Experience with laptopscreen.com? T420s screen options..

[bluesceada]

Ok unluckily I didn't investigate enough before buying this refurbished T420s I have here. Seems Thinkpads are not a symbol for quality anymore?

After unpacking and turning it on I recognized the bad viewing angle directly at boot with all the blacks getting grey, and later in Windows a slight "griddiness" that I also now found described in some threads were people complain about the T420s screen. Maybe I am spoiled by my wide gamut desktop screen and my previous convertible notebook (Fujitsu T2020), but I also don't have my pre-previous X61 in mind to have had that bad of a viewing angle...

But then, checking on the screen, I found to have gotten the worst of the 3, the AUO produced B140RW02 V1.

Now I would like some comments how much better either the LG LP140WD2-TLB1 or the Samsung LTN140KT03 really are? Would it make sense to buy one of these panels as a replacement, or are they still just a minor improvement? From what I read so far in other threads this wasn't that clear. And where can I get them that really fit the T420s and are matte? I have found some LTN140KT03 articles that say they are glossy ...
Other options would be to get another matte screen-protector that might decrease both viewing angle dependence and add a slight blur to decrease the griddiness?
Then, anyone has any experience what screens will you get if you order there: https://www.laptopscreen.com/English/mo ... 0S%204174/
maybe there you can even get a better screen than all of the 3 that Lenovo was using?

Ultimatively if nothing of these are really a good improvement, I might need to sell this T420s directly again and look for a cheap T440 which is supposed to have a better screen from my current point of knowledge. Or go for a different brand,... but below ~ 1,8kg and trackpoint seems not that easy to get for a price that I want to pay...

So thanks for any comments on these options:
a) LG LP140WD2-TLB1 or the Samsung LTN140KT03
b) Screen protector
c) Screen from www.laptopscreen.com

[bluesceada]

OK, I was checking on possibly exact replaceable screen types on http://www.panelook.com/ - on that page more exact: http://www.panelook.com/popularmodels.p ... agesize=50
However I am completed unexperienced with this and if the screens are also enough compatible on the mechanical side. (However some remarks about this later..)

By checking specs I found out data about the LG and AUO screen, but not enough about the Samsung. When looking them up on laptopscreen.com I found they could be ordered there.

Here the specs I extracted that looked interesting to me:

The supposed to be best to worst of the Lenovo screens:
- Samsung LTN140KT03 (more or less fine)
-> no information
- LG LP140WD2-TLB1 (supposed to have only the "griddiness" issue, but techdata says viewing angle is the same)
-> 250 cd/m^2 350:1 angles(L,R,U,D): 45/45/15/35
- AUO B140RW02 V1 (supposed to have both viewing angle and griddiness issue)
-> 250 cd/m^2 400:1 angles(L,R,U,D): 45/45/15/35

Possible replacement candidates (with better viewing angles and higher brightness), there are more, but these seemed to be the best and available at laptopscreen.com

AUO B140RTN02.1 (same picture shown on laptopscreen.com about compatibility)
-> 300 cd/m^2 600:1 angles(L,R,U,D): 70/70/60/60

Innolux N140FGE-LA2 (same picture shown on laptopscreen.com about compatibility)
-> 300 cd/m^2 650:1 angles(L,R,U,D): 45/45/20/45

AUO B140RW01 V.0 - this one has a different picture at laptopscreen.com, so no direct mechanic fit
-> 250 cd/m^2 500:1 angles(L,R,U,D): 65/65/55/55

The AUO B140RTN02.1 really sounds interesting if the L,R,U,D viewing angles are correct. On laptopscreen.com it is available in glossy and matte however panelook does not state any of these while the Innolux screen is said to be "antiglare" there but is also available glossy/matte on laptopscreen.com

Is there anyone with more knowledge about these things?
Could I safely order a AUO B140RTN02.1 and replace it without issues, or will there be problems about the mechanical fit?

Btw. if there is anyone from Germany it might make sense to order screens together, as they give a small discount if 2 or more are ordered.

Thanks for any helpful input from anyone!

[Cigarguy]

I've ordered a high res screen from laptopscreens.com for my T420 and had good success. Mine happened to be the LG Philips screen which I prefer over the Samsung. Having said that, the screen for laptops of this generation is not that good. The swap was simple enough. I just followed the maintenance manual

[AIX]

My T420s has the Samsung panel - LTN140KT03. Now my T430 came with the AUO B140RW02 V1 panel. I don't consider the Samsung panel better, both have bad angles, at least the AUO is more warmer than the Samsung panel, as in colors, out of the box.

[bluesceada]

OK, thanks for that Information, so it doesn't help much to "upgrade" to the Samsung panel but it should be rather a completely different one.

I asked the support at laptopscreen.com and they could reply me what exact panels they have currently for the T420s. They told me I could just write in the "shipping note" which I want, otherwise they would ship any of the panels:

Glossy: B140RW02 V.0
Matte: B140RW02 V.2 and LP140WD2(TL)(HA)

Though from the data from panelook.com the B140RW02 V.2 has the same viewing angles and is even darker than the V.1, for the exact LP140WD2(TL)(HA) I couldn't find any data and laptopscreen also couldn't provide me with any.

In the meantime I have become used to the screen a bit more and it isn't that extremely bad anymore. I will check back on the screens on laptopscreen.com in the future and see if they maybe have a better one at a certain time and then order that.

[AIX]

I'm on the T420s now and I've checked, the Samsung panel is LTN140KT03401 (this is what hwinfo64 is reporting). It really doesn't worth changing the AUO B140RW02 V1 with the Samsung LTN140KT03401 panel. I would not call it an upgrade. Don't know about the other panels though.

[larso]

I just tried to find out which screen i have using read-edid on ubuntu, after reading so many negative reviews on the t420s panel. I think mine is just fine, but it does have bad vertical viewing angle.
The parse-edid command said vendor name "sec", so I figured it had to be a samsung panel. (SEC = Samsung Electronic Corporation)
Feeling lucky right now.