Apple, HP and Proton keen on LCD backlighting with LEDs
Apple and HP to launch LED-based notebooks US-based brands such as Apple and Hewlett Packard (HP) are expected to launch notebooks using LEDs as the backlight source starting from the second quarter 2007, according to an article on the DigiTimes website. HP's new LED-based notebooks will feature Microsoft's Vista operating system and will aim at high-end, multimedia uses.
The article says that notebook makers have high requirements for their product specifications, notably a brightness of over 1,680 nits, meaning that Taiwan-based LED makers are unlikely to gain orders.
In addition, Taiwan-based makers will be hindered by patent restraints. This is because international notebook vendors are more concerned about the completeness of the patent portfolio of LED makers than cost competitiveness.
The article also said that two Taiwan-based LCD panel makers, AU Optronics (AUO) and Chi Mei Optoelectronics, will enter volume production for LED-based LCD modules (LCMs) in the second and third quarter, respectively, of 2007.
Proton previews HD LCD TVs with LED backlights
In the first of a predicted flood of announcements from the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) taking place in Las Vegas next week, Proton Electronic Industrial Co., a Taiwan-based TV manufacturer, is to unveil LCD TVs with LED backlighting units (BLUs).
Proton will preview the 32-inch P32L1 and the 42-inch P42L1 LCD TVs. Part of Proton’s exceptional Premier Line, both are high-definition, widescreen models featuring the company’s new LED BLUs. The LED backlight replaces the cold cathode fluorescent lamp (CCFL) backlight solution typically used in LCD TVs.
The new backlight technology provides broader chromaticity than CCFL-backlit sets — that is, a wider color range, helping them to present the best picture quality available. LED backlighting also offers a number of additional advantages over CCFL technology. It promises to last longer, it displays no distortion, it possesses greater translucency, it weighs less and consumes less power, and it uses no mercury, making it ecologically friendlier.
Proton’s P32L1 and P42L1 LED BLU LCD TVs will be available in the second quarter of 2007.