Hi hpst, I have the following laptops:
Lenovo Z51-70 and Lenovo Ideapad 310. I will check on the panels and get back. I also got improvement on my Dell desktop with a Dell monitor (which doesn't seem to be true 8-bit). I also have couple of other monitors which claim to be true 8-bit. I will try my above solution with 24 as the bpp value and see if it gives improvement.
Please let me know any specific questions that you might have on the solution I posted. I will be more than happy to give all the details.
Ravi