Thinkpads Forum

Hi all,
I recently picked up a pair of T500s dirt cheap off feebay, and am very pleased with them.
One has the 1280x800 LED display with integrated Intel GMA 4500MHD graphics.
The other has the 1680x1050 CCFL display with switchable 4500 and Radeon 3650 graphics.
I'm mixing and matching parts to get one real nice T500.
After adding 8 Gb memory, a T9600 CPU and an Intel 160Gb SSD to the one with switchable graphics, it is more than capable with Win 7.
I know that Windows WEI is a poor test of performance, but I get 6.3-6.3-6.3-6.3-7.6 on the rig, which seems pretty good.
It plays HD youtube and HD 1080P videos just fine, with no lag or stutter.
I explored installing a 1920 x 1200 Lenovo display, but found that the consensus on the forum is that the Lenovo screen is very poor.
After further research, I found alternate displays that will work (not Lenovo, but Dell).

Thanks to RealBlackStuffs suggestion

I don't know which WSXGA+ panel is better, but usually any Samsung screen is heavily frowned upon.

But I DO know that there are awesome WUXGA panels (1920x1200) around:
Sharp LQ154M1LW2A or LQ154M1LW02 (they are CCFL).
Those are/were used in several DELL laptops, they look like this: http://www.ebay.com/itm/330844889748
You'll notice the two metal brackets on top, and the inverter below that panel.
Those need to be cut off (the upper two "shortened" to ca. 3mm is OK) without twisting the metal edge around the screen.
After that, it's a drop-in replacement in any 15.4" T60/T61/R60/R61/T500/R500 and possibly other 16:10 machines with CCFL.
You can reuse the Lenovo inverters.

I got a LQ154M1LW02, and it is a fantastic looking display and easy to modify and install, but not near as bright as the LED display.
My question is, can I cannibalize the LED backlight, inverter and cable from the 1280x800 LED screen and use it on the new Sharp Q154M1LW02 screen?

If you have a clean environment, steady hands and lots of patience, it should be doable.
Practice first on some old/dead/cracked screens, worth a try.
The few Sharp screens that I got were all very bright, even with CCFL, maybe you got one with a lot of mileage on it?
I put one in an R500 for George/ajkula66, and he really likes it.
If that (very screen-picky) person likes it, it must be good!

Here's a tutorial/pictorial on converting an x60/x61 from CCFL to LED:
https://people.xiph.org/~xiphmont/think ... anel.shtml

It uses strips of teflon as shims to keep the led positioned correctly.

Worked great for me:
http://www.jesseo.com/kites/x61-vs-x61-led-mod.jpg

Hi all,
Thanks for the tutorial link, it is very detailed and concise!
I'll take my time and attempt this, as I have all the stuff to do it.
I hope that the LEDs on the donor panel come out easily with no damage...

I must agree, the Sharp display is really nice. Great color and a very good off-axis viewing angle- both horizontally and vertically.
Also, it is not as "grainy" as my friend's T61 with the factory 1920 x 1200 screen.
In fact, he is going to do the same swap now that he's seen how nice mine turned out.

In the tutorial notice there is no reason to open up or remove the layers covering the panel.
I was curious and lifted up the thin film layers and a few specs of dust got in there and never went away...