 15" XGA T60 panel into an R51 and it worked just fine.

Just thought I'd mention it.

OK, folks.
I fixed the problem. The 15" LCDs only work with 15" LCD cables.
So, 14" and 15" cables are different, even if they both say SXGA. Did not know that.

All 15" T60/R60 LCDs work now in the T4x series just fine.