Apple and HP readying LED-backlit laptops?

While nobody really knows what Mr. Jobs has planned for next week's Macworld keynote, DigiTimes has a report claiming that LED-backlit laptops are coming down the pike, and if true, will be hitting more than MacBook Pros. According to a rather sure-sounding account, Apple and HP are both aiming to launch lappies in the second quarter of this year with LED-based LCD panels. Purportedly aimed to showcase the sexy interfaces that await us in Windows Vista and OS X 10.5, the screens would be derived from suppliers such as "Nichia or Cree" and tout a "brightness level of over 1,680 nits." Additionally, no model names were handed out as potential candidates for the LED upgrade, but with refreshed laptop models from both firms essentially sure to hit within a matter of months, it wouldn't be too surprising to see such upgrades make the cut. Nevertheless, we've seen our fair share of certainties turn out bogus, so per usual, we'd recommend a healthy dose of table salt with this one as well.

[Via Electronista]

[icepop4who @ Jan 3rd 2007 2:59PM]

LED screens are the future. long life and high brightness screens would put Apple and HP top of the wish list. I dunno how much this will cost though, seeing that LED technology is a bank breaker. Bogus or not, this will come sooner or later.

[Dan @ Jan 3rd 2007 3:42PM]

LED backlights are the future??? Some Sony laptops have had LED backlights for a while.

[adelossa @ Jan 3rd 2007 3:03PM]

damn, and I just bought a laptop a few days ago.

[Matt @ Jan 3rd 2007 3:10PM]

Adelossa, just return it! Make up some lie about it being a present for someone who already got a laptop.

[..... @ Jan 3rd 2007 3:17PM]

LED backlit LCDs are nothing new.

Sony TX and SZ laptops have them, I'm sure others do too.

[1,680nits @ Jan 4th 2007 4:57AM]

WRONG!!! Sony's laptops aren't anywhere near 1,680 nits. They are less than half of that in brightness, so in sunlight they still are hard to see.

[iptydafu @ Jan 3rd 2007 3:20PM]

Would there be an issue with phasing between a dimmed LED array at low-power operating under 100hz and the monitor's refresh rate?

[Joe @ Jan 3rd 2007 3:21PM]

Let's not forget that DigiTimes is one of the most unreliable sources out there. Oh, and Nichia and Cree are manuafacturers of LEDs, not screens.

[GeneMack @ Jan 3rd 2007 4:22PM]

Not exactly. I know I have no credibility, especially since I can't go into detail. So anyone can disregard what I say. Take this for whatever you think it is worth:

Cree has the capability of doing what is quoted.

[Gordy @ Jan 3rd 2007 3:23PM]

When this happens, battery life will increase tremendously.

[Jonathan Sundy @ Jan 3rd 2007 3:33PM]

I'll wait for benchmarks before I believe that. Though I'm honestly excited about the potential.

I guess I'll have to add this to the list of things I'm waiting for before my next laptop purchase. Sideshow and hybrid harddrives are the other 2 items on the list... I gave up on solid state hard drives.

[Josh @ Jan 3rd 2007 3:41PM]

Sony has been doing this for a while... They call it X-Bright

[Ed @ Jan 3rd 2007 3:43PM]

LED screens have been on Vaios for ages. The high end SZ series have them. So do the small Vaio's.

[chase @ Jan 3rd 2007 4:47PM]

@Ed

you're incorrect. they say it "uses LED technology," it actually is an LCD, though. I have an SZ, great little laptop by the way

[LukeA @ Jan 3rd 2007 4:07PM]

I don't think any manufacturer will release displays that can do 1680 nits. It's too damn bright.

[Amandyke @ Jan 3rd 2007 4:20PM]

Sony has been doing this for a while... They call it X-Brite (or some such)

[Justin @ Jan 3rd 2007 4:41PM]

I agree with Joe. DigiTimes is wrong about 90% of the time. I definitely wouldn't pay much attention to this report.

[Joe @ Jan 3rd 2007 5:05PM]

Just to clarify, these are just regular LCD screens that use LEDs instead of fluorescent tubes for backlights. Apple has been using LEDs as backlights for their iPods for example.

[Elliott @ Jan 3rd 2007 5:46PM]

Can someone shed some light into the benefits of LED-backlit technology? Maybe a link to a good article?

[JohnZ @ Jan 3rd 2007 8:35PM]

Here is a good article on RGB LEDs for backlights. These laptops however will probably be using white LEDs so a lot of the advantages in terms of color will be lost.

http://www.necdisplay.com/pdfs/LCD2180WG-LEDTechPaper_121605.pdf

[sturmnacht @ Jan 3rd 2007 6:20PM]

Here's amother advantage:

LED backlit displays can be made 45% thinner than the conventional CCFL backlit displays. Expect the next MacBook Pro to be less than an inch thick (for real this time).

[Rahul Nirmal @ Jan 3rd 2007 7:02PM]

X-Brite does NOT mean the screen uses LED backlights, its Sony's name for the glossy coating over laptop screens that is very widespread and popular now, I'm a fan of it. In Europe at least, Sony calls it X-Black instead. Other manufacturers have different names for it such as HP/Compaq calling it BrightView for instance.

Right now, the Premium versions of the Vaio SZs and all Vaio TX's use LED backlighting. I own the TX myself and the screen is very thin thanks to the LED backlighting and quite bright as well. The screen is very thin but very sturdy as well, much sturdier than it looks, beleive me.

The only small downside is that there is a bit of light leakage at the bottom of the screen where you can see the LED's below shining, especially on the first batches of the TX, the TX1XP in Europe and TX6XXs in North America.

[b00da @ Jan 3rd 2007 7:06PM]

Will people please, PLEASE stop calling laptops "lappies"? Freaking lame, just like the dweebs who call Westinghouse flat panel TVs "westies" and the dweebs who say "pull the trigger" when they mean "buy".

[loquitur @ Jun 8th 2007 6:33PM]

Agreed about overuse of diminutives.

In the LCD flat-panel sphere, it isn't just Westinghouse -> Westy,
but also Samsung -> Sammy and Panasonic -> Panny

Gag me with a spoon, as they say.

[obvious signs @ Jan 3rd 2007 7:28PM]

Maybe that explains apple's ad on their site? A black apple logo with backlight?!

[rp @ Jan 3rd 2007 6:38PM]

@obvious signs

I'm pretty sure that the website is supposed to be like the sun rising over the Earth.. saying that a "new day" is dawning on Apple so to speak, and that Apple is going to be awesome. That's about all they're suggesting, at least imo.

[Arnie @ Jan 3rd 2007 8:33PM]

Does the LED backlit monitor consumer less power than the regular old laptop monitors? If so pair this with some 100Gb Nand Flash drives(when the become available of course)and a respectable low power 3d chipset and I would be in Laptop heaven!!

[Ari @ Jan 3rd 2007 9:01PM]

LEDs are not only energy-efficient, unlike regular backlights they're also mercury-free.

[herb @ Jan 3rd 2007 9:38PM]

X-Bright is NOT LED backlighting. Here's a quote from Sony's website:

"Most LCD displays use a single lamp to illuminate the screen. XBRITE™ displays feature dual-lamp illumination for more evenly distributed light across the entire screen. This provides a brighter, more consistent display while maintaining a low power consumption profile."

[HerbieC @ Jan 3rd 2007 10:39PM]

sony vaio tx has had this since they were introduced mid 2005 and high end sx's since summer of 2006.

[submachine @ Jan 4th 2007 10:59AM]

#1, if you want to talk about 'long life', i still have an Dell Inspiron 7000 15" laptop from '97, I think, and its first and only dead pixel happened a few months ago.

[Trust me on this @ Jan 5th 2007 2:18AM]

it should be

"Nichia-made LED" used in the laptop LCD backlight whose INTENSITY is 1680 mcd, not the LCD screen brightness.