LED backlight technology becomes a new trend in notebook energy saving and environmental protection

As we all know, battery life is an important factor in measuring the mobility of laptops. There are two ways to improve battery life: open source and save money. You may first think of equipping a large-capacity battery, but this means an increase in weight and sacrifices mobility. Therefore, a more positive way is to reduce the power consumption of various components of the laptop.

Data shows that the LCD screen alone accounts for about 30% of the energy consumption of the entire laptop. The Toshiba Libretto U100 has greatly reduced energy consumption after adopting the LED backlight system. This LCD screen saves 48% of power compared to the commonly used CCFT LCD screen, and does not contain heavy metal mercury that is harmful to health and the environment. The use of LED technology not only makes the U100 consume less power and more mobile, but its environmental advantages are also very consistent with the current new consumer trends.

What is the difference between LED and CCFT? Let's start with the display principle of the laptop LCD screen.
CCFT is not perfect
Everyone knows that the reason why the eyes can see the colorful world is because the light source is at work. Similarly, laptops use LCD to display colors. Whether it uses super twisted nematic (STN) or thin film transistor (TFT), white light backlight is needed for illumination. Because the white light spectrum contains all colors, and the color filter of the display will select the required colors from the white light spectrum, and finally form the colorful and realistic picture that our eyes see.
At present, the main sources that can produce white light spectrum are electroluminescence (EL) and cold cathode fluorescent tube (CCFT), and white LED, as a rising star, is considered to be the most valuable new light source in the 21st century. In the mobile phones we use daily, LED is widely used as a light source. Most of the LCD screens of ordinary laptops use CCFT as a backlight source. CCFT has high brightness, but the disadvantage is that it requires high-voltage AC drive, contains mercury that is harmful to environmental health, and has relatively complex requirements for power transformer and rectifier groups.
Energy saving, environmental protection and comfort
When it comes to LED, people quickly think of the various red and green indicator lights arranged on the panel of laptops, but few people think that even the LCD screen of a laptop can use LED as a backlight source. LED stands for Light-Emitting-Diode, which is a device that emits light by passing current forward to the PN junction of a semiconductor. LEDs used as lighting sources are mainly white. Toshiba's first use of LED technology on the Libretto U100 can be regarded as a major innovation in the development of notebook computer display technology.
First of all, energy saving is the most significant advantage of LED technology. It can save 60%-80% of electricity compared to ordinary incandescent lamps and 50% compared to fluorescent lamps. It uses a low-voltage power supply method, so it is safer and more reliable.
U100 uses 32 independent control mechanisms of LEDs on the 7.2-inch LCD screen to realize the backlight system, which can display images and texts clearly and clearly, but the power is only 1.3W and can be adjusted at will. The CCFT (Cold Cathode Fluorescent Tube) cold cathode fluorescent tube required for the same size LCD screen consumes more than 2.5W of power. The reduced power consumption also directly extends the battery life of U100, making it more convenient and free to move.
Secondly, environmental protection is one of the unique charms of LED technology. Because LED does not use the environmentally harmful element DD mercury, while CCFT contains mercury. As we all know, mercury pollution has become a global environmental problem. On January 31 this year, the European Commission issued a notice proposing a long-term plan for comprehensive control of mercury pollution, including a ban on the export of mercury products. The plan points out that mercury and its compounds can cause fatal damage to human health; even low doses of mercury intake can cause damage to the human nervous system. Even if mercury flows from land to the ocean, it will gradually deposit on fish. When people eat fish with excessive mercury content, it will also cause permanent damage to their health.
Future prospects for LED
Although LED has many advantages, it is difficult to popularize in a short period of time. On the one hand, the brightness of LED is not strong enough and is not suitable for large-screen LCD screens. On the other hand, the cost of LED backlight system is higher than that of cold cathode fluorescent tubes. The reason why Toshiba U100 uses this display technology is that it is only used as a commemorative for the 20th anniversary of Toshiba notebooks.
Fortunately, the LED industry also has a similar "Moore's Law" as in the microprocessor industry, but it is called Haitz's Law, named after Roland Haitz, a former technical scientist at Agilent (a leading manufacturer in the LED field). It states that the price of LEDs will be one-tenth of the original price every ten years, while the performance will be improved by 20 times. If this law can be constantly fulfilled, the popularity of LED as a backlight system in laptops will not be far away in the future. Toshiba's recently launched super mini notebook Libretto U100 introduced the LED backlight system into a laptop for the first time, thus achieving energy saving and environmental protection.
As we all know, battery life is an important factor in measuring the mobility of laptops. There are two ways to improve battery life: open source and save money. You may first think of equipping it with a large-capacity battery, but this means an increase in weight and sacrifices mobility. Therefore, a more positive way is to reduce the power consumption of various components of the laptop.
Data shows that the LCD screen alone accounts for about 30% of the energy consumption of the entire laptop. After adopting the LED backlight system, Toshiba's Libretto U100 has greatly reduced energy consumption. This type of LCD screen saves 48% of power compared to the commonly used CCFT type LCD screens, and does not contain heavy metal mercury that is harmful to health and the environment. The use of LED technology not only makes the U100 consume less power and more mobile, but its environmental advantages are also very much in line with the current new consumption trend.