Replacing CFL+LCD with LED screen

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raytaylor

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#168580 19-Mar-2015 00:21

Hi All
So I understand that LED screens use less power than LCD and am thinking about swapping out the screen in my laptop.

Anyone know if it can be done, and if the brightness function would still work afterwards?

Ray Taylor

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Dynamic

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#1262073 19-Mar-2015 00:36

Assuming that the manufacturer does not have a ridiculously expensive LED screen upgrade for your model of laptop, then you would be doing a retrofit.

Google suggest others have done it: https://www.google.co.nz/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=retrofit%20led%20backlight

Successful Mac Retrofit: http://www.instructables.com/id/LCD-LED-Retrofit-iBook-G4-version/?ALLSTEPS

Chinese kits: http://www.alibaba.com/showroom/led-backlight-kit.html

At a guess you would be pushing it uphill to hope for software brightness control but a manual control seems possible.

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mattwnz

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#1262075 19-Mar-2015 00:52

I don't think the power saving would be that great. CFLs are also quite efficient, and if you compare them to LED and CFL light bulbs, there isn't a huge energy saving. You do realise though that the LED is just the backlighting, as the actual screen is still LCD, so it is really LED + LCD. There are better reasons to go LED, such as they should last longer, and better colour and no flickering.

richms

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#1262076 19-Mar-2015 02:14

Many LED backlights use PWM to dim them, as that is cheap to do. Means they flicker. I only use my cheap laptop on full brightness because of that so it ends up using more power than if I had a CCFL in it which I could dim without it looking bad.

Richard rich.ms

raytaylor

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#1262116 19-Mar-2015 09:02

mattwnz: I don't think the power saving would be that great. CFLs are also quite efficient, and if you compare them to LED and CFL light bulbs, there isn't a huge energy saving. You do realise though that the LED is just the backlighting, as the actual screen is still LCD, so it is really LED + LCD. There are better reasons to go LED, such as they should last longer, and better colour and no flickering.

Sorry I think i should have said OLED - like your phone.
If a pixel is black, its not using any power. I dont mean backlit LED, but instead the LED is the pixel.
Which is why samsung always have dark black backgrounds in their phone designs,

I was thinking if they are avaliable in a size that suits my laptop i would retrofit it, since I am using the laptop mostly outdoors, i need something thats brighter but also saves more power.

Unfortunatley buying a new laptop isnt an option because the new "tablets" are only finger tablets and you cant buy them with the swivel screen and built in wacom stylus receptacle.
Tablet seems to mean touchy screeny and not proper tablet drawing.

Ray Taylor

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richms

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#1262419 19-Mar-2015 13:57

I can't stand oled screens. Worse flicker and you can see the refresh like old crts. So when drawing things around one side seems to be behind the other side. Like rolling shutter distortion but in reverse.. really annoying in landscape mode on the phone as horizontal lines become angled.

Richard rich.ms