T61 14" wide screen - display adjustments

[jaaa]

Newly acquired T61 (7661-D28) on Windows 7. Everything works fine. But the display bothers my eyes. It puts a strain on my eye when looking at internet forums such as this. This does not change whether the backlight is bright or dim; the display appears more "warm" as if there's a "night light"/"night shift" feature that's turned on. It's obvious when compared to other computers/laptops/tablets/TVs in the house.

Making color adjustments (both in the Windows 7 and Intel driver control panels) showed the default setting still looks best.

Is this an inherent feature of this display or is there something I can do.

[theterminator93]

The 14" 16:10 T61s have some of the worst TFT screens found on ThinkPads. They are all CCFL lit, and due to their age they are starting to yellow, which as you stated is very obvious compared to today's LED panels.

I'm afraid there isn't much to be done about it. Color/gamma calibration is about the most you can do to try and get better color off the panel, but it looks like you already tried that.

[jaaa]

Thanks for the quick reply. It's an otherwise very nice computer...too bad about poor display

[kfzhu1229]

The 14" 16:10 T61s have some of the worst TFT screens found on ThinkPads. They are all CCFL lit, and due to their age they are starting to yellow, which as you stated is very obvious compared to today's LED panels.

Well its not so much the yellowing thats straining to look at, but rather the poor contrast ratio and poor viewing angles of crap tft displays that can even make me have nausea.
Hmm I didn't know that 14.1" widescreen T61 models use real crap screens. Maybe there are slightly better looking screens at WXGA+ resolutions.
Could swapping in a Dell screen work? I'm not sure if edid in these screens are propietrary, but I know for a fact that some Latitude D620 and D630 models have screens of 45 degrees of viewing angle and 1:350-400 contrast ratio and thus is actually less eye straining than a newer 14" non-IPS machine, say a T420/T430 or Dell E6420/E6430. That said though don't expect flexview or ultrasharp quality on these.
Heres one such screen (I have it so I know how it looks like):
https://www.panelook.com/N141I3-L05_Inn ... _2045.html

[TPFanatic]

I don't think any 14.1" 16:10 screens make for pleasant viewing. Along with the few 14.1" 4:3 screens I've seen, it seems the entire 14" segment was garbage until 14" IPS became a thing.

[kfzhu1229]

I don't think any 14.1" 16:10 screens make for pleasant viewing. Along with the few 14.1" 4:3 screens I've seen, it seems the entire 14" segment was garbage until 14" IPS became a thing.

True. Other than the earliest 14.1" panels before 15" screens are a thing and when 14.1" was considered high end, 14.1" kinda just lived under the shadows of high end 15" screens and 14.1" laptops focused on being much lighter and thinner than having a good screen.
Again, for that N141I3 screen I found it to be comfortable enough to not strain my eyes, but you definitely won't have the punchy colours and real deep blacks of the 15.4" counterparts.
At least at 220 nits it is actually decently bright, but I have no idea how the brightness is gonna be with a ThinkPad inverter.

[jaaa]

Forgive me for not knowing the technical details. Since the hardware/software is capable of driving a generic external monitor via the VGA port, what's the obstacle that keeps one from being able to swap out the T61 display for a different type?

[kfzhu1229]

Forgive me for not knowing the technical details. Since the hardware/software is capable of driving a generic external monitor via the VGA port, what's the obstacle that keeps one from being able to swap out the T61 display for a different type?

The problem is mainly fitting really. the good screens (Whether they are of the 15" 4:3 variety, 15.4" variety or 14" 16:9 variety) simply won't fit onto your 14.1" widescreen chassis. The screens that fit onto a 14.1" 16:10 widescreen variety are simply inferior in display quality compared to its larger 15.6" cousins. But they are usually much lighter and less power hungry though.
Then there is the compatibility. Since T6x use EDID information built into each LCD display to tell the resolution and refresh rate, it may or may not recognise the EDID information for displays designed for other brands like Dell.
Hmm with more research, perhaps the list of screens in thinkwiki might help:
https://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/TFT_display
Which one do you currently have? In my experience with these things, the Samsung ones are the worst, with the worst viewing angles.
If you want an upgrade to resolution too, perhaps the LP141WP1 panel will do the job. My experience with the LP141WP1-TLA1 variant found on a Latitude D630 has been pretty passable, with the display definitely being more pleasant to look at compared to what I got on my 14.1" T4x and Latitude D610. Not sure if the TLB8 variant found on ThinkPads are going to be any different.
If you think you got too spoiled by good screens found on the 15" 4:3 and 15.4" 16:10 bodies, you should rid of this thing entirely and get a 15" 4:3 or 15.4" 16:10 widescreen variant of T61 or T/W500.

[jaaa]

Thanks for the explanation. I really don't know the exact model/type of display in my T61 (is there a way to find out without physically opening it up?)

In the decades of staring at different computer monitors over thousands of hours, this is the first time where a display just didn't feel right and caused me to notice eye strain. So I'm curious about what's going on. Unless it's cheap/easy, it's probably not practical to replace the screen since the T61 is not my primary computer.

[kfzhu1229]

Thanks for the explanation. I really don't know the exact model/type of display in my T61 (is there a way to find out without physically opening it up?)

In the decades of staring at different computer monitors over thousands of hours, this is the first time where a display just didn't feel right and caused me to notice eye strain. So I'm curious about what's going on. Unless it's cheap/easy, it's probably not practical to replace the screen since the T61 is not my primary computer.

Use a software called monitorinfoview. It brings up a list of all displays that you have previously or currently connected to. Use your common sense to determine which one is yours (i.e. resolution, size, manufacturing date, and monitor name if it's not blank.
On my Dell laptop for example, once I find the correct one with common sense, the registry key says LPLDE00\5&33608dca&0&UID1048848, which the LP stands for LG Philips, and since there's like only one model per manufacturer for any given resolution that's used on each laptop model, going to the list of displays used for the model returns the LP154WE2-TLB1 display
https://www.panelook.com/LP154WE2-TLB1_ ... zKyNx8ozY4
For you, you have the list of screens found on thinkwiki as I have linked above and it's easy to match that way.

[jaaa]

Thanks again. I couldn't find a match. MonitorInfoView revealed a reg key "LEN4033\4&17ce4304&1&&UID67568640," manufacturer id 44592, productid 16435. Resolution 1440x900.

[kfzhu1229]

Thanks again. I couldn't find a match. MonitorInfoView revealed a reg key "LEN4033\4&17ce4304&1&&UID67568640," manufacturer id 44592, productid 16435. Resolution 1440x900.

Okay then yes you have the LP141WP1-TLB8 screen.
While my LP141WP1-TLA1 screen is also yellowed, I actually find it decently comfortable to use, just nowhere near as good as the LP154WE2-TLB1 display I have of course.
Can you try to explain where your eye strain is coming from? The yellowing, bad contrast ratio or bad viewing angles?
I think at this point there isn't much you can do and you might wanna trade for a 15" model and opt for quality display options if the extra weight isn't a concern for you. The 15" model may be much heavier than you think the numbers suggest.