Seeing the light: Dell makes major commitment to LED displays

Within the next 12 months, Dell plans to adopt displays that use light emitting diodes as a standard feature across its entire notebook product line.

The first milestone in this transition will come on Dec. 15 of this year, when the company estimates that about two-thirds of its Dell Latitude E-family series will be shipped with mercury-free LED back-lighting as a standard feature. Models affected in that first wave should include Latitude E4200, E4300, E6400, E6400 ATG and E6500. The Dell Precision M2400 and M4400 systems will also use LED displays as a standard feature sooner rather than later.

At least 80 percent of all the laptops shipped by Dell by the end of 2009 will use LED displays as a standard option; come 2010, 100 percent of Dell's laptops will ship with LED as a standard option.

What does this mean for the user? Dell estimates that an LED display on a standard 15-inch configuration notebook will eat up about 43 percent of the power that current screens use, even at the maximum brightness level. The company is estimating that the switch will result in savings of 220 million kilowatt-hours in 2010 and 2011 combined, which is roughly the amount of power needed to run 10,000 homes.

Based on my recent research about LED technology, the other big benefit that a notebook user can expect is a brighter display that also offers more clarity is less-than-ideal settings (such as when you decide to work under a tree outside).

Saving more power while gaining a better display? Who can argue with that?