T61p WUXGA LCD brightness uniformity acceptable?

[shaocaholica]

Thats a photo of my T61p WUXGA screen in a totally dark room.  The brightness is set to max (and in the bios) so this is the absolute max brightness the backlight can do.  The image on the screen is a totally black image (0,0,0) and no color correction/management is being applied.  I took this photo as dead on as I could.  As you can see, there is a lot of light bleed/non-uniformity at the bottom and to a lesser extent on some of the corners.  This T61p is only 2 weeks old (refurbished) and still under warranty.  I will be primarily using this laptop for image and video editing so image quality and uniformity is my utmost priority.  So with that in mind, does my display seem like its still within spec or should I request service for the screen?  Also, post calibration (Spyder 3 Elite, software v.4, 6500k) the white point brightness at max backlight is ~86 cd/m2.  Thats a bit lower than what I'm used to working with.  Does anyone know if thats also out of spec?

[lead_org Microsoft MVP Contributor]

my T61p had this problem too, and no they won't replace the LCD as it is considered within spec. 

[shaocaholica]

Hmm.  Would a new screen be much better?  Even if I had to do it at my own expense?

[lead_org Microsoft MVP Contributor]

you will only find out by trial and error. 

[markgrif]

There are some extraordinary external monitors out there for $300 and much less. Hook it up to the VGA port on the left side of your machine.

You can also use this as an "Extended screen". Keep your editting software on the T61p and your photos on the new monitor!

[markgrif]

I forgot to say in my previous post that your TV MAY  have a VGA input itself. Many of the newer models do.

[shaocaholica]

Thats kind of defeating the purpose of a laptop.  I've already got the mini dock with DVI and I have a few high end monitors at home but it doesn't make me feel any better about the screen attached to my laptop.

[ajkula66 Guru]

Generally speaking, WUXGA LCDs used on T61p (and on W500 later on) leave a lot to be desired in most cases, at least in my opinion.

You may want to try and locate a LG LCD for your machine, since they're more acceptable than the Samsung ones (and given the description, I suspect yours is a Samsung) but it won't make a tremendous difference.

For really high-quality picture you can either revert to T60/p with an IPS screen, or W700 if you need the horsepower of a modern CPU/GPU.

Good luck.

[larryp7639]

Great post! It's very nice. Thank you so much for your post.

__________________
Watch Splice Online Free

[shaocaholica]

Actually, according to this:

http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/TFT_display#TFT_Displays_as_found_in_ThinkPads

If my Samsung display is a LTN154U2-L05, then the brightness is totally off-spec.  About half of what the manufacturer says it should be.