Solved! Lenovo Ideapad 330s color reproduction

[milehigh]

Just got this laptop, which seems pretty nice, but I noticed the colors seem a bit off. The main thing I see is that reds look orange-ish. I calibrated the screen with an i1 Display Pro, but the issue is still there. Is this screen just not that high quality, and maybe it has trouble reproducing the color red?

If I compare a photo from this laptop to my HP Z monitor at work, or even my iPhone, the reds look much better than the laptop.

 

[jaslion]

Just got this laptop, which seems pretty nice, but I noticed the colors seem a bit off. The main thing I see is that reds look orange-ish. I calibrated the screen with an i1 Display Pro, but the issue is still there. Is this screen just not that high quality, and maybe it has trouble reproducing the color red?

If I compare a photo from this laptop to my HP Z monitor at work, or even my iPhone, the reds look much better than the laptop.

It's just the screen not being that good. Nothing you can really do about it.

 

[milehigh]

Just got this laptop, which seems pretty nice, but I noticed the colors seem a bit off. The main thing I see is that reds look orange-ish. I calibrated the screen with an i1 Display Pro, but the issue is still there. Is this screen just not that high quality, and maybe it has trouble reproducing the color red?

If I compare a photo from this laptop to my HP Z monitor at work, or even my iPhone, the reds look much better than the laptop.

It's just the screen not being that good. Nothing you can really do about it.

Thanks, that's kind of what I was thinking, unfortunately. Not too big a deal since I'm just using this for web browsing and basic productivity. I do all my photo editing on my main desktop.

 

[Solandri]

According to Notebookcheck's review, the screen in the Ideapad 330s is a very poor TN panel, reproducing only 58% of the sRGB color space. That orange you see is the reddest red the screen is capable of producing.

https/www.notebookcheck.net/Lenovo-IdeaPad-330S-15IKB-i5-8250U-UHD620-Laptop-Review.332226.0.html

Most budget laptop screens are capable of hitting at least 70% sRGB. I've only seen a handful of laptop screens below 60% sRGB (including the early much-lauded Macbook Airs - they were extremely overrated). 100% sRGB is the current standard for broadcast TV and the web, and pretty much every TV and external monitor can hit at least 100% sRGB. It's notebooks (and primarily budget notebooks) which scrimp on the screen and use inferior panels.

And even 100% sRGB is pretty limited. It's only about 70% the color coverage of the old NTSC color space used with the CRT tube TVs (which is still less than all the colors your eyes can see). sRGB got adopted as the standard because LCD monitors were fairly new back then and limited in their color capability. I've got one of the early LCD monitors, and looking at it is like looking at a modern monitor with blurry sunglasses.

If this sort of thing bugs you, I suggest that next time you're buying a laptop, search reviews of that laptop that mention "sRGB". Many sites measure the color gamut of the screens in their reviews. While 100% sRGB is ideal, for most people 80% sRGB or better is passable. You only really need 90%-100% sRGB if you're an artist, photographer, or videographer, or you're just really picky about the colors you see. Since you have an i1 Display pro, you may fall into this category. In which case I'd suggest returning the laptop and shopping for one with a better screen.

 

[milehigh]

According to Notebookcheck's review, the screen in the Ideapad 330s is a very poor TN panel, reproducing only 58% of the sRGB color space. That orange you see is the reddest red the screen is capable of producing.

https/www.notebookcheck.net/Lenovo-IdeaPad-330S-15IKB-i5-8250U-UHD620-Laptop-Review.332226.0.html

Most budget laptop screens are capable of hitting at least 70% sRGB. I've only seen a handful of laptop screens below 60% sRGB (including the early much-lauded Macbook Airs - they were extremely overrated). 100% sRGB is the current standard for broadcast TV and the web, and pretty much every TV and external monitor can hit at least 100% sRGB. It's notebooks (and primarily budget notebooks) which scrimp on the screen and use inferior panels.

And even 100% sRGB is pretty limited. It's only about 70% the color coverage of the old NTSC color space used with the CRT tube TVs (which is still less than all the colors your eyes can see). sRGB got adopted as the standard because LCD monitors were fairly new back then and limited in their color capability. I've got one of the early LCD monitors, and looking at it is like looking at a modern monitor with blurry sunglasses.

If this sort of thing bugs you, I suggest that next time you're buying a laptop, search reviews of that laptop that mention "sRGB". Many sites measure the color gamut of the screens in their reviews. While 100% sRGB is ideal, for most people 80% sRGB or better is passable. You only really need 90%-100% sRGB if you're an artist, photographer, or videographer, or you're just really picky about the colors you see. Since you have an i1 Display pro, you may fall into this category. In which case I'd suggest returning the laptop and shopping for one with a better screen.

Thanks for that info. I didn't realize it was so poor, but it's probably OK for what I will use it for. I wonder if using the profile I created with the i1 is still better than the default factory setting?

I looked at a lot of other laptops at Best Buy, but like 90% of them had the glossy screens, and I'm not a fan of those. Anyway, I definitely won't be using this laptop for serious photo editing or things where color reproduction is important. I figured for $450, it'd have a decent screen, but I guess not so much