TRAVELMATE screen lcd quality.

[daedalus34r]

so, im assuming all 15.4" travelmates that 1280x800 resolution have the same panel. How is it? I love matte, i'm not too concerned about colors as long as its bright enough to do work on. What do you travelmate owners think?

[efalis]

I've got the 8204. Could be a _little_ brighter, but it's more than adequate and very pleasant to work with. No bad pixels either.

- Ed

[andy318]

I have the 8204 also. Not too happy with the screen brightness and viewing angle. Should be much better for a laptop of this price.

[137]

But 8204 has he same display as 8104 and it is different LCD panel than the other 15.4 TM displays with native resolution of 1280x800. TM8100 and TM8200 have resolution of 168x1050. My TM8104 WLMi LCD is the best LCD I have ver had as for notebook. Bright, clean and crisp.

[andy318]

Can you guys tell me what brand of LCD monitor comes with your 8204 ? I have the SAMSUNGLTN154P1-L02 [NoDB] as per Everest 2.2 (this is a nice little diagnostic program btw)

http://www.filehippo.com/download_everest_home/

[wynand32]

My screen's just a _tad_ not bright enough (too unbright?)... Depends on the lighting. I went in and changed the brightness settings under color in the ATI tools, and it's a bit better.

Although not the brightest, it's VERY crips and clear, very comfortable to view. I had the 5672 for a week or so, and that was TOO bright and glaring (glossy screen). I'd take the 8204's screen over that one, any day.

[The Doctor]

Same monitor here.

I was comparing it to the 2 year-old Toshiba WUXGA display on my Dell D800 and the main differences I noticed were that the Tosh had much better viewing angles, more vibrant red reproduction but slightly worse blue reproduction (side by side, the Toshiba had a slightly turquoise tint to it.

What really surprised me was that when viewed from a couple of feet away, the brightness was almost identical. I think it's the viewing angles that make the 8204's screen look dull when you sitting right in front of it.

Whilst it's not a bad screen, I'd have expected something a bit better. The WSXGA+ screen on a Dell 6000 is much, much brighter and generally more pleasant...

[Wamba]

My Acer Travelmate 8204 has the same viewing angles as mine Dell M170 and is a little bit brighter.

[Ransomed1]

I admit that in my honest opinion, my old Toshiba Satellite's TruBrite display looks much nicer than that of my 8104. I don't really care much that the 8104 has a dimmer screen, and isn't as clear to look at, and that the colors aren't nearly as vibrant... but that's the truth of the matter. I bought it for the features, and for the price, not for the screen.

-Ransom

[daedalus34r]

Whilst it's not a bad screen, I'd have expected something a bit better. The WSXGA+ screen on a Dell 6000 is much, much brighter and generally more pleasant...

O snap, your saying the i6000 wsxga screen is way brighter? I've seen it and i love its brightness. I main beef w/ the i6000 is that its pretty hefty for a 15.4" .... almost a DTR. I want something small but competent so that i can do my work on it.

Can anyone else elaborate on travelmate screens compared to the i6000?

[Mattrix]

http://www.notebookforums.com/showthread.php?t=129795&page=2

I'm om my 3rd one.. all have crap viewing angles and low brightness. For a supposed top of the range machine its really bad.

Spoke to ACER SA and they gonna ship me the first one off the new batch that comes in. They better have fixed the damn LCD.

I did warn everyone.. :/

LCD is one of the most NB things in a notebook, I mean you looking at it all day, I don't want to be straining my eyes.

[markagain1]

I just got my 8204 yesterday, and I have to say I am also very dissappointed. The viewing angle is horrible. You have to be looking at it straight on, or else it is blurry. The brightness is also not that great.

Mattrix..did the Acer SA say that there was a bad batch? Did he say that the view angle should be better? How about the brightness?

When I am sitting at the computer, I have the panle lid at 60 degree angle, just to get it in line with my eyes. On my 7 year old gateway, I have the lid a straight 90 degrees up, and everything looks perfect.

[Mattrix]

Mattrix..did the Acer SA say that there was a bad batch? Did he say that the view angle should be better? How about the brightness?


Well they acknowledges that the first batch of a product usually has issue which gets resolved. Changing LCD suppliers midway is not unheard of in the industry but I dunno if Acer will do it. If the 4th one I get is still crap they going to have to refund me directly.

After getting rave reviews they screwed up bad, also I got 533mhz memory instead of 667mhz. Make sure you complain, if enough people do they might do a recall or get it sorted out. Then again they tried to cover up the RAM issue.. so I dunno.

To their credit the upper management has been quite friendly about it.

[Mattrix]

I'm actually wondering if everone has the same model screen. Anyone know who the supplier is or the part no?

[markagain1]

Did your conversation with them make you feel like that might be considering changing LCD suppliers?

[padlon]

Someone posted a link to Acer's Philippines site a while back where there's a component list for some of the products: Acer Philippines Incorporated - Service and Support (http://www.acer.com.ph/Components/Notebooks.htm)

There doesn't seem to be a list for the TM8200 yet but there is one for the TM8100. That list appears to show 5 different LCD panels from 3 manufacturers: Hitachi, LG, Samsung. Have no idea what the differences are in the characteristics of the panels from the different manufacturers. All of the panels for the 8100 seem to have brightness = 185nits, but there doesn't seem to be any values for viewing angles.

So it would seem that Acer source their parts from various places anyway (it makes sense to). Am guessing the 8200 parts sourcing wouldn't be much different.

[Lanurd]

I'm actually wondering if everone has the same model screen. Anyone know who the supplier is or the part no?

If it's the same as the Ferrari 4005 the display is the Samsung LTN154P1-L02 available with all the anti-reflective coatings

at http://www.screentekinc.com/LTN154P1-L02.html

[daedalus34r]

wow, the 4202 core duo is $999 at compusa ... now im really interested. can anyone comment on the 4202 wxga matte screen?

[czm2000]

If it's the same as the Ferrari 4005 the display is the Samsung LTN154P1-L02 available with all the anti-reflective coatings

at http://www.screentekinc.com/LTN154P1-L02.html

Is it possible to use any of these if they are the same size specs on a Travelmate? Heck, I'd throw an CrystalBrite in this bad boy any day of the week if I new it would work. I assume the connectors would be different though. How would you overcome that.

Then again, I do have the screen tweaked jsut right. I'm very happy with the way it looks now.

[golfkwesi]

http://www.notebookforums.com/showthread.php?t=129795&page=2

I'm om my 3rd one.. all have crap viewing angles and low brightness. For a supposed top of the range machine its really bad.

Spoke to ACER SA and they gonna ship me the first one off the new batch that comes in. They better have fixed the damn LCD.

I did warn everyone.. :/

LCD is one of the most NB things in a notebook, I mean you looking at it all day, I don't want to be straining my eyes.

Mattrix: did the rep say when that was expected? I need to order and receive my 8204 within about 10 days. I was planning to order it from an "in stock" provider until I read your post. Any other ideas?

[czm2000]

I've got mine looking pretty sweet with the following settings:

I of course have the System Brightness turned up all the way (Fn+Righ Arrow)

In the Catalyst Control Panel under
Notebook Panel Properties
Avivo Color
Saturation=110

Color
All Channels:
Gamma= .5
Brightness= 70
Contrast= 115

Red:
Gama= .6
Brightness= 70
Contrast= 115

Green:
Gama= .6
Brightness= 60
Contrast= 115

Blue:
Gama= .5
Brightness= 60
Contrast= 115

The trick is not to turn the Brightness up to high in the Catalyst Control Panel because it gives the screen a washed out look and does not necessarily make it brighter. I don't know if this will work for everyone because there is obviously some differences in the screens, but I've been using this several days now on these settings and the screen looks great. I'm think I covered all the changes I made. I also disabled the ClearType but may turn that back on. I'm undecided on that right now.

[markagain1]

Hey, the brightness and contrast settings can be changed for all three colors. Are your settings for just blue, or all three?

[czm2000]

Hey, the brightness and contrast settings can be changed for all three colors. Are your settings for just blue, or all three?

All three. But to be honest I hadn't considered that. Now I will have to tinker more. I set those settings for Brightness and Contrast for all three and only tweaked the Gamma individually.

I wonder if I can get it looking even better. I will have to try.

Excellent question.

[czm2000]

That was great. By turning up the Brightness on Red and Green only it's a brighter warm with out looking washed. I'm super happy with it right now. I hope others are able to get theres to look like mine does to me.

This of course doesn't help those who are having problems with the text size being to high, but for me, it's a huge improvement over what I saw when I pulled it out of the box.

Edit: How funny. My wife was gone for the weekend so she hasn't seen my laptop in several days. As I'm typing she walked by and goes, "Oooh, what did you do to the screen?" I just about died laughing. I had to explain what's been going on about the screens and how I had just finished posting my settings. Anyway, just thought I'd share that since I got a kick out of it. She thinks it's a lot brighter.

[rb999]

Thanks CZM, that made a big difference here on mine after following your advice. Turning the gamma and brightness down made the screen much clearer. I have also been trying with Clear Type on and off and not sure which I will stay with either. Fortunately, I do not have any visible light leakage like some others have been complaining of. It not the best screen around but not too bad after tweaking the settings a bit.

[czm2000]

Awesome, I'm glad that helped even a little bit. I had to turn the brightness back down a hair on the Green but other than that, I'm pretty well set. Except for the ClearType :lol: Not sure which way I'll settle on that. Time will tell.

I don't have light leakage either, so I'm sure that helps, but hopefully this will help others too, glad it helped you.

[.RanT.]

OK, can someone answer one thing...

Is the 8204 screen the same as the screen on my Ferrari 4005? I love the 4005 screen...JUst checking, I was thinking of upgrading.

Thanks in advance.

[czm2000]

I can't confirm that to be true, but I did read that someone else had said it was.

[Webrender]

So czm... you gonna create an update page off of your review page that defines all of your awsome tweaks?

[czm2000]

I probably should shouldn't I? I debated changing a few things in it but decided not to in the interests of fairness and keeping it the same for everyone and after all, that's the way I saw it when I first got it. I almost changed the part about the battery since now I'm easily over 3 1/2 hours, but I felt I would be cheating those who already read it. I have made enough advancements with it though that some updates are probably warranted. I will have to try and recall everything I have done. I will try and get to that as soon as possible. But I have some really big projects going on right now. I hope that in the mean time enough people read the various posts to make their ownership or purchasing decisions pleasant.

Excellent suggestion.

[daedalus34r]

I've got mine looking pretty sweet with the following settings:

I of course have the System Brightness turned up all the way (Fn+Righ Arrow)

In the Catalyst Control Panel under
Notebook Panel Properties
Avivo Color
Saturation=110

Color
All Channels:
Gamma= .5
Brightness= 70
Contrast= 115

Red:
Gama= .6
Brightness= 70
Contrast= 115

Green:
Gama= .6
Brightness= 60
Contrast= 115

Blue:
Gama= .5
Brightness= 60
Contrast= 115

The trick is not to turn the Brightness up to high in the Catalyst Control Panel because it gives the screen a washed out look and does not necessarily make it brighter. I don't know if this will work for everyone because there is obviously some differences in the screens, but I've been using this several days now on these settings and the screen looks great. I'm think I covered all the changes I made. I also disabled the ClearType but may turn that back on. I'm undecided on that right now.\


Can these tweaks apply to a 4202 core duo screen? I've seen it and its allright. Not hella bright like id' want it to be but i think i could get comfortable with it

[Travel Matey]

I'm still pretty interested to see what actual display panels everyone has in the 8204, here's mine:

Field Value
Monitor Properties
Monitor Name Plug and Play Monitor [NoDB]
Monitor ID SEC3146
Manufacturer LTN154P1-L02
Manufacture Date 2005
Serial Number None
Max. Visible Display Size 33 cm x 21 cm (15.4")
Picture Aspect Ratio 5:3
Gamma 2.20
DPMS Mode Support None

If you have an 8204 could you post your details here as well?

[rb999]

Here is the info on my 8204 display panel.

Field Value
Monitor Properties
Monitor Name Plug and Play Monitor [NoDB]
Monitor ID QDS003D
Manufacturer QD15AL021
Manufacture Date 2005
Serial Number None
Max. Visible Display Size 33 cm x 21 cm (15.4")
Picture Aspect Ratio 5:3
Gamma 2.20
DPMS Mode Support None

[efalis]

Where do you find the description of the panel?

[rb999]

I got it from this program posted previously by Andy318

http://www.filehippo.com/download_everest_home/

[efalis]

OK:

Monitor Properties:
Monitor Name Plug and Play Monitor [NoDB]
Monitor ID SEC3146
Manufacturer LTN154P1-L02
Manufacture Date 2005
Serial Number None
Max. Visible Display Size 33 cm x 21 cm (15.4")
Picture Aspect Ratio 5:3
Gamma 2.20
DPMS Mode Support None

[wynand32]

Here's mine:

Monitor Properties:
Monitor Name Plug and Play Monitor [NoDB]
Monitor ID SEC3146
Manufacturer LTN154P1-L02
Manufacture Date 2005
Serial Number None
Max. Visible Display Size 33 cm x 21 cm (15.4")
Picture Aspect Ratio 5:3
Gamma 2.20
DPMS Mode Support None

[markagain1]

Monitor Name Plug and Play Monitor [NoDB]
Monitor ID SEC3146
Manufacturer LTN154P1-L02
Manufacture Date 2005
Serial Number None
Max. Visible Display Size 33 cm x 21 cm (15.4")
Picture Aspect Ratio 5:3
Gamma 2.20
DPMS Mode Support None

[simont]

Field Value
Monitor Properties
Monitor Name Plug and Play Monitor [NoDB]
Monitor ID SEC3146
Manufacturer LTN154P1-L02
Manufacture Date 2005
Serial Number None
Max. Visible Display Size 33 cm x 21 cm (15.4")
Picture Aspect Ratio 5:3
Gamma 2.20
DPMS Mode Support None


I have no issues with the LCD. To put it in perspective, my last system was an IBM ThinkPad A31p with 15" UXGA monitor, the one before that was a Dell Inspiron 8000 with a 15" UXGA monitor as well. At home I have a HP with 15.4" WXGA, TruBrite or whatever it's called and I hate it - I gave it to my dad.

[czm2000]

Monitor Properties:
Monitor Name Plug and Play Monitor [NoDB]
Monitor ID SEC3146
Manufacturer LTN154P1-L02
Manufacture Date 2005
Serial Number None
Max. Visible Display Size 33 cm x 21 cm (15.4")
Picture Aspect Ratio 5:3
Gamma 2.20
DPMS Mode Support None


No problems with the screen.

[TaY]

tag

[Travel Matey]

Here is the info on my 8204 display panel.

Field Value
Monitor Properties
Monitor Name Plug and Play Monitor [NoDB]
Monitor ID QDS003D
Manufacturer QD15AL021
Manufacture Date 2005
Serial Number None
Max. Visible Display Size 33 cm x 21 cm (15.4")
Picture Aspect Ratio 5:3
Gamma 2.20
DPMS Mode Support None

So far you're the only one we've seen with a different LCD - how do you like it?

[rb999]

I noticed that I was the only one with a different screen so far. My screen is pretty good. It has no leakage and the brightness is good. It was a little washed out looking with the default settings but after setting the gamma and brightness down per CZM2000's post It is looking much better. The viewing angles are not the greatest but all in all it is a decent screen. Since I have no other issues with the unit (no buzzing noise here and LAN was fixed with firmware), I am very happy with the 8204 overall.

[padlon]

The LTN154P1-L02 shows up on the components list of the TM 8100. It's made by Samsung.

The QD15AL021 doesn't show up there.

[jjfcpa]

Sorry guys, I sent mine back. I buy a laptop to use, not debug. It just seems like ACER may have rushed this a bit (kudos for being so early), but there are some issues that need to be resolved before this will be a keeper in my book. Most notably, the screen is "poor" in my opinion. I stopped by Compusa and the they had a couple of ACER "brite screen" laptops and one other matte one. The brite screens were very nice and the matte one was similar to my 8204.

For now, in spite of the stellar specs of the 8204, I'll just have to take a pass on it. Good luck to all those who are getting the bugs out.

[enlighten]

Hey Guys

Received my laptop, screen sucks!!!!!!!!. It is dull and has very bad rippling effects, even the slightest movement causes the screen to ripple, I also have a dark splodge on the bottom right of the screen. Now you may say don't move the laptop around, but that is the point of a laptop!!!!. I travel everyday on the train and believe it or not the vibrations of the train cause the screen to constantly ripple. I love everything else about this laptop but beware of the screen. Most of you probably know that there are only a small handful of ODM (Original Design Manufacturer) who make laptops for the OEM's. For example I think Quanta sell to Dell, HP, IBM, Acer, Sony, Gateway and Apple. I was thinking that the travelmate 8200 screen may be the same as the Sager NP5320, I had ordered that previously and had the exact same problems with the screen, dull and bad rippling, even on the train. I am going to see if I can return it, I should not have to put up with a terrible screen for the money I paid. I let you all know what happens.

Later

Enlighten

[Mattrix]

Here is the info on my 8204 display panel.

Field Value
Monitor Properties
Monitor Name Plug and Play Monitor [NoDB]
Monitor ID QDS003D
Manufacturer QD15AL021
Manufacture Date 2005
Serial Number None
Max. Visible Display Size 33 cm x 21 cm (15.4")
Picture Aspect Ratio 5:3
Gamma 2.20
DPMS Mode Support None

I tried looking up this screen.. I think you must have corrupt registry settings or something. Google brings up nothing on those IDs.

http://www.google.com/search?q=QD15AL021&start=0&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official

vs 600 hits for

LTN154P1

http://www.google.com/search?num=30&hs=Nzm&hl=en&lr=&safe=off&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&q=LTN154P1&btnG=Search

I think we all got the #$^% Samsung panel folks.

[rb999]

I am not sure why mine is showing different results running Everest. That is definately the results I get though. Anyone know another program to try to get the screen information? I have run it several times and always come up with the QD3003D as noted before.

[tallan]

I notice both Dell & Alienware use the same screen on some of their products, so it really can't be all that much worse than others, can it? Perhaps the dimness issue we have is simply a matter of the driver/LCD/X1600 interaction which a future BIOS or video card driver update can fix?