photon78s Yep, just proven again that specifically Win10 1809 matters. Newer Windows 10 versions are also just as bad as Windows 11 on these laptops
Received the T480, ordered a 1080p FHD based on listing but actually received one with the same LG 1440p panel you mentioned instead, so will probably be returning as text is too small when unscaled. Also this T480s has a much worse keyboard than the T480 I've been trying, probably just keyboard lottery
This panel also has PWM, also still there at max brightness even in BIOS and Ubuntu live USB. I'm still very perplexed why no one seems to mention that PWM happens at max brightness, I only ever see posts about "PWM up to 99%" or a lower number but I KEEP encountering panels that still flicker very obviously at max in a slow motion video
I thought you said yours didn't have PWM at max?
Arrived with Windows 10 22H2 this time, not 11. Didn't actually come with any display drivers installed yet lol (so remnants of newer graphics driver configuration files are not a factor). Installed 2017 driver, applied my usual methods
On 10 22H2, immediately got tons of strain, false 3D effect, tiredness, almost thought it was just the PWM at first since at this point I still thought Windows 10 was safe due to having a decent experience with 22H2 on Surface Pro 4
Finally downgraded to 1809, reinstalled same 2017 drivers as I did on 22H2…
And boom, strain on this LG panel is dramatically reduced yet again. Literally went from hating this to now strongly preferring the feel on my eyes of this panel (aside from the 2K resolution which is a dealbreaker) over the T480's very rough feeling 250 nits Innolux panel. 300 nits is such an improvement over 250 too
I might end up seeking out a 1080p LG panel to try now, compared to just half a day ago when I was about to rule out LG panels entirely, hopefully their FHD panels feel similar/better to how this one is feeling now on 1809
FWIW, this is one of the first times I've used 2K at 100% scaling and at least can tolerate the text size and still feel like I can read most text, which actually says a lot about how much this improved the panel. I have to lean closer than usual but now it's super crisp on 1809 compared to the fuzzy distorted mess it was on Windows 10 22H2
Even though text is super small on here which is uncomfortable in its own way, many apps I use are not compatible with scaling, I'm actually not feeling much strain on this T480s anymore despite the PWM (it's about half of the flicker modulation depth of the T480's Innolux, I guess within tolerable range for me. Still wish it didn't have PWM. What are the actually PWM-free T480/s panels?)
Total night and day difference compared to Windows 10 22H2 (which felt just as bad as Windows 11 did on the T480). That extremely disorienting false 3D effect on modern Windows versions, again, is very much eliminated after downgrading to 1809. I even have tested some of the same wallpapers and photos that were generating very strange false 3D and "distortion of perspective" effects on 10 22H2, and they finally look "normal" again on 10 1809
Still not sure why the Surface Pro 4 is "fine enough" on 22H2 with a generally flat image. It's either due to the older Intel HD 515 graphics instead of UHD 620, or it's just that I've never felt how much better it could be on an earlier verison. I still don't really see much false 3D effect on it though anyway which is unique, given that both T480 and T480s have 100x worse strain on these modern Windows 10 and 11 versions but totally flip around on 1809
BTW, the first T480 I bought is in great condition, but the PWM on its Innolux screen is too much for me. I can actually see it sometimes and constantly feel a strong PWM-type pressure in eyes while looking at it. After I try to at least get my hands on a 1080p T480s (can't panel swap on something I'm going to return, the keyboard and Elan trackpad on this T480s sucks anyway compared to the perfect ones on the T480 I'm trying), I might end up either trying to seek out a better T480s since I prefer the weight/thickness or possibly just keep the non-S T480 but do a panel swap
I need a 1080p panel, QHD does not work for me because I require being able to rely on 100% scaling at a more reasonable size for a good chunk of my work. Text with font smoothing turned off (pixelated) also looks a lot better at 100% scaling