Brand New Mini Display Problem

I just bought my first mac on Thursday from a friend and am having some display issues. (the mini was brand new, sealed, never opened) I also bought a new Dell 17" widescreen lcd monitor. (model #SE178WFP) Here's the problem... Anytime I open a window of some sort, whether it be Finder or Safari or any other app, I get these faint vertical lines that run up and down the screen in the background. Sometimes when I move the mouse around, there's a vertical line from top to bottom that follows the cursor. I have the Resolution set to 1440 X 900 which the monitor can handle. Has anyone experienced this issue? Even when there are no windows open, you can still see the lines & shadow...kinda like burn in. Could this be a bad monitor or the mini itself or something to do with the refresh rate? I haven't installed the cd that came with the monitor yet. Anyone have any ideas to what it might be? If it is the Mini, will it be covered by Apple? Any tips or info will be much appreciated. Thanks

Please click on the picture to open in full screen and look at the top near the address bar to see what I'm talking about.

honestly it's there

Cave Man said:

Sorry, but I don't see what you're talking about.

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i took a couple more pics. this time with my digital camera. hopefully ya'll can see these. i tried changing resolutions, but it doesn't help.

bluedoggiant said:

Eww, looks bad, do you have another display in your home that you could test and see if it has the same problem?

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I do, but it's a pain to get to. I hope it's just the monitor and not the mini. I wonder if anyone else has experienced this before paired with this monitor.

Noobish said:

That does look bad, but because the screeshot came out perfect I'm going to guess it's the monitor.

If you can't get to the other display, do you have another computer that you could hook up to the current Dell monitor?

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i am in the process of doing that right now. i'm getting my hp notebook and will hook that up. cross your fingers. thanks for the info.

Good News!!!!!

YAY!!! I tried it on my notebook and it does the same thing! Thank God it's not the mini. Looks like I'm making a trip to BB and swapping it out! The funny thing is that it wasn't so noticeable on my hp as it is on the mini. Thanks to all for the advice! That's why I love this forum.

fhall1 said:

What's the "native" resolution of the monitor? 1440 x 900 sounds like an oddball resolution. Try the monitor at it's recommended resolution (and refresh rate - probably 60Hz) and let us know if that makes a difference.

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1440 X 900 is the native resolution and the refresh rate is 60Hz , but I now know it's the monitor. I'm taking it back to best buy one day this week and exchanging it for a new one.

hey guys, picked up a new one and it looks so awesome! i took it to bb and told them why I am returning it. when i was looking for the replacement, one of the employees told me that someone in the geek squad wanted to see me about it. here's the sad thing...... according to the geek squad employee, he said he could not find anything wrong with it even though you could see the lines all over the screen. I had to point out that the lines on the screen are not supposed to be there and that it was a faulty monitor and after 5 minutes of explaining that to him, we continued with the swap.

If someone is looking for a 17" glossy widescreen monitor for a decent price, then i'd recommend getting this one. it's a beautiful screen and is $169 right now at best buy. Dell's website is selling it for $189.99 right now. again, thanks to everyone for the advice and tips.