Thinkpads Forum

Hi!

I'm getting a T520 this week but it has the 1366x768 screen and I'd really like to upgrade it to FullHD. I've been reading around and apparently the panel to get is AUO B156HW01 V4. Many places seem to offer only compatible panels and not the exact one but I found these two on ebay:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NEW-AU-OPTRON ... 35aa757727

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/New-Orig-IBM- ... 1c27e94d53

Has anyone ordered from either shop and let me know if they're legit?

Of course if there are other places to source the panel I'd appreciate the info.

//esaj

Welcome to the forum!

The screen that you're interested in is no longer manufactured...so locating a proper one might prove to be a pain.

From the first feebay link:

We may ship a 100% compatible part

When I see that type of statement, I move on - but your money, your call.

The second one looks legit - I've never dealt with the seller in question - so proceed at your own risk.

Good luck.

I ordered one from Ebay China, the seller seems to have a good reputation so I pulled the trigger.

I asked them if it was an original panel, they answered very fast and they confirmed me it's an original one. Let's hope now for the best

Seller is this one: click me

I'll keep you updated if you want....

Tasurinchi wrote:I ordered one from Ebay China, the seller seems to have a good reputation so I pulled the trigger.

I asked them if it was an original panel, they answered very fast and they confirmed me it's an original one. Let's hope now for the best

Seller is this one: click me

I'll keep you updated if you want....

Yes, keep me/us updated. There's probably other people still looking for the panel also and if they end up in this thread we're all wiser

When are you expecting the panel?

Interesting thing I found on Anandtech: http://www.anandtech.com/show/7250/myth ... m-review/7

Maybe there's still a bunch of them sitting in a warehouse somewhere.

//esaj

esaj wrote:When are you expecting the panel?

Normally it takes 3 to 4 weeks. It should be arriving earlier next week according to my calculations. Postage from China can be as fast as 10 days or take 4 full working weeks. Patience is needed

I'll keep you posted...

Anybody try one of these supposed generic versions?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/190605391020

http://www.ebay.com/itm/350770772755

Am I correct in thinking panels for T520/W520 would be exact replacement for T510 as well?

No experience with generic panels, but LCDs are the same across T/W 510/20/30 range...

Thank you for the confirmation. I had thought that was the case from what I'd read. I got a steal on a T510 with a 1600x900 but need more real estate since I program.

I was also figuring PC LCD displays are similar to TV LCDs (and older tubes) where there are just a few factories worldwide that make them and all the various brands buy nearly the same thing from these few suppliers. Thus, these "generic" ones come from the same place though they may be rejects/seconds that didn't meet the standards of Lenovo et al.

Well...

Given Lenovo's low standards on what a "passable" panel is, I'd be scared to buy anything that was rejected by them, regardless of price, but that's me...

ajkula66 wrote:Given Lenovo's low standards on what a "passable" panel is, I'd be scared to buy anything that was rejected by them

Priceless

But with the x5x0 Series they had a moment of coolness (at least with the FHD models). Got this in the post today:



I hope now it survived the trip and it's not DOA. Stay tuned...

esaj wrote:Yes, keep me/us updated.

Panel works!



So the seller delivered what he promised. But seems he has no more panels like this

Happy hunting!

Tasurinchi wrote:
So the seller delivered what he promised. But seems he has no more panels like this

Happy hunting!

Well crap Guess I'll just have to pull the trigger and hope for the best by ordering from some other place. Thanks for the update.

I'll post in this thread if I get lucky.

Don't loose hope, there were some UK sellers selling compatible models. I'll try emailing every single them and asking if they have some V4 availables...

https://www.laptopscreen.com/English/mo ... 20~42395G/ Full HD matte and glossy

The "real deal" is out of stock on the linked website, generics remain...

Is there any difference in performance or reliability in these v4 units with respect to manufactured date, h/w or f/w versions?

So far I've only seen f/w:2 but h/w has been 0A, 1A and 2A and dates have ranged from 10/20 to 12/18 (I assume yy/ww format).

topshot wrote:Is there any difference in performance or reliability in these v4 units with respect to manufactured date, h/w or f/w versions?

Not that I'm aware of. You'll have to calibrate the panel properly for optimal performance anyway...

These do look really nice, but I'm rather disappointed by the poor viewing angle. Guess the old IPS displays have spoiled me.

Ok, so I also ordered a panel from here: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/180740081403? ... 26_rdc%3D1

The same place as Tasurinchi.

I asked about the panel to be sure it still was the correct one and they answered that it was the exact panel. We exchanged a few more messages and they always got back really quickly, so really happy with their customer service considering it's ebay Here's a pic from the back of the screen:



Delivery was about two weeks and I installed it last night. Works fine, no stuck or dead pixels. Only some light leaking from right side for a moment after starting the computer but it goes away.

So far very happy with it

//esaj

Cool! Enjoy the panel

I still cannot get used to 16:9, it feels weird

Nevertheless FHD is the only resolution I will accept in 16:9, everything below that looks ridiculously wide...

After having used this panel for a while now, I really do not like the 1920x1080 FHD at all compared to the 1600x1200 flexview of my T42p. This v4 panel came out of a W520. It may have excellent color rendition (and be much brighter) but the viewing angle is terrible! Can calibration fix something like that? My model has Optimus graphics. I assume I need to calibrate both the integrated and discrete but don't know how to tell which one is active (or to force one to be active).

topshot wrote:After having used this panel for a while now, I really do not like the 1920x1080 FHD at all compared to the 1600x1200 flexview of my T42p. This v4 panel came out of a W520. It may have excellent color rendition (and be much brighter) but the viewing angle is terrible!

Thank you for confirming what I've been saying for the longest time...

Can calibration fix something like that?

No.

My model has Optimus graphics. I assume I need to calibrate both the integrated and discrete but don't know how to tell which one is active (or to force one to be active).

There are a couple of profiles that are floating around, downloadable from both NBR and LF, I believe. With that said, you may want to look into this as well:

http://www.lagom.nl/lcd-test/

Good luck.

ajkula66 wrote:There are a couple of profiles that are floating around, downloadable from both NBR and LF, I believe. With that said, you may want to look into this as well:

http://www.lagom.nl/lcd-test/

The problem with trying to calibrate is that it changes with the stupid angle. Even just 10 degrees and things look different. Drives me nuts!

topshot wrote: The problem with trying to calibrate is that it changes with the stupid angle. Even just 10 degrees and things look different. Drives me nuts!

Unfortunately, you have three choices and each one calls for a sacrifice on a different level:

a) Learn to live with it

b) Sacrifice keyboard/trackpoint layout of the *20 series and move onto *40 series

c) Consider alternatives such as Dell and HP workstation-class business laptops (Precision and EliteBook respectively)

Good luck.

d) hope the T50 boards can be shipped to the US in the not too distant future so I can keep using my 1600x1200.

topshot wrote:d) hope the T50 boards can be shipped to the US in the not too distant future so I can keep using my 1600x1200.

That's why I've got several 15" T4x shells ready and waiting...waiting...waiting,,,

I've noticed Option C is an option taken quite a bit by folk around here, despite the forum's... core theme. But it is very underrated. A lot of the other brands are really trying to poke our fancy since Lenovo's taking a different route... and we miss quite a bit out there.

As for Option D, I've got quite a bit of T4x hardware here waiting for that too. You guys may want to peek at the T50 motherboard topic in "View New Posts" if you haven't already...

Option A... depends on how you take to living with compromise. That's what IBM gave you guys in the before-time, isn't it? The opportunity to live without compromise?

Option B has some other consequences besides sacrificing keyboard layout, when going to the Haswell Thinkpads. Plus I've been getting the drift that there's quite a lot of quality assurance issues with them...


I do agree that 1920x1080 is the only tolerable 16:9 resolution. Anything smaller is just abysmal to work on, period. I did have a 1280x800 laptop for 2 years, but this was just when Vista came out, and I was 14 for crying out loud. And hey, 16:10 is not a bad aspect ratio.

Medessec wrote:I've noticed Option C is an option taken quite a bit by folk around here, despite the forum's... core theme. But it is very underrated.

I do agree that 1920x1080 is the only tolerable 16:9 resolution. Anything smaller is just abysmal to work on, period. I did have a 1280x800 laptop for 2 years, but this was just when Vista came out, and I was 14 for crying out loud. And hey, 16:10 is not a bad aspect ratio.

I moved my son from a T42 with the 1400x1050 to a Precision M4300 with 1920x1200, which I'm rather envious of - my normal height PLUS some extra width (and it's better than this B156HW01 V4 as far as viewing angle). Perhaps not a nice thing to do looking back as he'll get spoiled by all that real estate.

1920x1200 is an amazing screen resolution for laptops, 15" and 17" are equally epic, because 15" just gives you such an amazing amount of space versus the portability of your laptop as long as you can deal with the DPI... and if you can't, you can have 17", which I think is the easiest on your eyes, and I haven't seen a single 17" WUXGA panel that isn't absolutely brilliant in color reproduction and brightness. HP's DC panels, the Samsung MaxBright DUAL-bulb in the W700, and LG's panels in the Clevo monsters.

Dell has a habit of putting some pretty awesome resolutions on their midrange beefies... I've seen an XPS vaguely based of the old cruddy D610 that had a 15" WUXGA panel. I really wish that thing could still work... I think the GPU in it is conked out. I'd have to see if I can sell that box of parts on this forum for someone to repair.

1920x1200 does so well in today's time, because HD material fits fine in it, and the added vertical space makes it far more useful than 1920x1080. That Dell your son has... is probably a pretty lovely jewel of a machine. I've always kinda liked those Dells... a 1920x1200 15" display has just got to be a cherry on top.

Medessec wrote:a 1920x1200 15" display has just got to be a cherry on top.

The cherry was that I got it for free.