Which screen does your M1710 have?

Hi Jim,

My M170, purchased in January this year saw no less than 9(!!) screen replacements due to poor colour & light leakage. Most of these replacements were part no. w9892 - a Samsung SEC5557 screen. I was actually trying to get (and was indeed offered) a 9300 wxga+ screen (part MC830) instead as the trubrite/poor contrast & colour of the 3337 was doing my head in. In the end, Dell offered me a new M1710, citing 'better brightness and colour' as one of the benefits.

My 1710 turned up and indeed they were correct - my SEC3155 dispay (like yours) is indeed brighter and the colour is better - but the leakage is wayyyy worse, and there is a large amount of leakage at the top of the screen also. I'm not sure whether I'm happy about it, but I'd rather have the better blacks and colour of the 3155 screen than the washed out and leaky edges of the 5557. If necessary I can dim the brightness of the screen a few notches, which pretty much negates the top leakage issue, but not the lower.

It is true that Dell are offering you an M170 screen, which in my opinion is inferior to that of the M1710.

I was originally trying to secure part no. MC830 - a 9300 wxga+ non-tubrite screen for my M170, but that part seems to have been internally upgraded now to an LG Philips WUXGA/trubrite - everytime the part was ordered from Dell, I ended up with the incorrect screen! In the end, and although I really didn't push for it, Dell offered a replacement in the form of this M1710, which is very nice indeed...

It now appears that I'm back to square one though, only with a more powerful machine - a screen that lets the performance of the unit (and my work as a designer) down at a critical point..maybe I should now press Dell for an inspiron 9400 wxga+ screen, but as it's taken nearly 4.5 months to get to this stage I may just give up and accept that there's very little I can do about it!

Either way Jim - you have been given an M170 screen, which, although it may also be listed as an official M1710 replacement part, has left you in a worse position than when you began - at least try and get your 3155 screen back, that's my advice. Good luck!

Mine says LPL0000 or something so I'm assuming it's an LG one. Looks beautiful unless I'm quite a bit off angle. Which ones were the problem ones most people were unhappy with?

I have the same LCD screen. I love mine. No dead pics. No bleeding. No anything.

It is absolutely perfect.

The good thing in both our cases Jim, is that out of the two engineers that came out to replace my screens, they quickly agreed (as did your engineer) that the screen was crap.

With the M170's, the LG screens were meant to be great as regards light leakage (i.e little to none), but the colour and contrast was better on the samsungs -I think the same goes for the 1710 screens- those with LG's appear to have no light leakage issues, but the samsungs are still suffering in that department.

I've had many laptops, and so far nothing has beaten the sony's and toshiba's I have had over the last 3 or so years for screen quality.

The 1710 screens are excellent for gaming - no problems there, but show me a pure black screen and I'm a little embarrassed to show it to my friends..

By the way it ended up being 9 replacements as I had three samsungs I was dissatisfed with (they made the problem worse), and the remaining 6 were meant to be the different specced 9300 WXGA+ screens, but each time the wrong screen was shipped (although being correctly ordered - communication problem there between support and dispatch, which beacame a bit of a joke)

2 days old, LP screen

May be worth finding out if all folks in the UK are getting Samsung screens..then we can see about whether it is worth trying for a replacement, or indeed if we have any choice, such as the LG that some folks are getting.

Just discovered also that the Audigy Mb software plays havok with GRAW and Oblivion - crackling and odd noises aplenty. And naturally my Audigy ZS won't fit in the express card slot..grr.

I've had both the SEC3155 and the LPL00000, and there really isn't a big difference. The sad part is that they both have dark spots in the corners; but other than that they were both fine.

I have a SHARP screen in my M1710. They're supposed to be one of the better ones, but I have a problem with light falloff on the extreme right and left sides when looking straight on from the center.

I have a replacement screen on it's way now, but from what I'm reading here, I don't hold out much hope of getting anything better!

It's too bad when you spend over $3000 for a notebook, that you don't at least get an awesome screen!

I have the LPL00000 and I think it is fantastic. I have seen pictures of other m1710's on the internet with many of the screens mentioned and they look very similar except for light leakage incidents. Compared to the screen on my 4 year old laptop this one is heaven. It seems like no screen will be perfect, but as a general user i find this one to be the best i have ever had. (and that includes several desktops LCD's)

The LG is definitely brighter than the Samsung; but the light leakage is almost exactly the same, and neither one are too bad.

i have the Sharp 13c1 and i love it! i have had every model XPS made, in fact i still have all of them and this is the best lcd of them all.

i have the lg screen in my xps m1710 and i love it, no dead pixels, perfect backlight, and its seriously bright.

i had an xps m170 with a samsung screen and i thought it was good but by comparison it is crap

Same here, perfect screen. The gateway laptop seems so dim now.

I've had 2 M170's and now a 1710, all have had the LG screens. I see no difference between the screens, other than that the LG in the 1710 might be slightly brighter. It still has the dark corners, still has a fair amount of shimmer and light leakage.. The bad screens seem 100% random, there doesn't appear to be any specific pattern according to manufacturer/model etc..

At this point i've just accepted the screen issues. Lucky for Dell that the XPS M170/1710's are incredible machines in every other way.

I originally had a Samsung, cant remember exactly which model, however I got that replaced because of an issue unrelated to light bleed the LCD itself (Dell seemed intent on giving me a new one anyway) and it was replaced with a Sharp 13C1. The samsung definately had more vivid colours and was a fair bit brighter, however there was more lightbleed (quite noticeable) whereas the new Sharp LCD seems much 'sharper' strangely enough! Hardly any lightbleed at all, although the viewing angle seems to have decreased substantially and you really have to be right in front of it to get the correct brightness etc whereas the Samsung seemed to be a little more forgiving.

Interesting that, Jim.

I've found the engineers to be great, but very limited as to whether they can get their hands on specific parts-as I said previously I have had Dell supervisors (and their managers) directly request a specific part from the guys in Milton Keynes, only for the wrong component to be in the box on multiple occasions - it would be better if you had the same engineer each time so they can open the case and check serial numbers etc. before they make the trip.

I have had a discussion with the guys at Dell and they're looking into what screens are available for the 1710 for UK purchasers. Bottom line is , they cannot advertise a brighter screen and then replace with an inferior model.