Dust under iPad screen

[tonedef407]

I saw all the dead pixel threads and against my better judgement decided to look and see if I had any. Doesn't appear to be any "dead pixels" but I do have what looks to be a speck of dust under the screen. It's there when the screen is off. Should I just learn to live with it? From what I am seeing there is no guarantee that the replacement will be any better (possibly worse).

[CJS7070]

If you're unhappy with it, get it replaced while you still can.

[troop231]

Take it back to the store, and they should keep opening iPads until you find a "perfect" one, as others have stated on here. One guy had to go through 4 before he got a good one.

[tonedef407]

I'm going to wait and see if it keeps eating at me. I have a car with a dying fuel pump and the closest store to me is about 45 minutes away in Atlanta traffic. I got into an exchange war over an LCD monitor a few years back over dead pixels and it was a nightmare.

[stealthman1]

Lets think about this for a minute. You have a speck of dust in 70 square inches of screen that is only visible under close inspection when the device is turned off? Good luck with that. Leica can't get a $5000 lens made by hand in Germany dust free and you think that's going to happen in China?

[troop231]

I bet'cha Intel could do it dust free

[GermanSuplex]

Return it. These are expensive devices and should be pretty much in perfect quality for the first few weeks/months.

[tonedef407]

Originally Posted by stealthman1

Lets think about this for a minute. You have a speck of dust in 70 square inches of screen that is only visible under close inspection when the device is turned off? Good luck with that. Leica can't get a $5000 lens made by hand in Germany dust free and you think that's going to happen in China?

It's visible when its on now because I know its there. I debated even looking for anything in the first place. Ignorance is bliss as they say. I'll probably end up taking it back just because it will drive me crazy now.

[randomerratum]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 3_1_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/528.18 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile/7E18 Safari/528.16)

Originally Posted by GermanSuplex

Return it. These are expensive devices and should be pretty much in perfect quality for the first few weeks/months.

I agree- if it's bothering you, it's totally your right to have it exchanged. My iPhone eventually started collecting dust under the screen- hardly perceptible- but it sorta irks me to this day... Obviously it wasn't a factory error, but if it was like that out of the box I'd have marched right back into the apple store asap.

[Inksworth]

I think for the first gen of the product you're going to be hard pressed to find an iPad without a single speck of dust. I just traded one in that had two specks that were insanely distracting. The one I just got has a single one. I'm gonna count my blessings that it's in a busy part of the screen (mid top left) so I won't have it staring me in the face with solid colors behind it too often. :P

I suspect the dust comes from the rushed nature of production, what with the supplier issues and doing their best to meet demand all across the board. I mean, even the plastic wrappers seem a little messy upon opening.

[conshok26]

Got back from the Apple store a little while ago to swap mine out. There were some pixel problems and something else under the screen. No questions asked I walked out with a new one.

[tonedef407]

Originally Posted by Inksworth

I think for the first gen of the product you're going to be hard pressed to find an iPad without a single speck of dust. I just traded one in that had two specks that were insanely distracting. The one I just got has a single one. I'm gonna count my blessings that it's in a busy part of the screen (mid top left) so I won't have it staring me in the face with solid colors behind it too often. :P

I suspect the dust comes from the rushed nature of production, what with the supplier issues and doing their best to meet demand all across the board. I mean, even the plastic wrappers seem a little messy upon opening.

Stories like this make me wary of taking it back. Mine is only distracting if I look for it. The odds seem pretty slim of getting one without any problems. I can go through them at the Apple Store until I'm sure I have a good one,but its hard to be sure in that environment. I might just stick with it. I will probably forget about it eventually.

[dave1812dave]

The whole issue is bizarre to me. I have all sorts of LCD screened products from monitors, laptops, netbooks, touch, blackberry, medical devices, et al, and NONE has ever had any visible dust under the screen. Not only that, but in all the years of owning various LCD screens, I've only run across one with a bad pixel, which I promptly returned to Costco. It was a Samsung monitor. Call me "lucky". Don't call me unobservant! I'm very critical about things I buy. I notice every little thing.

[mpkayeuk]

Originally Posted by dave1812dave

Call me "lucky".

You're not lucky because it's about how the screen is packaged. Those screens you've been buying for years didn't have a glass front element sandwiched tightly up against the LCD. Now, think about how many times you've cleaned dust off your LCD screen Still feel lucky?

[dave1812dave]

Originally Posted by mpkayeuk

You're not lucky because it's about how the screen is packaged. Those screens you've been buying for years didn't have a glass front element sandwiched tightly up against the LCD. Now, think about how many times you've cleaned dust off your LCD screen Still feel lucky?

what are u talking about?? there is glass on my Touch. there is glass on my two Vizios. EXPLAIN yourself, please. oh, and glass on my BB.

[2contagious]

Arggh.. this is bad news.. iPhones can collect massive amounts of dust under the glass (probably comes in through the headphone jack or so), but it's not supposed to be like that when the product is fresh out of the box
Just little things like this really piss me off.. it sure isn't a "yellow tinge" type problem, but it can be as annoying and the problem is the same: Apple GET YOUR QUALITY CONTROL RIGHT!!

[dave1812dave]

Originally Posted by 2contagious

Arggh.. this is bad news.. iPhones can collect massive amounts of dust under the glass (probably comes in through the headphone jack or so), but it's not supposed to be like that when the product is fresh out of the box
Just little things like this really piss me off.. it sure isn't a "yellow tinge" type problem, but it can be as annoying and the problem is the same: Apple GET YOUR QUALITY CONTROL RIGHT!!

pssst! It's the Chinese! all made overseas. for the best price Apple can arm twist out of those factories.

[MovieCutter]

Originally Posted by dave1812dave

pssst! It's the Chinese! all made overseas. for the best price Apple can arm twist out of those factories.

Right, unless of course you'd like to pay $1500 for that iPad if it were made here in the U.S....

[ImperialX]

Originally Posted by dave1812dave

pssst! It's the Chinese! all made overseas. for the best price Apple can arm twist out of those factories.

This is the best quality you can get for $500 bucks. Unless you want to pay $1K for an American made one.

EDIT: Got ninja'd.

[wrxdrunkie]

I would recommend that you take it back, I also had dust under my screen, I was not going to return it until I also found a dead pixel. I took the ipad back and got it replaced no questions asked.

The replacement ended up having dust under the screen as well. Since I was only about 50 yards away from the store and I had driven an hour to get there. I took it back and the next and final ipad had no dead pixels and no dust

But I officially believe apple has a production problem where dirt/dust is getting under the screen.

[unkn0wnsoldier]

Originally Posted by tonedef407

I saw all the dead pixel threads and against my better judgement decided to look and see if I had any. Doesn't appear to be any "dead pixels" but I do have what looks to be a speck of dust under the screen. It's there when the screen is off. Should I just learn to live with it? From what I am seeing there is no guarantee that the replacement will be any better (possibly worse).

I got a new iPhone about two months ago because my wife dropped mine and broke the screen. Last week, I noticed three tiny specks of dust under the screen. I decided to call Apple's 1-800 number to see if I could return it for dust. The rep that I spoke to said that dust is absolutely a valid reason for a replacement. He even offered to set up an appointment for me at the nearest Apple store. I declined the appointment because the store is pretty far away and it's going to be something that I plan accordingly. He said no problem and sent the information to the store and said I can make an appointment at my convenience to pick up a new one. I hope this eases your mind a bit. A defect in an expensive new product is surely one way to take the excitement away. I recommend that you give Apple a call. Maybe they will even throw in a freebie for your inconvenience.

[Inksworth]

I'm not trying to be all gloom and doom about the iPad. Much the contrary, im in love with it. This is a launch product and I'm amazed dust under the screen is the only major issue we're talking about. There are always a few dead pixel issues with any LCD, but those are easy to spot in the store.

I seriously doubt this will be an issue past the first run of the hardware, anything manufactured after this should be issue free. Gen 2, I bet, will have a silky smooth launch. Until then I'm happy with my single-speck screen that is only noticeable by us with 20/15 vision. I am a perfectionist, which makes it annoying. It's a good exuse to give it to my mom once Gen 2 is launched, also.

Then again, if I get to the point that i care enough I'll follow the ifixit.com guide to tear it down and get the speck myself.

I seriously suspect refurbs will have no issues as they are scrubbed down stateside, and once the first batch is cleared I suspect they'll have identified the problem. And let's be fair, this is an insignificant problem compared to more serious hardware failures. It's also one serviceable by end users, provided they don't mind their warrantee voided.

[MICHAELSD]

Just live with it. You'll only notice it every once in a while. I have at least one speck of dust under my iPad's screen, and it's less noticeable than the one speck of dust under my iPhone 3GS's screen (after two iPhone 3GS replacements, I stuck with that one). You could end up in an annoying exchange cycle, getting a worse iPad each time.

[ImperialX]

The main question is, how do the dust particles get in? Is it really through the headphone jack?

[tonedef407]

Originally Posted by MICHAELSD

Just live with it. You'll only notice it every once in a while. I have at least one speck of dust under my iPad's screen, and it's less noticeable than the one speck of dust under my iPhone 3GS's screen (after two iPhone 3GS replacements, I stuck with that one). You could end up in an annoying exchange cycle, getting a worse iPad each time.

The exchange cycle is really what's holding me back. I just know I'll get caught up in it and regret it.