Can I replace the LCD on my UMPC?

[sam1275]

Hi everyone. I have a Panasonic CF-U1A, the only bad thing for it is the LCD, which have incredible low view angle, I cannot find a replacement solution online, can anyone help me? Thanks!

[senso]

Maybe, but I cant find the part number of the lcd used in it, could you remove the lcd a take a photo of the sticker that is in the back?
It might be a custom-ish panel with a custom connector..

[sam1275]

Maybe, but I cant find the part number of the lcd used in it, could you remove the lcd a take a photo of the sticker that is in the back?
It might be a custom-ish panel with a custom connector..

Thank you.
Just found Dave made a tear down here: https://www.eevblog.com/forum/blog/eevblog-925-panasonic-cf-u1-toughbook-teardown/
Please look at 17:50-18:04 for the LCD part, my model is a bit older than his, but maybe this will still help.

[Buriedcode]

If the colours change at wider angle, then of course the viewing angle is down to the LCD itself, if it just appears very dim, then the narrow viewing angle is intentional for power saving, and possibly security.

Often displays for laptops/tablets use prismatic films that focus the backlight to a narrower angle. This means you can use less power for the backlight to achieve the same brightness when viewing it directly in front.  They use really narrow prismatic films for things like ATM's, where security is an obvious concern and you don't want people looking over your shoulder, for the most part though its far reducing the backlights power consumption.

So again, as its very likely to be a TFT which already have quite good viewing angles, rather than replace the display, you may wish to prize it apart and remove a couple of films - there will be several: polarized diffuser, prismatic films horizontal/vertical, and possibly another diffuser on top of that.  Its an arse to do as there will likely be lots of tape around it, but at least its a reversible mod.

[sam1275]

If the colours change at wider angle, then of course the viewing angle is down to the LCD itself, if it just appears very dim, then the narrow viewing angle is intentional for power saving, and possibly security.

Often displays for laptops/tablets use prismatic films that focus the backlight to a narrower angle. This means you can use less power for the backlight to achieve the same brightness when viewing it directly in front.  They use really narrow prismatic films for things like ATM's, where security is an obvious concern and you don't want people looking over your shoulder, for the most part though its far reducing the backlights power consumption.

So again, as its very likely to be a TFT which already have quite good viewing angles, rather than replace the display, you may wish to prize it apart and remove a couple of films - there will be several: polarized diffuser, prismatic films horizontal/vertical, and possibly another diffuser on top of that.  Its an arse to do as there will likely be lots of tape around it, but at least its a reversible mod.

Thank you, in my case the colours change at wider angle, and when I said very narrow I meant it, it's narrower than my 12 years old 17" desktop monitor. One will never know what I feel when reading a LCD like that, combining with a high DPI and not-good contrast ratio It really hurts my eyes, now I trained myself to hold it at a preciously angle, and adjust at a precious brightness, and it feels better... I tried to set the display at black and white, but found the graphic driver do not support that mode, I think my AT&T graphic card(yes AT&T brand) can do that in Windows 98. I think your mod is interesting, but will it work in my case? It's not appears very dim. I think maybe not, because if it's that easy, the more expensive things like IPS will not as shine as today