From: Mike Capone (drgrant_at_ziplink.net)
Date: Tue Dec 05 2000 - 22:42:28 EST
It depends on which stance you take. The "Industry Stance" is typically
"x percent or less dead pixels is acceptable." This varies depending on
the manufacturer and who you buy the unit from. If you buy the unit from
some kind of a storefront or a regular discount online retailer like CDW or
something, returning the unit probably won't be painful; however if you buy
from a wholesaler they'll probably go tell you to screw if you want them to
absorb a unit due to a bad pixel. (your mileage may vary, same goes with
the manufacturers on warranty service claims with bad pixels. )
My personal tolerance is pretty low. I'd send a notebook back if it had
more
than 1 or 2 dead pixels- it also depends on the location of the dead
pixels, wether
they're totally off or not, what color they are, and how dense the screen
is....
if I buy a laptop with a 14.5in SXGA screen, and I have to hunt for the 1 or
2 dead pixels that might exist, I'm probably not going to bother returning
it.
Another criteria I use is technology curve. At this point in time, a new
12.1,13.3 or
a 14.1 inch screen with even one noticeable dead pixel is pretty lame; those
screens have been in production so long that they should have figured out
how to make a
screen that doesn't suck. A friend of mine has put loadsets on about 10
new
IBM T20s with the 13.3 in screen, and says he didn't see any bad pixels.
However,
if I was tinkering with one of those new 15" UXGA screens, I wouldn't be
surprised
if there were a few baddies in there. Typically very new screen processes
are the
most susceptible to dead pixels. I think the manufacturer ends up refining
the
process and "gets it right" eventually.
From the amount of notebooks I've dealt with, I'd say dead pixels is not a
"dominant" issue. I've seen a lot of new notebooks, none of which have had
dead pixels. (Mostly Winbooks, IBM Thinkpads, and Sony VAIOs) So I'd say if
you got
a note with one or more bad pixels I'd probably send it back, because
probability
says it won't happen again, unless your buying from a refurb house; and
typically refurb joints don't let you return "bad pixel" units. My guess is
that all the machines that get sent back for bad pixels in turn get sent to
the refurb places...a
friend of mine bought a Toshiba Sat Pro from a refurb house, complained
about the
dead pixels, and they sent him another one, which had dead pixels, just less
of
them and they were all clustered in the upper left corner of the screen.
This was
a long time ago, and the screen was a 12.1 in.
Mike
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Computer-Guru [mailto:pctech_at_southeast.net]
> Sent: Tuesday, December 05, 2000 11:33 PM
> To: THINKPAD_at_cs.utk.edu
> Subject: Off Topic: Dead Pixels Acceptable?
>
>
> Hello Everyone,
>
> I know that this is somewhat off topic but it does have to do with
> laptops. This is one of the best places to ask questions about laptops
> in general.
>
> Do you all think that Dead Pixels are acceptable?? Please give me your
> thoughts on this. How many of you have perfect screens??
>
> Thanks,
> Jim
>
>
> --
> Regards,
> Computer-Guru
> pctech_at_southeast.net
> ====================
>
>
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