Which is better? What is the difference?

WXGA (left) and WXGA+ TrueLife (right)

I hope this information will help those of you who are about to purchase DELL Vostro 1400 notebook and are trying to decide which panel to go with.

As you probably know by now, Dell Vostro 1400 notebooks come with three different LCD panels:

1) WXGA (Matte finish) - 1280×800 resolution which is somewhat standard for this type of screen size
2) WXGA TrueLife - 1280×800 resolution, similar to the one above, except it has glossy finish instead of matte
3) WXGA+ TrueLife - 1440×900 (higher) resolution, also with glossy finish

From what I’ve learned so far reading various reviews on notebookreview forums, WXGA panels being “veterans” of LCD screens represent your typical notebook displays which you see on majority of laptops. So far I’m yet to hear a single complaint about those panels, with the exception that certain people might find them “boring”, comparing to the latest “trendy” glossy ones.

TrueLife screens are supposed to offer more vibrant colors, brighter picture, and overall “True Life” experience. I myself have not seen DELL’s WXGA TrueLife screen, but I’ve compared glossy LCD displays with non-glossy ones before, side by side, and I must admit that photographs and images look very impressive on glossy screens. On the other hand, with glossy screens you’ll have to put up with heavy reflections, especially on sunny days and if/when used in brightly lit rooms. So, I guess depending on how and what your laptop is going to be used for, you may or may not want glossy screen.

Dell’s WXGA+ TrueLife screens are probably the most controversial ones. People either love them or hate them. Apparently, DELL is using at least 3 different panel suppliers to manufacture these high resolution glossy screens. From what I’ve gathered so far, AUO branded panels have been getting the the worst reviews of all, mostly due to their graininess. Then there are SEC panels, which tend to show less to no graininess, yet suffer from being significantly dimmer than the rest. SEC panels also seem to have the worst viewing angles according to user posts on the Notebookreviews forum. Finally, there are LG panels. Few lucky owners of those screen report exceptional quality and seem to be the happiest Vostro 1400 WXGA+ owners.

I managed to get my hands on both WXGA (matte) and WXGA+ TrueLife (gloss) panels. Both of them are SEC panels. I first had a chance to work on the high resolution (WXGA+) screen for almost two weeks. My initial impressions were somewhat mixed. I did like the extra “real estate” that WXGA+ screen offered. I was also quite happy with the gloss (despite the fact that not so long ago I was determined to steer clear of shiny screens). However, viewing angles of that screen were a real joke. There just wasn’t a point from which I could see well both the top and the bottom portions of the screen. When I tilted the LCD to where top of the Windows desktop looked nice and color-reach, the bottom part (task panel) appeared a bit washed out. At the same time if I adjusted the screen in such a way that the bottom part of it looked bright and vibrant, then the top was turning so dark that grays were turning into blacks while near-black colors simply disappeared. And if that wasn’t enough by itself, horizontal angles were even more bizarre - my display looked slightly better (colors were reacher and pictures appeared to be brighter) if I looked at the screen not straight on, but at approximately at 15 degrees angle from the right. Yet at the same time, going 15 degrees to the left rendered the display noticeably darker.

I tried to demonstrate this effect in the following two pictures. While photographing, when placed on the right (first picture), WXGA+ panel looks noticeably darker than WXGA. However, after I repositioned the two screens so that WXGA+ is on the left (second picture) - the WXGA+ TL happened to be in its “favorable” position (at 15 degrees from the right) and it looks almost as bright as WXGA matte.

Vostro 1400, WXGA (left) and WXGA+ TrueLife

Vostro 1400, WXGA+ TrueLife (left) and WXGA (right)

Straight out of the box WXGA+ screen looked anything but “true life”. Excessive blue color made it look really bad. Also, DHL delivered the laptop in the early morning, so I first got to play with it during the day and immediately noticed that I wished the screen was brighter. I repeatedly kept trying to increase brightness, but it was at its maximum. To make things worst, new calibration profile which I created for this screen with the Spyder2 made the screen look even a little more darker. That, however, significantly(!) improved the colors.

Font size on the 14″ high resolution WXGA+ screen was a bit challenging for me at first. But seems like I got used to it rather quickly. My vision is far from perfect, I wear eye glasses, and even with them on my sight is not 20×20. Nevertheless, I discovered that I could live with this resolution and really enjoyed the extra real estate this screen offered.

Few days ago I received the WXGA matte screen. First impression - WOW! It is a LOT brighter than the WXGA+ TrueLife. Colors are a LOT better straight out of the box. I did however calibrate it as well, which made everything look even more vibrant (apparently there still was quite a bit of excessive blue). Text size looks ridiculously big comparing to the WXGA+ and I immediately felt that I am looking at a laptop screen… whereas the WXGA+ felt more like a PC monitor. I understand that the difference in resolution is not that big, but the difference is definitely noticeable. Viewing angles on this panel are a lot better than on the WXGA+, which was quite obvious right away. Overall, the screen is easier to read and nicer to look at.

The following two pictures demonstrate better brightness of WXGA screen compared to WXGA+ TrueLife. Both pictures were taken with the same shutter speed and aperture setting. Both laptops were positioned next to each other in more/less evenly lit room. No post-processing has been applied (besides cropping). These pictures reflect pretty accurately the difference in brightness between the two screens.

WXGA+ TrueLife (calibrated)

WXGA (calibrated)

To sum things up I’d like to state one more time - each of the panels has its pros and cons. While WXGA+ TrueLife panel offers you “wider” monitor, the sacrifice you’re making is 1. Viewing andgles and 2. Brightness (unless you get lucky to own LG panel, which I presonally have not seen and hence cannot speak of). WXGA panel is crispy sharp and bright, better colors out of the box, but as some may say looks “plain old” and feels like laptop screen (contrary to “wider” WXGA+). Which one to pick - your decision, depending on what you’re gonna be using it for. I personally lean toward WXGA.

The entire gallery of Vostro 1400 WXGA vs WXGA+ TrueLife pictures can be found here.

I guess I should also mention this - my WXGA panel is SEC 3157 while WXGA+ was SEC 4457. You can check your panel manufacturer by right clicking on your monitor in Device Manager, choosing Properties, then Details and then picking from the drop down either Device Instance ID or Hardware ID.

If you’d like to try ICM profiles I created for these two panels you can download them here:

Spyder2express_SEC3157WXGA.icm - for SEC 3157 (WXGA) panel
Spyder2express_SEC4457WXGAplTL.icm - for SEC 4457 (WXGA+ TrueLife) panel

However, in order to use these LCD profiles you will need Microsoft Color Control Panel Applet for Windows XP, that is if you’re using XP. I believe Vista is capable of managing icm profiles natively (I’m not 100% sure though). Also if you’re on XP and would like your color profile to be loaded automatically on startup you’ll have to create the following shortcut in your Startup group:
"C:\Program Files\Pro Imaging Powertoys\Microsoft Color Control Panel Applet for Windows XP\WinColor.exe" /L

Enjoy!!