Thinkpads Forum

Hello, this is my first post in this forum. I previously owned a X220 with which I was happy enough (I never owned or operated any "classic" thinkpad; I owned other brands and the X220 was really nice compared to them.)

I very recently bought a T440s and in very stupid circumstances damaged the LCD. I am now looking for a replacement. My original LCD is a non-IPS 1600x900; more specifically, it's labelled as an Innolux N140FGE-EA2.

Obviously the easiest solution is to buy the same one. But I thought, if I'm changing the LCD, it seems a good idea to try to upgrade to a better LCD if I can find one, right? At least an IPS one. I searched ebay.com and found there are IPS LCDs with better resolution that match my requirements: specifically I found the LG LP140WF1-SPJ1 that is said to be compatible with the T440 line: http://www.ebay.com/itm/231372684029

However, someone told me that the LG panel might not be compatible and I should check before buying, because returning it overseas if it turns out not to be compatible is going to be very expensive and time-wasting. I found a very detailed site about LCD screens, panelook.com. This is my old screen:
http://www.panelook.com/N140FGE-EA2_Inn ... 17573.html
and this is the LG LP140WF1-SPJ1:
http://www.panelook.com/LP140WF1-SPJ1_L ... 20495.html

I later noticed that the SPJ1 is glossy, which is something I hate with a passion. I noticed they have three other sub-models, of which the SPK1 is antiglare:
http://www.panelook.com/LP140WF1-SPK1_L ... 23292.html

I then searched ebay for the SPK1 and found one: http://www.ebay.com/itm/400768729329 This one doesn't say specifically that it's compatible with T440s (or actually with any other laptop model). They assume you know what you want, I guess.

However, looking closely in the panelook.com pages I noticed that the original says it uses eDP connection "one lane" and the other ones says it uses eDP "two lanes"; and the other difference is that one is "normally white" and the other one is "normally black".

My question for the experts here is, are these differences important? Is the laptop going to work with the different screen? Will I need to install a different cable or some other difficult or dangerous task?

I very much appreciate advice you can offer on this topic, and I hope I didn't make this post overly long.

Replying to my own post to add some extra info. I eventually found this thread in the Lenovo.com forums:
https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/T400-T500- ... -p/1597548
which leads to this blog post:
http://thinkpadmint.blogspot.co.uk/2014 ... t440s.html

Essentially they say you can just replace the screen with an FHD one and it works just fine.

I received a new AUO panel yesterday, model B140HAN01.1 which I bought on eBay (http://www.ebay.com/usr/lcd4notebook), as recommended on the thinkpadmint blog. I had no trouble at all replacing my broken panel, and OH GOD THIS ONE IS SO MUCH BETTER. Of course, the new one is an IPS panel and the old one wasn't; old one was 1600x900 and this one is 1920x1080.

When I was installing it I noticed some very slight light bleed on the bottom edge, before installing the bezel; it was barely noticeable. Now that I have the bezel on, I can't see it anymore unless I set maximum brightness and the screen is totally black; and even then, it is almost completely unnoticeable unless I'm actively looking for it. Of course, there is no spotlight effect either.

My sincerest appreciation to the guys that documented the compatibility, and Michael Cox in particular who documented the procedure to replace the panel.