Bad ghosting / image retention on X240 [ Edited ]

[phositadc]

I bought an X240 a week or two ago and for the first time noticed that it has very bad ghosting (also known as image retention or burn-in), especially on the edges of the screen.  See linked pictures below (easier to see if you zoom out, but the checkerboard pattern impossible to miss from any zoom).

Image 1: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/6625784/ghost1.jpg (this shows a ghosted tab from my Chrome browser, which stayed on the screen for about 10 minutes. It is MUCH more noticeable in person--the fact that I was even able to capture it in a picture shows how bad it is in person).

Image 2: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/6625784/ghost4.jpg (this is a picture I took after running the image retention test at http://www.marco.org/rmbp-irtest.html.  You can see a checkerboard pattern across the screen which is ESPECIALLY bad at the screen edges).

I have read that image retention issues get worse with time... and this laptop is only about 2 weeks old!

Any thoughts or advice, other than trying to return or exchange it?

Moderator note: broken image test link fixed.

[lead_org Microsoft MVP Contributor]

FHD LCD on the X240? It will get slightly worse few weeks into the usage. You can try returning it, but i think there is a good chance that this is an unavoidable issue.

[Puppy]

Lenovo have had the issue since X220 and they still can not deliver product in reasonable quality (for premium price) . My ten years old R51 with IPS panel does not have the issue at all.

[phositadc]

Thanks for both replies. Yes, it is the FHD X240, and I didn't notice the ghosting until a few weeks in (which I guess is consistent with Jin Li's comment that it gets worse a few weeks into the usage).

I think it's a little ridiculous that an expensive, "premium" business laptop would have such a known issue, but I'm beyond my refund window so I guess I will live with it. Depending on how much it annoys me in the coming months, I may get a replacement under warranty, or I may just vow never to buy or recommend another Lenovo product. Time will tell.

[Puppy]

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phositadc wrote:
I think it's a little ridiculous that an expensive, "premium" business laptop would have such a known issue, but I'm beyond my refund window so I guess I will live with it.

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There are more X240 issues that develops in time. This one http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/X-Series-ThinkPad-Laptops/Holding-X240-by-bottom-left-hand-corner-causes... is even more serious (data corruption).

[ibmthink]

@phositadc,

there is a revised FHD screen for the X240, see the parts-list: http://download.lenovo.com/parts/ThinkPad/x240_fru_bom_20140808.pdf

- 00HM111 LGD 12.5"FHD IPS AG panel

This is the non-Touch FHD display. The Touch display FRU was also updated (compare the new parts-list with the old one: http://download.lenovo.com/parts/ThinkPad/x240_fru_bom_20131008.pdf)

[Puppy]

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ibmthink wrote:

@phositadc,

there is a revised FHD screen for the X240

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Does it resolve the issue ? Lenovo knows about that since X220 and they have released 2nd new model with the same flaw again. I doubt they care.

[ibmthink]

The X220 IPS screen had a different issue, the ghosting of the FHD screen used in the X240 and TP Yoga was far more severe as I know, as the ghosting gets worse over time. 

I don´t know if the revised screen solves this issue, according to Lenovo it should.

[Puppy]

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ibmthink wrote:

I don´t know if the revised screen solves this issue, according to Lenovo it should.

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I still don't understand Lenovo can release product having similar issues again. No QA ?

[ibmthink]

This issue only occurs after a longer time of use.

Its really LG´s issue, not Lenovo´s - Lenovo has no other choice than to use these screen, since there are no other 12.5" IPS HD and FHD screens than the LG ones. And they had to offer IPS and FHD, since the users demanded it.