This is my first post and I am not sure whether this question belongs in this thread. If not, please redirect me to the appropriate thread.

Recently I received an x220 that was built in September 2011 with the IPS screen. The screen generally appears very yellow (even at brightness level 15, and especially as brightness is reduced) and seems to reproduce other colors poorly (i.e. reds lean towards orange). When I compare the screen with multiple other notebooks, the yellow coloration is very noticeable. Otherwise, brightness, contrast and viewing angles are very good. Any suggestions on fixing this color issue would be greatly appreciated.


mod note: split question into new thread and edited title to match.

Does the screen have the same yellow tint during the 'Thinkpad' image when you power the notebook on? I'm not sure when the screen color calibration takes effect (would presume it is at the driver-level which requires the OS to load), but if it is consistently the same I'm more inclined to believe it is a hardware issue.

Can you take a look at the Intel graphics control panel and play with the color calibration to see if it's set at some strange values or if you can correct for the yellow tint? This shouldn't be a permanent solution but it would at least allow us to see if the adjustments are applied when it boots or only when the OS loads.

Thanks for the reply.

I believe the "Thinkpad" image displays the same yellow tint. However, this is admittedly a difficult comparison due to the dark background. It just seems that the screen, generally, is not able to produce a really crisp, bright white. Every screen that displays a white screen seems to display a slight yellow tint. Unfortunately, this "muddy" white obviously impacts or may be seen in the reproduction of other colors. I did play around with the color menus with some success, but have not completely resolved the issue. As I mentioned previously, the screen simply is poor at reproducing red (which leans orange) and various other colors. There is a richness and a depth that seems lacking.

It is certainly possible that my other notebooks, which seem better at reproducing colors, are affecting my perception. However, hours of reading on various forums presented this IPS screen as very bright, great contrast and excellent at reproducing colors. This statement may certainly seem true depending on which screens are being used for comparison. However, as an example, the ability of my Sony TZ TN panel (~2008) to reproduce colors appears to be a league or two ahead of the Lenovo. The TZ also appears "brighter," but loses its footing when it comes to viewing angles which is where the Lenovo really shines.

I certainly do not want to exaggerate the screen issue as the x220 is a nice product with an otherwise exemplary screen. I am just a little disappointed and hoped the color issue was a defect.

It appears the color issue may be typical for this IPS screen. When I was looking for a solution I found these two YouTube videos showing the color gamut for the x220 IPS screen. If these are accurate, they appear to explain the issue I have been experiencing. The videos are entitled (1) Lenovo x220 (IPS) - Screen Gamut vs sRGB 67.8% and (2) Lenovo x220 (IPS) - Screen Gamut vs AdobeRGB 42.8%. The first one says the percentage is "terrible for IPS display." I am not sure on how to correctly post links, but here are the direct addresses:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCIFg63KCwo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-nNjRMl ... er&list=UL

If these do not work, just do a search on YouTube with the titles I have listed above.

Any thoughts?

compared to my calibrated NEC graphics display i've not seen any yellow tint in any of the five IPS X220 panels that i've either owned or tested.

regarding gamut, well, the X220 is neither a professional graphics display nor intended or advertised to be one.   owners trashing it over finite color reproduction is a bit ridiculous in my opinion.   either way, this hasn't stopped me from editing graphics and photos while mobile.   if a project is color-critical then it gets checked on a calibrated external graphics display regardless.   i don't trust any notebook, IPS or not.

it's possible that yours has a yellow cast.   it's also possible that it's perfectly fine.   if you're comparing to TN panels (which are notorious for having a blue color cast) then your IPS panel will look yellow.   perhaps you might find another IPS panel for comparison, preferably an external display rather than a notebook, to see if the issue persists.

Wow! You seem a little defensive about the IPS screen.

I believe if you again review the tone and substance of my posts, you would realize that I was not one of the "owners trashing it over finite color reproduction" or for any other matter. For instance, my comments that "brightness, contrast and viewing angles are very good" and "I certainly do not want to exaggerate the screen issue as the x220 is a nice product with an otherwise exemplary screen" demonstrate that I do not reflexively dismiss the screen. Unfortunately, you seem to reflexively dismiss my concerns without offering a possible solution. Furthermore, you appear to assume that I am in (or have an interest in) graphic arts or a related field. I am not. However, my employment or outside interests should not disqualify me from commenting on a perceived weakness of the screen and asking people in this forum for some suggestions on remedying my problem. I thought that was the whole purpose of such a forum.

I am just a recent owner of the x220 notebook (late September 2011) that was disappointed with the color reproduction on IPS screen. I never said I could not live with the color issues, but still believe that white should not have a yellowish tint and that red should not look orange. Indeed, I readily admitted that other screens may be influencing my perception of the x220's (even a subsequent comparison to a desktop IPS screen). In addition, although the color gamuts that I posted are certainly beyond my technical expertise, I thought they might be relevant in explaining the color deficiencies that I perceive. If I misunderstood them, you could have explained why they do not apply. Again, I did not post to irritate you or to trash the x220. Rather I posted to get help solving an issue to improve my user experience. Your response, as a moderator on this forum, leaves me with the impression that I posted in the wrong place. I hope that is not the case.

i'm not defending IPS but rather stating my opinion and perspective.   i fully understood your post and its context and am in no way arguing with your position.   like i said, i don't trust notebook IPS panels to reproduce color accurately.   that's probably the polar opposite of being defensive.   besides, you did ask for people's thoughts after all.

"owners trashing" was in reference to the youtube link you posted.   one comment said, "This is terrible. I have an x220, and the gamut is trash. However, I will note that the gamma curve tracking is very good."   this person calling the gamut "trash" in such broad context by seems a bit silly when this was never intended to be a graphics display.   it's a high expectation to have of something never intended to meet such criteria.   but, everyone's perspective is different.

red looks slightly orange on nearly every IPS- and AFFS-based thinkpad ever made.   that's the sad reality of notebook color reproduction.   they're all off in some way or another.

if there's a point to be made here, it's that your panel might not be unique.   without comparing it to a known-good external IPS panel as suggested, it's impossible to say whether your particular panel has an issue or if it's simply relative to other panels you're used to using.

it was also suggested to try tweaking the intel control panel to possibly fix color cast.   you could also try the windows color calibrator built into win 7 by hitting ctrl+R, typing "dccm", and hitting 'enter'.   this also helps fix perceptual color cast.

Erik

Thanks for the constructive information!

Since you say that the color red on ThinkPad IPS screens have always leaned towards orange, I will assume my screen is probably typical. However, I appreciate the information (and directions) on how I may further tweak the colors on my screen. This evening I will give your method a try and will report back with the results.

With respect to the color gamut, the description of the video by the individual posting (not a comment) indicated that the percentage was "terrible for IPS display." However, "terrible" from a technical perspective may have an adverse impact on a graphics pro but no discernible impact on a general user. As I said previously, I thought the videos provided some additional information with respect to my perceived color issues. Remember, the color reproduction issue was irritating to me from a general user standpoint (web, business productivity, family photos, etc.), not from the standpoint of a graphics professional (which I am not). Either way, your comment on these portable IPS screens and your tweaking ideas are helpful in resolving my concerns.

Also, with respect to the graphics driver (Windows 7 64 bit), are people using the most recent Lenovo driver (2418) or Intel's driver (2509)? Is there any noticeable difference between the two for brightness, colors or contrast? When I first noticed the color issue I updated to 2509, maybe that was a mistake.

give the windows color calibrator a try first.   you won't be able to fix the orange-red completely though so don't expect a miracle.   it will help iron out any yellow cast by allowing you to knock down the red and green channels, thus cooling down the color.

the X220's IPS gamut might not be ideal but it's certainly good enough for most tasks.   if a graphics pro is using an X220 while mobile (or any notebook for that matter) then color-critical work needs to be checked on a calibrated external display anyway.   so, while there's room for complaints about gamut, the complaints come off as complaining just for the sake of complaining.   any graphics pro worth their salt wouldn't rely solely on a 6-bit notebook display for paid work.

home and business users should be served rather well by performing a few color or gamma tweaks in windows or the intel control panel.   it would also help to open the windows color management control panel and manually set the profile to sRGB.   the lenovo ICM profile is rather saturated and can give a false sense of color in photo editing apps.

regarding the intel display driver, i would use the one from lenovo.   it's tweaked specifically for thinkpad systems and nets the best battery life.   if there are ever any performance differences then it's usually minuscule at best and recently has fallen in favor of the lenovo version anyway.   go figure.   i have 2418 on my X220 and find it rock solid in both 2D and 3D CAD.

Actually I have better brightness and performance with the Intel drivers.
I also have better color reproduction(but that might be due to the better brightness)

However, they do use more power. In my tests neither allowed me to beat the 5 hours mark on a 6 cell anyway.

It should be noted that lenovo is only tweaking the .inf file regarding registry settings of the driver, the same settings could be applied to the intel driver.


Regarding the yellow tint, I have the same but color calibration helped a lot. yet, if I go below level 10 of brightness, white do look a bit muddy. I guess we can't have it all.

My biggest complaints on the screen would be the bleeding and the bad refresh rates.

I have just got my paws on an IPS-fitted x220 and was going to swap the displays onto my existing laptop but I was a bit disappointed with the brightness and colour warmth of the IPS display. However in terms of contrast and viewing angle, the IPS is quite amazing - it looks so crisp.

But I too noted that yellow/warm tinge on whites and the brightness at its level 15 won't be anywhere near my other X220's std TN even at its level 11. Is that the norm with all IPS screens for the x220 i.e. low brightness and warmer colour temperature?

Overall, my x220 ips has warm tint but I is not too bad and I could live with it.
EXCEPT green shaes look very wrong - appear more like yellow-green.
I have compared with images with lots of green (search images.google.com for "green")
viewed on DELL 2007WFP IPS panel and LG Flatron W2242PE PVA panel. On these external
monitors greens look vivid and nice. On x220 greens looks awful, like decaying grass
This yellow tint on greens is evident even without comparing. I like other colors though.

Tried to dial down the red slider in window 7 color calibration app it did make everyting look colder
but it does not really help for the green disaster.

Did anyone noticed it? Would proper hardware calibration help?