Replace your laptop screen

Yeah it's easy. I can't believe Dell quoted me $358 + tax to replace and I had to be without my computer for 10 business days or more. I run my business on my laptop! I called around some local repair shops and they told me the same, basically the part itself was over $200 and then labor was upwards of $100. Please. It took me 20 minutes. Maybe I should start repairing screens. I could make a killing. $100 got me a new screen and replacing it was easy. Even if I added in the time it took me to place the order, I still spent less than 1 hour. They act like it's rocket science - it's just smoke and mirrors. Oooooh big scary laptop screen! Let's use fear to separate people from their money.

there are two things that make these screens more efficient than normal laptop screens.

1. they can work as a black and white screen with the backlight off (saving a significant amount of power, especially compared to a backlight bright enough to let you read outdoors)

2. instead of each pixel having three subpixels (red, green, blue), the QI screen has one color for each pixel, in practice this means that a 1200x900 screen gives you about the same color resolution as a 900x600 LCD, but with only ~1.08Mpixels vs ~1.62Mpixels with a traditional LCD screen. fewer pixels to switch saves power

and they have the added advantage that when the light level is high the color just fades out and you have a very readable black and white display

it's not as power efficient for an e-reader as an e-ink display is, but it has the advantage that it can do color and video like an LCD

I have both an OLPC and a Kindle, so I can easily compare both displays. in black and white mode the e-ink display can be read at lower light levels, and has a wider angle of view, but the qi display in the OLPC allows you to turn on the backlight rather than a booklight.

I see places for both types of displays, but for laptops, I see the QI display as being a clear winner over traditional LCD displays

@ linker3000

A couple of points:

1) Really enjoyed your post, you are hilarious (although you "may" have too much time on your hands...).

2) It is really not all that difficult to do, as I have replaced screens before. I am glad that Pixel-Qi is doing this, as many people have invested a lot of money into their laptops, an being able to read them in full sunlight, use them to read e-books and so on without having to upgrade the whole unit is a great option. A refreshing attitude change from the planned obsolescence that is forced upon consumers from most other hardware companies.

3) This can also be a great business opportunity for computer service people. Just because the average person may not want to tackle this does not mean that these kits cannot benefit computer users (and the businesses supporting them).

This is a great empowerment for all. We need more ability to make our devices work better for us. My laptop is out of warrenty and I think it would be great to replace the screen if not for saving electricity on the bill.

And it might be fin to make my own display configuratons as I'm going to get into electrical engineering for my Master as soon as I can find a convenient progam!

They're right. Replacing a laptop screen REALLY IS just removing six screws, popping off the bezel, unplugging the cable, swapping the screen, re-plug the plugs, pop the bezel back on, screw the screws back in.

If swapping out a laptop LCD is too difficult for you; you should probably avoid other potentially over-complicated tasks such as using can-openers, cutting your fingernails, putting gas in your car, walking, etc.
Seriously, a trained monkey could swap the LCD on most laptops.

I assume the new "more efficient LCDs" they are going to be providing are LED backlit instead of CCFL?
The main problem in going from CCFL to LED is that LED screens are usually much thinner than CCFL ones - so you end up having to swap out the top cover & the bezel of the screen as well. I wonder if they've taken that into account?

So in what way are the new screens more efficient? Does it count on you having an old cold cathode backlit screen and replace it with an LED backlit one? Or are we talking OLED? Or what?

1) prepare static safe area
2) Remove rubber pips used to cover bezel screws
3) Promptly lose a few pips and/or handle them with greasy fingers so they will never stick again
4) Use wrong size screwdriver to remove bezel screw.
5) Put screws in safe location (eg: cleaned out cola buttle top), but knock it off desk later anyway.
6) Gently loosen clips round edge of bezel with special tool - or gouge out lumps with a screwdriver as your preference takes you.
7) Curse when you discover that your lapop manufacturer is one that also uses double-sided sticky tape on their bezels
8) Remove bezel/snapped bezel parts
9) Loosen screws round display
10) Watch whole lid flop backwards when you realise you have unscrewed all the hinge mounts too
11) Prop lid on a book to remove the excessive strain now afflicting the screen connection
12) Realise you cannot unplug screen unless you remove some plastic covers from the body of the laptop.
13) Remove required covers. Add screws to cola lid, not realising they are a different length and thread type
14) Lift latch on screen connector cable/tape with a metal implement, thereby cracking it at one end.
15) Disconnect display connector and invertor connector
16) Unpeel tape guiding cable over back of panel
17) Remove screen and prepare to sell on ebay
18) Screw new panel in place. Remember to tighten screws in a way that evens the tension across the panel (or not - your call)
18) Reattach cables to mainboard, cursing the fact that you didn't notice how the cables threaded round various posts and guides.
19) Try to re-tape cable to back of panel. Reach for sellotape when you realise the the original tape has no 'stick' left. Remember to re-tape the cable in a slightly different position so that it's actually too tight when you try a 'lid close' test
20) Replace all bezels, even those that now have white furry parts where you stuck the broken bits back together with superglue. Leave a few fingerprints of superglue on other plastic parts too, for good effect.
21) Replace all screws. Swap over screws that seem not to fit properly, or just tighten extra-hard if the thread seems wrong. Stop tightening when screws are either flush with surface, or you hear a sharp 'crack' sound.
22) Use a dark permanent marker to cover the tops of 'silver' screws that have ended up where black ones should be.
23) See how many pips you have left to cover screw tops and decide whether to 'go with it', or just remove them all so that the screw heads look like part of the intended design.
24) Power up laptop and realise you really should have done some functional test before reassembly.
25) Repeat many of previous steps to disassemble, re-position, re-tape and re-test new screen.
26) Ask your friends on Facebook whether they know an 11 year old Nigerian who has their own set of screwdrivers.

Yeah right! My Toshiba Satellite was a nightmare to upgrade the CPU and I have a bit of experience doing PC repairs! Maybe it was a VTech lappie lol - Or maybe was just the HDD that she replaced. To take the screen out you need to disassemble the whole thing!