Have you ever replaced a laptop screen with a better one?

[mikeymikec]

Something occurred to me recently that surprised me: If a customer's desktop monitor died, no matter what the specs of the old monitor were, I've never thought along the lines of buying a 'like for like' replacement by default. Sure, if it's an old desktop (it would have to be really old now to not support 1080p), I'd take its graphics hardware into account (esp. on Win10, how is its driver support these days, could a higher resolution monitor be problematic?). But on a laptop I only recently considered this.

It's common on laptops these days to have say a 15.6" wide-screen monitor that can do 1366x768, but the graphics hardware can obviously do say 1080p, so why not use a 1080p screen? Obviously it needs to be the same physical size overall. Why is it that when I've searched for a replacement screen for a given laptop, I only get like-for-like replacements (with maybe the choice of matte and gloss if I'm lucky)?

My concerns in trying this would be a) the graphics connector, b) screw points to attach it to the laptop, c) the screen's power requirements and whether the laptop's power system can drive it effectively, d) is the graphics connector in the same place so the cable will reach it.

 

[bbhaag]

While I think your idea has merit the reality is that laptops are to highly customized. Each OEM builds them to differently to be interchangeable. Heck even sometimes within an OEMS own line different model laptops parts are not interchangeable. Connectors are often custom to which can lead to issues trying to replace with a different part and like you already mentioned thermal and power limitations are fairly strict on laptops.

As far as aftermarket goes it's pretty much non existent mainly because of how customized each laptop is. It's just a completely different animal compared to a standard desktop pc.

 

[TheStu]

If a laptop is available with both panel options, it can't hurt to check laptopscreens.com and see if the better panel will work with the system. Sometimes the connector changes completely, higher res panels usually use eDP or similar, and the lower res panels don't need that. But I've done a display swap in a MacBook Pro in the past, back when they offered 2 different resolution options in the same size display (1440*900 and 1680*1050). It took some time, but otherwise went OK.

 

[VirtualLarry]

If a laptop is available with both panel options, it can't hurt to check laptopscreens.com and see if the better panel will work with the system. Sometimes the connector changes completely, higher res panels usually use eDP or similar, and the lower res panels don't need that. But I've done a display swap in a MacBook Pro in the past, back when they offered 2 different resolution options in the same size display (1440*900 and 1680*1050). It took some time, but otherwise went OK.

I think that's really the only time that something like that will work, is if the original OEM offered the laptop with multiple screens with different resolutions, then you can swap them. I don't think, as @bbhaag mentioned, that laptop LCD displays are interchangeable, like PC monitors based on standard display output connectors are. (I would love to be proven wrong, however.)

 

[TheStu]

I think that's really the only time that something like that will work, is if the original OEM offered the laptop with multiple screens with different resolutions, then you can swap them. I don't think, as @bbhaag mentioned, that laptop LCD displays are interchangeable, like PC monitors based on standard display output connectors are. (I would love to be proven wrong, however.)

They do use standardized connectors (usually), BUT they don't use standardized placement. So the cable is exactly the correct length for the laptop in question, and the odds of getting a panel made for an Acer laptop to work in an Asus is pretty low. Or even 2 different Acer laptops.