My Thinkpad p50 came stock with a terrible BOE display that I despise, the colours are awful and the backlight is worse. I know you can swap it out for less crappy displays, I'm just wondering if there's any reason that this Samsung OLED panel (the only one I could find on panelook with the seemingly correct specs) wouldn't work. If anyone could double check this before I blow like $250CAD on a display that'd be super.

  • Yurt_Owl
    ·
    10 months ago

    30 lane eDP have varying signal types you need to check the stock panel specs against the new one. The things that need to match exactly are

    • panel size
    • whether its touch or not
    • interface type eg eDP number of pins etc
    • shape style (otherwise it might to too thin to too fat)
    • signal interface position (if the 30 pin is on the opposite side ur shit outa luck without some ribbon cable hack)
    • resolution apparently but this wasn't my experience upgrading an x240 with an x250 1080p IPS panel

    That panel is eDP 1.4b and the stock is 1.2 hbr1 I'd wager it won't work.

    You could just play it safe and get a stock IPS panel which I do with all my thinkpads.

    https://www.reddit.com/r/thinkpad/comments/x5vnfm/thinkpad_p50_screen_upgrade/ there are some further links on there as well

    • EmmaGoldman [she/her, comrade/them]M
      ·
      10 months ago

      All of the specs seem to match up. Shape style, pin type, panel size, resolution, interface position. All of it, aside from the eDP 1.4b vs 1.2. I can't really seem to find any info on backwards compatibility for eDP.

      I guess that these things are kind of intentionally opaque as they're not consumer standards.

      Unfortunately, you're right that It'll almost certainly be a no-go even though there's theoretically no reason it shouldn't work. Backwards compatibility won't let you use a newer display, and the only way that people have found that out is to just buy stuff and plug it in. Guess I'll just learn from others' failures.

      • Yurt_Owl
        ·
        10 months ago

        There is basically no info since eDP is a closed spec but since its in laptops and laptops have no real need for backwards or forwards compat I'd say a strong no.

        Some odd forums hint at a compatibility between 1.3 and 1.4 but from really odd sources. https://community.frame.work/t/framework-laptop-alternative-screens/17290/14

        I'd strongly suggest just getting a compatible IPS but its up to you.