Laptop Display specs

[sparkster]

It goes without saying that this forum is wonderful for getting reliable in-depth technical viewpoints, great links to highly rated reviews, and informed user opinions and experiences relating to 'desktop' lcd displays.

But what about laptop displays?

I've just rejected the third replacement laptop in a row from a well known manufacturer due to massive backlight bleed in all cases (and unbelievably bad viewing angles). The good news is that they have kindly agreed to refund my money - armed, as I was with all the info I've picked up from this forum over many months, they couldn't bs me (tho' they did try).

Can anyone please advise how to get the same indepth and reliable technical viewpoints and data, and the same level of informed user opinion on laptop displays that I get here for desktop displays?

I ain't buying my next laptop until I do - and if you heard my ancient Compaq Presario's hard disk clunk on every access, you'd know things is getting kinda urgent.



(PS: there didn't appear to be a smillie for a forced smile)

 

[Baddass]

not seen any sites which do that. By all means, you can post specs of the laptops here, but not many have specific specs for the screen used, so it would be hard to tell what technology or panel is being used. If they provided sufficient specs it should be easy enough to get an idea of it's general performance

 

[sparkster]

not seen any sites which do that. By all means, you can post specs of the laptops here, but not many have specific specs for the screen used, so it would be hard to tell what technology or panel is being used. If they provided sufficient specs it should be easy enough to get an idea of it's general performance

Thanks Baddass.

I'd come to the same conclusion. Of course I've been able to find 'laptop/notebook' specific sites but like you I've found none than offer anything more than a superficial analysis of displays. I also found, like you, that manufacturers rarely provide the level of detail in their display specs that you find in desktop displays.

But just thought I'd ask in case my research had missed something.

Thanks again.

 

[Humate]

how come the display is so important to you on a laptop? u doing some kinda graphics on it or do u just want it to replace a desktop? Theres always the VGA out i suppose

 

[sparkster]

how come the display is so important to you on a laptop? u doing some kinda graphics on it or do u just want it to replace a desktop? Theres always the VGA out i suppose

Hi Humate,

I wasn't expecting the same standard as a desktop display - I have a Viewsonic VP930 as my desktop display.

I just expected a good middle-of-the-road standard for the laptop and the company in question couldn't, after three attempts, provide one.

After each replacement I sent them photos of the problem, and having viewed the pics, their tech-folk acknowledged that there was a problem. Before each replacement attempt they assured me that the problem would be resolved with the next replacement. Sadly it wasn't.

The prob was that the backlight bleed and the extremely small usuable viewing angles rendered the display useless to me.

On those small areas of the screen that were unaffected by the backlight bleed, the display's colours were more than good enough for a laptop, the resolution was great, the brightness was plenty good enough, and the contrast was plenty good enough (even tho' rated at a lowly 300:1).

However, even on the usable areas of the screen the viewing angles were impossibly narrow. The slightest head movement washed out much of the screen.

The company in question haven't picked up the laptop yet. It's a nice piece of cute well-spec'd Core 2 Duo kit. Pity it has to go back. I'm really sorry to see it go.

So the motivation behind my original question was, is there a way of comparing laptop panel technologies in the way people do on this forum for desktop displays? If there was, I could shop online for a laptop with reasonable confidence that I'd be getting what I was expecting.

Since the answer seems to be no, online shopping for a laptop is now a no-no. I'll now need to visit the stores and ask them to switch off their fluorescent lighting while I compare the kit on offer.