Alienware 15 R2 display panel mystery

I imagine you got the same screen on the first replacement? The Dell Rep thought there wasn't a 4K option, but had to call me back (Im still waiting). A few people on this forum have had success swapping out the screen for the LG WF6 displays, which is what I will most likely be attempting to do.

 

Yeah actually this will be my third laptop in a year time from alienware, Yes first 2 had same Samsung panels FHD 300nits, I still remember the HWINFO part name, atleast the starting, it was SDCD something, it was so bright and the colours were nice, Yes few users have changed to LG-Philips one for the R2 version. ill update once I get mine in hand

 

Hey man, glad you're getting your new machine. Reading your thread with all your issues was just painful.

About swapping the panel for the 4K, it can be done but it requires the whole LCD assembly including the lid, bezel and the eDP cable. The mounts for the 4K panel are at the sides but the 1080 panel has them top and bottom so this would be a pretty expensive way to go to be honest. I would recommend swapping the panel for a better 1080 version. One of the following would be the best:

LG Philips LP156WF6 SPB1 (Matte) and the LP156WF6 SPA1 (Glossy)

 

thanks for the concern, without a 2 month hard fight, i wouldn't have got my replacement system.. first ill ask dell support if they can get me 4K screen.. if the price are not worth. ill go for the LG panel.. but again. ill have to ship from UK. i live in Bangalore, India. let me know if there are any trustworthy sites.. thank you..

 

This is the place I got my panel from -http:// www.lcd4laptop.co.uk/lg-philips-lp156wf6-spa1-laptop-screen.html

Check with them and make sure the have the particular panel in stock before ordering.

 

Do You mind Posting a pic of ur laptop with ur new 300nits screen.. and also i checked the LG FHD glossy cost around 30 euro.. with 10 euro for shipping...which is quite good price..

 

So I downloaded HWINFO and ran in. I have the Samsung 156HL Display.

I will be trying to find a legit LG WF6 display and performing a swap.

The current/stock (15 R2) display specs are below:

General information
Monitor Name: SAMSUNG 156HL
Monitor Name (Manuf): 156HL [DELL P/N: 4NDDJ]
Serial Number: Unknown
Date Of Manufacture: Week: 0, Year: 2015
Monitor Hardware ID: Monitor\SDC4C48

Max. Vertical Size: 19 cm
Max. Horizontal Size: 34 cm

Advanced parameters
Input Signal: Digital
Color Bit Depth: 6 Bits per Primary Color
Digital Video Interface Standard Supported: DisplayPort
Display Type: RGB color
Gamma Factor: 2.20

DPMS Modes
Standby: Not Supported
Suspend: Not Supported
Active Off: Not Supported
Standard Colour Space: Not Supported
Preferred Timing Mode: Supported
Default GTF Supported: Not Supported
DFP 1.x Compatible: Yes

Supported Video Modes
1920 x 1080 344 x 194 mm, Pixel Clock 146.88 MHz
1920 x 1080 344 x 194 mm, Pixel Clock 117.51 MHz

 

Yeah sure, I'll do it once I get home from work.

 

Laptopscreen.com said that they only have the J1 model in stock (compatible with the A1).

"We currently stock compatible model LP156WF6(SP)(J1) for this screen type. We do not have exact model LP156WF6-SPA1 at this time."

I am waiting to hear from lcd4laptop.co.uk regarding A1 availability.

 

Finally got around to downloading HWinfo and playing with my 15 R2 a bit so just adding a data point into the mix. The display is a Phillips LGD04BP, system was delivered on May 23. Almost no backlight bleed and brightness feels acceptable using it at around 60% in office lighting, however colors are definitely very bland looking.

 

I received mine last week. I got the Samsung 156HL display. No bleed and the brightness seems to be okay for my purposes, but the color are very bland. Photos with saturated blues and contrast on my MacBook Pro 2012 13" look more like blueish gray on the Alienware. I don't think I ever calibrated the MacBook, these are the default screen settings. See photo.

 

is that R2 ?? 220nits FHD screen ?

 

It is the R2. I posted the screen HWinfo specs in a previous post on page 26 of this thread. The screen is the Samsung 156HL.

 

Here you go, they're not great though...

 

Bro ur screen looks cool man, i thot ull have ****ty dim panel, but this is not that bad..

 

Bro seriously this glossy ones are Vibrant.. looking forward to get one, i really work on adobe after effects and photoshop too much, thanks and btw nice workstation where are u from

 

Im pretty happy with the brightness. The colors just don't seem to pop. Im into photography and use Lightroom quite a bit. I think the glossy LG will add the pop that im looking for. Now......to try to find a legit LG LP156WF6 SPA1....

 

well im a freelance graphic designer and photographer as well.. alienware R1 had good 300 nits + good adobe RGB ratio.. how about the LG one ??

 

Thanks man, yeah the glossy panel is surprisingly good. I went through a few panels before I got it though! I picked up an WF6 SPB1 originally but it had a bright pixel, I had it swapped but got a WF4 in return. That has good colour too but is slow with regards to response time. I then went on the search for an 8bit Samsung Panel that just couldn't be found...... I bought one from a chinese seller who claimed they had one but it turned out to be a TN Chi Mei panel!!!

After all that I thought I would just try and get another WF6 and ordered the Matte version from the seller I linked to you but they actually sent me the Glossy version, and I'm really happy they did! It has brilliant colour and clarity that just can't be found on the Matte panels. The laptop is now a joy to use

I'm from the UK btw...

 

Yeah i always prefferd matte for past 6 Years.. the moment i saw Alienware 13 2016 OLED, im in love with that screen, watch the first review

i really want to get back to glossy, Yes its colourful and looks premium.. Yeah ive saved the link, even added on cart , once i get my R2 and enough cash ill get it asap.. and first ill ask them if they have same model..

 

Just chiming in to say i have the same screen as sirleeofroy , WF6 glossy, and his pics do it justice the screen is excellent. Whites are a tad warm but not yellow, they are more redish but just a tad - which is fine i can deal with that - brightness is good and colors pop. GLossy suits this machine much more than matte. for 38£ i dont know what dell were smoking when they went with the 220 nit matte LG WF6 screens ???

Highly recommended - thanks sirleeofroy for the recommendation I concur it has transformed this machine - I really enjoy using it now

 

hmm seeing the feedbacks from users.. its a good one i guess.. so ill order as soon as i get some cash..

 

So far I have checked a few places for the LG WF6 SPA 1, including the place that @sirleeofroy recommended. They all seem to have compatible models but not the actual SPA1.

An eBay company out of Texas (I am in NY) said that they have the SPB1 (which from what I understand is the MATTE version) but not the SPA1. The price is $80 USD.

Is it worth it? Any other places recommended to inquire about the the SPA1?

 

even i check on few websites, they dont have it, but i found few sellers from texas on ebay and one from canada... almost 90 dollars.. including shipping.. though pretty expensive, it should be around 30-40 euro
http://www.ebay.ca/itm/LG-PHILIPS-L...224761?hash=item1ea213c9f9:g:mb0AAOSwu4BVrLPc

 

i got mine from where sirleeofroy got his. They definitely have it in stock because i just sent a return for dead pixels back this week are you sure you asked them to confirm what model they have in stock ?

 

This is the message I received from their ebay store:

New message from: lcd4laptop (82,950)
We have listed a compatible screen with LP156WF6 SPA1.

I am afraid, we do not have exact LP156WF6 SPA1 in stock.
Thank you for choosing lcd4laptop for your purchase.

Kind Regards,

lcd4laptop Customer Service Team.

their website hasn't responded to me yet.

 

Ask them what they do have in stock...

 

So I too had the yellowish display, sent it back to dell to "fix it" they installed a mainboard and said they repaired it. umm no.... so now I am looking for a display and I will just do it myself. I called laptopscreen.com and the screens that they have for me would be the LP156WF6(sp)(J1) or glossy LTM 156 HL01, are any of these screens good or should I find a different source?

 

@Papusan @DeeX @Jemlnlx @sirleeofroy
alright I finally got my alienware 15 r2, this is the panel I got in mine

 

Nice, glad you've finally got the machine.

Regarding the panel, unfortunately the important bit comes after the "WF6" which doesn't seem to show there. The only way to really tell would be to pop the bezel, unscrew the panel and have a look at the sticker on the back.

How does it look to you though?

EDIT: A quick search on that part number brings up the LP156WF6 SPM1 - http://www.panelook.com/LP156WF6-SPM1_LG Display_15.6_LCM_overview_27144.html

No listed brightness rating though?!

 

is there any monitor calibration software which can reveal extended ID of the panel, seems dell have modded it, for me it looks warm out of box.. but apart from panel I'm happy with R2.. they gave me good upgrades as well, 16gb ddr4 instead of 8gb, 8gb GTX 980m instead of 4, 256Gb Nvme SSD and a 1TB HDD, where I had no SSD.. I had a sanksidk SSD.. but I dint return my R1 with that.. seems R1s Panel was superior in everyway, except ghosting, it was horrible..

 

So......update on my 15 R2....it does not turn on. Used it okay to write a quick document in the afternoon. I returned home after about 8 hours of being out and came back and when i hit the power button...nothing. Plugged into the wall and not. Opened the panel and disconnected the battery cable and whatnot and still nothing. Finally called Customer Service who could not figure out the problem over the phone and said that I had already tried everything that they would recommend for self-diagnosis. They advised for me to return it to the retailer as opposed to sending it for repair under warranty. So I guess I won't have to worry about finding another display for now...I'll focus on which laptop to buy first. Ill keep everyone updated if I decided to go the Alienware route again.

 

Hi, I'm planning on ordering a FHD R2, and replacing the screen with a LG Philips LP156WF6 SPB1 (Matte)

I saw the video explaining how to perform the replacement here:

Is there any way to do the replacement without the tool that he uses to pop the screen out? Thanks!

 

Wow, I really don't like how that guy uses a metal tool against the screen. I would use a plastic pry tool or if you don't have one then an old credit card might do the trick. Insert in the gaps between the bezel and the lid, not against the screen like the guy in that vid.

I took some pictures when I did mine, have a look at this post - http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...2-owners-lounge.770311/page-295#post-10242048

Hope that helps

 

Any video showing repasting? along with disassembling the system? I am thinking of repasting the system with a liquid metal paste.

Thanks in Advance.


QUOTE="sirleeofroy, post: 10280025, member: 297769"]Wow, I really don't like how that guy uses a metal tool against the screen. I would use a plastic pry tool or if you don't have one then an old credit card might do the trick. Insert in the gaps between the bezel and the lid, not against the screen like the guy in that vid.

I took some pictures when I did mine, have a look at this post - http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...2-owners-lounge.770311/page-295#post-10242048

Hope that helps [/QUOTE]

 

Thanks, that helps. Do you think a credit card is thin enough? And in regards to the pry tool, do you remember where you purchased it? There's a lot of pry tools out there, and I'm not sure which will do the job.

Do you also know anything about the "compatible" screens that are sometimes sold? Do they have the same contrast, white balance, color temp, etc?

 

I've never used a tool for the screen, just my fingers i pull away carefully from the sides as they're quite easy to lift up and then the plastic snaps out one by one

 

So I was all excited my A1 display came in the mail. opened it up and it says SP K1... Damn, I cannot win here. I installed it anyway to see if I could live with it but this one too has a yellow hue. strange that 2 separate displays both have the same issue. I have already had the main board replaced on the laptop so it cannot be that, i just thought the Samsung displays were warm but this one looks identical. I am sending back the display, they were not happy and said it was a compatible display and that is what they send, I said that there is a big difference between glossy and anti glare and this is BS. I wish I never bought this laptop. I am going to give Dell one more try and get an on site guy to come out and look at it. maybe if I can show someone next to my 200nit HP work laptop how bad it looks they can do something.

 

20160622_174701 by Darren889 posted Jun 22, 2016 at 6:01 PM

So I called dell and told them to send me just a new replacement panel and they send mNV156FHM-N41. I dont even think this thing is IPS... WTF Dell?

 

I have always used my fingernails to remove the bezel. Start with the sides then work up to the top, careful when you get to webcam you want to pull straight out not at an angle or you could bend bezel. Also I noticed on the middle bottom of bezel there is this sticky crap tape which will take the black monitor tape with it and you dont want that so be careful there. Also make sure the screen is tilted all the way back.

 

Well, here is the spec for that panel - http://www.panelook.com/NV156FHM-N41_BOE_15.6_LCM_overview_25578.html

As for whether it is "IPS" or not.... I'm not sure but given the fairly wide viewing angles noted on that spec sheet, it could be of similar tech.

Doesn't look to be a great panel though, only rated at 200nits and very low colour coverage

 

It says a-si TFT LCD so I dont think so. normally I think it would say IPS

 

Not necessarily, IPS is an LG technology. Samsung has a very similar technology called PLS and then you have another called AHVA so it is plausible that it could be of IPS type technology but not called IPS. Also, a quick search on the web brings up many listings touting the screen has "IPS" technology.

Given that the panel also has a relatively slow response time and TN panel are known to be "quick" panels I'll bet it is of some sort of IPS style tech.

Have you plugged it in, what are the viewing angles like? That would be an instant giveaway......

 

I plugged it in, and it is possibly a little better but still a warm hue that is vary noticeable. I think I just need to get a display on my own but I find it funny that 3 displays now all have the exact same problem. but people do say that a new display has fixed this right..?

 

Yeah that doesn't look too good.

I suspect the 3 panel you've had are of similar quality. I still have the original panel that looks like yours in that picture but I can confirm a better panel will sort the issue. If you're in the UK I have an LP156WF4 300nit panel which is nice. I got it before I got the WF6 I have now. It's nice and bright with really good colour but it's just a touch slow with regards to response time.

 

I live in the US so that is not an option, I did not know how hard it would be to track down a (SP)(A1) model I called a few online retailers but no luck.

 

@sirleeofroy @DeeX @Tony V
After a long research on my DELL LGWF6 KFKVO panel, i found out my exact panel details..

 

So it is the panel I suspected then....... Hows it working for you?

 

for me its fine, brightness was decent for indoor, havnt got chance to use it on outdoor.. colours. yes bit disapointed.. yellowish.. but after using for few hours, i feel the whites are normal.. overall bit yellowish.. there is no ghosting tho.. old R1 had that issue..

 

Feel like chiming in here.

I just replaced my Dell 7559's BOE with an lp156wf6-spb1, and I was extremely disappointed.
Played with it for a bit, and installed a few different profiles, but in the end decided to go back to the Dell's original BO panel. Sure, it's not as bright, but in my opinion the colours are significantly more accurate.

So yeah - just my opinion that the lp156wf6-spb1 isn't all its been cracked up to be.