Thinkpads Forum

I am proud owner of an old X-61 that uses VISTA
I use it only as a backup/temp nowadays.
putting it side by side with a Lenovo T420s, I do see a huge difference in WHITE color tint.
in terms of real DIAMONDS, we are talking D color vs K color
now, the warranty on X-61 has long been expired
Is there a way I could fix this "PROBLEM" ?

I scan documents in B&W . they really show in a brownish background.
Thanks

On CCFL displays, colors change visibly over time as the backlight ages. You should replace the bulb with a new one and calibrate your display. Calibration is the only way for any display to show (mostly) accurate colors.

It has always been Yellowish!
Can you please elaborate a bit!
How to calibrate my display ?
and what kind of a BULB are you talking about ?
is this something I can buy on my own and replace?

It's not a bulb, but a CCFL-tube.
You need steady hands, a lot of patience and a clean environment to do something like that.
Read my how-to here: http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=88991
It's for a different screen, but you get the idea.
This is the CCFL that you need for an X61: http://www.lcdparts.net/ccflDetail.aspx?ProductID=1692

If that's too complicated, buy a new LCD.

Sorry, bulb was an inaccurate expression. RBS explained it perfectly. You can also buy an aftermarket LED kit, which might probably make more sense if you are going to replace the backlight anyway. If that is too much work for you (it's not exactly an easy procedure after all), a new display is the way to go.

The reason why your display has always been yellowish is because it hasn't been calibrated. In order to calibrate it, you need a colorimeter. The Spyder series is very popular because it is quite cheap. A good alternative is X-Rite. You can buy these on Amazon for example.

600X wrote:On CCFL displays, colors change visibly over time as the backlight ages. You should replace the bulb with a new one and calibrate your display. Calibration is the only way for any display to show (mostly) accurate colors.

Thanks 600X! I borrowed a usb device, about the size of a computer mouse, and calibrated all of my machines.
Every one of my displays looks better, most of them substantially so.
What a huge difference it makes

The calibration was done using 'eye-one' plugged into the usb, and the program 'dispcalgui', perhaps a few other programs.
Installed with:

sudo apt-get install xcalib argyll colorhug-client gnome-color-manager dispcalgui