[Ti] New 1.5ghz Powerbook with bad pixel

[Lee Yan Zhan]

Hi Kynan,

I realised that unfortunately, I am a victim  of both dark and light pixels.
Will be down to Apple Care tomorrow to make my claims.

Thanks for the explanation.  But like all die-hard users, we like our
screens to be perfect even if the body is all spotted(Ti) and
discolored(Pismo).

Cheers,
Lee

On 5/10/04 12:32 AM, "Kynan Shook" <kshook at cae.wisc.edu> wrote:

> I agree, it's probably unlikely that the location of manufacture has
> anything to do with it.  However, a couple bad pixels is certainly
> acceptable on something as complex and bounded by such tight tolerances
> as an LCD panel is.  Most of them are certainly perfect, but it would
> double the cost of an LCD to guarantee a perfect screen.
> 
> Here's a quick note on why pixels get stuck; in general, it's because a
> transistor in the screen is broken somehow.  Maybe it's stuck on (dark
> pixel) or off (light pixel) - perhaps one of its connections is just a
> little loose.  No way you'd fix that one transistor though; if you
> reject one pixel, the whole display is trash.  The reason?  The
> location of that transistor: I'll give you a hint as to where it is
> located: you're looking right through it!  There is a transistor for
> every sub-pixel on your screen (there are 3 sub-pixels per pixel, one
> each for red, green, and blue).  There is also at least one capacitor.
> All of these tiny components are so thin (just a few atomic layers
> thin!) that you can see right through them.  So, on a 1024x768 LCD,
> there are 2,359,296 transistors.  On the 23" cinema display, there are
> 6,912,000 (1920*1200*3).  Yours (a 15", I presume?) has 3,279,360
> transistors in the surface of the screen.  That would mean that there
> was a manufacturing defect rate of 0.00006%.  I bet most industries
> would LOVE their production techniques to provide such amazing results!
> 
> Anyway, it's too bad you have a pixel, but unfortunately, we have to
> wait for technology to slowly progress to get fewer dead pixels; and
> it's probably more likely that consumers will choose more advanced
> displays over ones that are less likely to get dead pixels, so they'll
> probably continue to have dead pixel issues until there is a major
> change in flat panel technology.
> 
> On a side note, a few retailers might let you return your computer for
> bad pixels, or inspect a computer's display before you buy it.  I know
> that the reseller at my campus (sorry, university customers only!) does
> this sometimes; many won't, however, because Apple won't repair the
> display for only one or two bad pixels.  So, they just end up selling
> the computer as a customer return (and note the bad pixel, and the
> less-than-1-year warranty) for a few hundred dollars less, and eat the
> difference in price.
> 
> 
> Lee Yan Zhan <yzlee at starhub.net.sg> writes:
>> Just got my new PB(1.5Ghz, 1GB RAM, 128MB VRAM, 5400rpm 80GB HD)
>> yesterday
>> and found 2 bad pixels.  This is the first time in over a decade that
>> I got
>> bad pixel LCD from Apple.  Spoke to Apple Care and got the standard
>> reply.
>> The help desk person did mentioned that now PB are made in China - they
>> expect more of these cases.  Personally, I think its got nothing to do
>> with
>> PB being made in China.  Apple should be expected to give us perfect
>> LCD.
>> There should be no compromise on quality from Apple...anyway, a very
>> sad
>> weekend for me and the rest of my macs(cube, pismo, 550Ti).
> 
> 
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