What Trap May I Fall Into If I Try to Put Some 3rd Party LCD into A Notebook?

Just asking out of curiosity, though I may actually do it if I have free time:

The 1080p TN panels we have those days make me feel bad. I'm wondering if I can replace whatever TN panel I have in my notebook (currently a Clevo P150EM, but I don't think I'll mod this one) with a better IPS panel, preferably a high-res 4:3. The plan is to buy a good panel somewhere and attach it to a notebook chassis in a custom built shell. I have access to necessary machining tools and 3D printers, so building a shell for hosting the panel and wires won't be difficult. However when it comes to connecting the panel and have it running, I've heard stories like EDID flashing, jumper soldering and BIOS hacking. I can do those if I have to, but I have no confidence that I'll come up with the correct solution for a random machine/panel combination.

My knowledge of the data flow between the GPU output and the panel is quite limited. Can someone shed a bit of light for me?

For the actual panel to use, are there any ~15" QXGA IPS panels that meet today's standard of contrast/gamut/whatever? I know there are some 10" ones, usually for slates/tablets, but I've seen none in the 14"~17" range. Some old panels have QXGA res but come with poor brightness and gamut is usually terrible. I can play with a (W)UXGA if QXGAs are not available, though a QXGA would be much preferred.

If 4:3 is no-go, [forgetThis] [size=-1]the 8:5 2880x1800 Retina would be considered. Any trap to avoid when connecting to a none-Apple device?[/size][/forgetThis] what 16:10 choices do I have?

 

First, as with any panel upgrade, you need an LCD Cable that's capable for bigger resolutions.
Then, consider Motherboard -> LCD Cable -> Panel connections. Not all panels have same connectors. Neither do motherboards.
Last, how about panel backlight power. Old 4:3 usually have inverters where new LED backlight panels get their power thru the LCD Cable.

If you can solve those and get the system running on a table, then building a custom chassis on it will not be a problem.

 

Other things to consider:
You want to ensure you have a graphics card capable of handling the output. Functionally, this means you will need to use a dedicated graphics card for QXGA, as Intel graphics won't support it.

As brightness levels will likely be different on the new panel compared to the old one, you may have to mod the BIOS to get better increments.

 

Well I'm sorry to hear that, but you might consider scheduling a few appointments with a (laptop?) therapist first to see if you can settle for a 16:9 95% gamut screen. Even if you pay out of pocket it will probably cost you less than what you're trying to do here in the end. And when you're done your laptop will barely be a laptop anymore. Its much more logical to find a decent IPS desktop panel thats somewhat lightweight.

I mean, I'd like to assume you know what you're talking about, but do you think machining tools and 3d printers will magically design all of this for you?

Also I don't think your motherboard will support the Retina display you mentioned. Dual channel LVDS maxes out at 2048 × 1536 according to wikipedia. So you'd need to use your HDMI or other video output and get a hardware converter board that transfers it to (tripple channel?) LVDS or possibly TTL. I don't think such a converter board can be found on the market.

 

The Retina panel is eDP, good luck with that. I mean, you'll have to look at a nice pile of schematics, getting an eDP cable (which is not sold separately as far as I know) and reverse engineering the pin-out of the display, as there are no schematics for it, given that that you'll be able to find rMBP's schematics and so on. It's pretty fun, when it's not frustrating (with the lack of information)

 

For starters, forget about getting a 4:3 or non 16:9 screen to fit into your current laptop. There in lies your issue, hardly any laptops these days have decent LCD panels, all the best panels are now long gone, the only notebook I can think of is the M17x R2 with an RGBLED wide viewing angle WUXGA panel, but even that is only 1920x1200 and you need to get a 17" laptop. It can accept most modern MXM cards without major hassles, is 16:10, has 16 GB RAM and 2 hard drive slots.

 

Well, there is HP dreamcolor... the 8740w is 16:10 and has good MXM 3.0 B support.

 

Yep, 8740w has the only IPS 16:10 display (of enough real-estate), and as you can guess, it's proprietary. This is the panel - LP171WU8-SLB1. I think that I have the schematics somewhere, but you'll really have to do a lot of custom work to even power-on this thing, let alone fitting it. The cable goes for $60 or more.

There are no 15,4" IPS options. The Precision M4600/M4700 used to have 15,6" IPS, but I think it was discontinued, and then the proprietary connector is still an issue.

 

This is the biggest problem I have with putting aftermarket display panels into a laptop: Kiss your warranty goodbye.

I don't mean this from a "void your warranty" fine-print contract perspective. I mean this from a practical perspective.

If anything goes wrong with your laptop that goes beyond a simple user-addressable problem (HDD failure, bad RAM), you will most likely need to replace your motherboard. That motherboard replacement will either take place by sending a technician to your house, or by sending your laptop in to the factory / service center. If you have some kind of aftermarket display panel installed, then it will be an incredible pain in the butt to get warranty service. Best case scenario, you just get a motherboard that you're asked to replace yourself. Worst case scenario, they refuse to honor your warranty, or they do a complete system swap and give you a factory-refurbished unit with the original hardware configuration.

It's an incredible pain in the butt to go through. I don't know about you, but I'd readily just spend the money to buy a new laptop, than have to deal with the potential headache and downtime of going through all that hassle if/when it happens.

 

If they do offer one, I will buy it.

But they don't. Even FHD IPS panels are extinct in this generation of new devices, let along WUXGA, QXGA or bigger.


Googled a ThinkPad mod done at the end of 2008:
T500 mobo and cooling in T60 shell
QXGA via modded T500 cable
SATA coverted to mSATA runing 1.8" SSD
X40 speaker
T61 PCMCIA/Express
T500 Fingerprint reader

It's called "T62p".

No English text but you can see the pictures.