dell vostro 1500 dim screen - what to replace?

Hello everyone,

I just bought a new XPS 17 two months ago and it made me realize how horribly dim screen I am using on my dell vostro 1500 (which is about 4 years old now?). I've had the dim screen problem for a long time - it didn't happen overnight - but over those years I just kinda got used to it - now I can't even look at it.

Here are the comparisons:





I know it's a 4 years old laptop - but apart from the dim screen - there's literally nothing wrong with it. I do have the brightness turned up to max and no I can't change the brightness in the nvidia control panel settings (it won't make it brighter without completely washing out all the colors). I still would like to keep it as my secondary laptop... so I was thinking of maybe a few upgrades/replacements.

Now I'm not sure what I can do about the dim screen. From searching ebay there are basically 4 possible replacements:

1.) lcd itself
2.) inverter
3.) backlight
4.) lcd cable

I'd think that the lcd is working fine - I mean there are no apparent cracks or color distortions besides feeling like it just doesn't get enough light shining through it. It used to be a glossy brightview screen.

Would it then be the backlight or the inverter? Inverters are cheap and plentiful... backlights not so much.

Not sure about the lcd cable (I'd hope it's ok).

I've never opened the screen bezel on this vostro, all I did was stick a new HD and more ram into it as soon as I got it and then few years later I put a new battery in and replaced the charger. None of those things made that screen any dimmer.

I'm not really keen on replacing the whole LCD, I think I'd rather keep it not too expensive... so I thought I'd ask you guys. It's not even a vostro problem - this could be also any laptop in general.

(last thing maybe - would replacing the video card help? it uses the nvidia 8400 gs, but I'm not sure it's really a card problem).

Thanks for any input!

 

Not very likely the cable is the problem.

more likely the inverter or the backlight which I believe is a CCFL bulb - could be replaced but can be a real pain to do so.

I suggest trying a new inverter, if no change replace the LCD display, or the backlight bulb(s) if your comfortable doing so.

 

Thanks dave-p, I will order the inverter first then - seems they only cost a few dollars. If I had to replace the whole LCD... ~$100+, then I might just buy an external 24inch instead for a $100+ more.

Is there any chance this could be a graphics card problem? I've read somewhere that these nvidia cards had a few problems - but mine from dell wasn't on the recall list.

 

A bad GPU won't cause a dim display.

I would go along with what dave-p said, though even with a new everything don't expect any miracles; it's just a fact of life that LED screens are generally brighter than their CCFL counterparts.

 

I have seen bad GPU's cause dim screens, rare though. I replaced 3 inverters on a 15" Macbook Pro, turns out it had a bad logic board (bad GPU on the motherboard).

Inverter -> LCD -> GPU/motherboard

 

Sorry for being late to the game but after comparing my 4 year old Vostro 1500 with newer laptops my screen looked similar to the OP's. I honestly can't say for sure if it's always been this way or that I just started noticing it when comparing it to higher NIT displays. I don't think the Vostro 1500 had a high NIT rating to begin with. My ThinkPad T60 is not much brighter than my V1500.

But I have found a solution by adjusting the color settings slightly. I increased the contrast setting to 60 and the digital vibrancy setting to 55. It did WONDERS and the screen looks much, much better without any distortion.