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Posted by Barry Watzman on January 26, 2008, 10:54 am
Please log in for more thread options Very common; no retail laptop is guaranteed not to have some bad pixels.
Re: "t had a red dot on the screen from a bad pixel, also found two
other smaller bad pixels."
All pixels are the same size. All manufacturers that I know of do
consider two adjacent bad pixels (which optically merge into a larger
spot) to be a defect. However, bad always on blue pixels are far less
noticeable than green or red pixels.
Also, your post seems to concern itself only with pixels that are always
on (e.g. they show up on a solid black screen). It's also possible to
have a bad pixel that is never on (e.g. it shows up on a solid white
screen as pixel that is cyan, magenta or yellow instead of white).
A modern screen has well over 3 million sub pixels on it. If the
manufacturers didn't use any screen which had even one defect, most
screens would have to be discarded and the cost of LCD screens would
more than double. Screens are "graded" into grade A, B, C and priced
accordingly (there is more to grade than just dead pixels ... brightness
uniformity over the entire screen surface, for example, is also a
factor). Retail laptops (and desktop LCD monitors) don't use "Grade A"
panels (which are defect free, at least at the time of grading (they too
could develop defects subsequently). If they did, the cost of laptops
would be FAR higher.
randall@nowhere.net wrote:
> How common are dead / bad / red pixels on laptops these days, or on
> particular brands of laptops / notebook PC? I am trying to decide
> whether to keep or sell a notebook PC based on this phenomenon. I just
> went through hell with an Acer notebook-- received it and it had a red
> dot on the screen from a bad pixel, also found two other smaller bad
> pixels.
>
> OK so I returned it the next day to Acer repair, paying $22 for
> shippling, only to have Acer ship it back to me saying they will not
> repair it. Acer said that their policy (in a printed handout in the
> returned box) is that their notebooks can have up to 4 bad pixels and
> still not be covered under warranty. WTF? (it gets worse). Well I
> went though hell getting an RMA to return it to Newegg for
> replacement-- not easy since their new policy (along with most stores
> these days including Best Buy, Office Max, etc) is NO RETURNS OR
> EXCHANGES ON NOTEBOOK PCS! You open the box you own it.
>
> It gets worse, regarding Acer. Newegg said they contacted Acer and was
> told that Acer's policy is up to EIGHT bad/dead/red pixels are
> "acceptable" on a LCD/notebook PC screen and will not be repaired.
> WTF?! Are they insane? Who in the right mind would buy a notebook pc
> and be willing to look at EIGHT RED DOTS on the screen?! Unreal.
>
> So here is my DILEMMA: Newegg is going to ship me a replacement,
> another of the same. So when I get it soon, do I (a)keep it sealed in
> the box and sell it on ebay, (b)open it up and hope for no dead/red
> pixels, and if there are then do I live with it and go insane or sell
> it on ebay (I would certainly disclose any red/dead pixels that I know
> of).
>
> It all comes down to my question of how often do laptops have red /
> dead pixels. Dead pixels are less annoying than red. Red dot dead
> pixels are really unappealing.
>
> Personally I find it shameful that manufacturers of notebook PCs and
> LCD monitors think it is acceptable to stick customers with a notebok
> pc or LCD monitor with even one red defective pixel, but EIGHT is
> absurd. I think we have to rethink the whole buying game when picking
> a notebook PC these days, given the NO RETURNS policies (it used to be
> 15% restocking, now that is gone as an option).
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