October 8th, 2007
LCD panels and dead/stuck pixels
I’ve just taken delivery of two 22″ widescreen LCD panels. Since these beauties can run at 1680×1050 that means that there’s huge scope for coming across dead and/or stuck pixels!
Now personally I hate having a panel with dead or stuck pixels on it. Even having one pixel out of 1,764,000 that isn’t pulling it’s weight is one too many for me (my eye will be drawn to it and the more I look at it the more I’ll be annoyed by it). Because I buy a lot of IT gear I tend to get my own way with suppliers and vendors and haven’t had a problems replacing any screen, even if there’s only one errant pixel, but being able to get this kind of service seems far from normal. Many people who end up with a new LCD panel that has one or more dead pixels seem to have to live with it as many vendors or manufacturers won’t take panels back if there’s only a few duff pixels. The attitude is that you bought it, it’s your problem.
I’m wondering how you folks that frequent ZDNet deal with this issue? I’m guessing that since you are smarter and more discerning than the average user you’re not going to be happy with paying for something that’s defective. Do you live with the dead or stuck pixels or do you kick up a fuss and get the panel replaced? Have you ever bought a panel that had an annoying stuck pixel and not been able to get a replacement for it under warranty?
Share your thoughts?
Adrian is a technology journalist and author who has devoted over a decade to helping users get the most from technology. He also runs a popular blog called The PC Doctor. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations
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