LED backlight montitors. Worth it?

Im a architecture student who needs new laptop, so I am considering a Dell XPS m1530. Id like a high resolution display but they have a option for the LED LCD panel with lower resolution. I know Apple really touted this feature with the MacBook pros, but is it anything special? Or should I just go with the 1920x1200?

LCD, Color and camera
Glossy, widescreen 15.4 inch LCD (1280x800) & 2.0 MP Camera [subtract $150]
High Resolution, glossy widescreen 15.4 inch LCD(1440x900) & 2MP Camera [subtract $100]
High Resolution glossy widescreen 15.4 inch LCD(1680x1050) & 2MP Camera [subtract $50]
[#e2001c]High Resolution, glossy widescreen 15.4 inch LED LCD (1440x900) & 2.0 M [add $50 or $2/month1][/#e2001c]
Full Hi Definition, glossy widescreen 15.4 inch LCD (1920x1200) & 2.0 M [Included in Price]

Add a reply

Register or log in to remove.

LED gives amazing contrast ratio. On LCD TVs you're looking at 500,000:1 ratio in some cases. To put that in to perspective, my 19" Viewsonic has a ratio of 800:1. For architecture I'm not sure what is more important to you.

------------------------------ "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose" -- Jim Elliott
Reply to leo2kp

I think it would be worth it. I'd probably go for the LED screen. The main reason is that LEDs will use less power than a regular screen. They give a better response time, and much better contrast ratio (normally). DEFINITELY worth $50. My laptop is a 15.4 inch 1280x800 and it looks really good, I'm sure 1440x900 will look amazing.

Edit: leo beat me to it

Message edited by lcaley on 04-18-2008 at 07:28:52 AM

------------------------------ EVGA nForce 680i SE SLI 122-CK-NF63 Motherboard - Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 @ 3.2 GHz - ZALMAN 9500A 92mm CPU Cooler - EVGA 8800GTS 512MB OC 766/2000 - G.SKILL 6GB DDR2 800 4-4-4-12 (2T) - Thermaltake Purepower 600W Power Supply - Vista Ultimate x64
Reply to lcaley

lcaley,

How much better is the response time? Didn't realize led backlighting improved it. Does that mean it is a better gaming option than most LCDs?

Reply to bdollar

LED backlighting is a really big thing for graphics professionals. CCFL backlighting produces a monitor with color accuracy that sucks. The white light emitted by CCFL is not a correct spectrum and that produces inaccurate color. The LED back lighting produces full spectrum white light. I have bought 3 garden variety CCFL LCD panels and tried to color calibrate them with no success. Returned all of them and I am still using CRTs.

One of the worst problems for photographers and artists is the uneven brightness produced by LCD screens . You cannot see the entire screen at a constant even illumination. The LED backlighted screens are reported to solve this problem also.
In addition to accurate color the gamut has been expanded with LED backlighting. The best of the LED type have full adobe1998 RGB color spectrum. Not even CRT's have that.

The top of the line are the NEC and the Visio (both 24 inch) retail in the $5,000 price range. Samsung released the XL20 (20 inch -$1499) and the XL30 (30 inch) which don't quite cover adobe1998 RGB. Now Viewsonic has the lowest price leader The 22 inch VLED221wm at a street price of $739

Message quoted 1 times

Reply to jdunn

Does anyone know the effect on response time. Is it better as lcaley said, same, worse? If better, how much?

Jdunn do you do any gaming? I assume those same positives are nice for gaming as well? (assuming no response time issues).

Reply to bdollar

I'm not sure about response time in game, but I surely can be turned on a lot faster, cause there's no warm up time needed.

Reply to m@rc

In my experience, and correct me if I'm wrong, but in my experience, LED monitors actually makes the response time worse. I have yet to see one with a response time under 8 ms. Even so, LED monitors offer much more "correct" colors, larger contrast ratio, brighter backlights, and longer battery life. I would say though, that unless you are a professional graphics designer, or simply have way too much money to throw around, its not worth it. The increase in battery life is negligible, compared to the increase in cost.

Reply to pcfreak101

Response time improvements? Comon, guys, who can notice a difference of 2-8ms?

I would choose the traditional screen. I have a 1920x1200 screen, and it's well past proved it's worth. I can fit soooo much stuff on it at once, and games look gorgeous. The 1530's only carry 9600/8600GT options, i believe, so games won't look as good; you'll have to turn down the resolution if you get a high-res panel. The battery life advantage can't be a whole lot, maybe 10 minutes.

Reply to frozenlead

jdunn wrote :

LED backlighting is a really big thing for graphics professionals. CCFL backlighting produces a monitor with color accuracy that sucks. The white light emitted by CCFL is not a correct spectrum and that produces inaccurate color. The LED back lighting produces full spectrum white light. I have bought 3 garden variety CCFL LCD panels and tried to color calibrate them with no success. Returned all of them and I am still using CRTs.

One of the worst problems for photographers and artists is the uneven brightness produced by LCD screens . You cannot see the entire screen at a constant even illumination. The LED backlighted screens are reported to solve this problem also.
In addition to accurate color the gamut has been expanded with LED backlighting. The best of the LED type have full adobe1998 RGB color spectrum. Not even CRT's have that.

The top of the line are the NEC and the Visio (both 24 inch) retail in the $5,000 price range. Samsung released the XL20 (20 inch -$1499) and the XL30 (30 inch) which don't quite cover adobe1998 RGB. Now Viewsonic has the lowest price leader The 22 inch VLED221wm at a street price of $739

That indeed is wonderful. very informative, Thank you. I am happy to have met some one who knows. My question is, is LED display the same as LED backlit display? what is LED backlit LCD display? can you suggets some material on this?

Thank you.

gangakz@yahoo.com

Reply to Anonymous

Forum Laptops & Notebooks : General Laptops & Notebooks - LED backlight montitors. Worth it?