Happy w/ 1080p FHD IPS Syonyk Upgrade, but questions:

[paulie420]

Hello fine folks!!

So, I'm pretty happy with the screen upgrade I just completed on my ThinkPad T430s - I went with the 1920x1080 B140HAN01.3 FHD IPS replacement screen, and used a e-qstore LCD controller upgrade kit.

That being said, I do have two exact T430s systems... one being 1600x900 stock and one now having this 1080p upgrade. Side by side and during daily driver use, your eyes can really FEEL the difference. It is... ALMOST night and day. The ThinkPad finally feels like... current. The screen looks as good as a current Mac/Apple offering now. It is bright and clearer... it just brings this old ThinkPad into the currently acceptable [and even GOOD] quality column.

Ok, so great... the contoller was $50<, the 1080p IPS screen was $60>... and I'd say its like... a low to middle end CURRENT screen; something that would come TODAY if you bought a $999 laptop.

Other info, for anyone who cares to know... MY T430s setups have i7-3520M CPUs @ 2.90Ghz... 16g MEM.. SSD Hard Disks...

My question is; for my other T430s, should I upgrade it to a 1080p screen exactly like I did with the first? Cost of $110 & gets the user to 1920x1080... or, should I go with the better WQHD 2560x1440 4K upgrade? $70< controller & $150> WQHD screen... so its $110 for 1080p or $220 for 4K.

I am thinking that since I do want to push these ThinkPads to the max that the $220 price of entry for the 4K upgrade is just on the edge of what I *wouldn't* want to pay, but I'm thinking that I'll do it...
Does anyone have suggestions or experience with the difference between 1080p and 4K on this T-series form-factor and/or daily use? Will I notice the better 4K everytime I use the machine? Which upgrade do you suggest I perform for my second T430s? $110 1080p or $220 4K???

Lastly; I have not noticed any of the flickering or issues that some users posted. I ordered OEM panels only, which is also part of the reason MY upgrade costs are the highest that anyone should have to pay... its only been a weekend or so, but so far so good - the 1080p one that I completed had performed perfectly so far. I'll post any issues that DO arise... but hoping that they don't.

The upgrade totally makes the ThinkPad a better daily driver... the difference is huge. The stock 1600x900 screen sucked pretty badly.

THANKS!!
Paulie

[decaba]

Don't know if this helps but a couple years ago I put a B140QAN01.1 2560x1440 panel in my T430s. I'm super-glad I did—as you mentioned, the stock panel was pretty bad—but I found the high resolution made text a little small for me to read and had to adjust scaling. It's fine, and still totally worth it, but if I were to do it over, I'd probably go with an FHD panel instead and put the money saved toward an SSD or something. I can't speak to 4K playback (I think 2560x1440 isn't technically 4K?), but video playback in general is superb. Good luck!

[dr_st]

Nitpicking: 4K is UHD (3840x2160). QHD (2560x1440) is sometimes unofficially called '2K'.

Personally I feel comfortable with FHD 14" but probably would not like QHD in that size (everything would be to small and I would have to scale things anyways). But many people prefer QHD even in 14" for the smaller pixel pitch and smooth fonts.

[chifu]

I have a t430 like you and I did upgrade to the full HD IPs with the kit ( with B140HAN01.3 FHD IPS). I also have some ThinkPad laptops such as: t540p 3k IPs (panel Panasonic), T410, Z61t. My T430 can use a ratio of 125% to 150% in Windows but T540p you can use 200% rate. So 3k is more beautiful than full HD IPs. Partly because the panel is better, a part of the resolution is higher.

[TPFanatic]

In mid-2018 I did the FHD (1920x1080) upgrade on a T430. In early 2019, I did the QHD (2560x1440) upgrade on an Nvidia T430s. After becoming used to QHD, I cannot go back to FHD, I find it "constrained" for my work style, I like having up to four HD (1280x720) or so sized windows open at the same time each occupying a quarter of the LCD, large enough to display web content, or up to two documents open to full height side by side at the very usable width of 1280px.

Resultantly, I had an FHD T430 and a QHD T430s, of which I only used the QHD T430s afterward. So, I gave the T430 to another user for it to remain in use.

When the QHD kits for T420/T430 were released a few months ago, I bought one for a T420 which I also specced up with an i7 2670QM. While waiting for a new LCD to arrive, my T430s suddenly died from overheating the Nvdia GPU, so I conveniently moved the T430s' LCD over to the T420 to complete that unit, which is now my primary unit. I also moved the T430s' adapter board (an actual RMSmajestic/Javi-jie unit) to an Intel-only T430s, which was then completed with a new LCD. This T430s is functional but not doing anything other than being a pretty spare.

I'd recommend waiting for prices to drop on QHD LCDs before investing in such a unit, as prices will drop significantly in the next year or two as QHD LCDs begin hitting the used market. Especially if you are happy with your FHD T430s and don't want to immediately obsolesce it when you take a liking to QHD like me.

[Natakranta]

When the QHD kits for T420/T430 were released a few months ago, I bought one for a T420 which I also specced up with an i7 2670QM. While waiting for a new LCD to arrive, my T430s suddenly died from overheating the Nvdia GPU, so I conveniently moved the T430s' LCD over to the T420 to complete that unit, which is now my primary unit. I also moved the T430s' adapter board (an actual RMSmajestic/Javi-jie unit) to an Intel-only T430s, which was then completed with a new LCD. This T430s is functional but not doing anything other than being a pretty spare.

Hi, how's the QHD screen on T430 with Intel HD GPU only? Can it play YouTube full screen in 1440p? What about if video is 50 or even 60 FPS? Can it play it smoothly?
Asking because I was lucky to get T430 2347-1G1 for cheap and I'd like to upgrade that awful HD screen it has now.
So far I did the EC mod to enable charging on T420 Lenovo battery I got with it. I did 1vyRain and change WiFi card to Intel AC 7260. New 250GB 2.5" Crucial MX500 SSD and 2x8GB DDR3L RAM sticks.
I'm eyeing on backlit keyboard. No, no classic 7 row keyboard conversion.
But most of all I want a nice screen and looking for advice from experienced users.

The reasonable choice:
€45 T430 FHD kit and
€60 AU Optronics B140HAN01.1 IPS Laptop Screen

The fancy option:
€60 T430 QHD kit and
€80 2560×1440 14" LCD Screen B140QAN01.1 or
€75 B140QAN01.5 FRU 00NY440 2560x1440 WQHD

Looking at the specs:
AUO B140QAN01.1
AUO B140QAN01.5
I see that "1" has higher brightnes (340) comparing to "5" (300). Biggest question is: are they IPS?

I'm leaning towards the QHD kit (why? why not! ), but I'd like to get nice IPS colors and viewing angle screen for that.
It doesn't have to be super colour accurate, I'm not doing any Pictures or video post production. That will only be or watching videos and browsing webz.

[TPFanatic]

1440p videos stutter unfortunately but 1080p 60 is fine.

[Natakranta]

1440p videos stutter unfortunately but 1080p 60 is fine.

Thanks! That's what I thought. I had mixed experience with 1440p60fps on W541 with Nvidia Quadro K2000. I can't expect better performance from older laptop with weaker CPU and lack of dedicated GPU.

But 1440p30fps should be fine?

What do you think of the QHD kit I linked?
What QHD screen would you recommend?

[TPFanatic]

Turns out (this is on my T420 w/ i5 2520m, HD3000) YouTube 1440p 60ps has freezes / stutters while audio continues, but YouTube 1440p 30fps plays smooth.

The kit looks okay to me, they're probably all effectively the same by this point. I bought used B140QAN01.1 for both my QHD projects, but any screen on the approved list should work fine, so either of the ones you linked.

[Natakranta]

Thanks for taking time to reply.
Just last thing, the screen you bought, B140QAN01.1, they are IPS?
Happy with colour and viewing angle?

[TPFanatic]

Yes, it's IPS. Like the original poster enthused it's a night and day difference to the original HD or HD+ screens in colors and angles. My take is the IPS mods modernize these laptops to be more capable than they were even when new.

[Natakranta]

Thanks, I pulled the trigger:
T430 QHD LCD controller board
2560×1440 14" LCD Screen B140QAN01.1
Now the waiting game starts, I'll report back in a month or two when both comes from China