is it worth to replace the panel?

bimbambom

hi guys,
I wanted to consult with you on a matter. I recently bought my firth laptop. I don’t know exactly what my sensitivity is (i had a light condition of floaters that seemingly got worse, but the eye doctor confirmed that my eyes are ok).
Two laptops I had to return because I couldn’t handle the screen. now I’m having the same issue with the my current dell 3550. (all screens were wled, fhd, Anti-glare, -TN, IPS, PLS and AHVA). i always encounter the same problem. The screens seem hazy and too bright at all brightness levels, and on the current one I’ve also noticed that the screen also have a sparkly effect and it's possible that i can detect some blur on letters.
After some long research I could come up with the usual causes (aggressive anti-glare coating, blue light and pwm). Other things that I haven’t explored too much were vcom, screen refresh rate and pixel invertion.

The only clue I have is this: I previously had 2 models of latitude e5570. Same model, but different panel and one of them had a dGPU. One of the e5570 (AHVA) had a screen that worked great for me (I had to return it because it had coil whine). the other one (IPS) had an horrible screen.
Btw, the e5570 with the great AHVA panel was reviewed in laptomedia and it is stated to be PWM free.
So basically now i know that I can handle conventional led screen, but I don’t know exactly what’s the problem.

Now I’m stuck with a dell latitude 3550.
I thought I could try to replace the panel with the one that is installed in the e5570 (the panel is compatible), but I’m worried that it won’t be enough to eliminate the PWM or other software/bios/hardware differences that may have something to do with it. I also don’t know if PWM is controlled both by the panel and the laptop?
i’ve tested the dell 3550 for PWM with the PWM ufo test, and I could spot separate lines at all levels of brightness. when I tried this test with the dimming function on in IRIS software, I couldn’t spot separate lines.

What do you think, is it worth to replace the panel? Otherwise, it’s pretty hard to aim for a specific reviewed model that has a specific panel, because you don’t know upfront what panel you’ll get.

thanks

bimbambom

anybody? any advice would be very appreciated

Slacor

If it's stated to be PWM free, the next "big thing" that affected me was the dithering. I think most "budget" IPS panels use dithering 6-bit + FRC to simulate 8-bit color.
So perhaps see if there is anything PWM-free true 8-bit color panel?

Then the case of the GPU using dithering. There's been some talk of being able to disable dithering in some intel integrated gpu's.

In my desktop, I use a nvidia 750Ti in linux (which allows disabling of dithering)
https://ledstrain.org/d/161-nvidia-dithering

As for a laptop, I use a CUK Lenovo ThinkPad Edge E560 which doesn't have PWM but does have dithering.. it works but is bothersome.

This can be helpful to identify if there is dithering.
http://www.lagom.nl/lcd-test/black.php

Gurm

Changing the panel will only help if the panel's LED output is what's bothering you. There is the possibility that this is the case - my venerable Lenovo X220 had a great panel, but was an aging 1st-gen i5. I swapped the panel into an X220 with a 2nd-gen i7 and it's been stellar. Still use it.

Similarly, my boss and I have supposedly identical Dell XPS 15's. His is great to look at, mine isn't. I feel as though if we swapped panels it would be fine, but I have to pull his panel info to find out what he's even running... easier said than done.

bimbambom

thanks guys,
it's been a while so just as a reminder, i had the same dell laptop with different panels (LG ips and Ahva). the Ahva was great and the LG IPS was unbearable to look at for more than a few minutes. the funniest thing about the LG panel is that i had relatively no problem to look at it when i set in the garden at evening for around an hour (around sunset time), when the light conditions were low. it only began to trouble me when it was completely dark and naturally not comfortable to use. i guess it was that way because there weren't any room lights around me, but it is still weird. before that i had no problem to watch other led screens with similar room light settings.
can it be an indicator of some sort? (sorry for the riddle)

i got rid of the bad LG IPS dispaly, but since then i developed new sensitivities. i suffer from severe eye floaters (didn't had it before), and i developed new sensitivities to other led sources like room led lights, my LG g2 and my samsung smart tv + a ccfl monitor. i put everything on low brightness settings and in my LG g2 i use blue light filter, which make it more tolerable but still strains my eyes quiet a bit.
i'm waiting for a benq 24'' monitor to arrive. it's a VA, pwm-free, semi-gloss (probably no grain and less haze), true 8 bit (no dithering).
i really hope it would do the trick but i'm skeptical.

ensete

Just an FYI, light sensitivity is usually a brain problem, not an eye problem. It could be any number of things, the screen, the graphics card driving that particular screen, slight variations in color rendering, lighting in the room, I'm not a big believer in the PWM and dithering theory but some people have reported changing those helps, etc.

I have had identical devices, with different screens, I've taken the good screen, put it on the device with the bad screen, and the good screen now triggered me. It is a mysterious issue that just takes a lot of trial and error. I suggest when you find a setup that works, buy some spares if you can and don't change anything unless absolutely required.

Good luck