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Dead pixels on my LCD screen

Y

yamadataro

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Mar 10, 2002
384
0
Tokyo, the most culturally confused city on the pl
I've just filled my Cinema Display 22" with black background image, and realized that I see a beautiful night sky with the stars!!!!!!

Uh, to be precise, these stars are deal pixels that are always ON. I see reds and blues... About 15 of them.

No, I'm not drunk. Thank you.

Uhhh, this is really annoying. When I'm retouching a scanned film they look like dusts! My TiBook (6 month old) has a number of always-on pixels too.

What am I supporsed to do with these LCDs? I imagine replacing Cinema's LCD would cost me a fortune. I guess this is a part of the life with LCDs, huh?

BTW I bought my Cinema when it just came out, so I guess it's a couple of years old already. Maybe it's about time too see how long these LCDs last in everyday usage? I know CRTs go bad after like 3 years from my experience.
 
Re: Dead pixels on my LCD screen

Originally posted by yamadataro
I've just filled my Cinema Display 22" with black background image, and realized that I see a beautiful night sky with the stars!!!!!!

Uh, to be precise, these stars are deal pixels that are always ON. I see reds and blues... About 15 of them.

No, I'm not drunk. Thank you.

Uhhh, this is really annoying. When I'm retouching a scanned film they look like dusts! My TiBook (6 month old) has a number of always-on pixels too.

What am I supporsed to do with these LCDs? I imagine replacing Cinema's LCD would cost me a fortune. I guess this is a part of the life with LCDs, huh?

BTW I bought my Cinema when it just came out, so I guess it's a couple of years old already. Maybe it's about time too see how long these LCDs last in everyday usage? I know CRTs go bad after like 3 years from my experience.
Click to expand...

if you bought your MAc and display within three years and have APP (Apple Protection Plan) then just call up apple or your nearest apple store. Apple says that it if you have more then 10 dead pixels, then they will replace it. 15 is way too much, I have one on my FORMAC 2010 and it drives me nuts.

Tyler
 
1 dead pixel is too many.. i just couldnt live with 15. I sure hope you got the protection plan.
 
Re: Dead pixels on my LCD screen

Originally posted by yamadataro
I've just filled my Cinema Display 22" with black background image, and realized that I see a beautiful night sky with the stars!!!!!!

Uh, to be precise, these stars are deal pixels that are always ON. I see reds and blues... About 15 of them.

No, I'm not drunk. Thank you.

Uhhh, this is really annoying. When I'm retouching a scanned film they look like dusts! My TiBook (6 month old) has a number of always-on pixels too.

What am I supporsed to do with these LCDs? I imagine replacing Cinema's LCD would cost me a fortune. I guess this is a part of the life with LCDs, huh?

BTW I bought my Cinema when it just came out, so I guess it's a couple of years old already. Maybe it's about time too see how long these LCDs last in everyday usage? I know CRTs go bad after like 3 years from my experience.
Click to expand...
What you have are not "dead pixels." Dead pixels are always off. What you have are known as "stuck pixels."
 
One potential fix, if you don't have warranty or applecare, is to *gently* rub the pixel, they're not sure if it's the light pressure or the body heat but it sometimes fixes a few dead pixels... it's not much but it might help you out...

pnw
 
Problem?

Are "dead pixels" (call them what you will) a big problem on Apple products? I know that on other computers, namely notebooks, that they can be very frequent. I just haven't heard many people here complain about them on their ibooks or PBs. I'm just curious if Apple has a more selective process when using LCDs.
 
Re: Problem?

Originally posted by RaNdOm
Are "dead pixels" (call them what you will) a big problem on Apple products? I know that on other computers, namely notebooks, that they can be very frequent. I just haven't heard many people here complain about them on their ibooks or PBs. I'm just curious if Apple has a more selective process when using LCDs.
Click to expand...

dead pixels are a fact of life with LCD monitors. The process for making them isn't good enough eyt to eliminate them without driving up costs by a very large factor. Hence why apple requires ten dead pixels before they'll replace it. While apple certainly uses high quality displays, I doubt they can afford to be over selective about the screens.
 
Re: Problem?

Originally posted by RaNdOm
Are "dead pixels" (call them what you will) a big problem on Apple products? I know that on other computers, namely notebooks, that they can be very frequent. I just haven't heard many people here complain about them on their ibooks or PBs. I'm just curious if Apple has a more selective process when using LCDs.
Click to expand...

I have none on my iBook and I had 3 on my Dell. I also used to have one on my Cornea 17", but it magically went away after a few months.
 
Understood

...I know the facts of life about using LCD displays. What I really want to know is how many Apple users out there have had a problem with dead pixels. On the PC forum that I follow they complain about dead pixels frequently, but here I don't see it mentioned as much. Is that because it doesn't seem to happen as often with Macs or is it because you all just don't talk about it?
Thanks
 
Re: Problem?

Originally posted by RaNdOm
Are "dead pixels" (call them what you will) a big problem on Apple products? I know that on other computers, namely notebooks, that they can be very frequent. I just haven't heard many people here complain about them on their ibooks or PBs. I'm just curious if Apple has a more selective process when using LCDs.
Click to expand...
I have no dead pixels with my cinema display which I have had well over a year.
 
Dead Pixels aren't common

I worked for an Apple reseller for two and a half years as a salesman and a repair guy, and I have only seen 4 or 5 bad displays (dead pixels and/or stuck pixels) out of hundreds, possibly thousands. I own a powerbook G3 500, and an ibook and both of their displays are fine. Just FYI Samsung makes many of their displays, more especially the newer ones, Apple doesn't actually make any of their hardware, they just design it, and contract it out.
 
Well, thanks guys for your comments.

My Cinema is not covered under the extended AppleCare, so I guess I have to try that "*gently* rub the pixel" method :) I wonder what's causing the "stuck pixels"? Bad electric connection?

I've had many LCDs (on PowerBooks since Duo210) and I'm having the very first experience with bad pixels.

But then again, Cinema has a lot more pixels than these smaller PowerBook screens, so I guess the chance of getting bad pixels are much higher.
 
Re: Dead Pixels aren't common

Originally posted by peterzum
I worked for an Apple reseller for two and a half years as a salesman and a repair guy, and I have only seen 4 or 5 bad displays (dead pixels and/or stuck pixels) out of hundreds, possibly thousands.
Click to expand...

Just out of curiosity, the LCDs you mentioned are the newly purchased ones and returned soon after for the bad pixels? Or you haven't seen many bad screens after being used for a long while (like my years-old Cinema)?

I was under the impression that LCDs in Apples are better on this bad pixels issue. But I'm not too sure about it after finding many bad pixels on my Cinema and TiBook (6 month old). Probably they are as good as others. Although Apple might be using a silightly more expensive/better units.
 
Re: Re: Dead pixels

The one's I usually saw were newer ones (0 - 3 months), but I was also a repair tech, and replaced two laptop screens that were a bit older, they were from powerbook G4's, one was about 8 months old, the other was a little over a year, but had applecare. But what I heard from another Apple tech was that bad pixels were more common in larger displays for two reasons. First reason is simply probablity. The second reason only applies to the really large 22" and 23" displays, where their sheer size is actually what damages them, something to do with the huge display pulling on itself and breaking its own microminiauture little wires that make the individual pixels work. I don't enough about how they are actually made to confirm or refute this hypothesis. But what he said to do was to lay a towel down on a table and lay it flat on it's face overnight, and sometimes it's own weight would fix itself. Good luck.
 
Re: Re: Re: Dead pixels

Originally posted by peterzum
I don't enough about how they are actually made to confirm or refute this hypothesis. But what he said to do was to lay a towel down on a table and lay it flat on it's face overnight, and sometimes it's own weight would fix itself. Good luck.
Click to expand...

That method sounds logical enough! I'll try it and see what happens. Thanks for the tip.
 
From what I know, there are only 3 or so people that actually manufacture the parts to make an LCD display. Having a perfect LCD display is a combination of luck and how selective the company is. My family just got a 17 inch Sony monitor and it has 3 dead pixels. I think the return policy at the Apple store according to my relative who works there is 7 or more........
 
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