Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Hwnlocalgurl

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Apr 19, 2004
19
0
I was on O'Grady's site and saw this.

I guess you just gotta live with it? Maybe I'm worrying, because I'm going to invest in a 12" powerbook and don't like that idea about dead pixels. I won't be able to check anyway before I buy it, since I'm getting it online.
 

Dippo

macrumors 65816
Sep 27, 2003
1,044
1
Charlotte, NC
He has little choice because Apple stands firmly by its policy of five or more dead pixels for an exchange.

That's industry standard for the most part.

I wouldn't worry too much about it. I have an LCD monitor (non Apple) and it has two dead pixels, but I don't notice them unless I am really looking for them.

There are over 750,000 pixels on a 12" screen and if a few are dead, it's not a big deal.

Even if you could check out the screen before buying it, that doesn't mean it will be perfect because dead pixels can show up later in the life of the screen.
 

JFreak

macrumors 68040
Jul 11, 2003
3,151
9
Tampere, Finland
it's not okay to have dead pixels on the screen! once you notice it, it will annoy you forever, and if you do some work close to it, it will bother you. really. i had a tibook that had two stuck pixels and it's just not acceptable.

when i bought this albook i made a deal with the store that i get to check the display before i take it out of the store, and guess what - first albook i tried had one stuck pixel, second one had four, and the third i tried was ok.
 

Ramza

macrumors newbie
Nov 27, 2003
22
0
Winnipeg, Canada
My first laptop, a sony vaio, had 5 stuck pixels grouped together smack damn in the middle of the screen. Sony wouldn't repair it because it was less than 6 ... this was about 3 years ago
 

mkrishnan

Moderator emeritus
Jan 9, 2004
29,776
15
Grand Rapids, MI, USA
JFreak said:
it's not okay to have dead pixels on the screen!

We need to start a bumper sticker campaign! "There's No Excuse For Dead Pixels!" like those domestic violence bumper stickers. ;)

I totally agree, though. I've been lucky. The two laptops I've personally owned and the one desktop LCD don't have any dead pixels. I guess maybe if you had 6 or 7 million pixels like on a dig. camera, and one didn't work, and the sensor auto-interpolated for it, it'd be okay, but dead pixels on a computer screen are a total nuisance.

But, FWIW, my general impression is that dead pixels are more and more likely as you get bigger and bigger screens, and that 12" laptop screens relatively rarely have them. Is this accurate?
 

jxyama

macrumors 68040
Apr 3, 2003
3,735
1
mkrishnan said:
But, FWIW, my general impression is that dead pixels are more and more likely as you get bigger and bigger screens, and that 12" laptop screens relatively rarely have them. Is this accurate?

well, of course, kind of obvious, no..? if you assume each TFT has similar failure rate, then more pixel you have, more likely you have one failing?
 

Mac|Photo

macrumors member
Apr 28, 2004
46
0
MI
Have there been a lot of complaints on the 12 and 15 PB regarding dead pixels since the new revision?
I am debating between the two, and I agree with everone above that although it may be "acceptable" in accordance with the manufacturer's spec, its not once you notice it and it drives you zainy each and everyday forward.
Does Apple state that they will replace after 5 dead pixels? and if not what # do they say they will replace?
 

jxyama

macrumors 68040
Apr 3, 2003
3,735
1
Mac|Photo said:
Have there been a lot of complaints on the 12 and 15 PB regarding dead pixels since the new revision?
I am debating between the two, and I agree with everone above that although it may be "acceptable" in accordance with the manufacturer's spec, its not once you notice it and it drives you zainy each and everyday forward.
Does Apple state that they will replace after 5 dead pixels? and if not what # do they say they will replace?

i've never seen an official policy document - but from experiences of many, 5 seems to be the magic number. you may get the machine replaced if there is a cluster of dead pixels close to each other as well, i believe.

however, i am yet to see any evidence that apple displays are any more likely to contain dead pixels than others. so it's a general issue with buying any LCDs. the manufacturing process simply isn't perfect and unfortunately, there's no strong economic incentive to invest massive amount of money to improve already an extremely small failure rate - the industry is investing money to raise the yield instead.
 

jamdr

macrumors 6502a
Jul 20, 2003
659
0
Bay Area
JFreak said:
it's not okay to have dead pixels on the screen! once you notice it, it will annoy you forever, and if you do some work close to it, it will bother you. really. i had a tibook that had two stuck pixels and it's just not acceptable.

I used to think this, too. But that's only because the only PowerBook I had ever owned was a an old PowerBook G3 which had a resolution of 800x600. That one dead pixel was huge on a 14" screen! However, now I've see a 12" PowerBook and iBook with one dead pixel and it's really not so bad. It really depends on what color it is and where. If it's near the corner somewhere, it's not a big deal, although I can see how one in the center would be kind of annoying. Also, if it's bright red, that also would be rather annoying, but a blue wouldn't be as bad.

Obviously, if the store let's you look at the screen before buying, you should do that, but I don't see why they would let you do that. Wouldn't that mean that every one you opened but didn't buy would have to sold as a refurb, and the store would lose money?

(On second thought, the store probably loses nothing--they just send it back to Apple as "defective" and Apple is the one that takes the loss; still, I don't see why a store would let you go through a bunch of stock like that.)
 

CombatWombat

macrumors newbie
Apr 15, 2004
7
0
I asked one of the workers in the local apple store and they told me that the cut off was 8 stuck/dead pixels. I personally thing that dead pixels are acceptible but stuck pixels are an abomination and even one should be grounds for replacement. I had nightmares about getting my new powerbook with 7 hot pink pixels scattered around the screen.

For the record my new 15" has none.
 

Santiago

macrumors 6502
Jun 14, 2002
314
312
Mountain View, California
I've had an iBook (12") and a PowerBook G4 Titanium, both purchased sight-unseen with perfect screens. I think the percentage of displays with dead pixels is actually very low, but it's only the people that get imperfect ones that bother to say anything about it, distorting the apparent problem.
 

t300

macrumors 6502a
Apr 10, 2004
976
1
I wonder if there are any ways to make pixels dead for those of you who want a replacement but Apple says you don't have enough.....Hmm... :p
 

Koodauw

macrumors 68040
Nov 17, 2003
3,951
190
Madison
If I found any dead pixels on my laptop I would be on my way back to where ever I purchased it in a heart beat. No way am I sitting around with a bright pink or green pixel for the next 2 years. Dead/stuck pixels are not exceptable.

I think most people have had pretty good luck with the recent PB though.
 

dxp4acu

macrumors regular
Jul 25, 2002
180
0
Texas
My old PB G3 had dead pixels I think, but they go away every once in a while. Or they would change places. Didnt think it was a big deal.
 

LoneGman

macrumors newbie
Apr 29, 2004
23
0
8 dead pixels, are you serious? Some days, I don't even see how the heck Apple makes any money, no offense... Great computers, but what the @#$@ is their management thinking with decisions like that? If I bought a Sony or an HP laptop, and it had 3 dead pixels, they'd be paying me to send it back and replace the damn thing. Yikes. Okay, I'm done ranting now, thanks. :D

-- Michael Bankston, AKA "LoneGman"
 

Counterfit

macrumors G3
Aug 20, 2003
8,195
0
sitting on your shoulder
LoneGman said:
8 dead pixels, are you serious? Some days, I don't even see how the heck Apple makes any money, no offense... Great computers, but what the @#$@ is their management thinking with decisions like that? If I bought a Sony or an HP laptop, and it had 3 dead pixels, they'd be paying me to send it back and replace the damn thing. Yikes. Okay, I'm done ranting now, thanks. :D

-- Michael Bankston, AKA "LoneGman"
Apple is continuously revising their dead pixel policy. Something you heard last year is probably no longer in effect now.
 

Dippo

macrumors 65816
Sep 27, 2003
1,044
1
Charlotte, NC
Here is some of what I found about others:

Lite On, Phillips and Hitachi. All three have a zero tolerance to dead pixels but Phillips doesn't count unlit pixels as dead.

HP will only replace a monitor with there are 4 scattered faulty pixels or 3 clustered.

LG will replace a monitor if there are 2 within a 10cm circle.

NEX-NEC will replace 3 lit, 3 unlit or 6 color.

Samsung could try harder. Six dead pixels allowed on a 15", or nine on a 17", are too many.

Sony will replace if on a 15" panel there is 2 lit, 2 unlit or 4 dead. On 17" panels Sony will replace if there are 3 lit, 3 unlit or 7 dead.

Viewsonic will replace if on a 15" panel there is 2 lit, 2 unlit or 4 dead. On 17" panels Viewsonic will replace if there are 3 lit, 3 unlit or 7 dead.

Here was a thread on Apple's Policy
 

thrillz3

macrumors member
Apr 10, 2004
57
0
Hmmm...I have a Sony PCG-R505JS 12" screen, and it's ready to bite the dust. We can't afford a new computer (Mac) just yet, so we're going to see how much it is to have this one replaced. The fan makes a noise that the devil himself must make, and the CD drive on the base unit doesn't burn or read burned CD's. The real thing is...there's a cluster of dead pixels on the right side of the screen. I can't tell how many there are, but it has to be at least 3. There is a dark spot at the center, then a lighter layer of dead ones around it. It's not under warranty anymore (I know, stupid, stupid mistake), but would the dead pixle issue still be a valid complaint, enought to get me a new computer? Or if it even works, would it just get me a new screen?
 

crazzyeddie

macrumors 68030
Dec 7, 2002
2,792
1
Florida, USA
He rushed back to the shop within three hours of paying about $5,000 for the laptop, but it was too late.

Is that report in Canadian dollars or something? You can't get a Powerbook that expensive unless you build to order... which you can only do online.
 
probably singaporian dollars, the website is that of a singaporean news paper

iv seen some powerbooks witha couple stuck pixels that returnt to normal after a while and return.

personally i dont think the policy is that bad, i mean in a perfect world they would replace everything, but we dont live in that world, so make do with what you have besides unless you are actively looking for the pixels they are hardly noticed
 

Hwnlocalgurl

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Apr 19, 2004
19
0
Wow! This post got a lot of replies.

I was getting worried about buying a 12" powerbook after I saw that article. My brother is getting his 14" ibook in a few days. My friend said that Apple won't fix it unless it has 9 dead pixels. He works for the Ala Moana store here.
 

mkrishnan

Moderator emeritus
Jan 9, 2004
29,776
15
Grand Rapids, MI, USA
jxyama said:
well, of course, kind of obvious, no..? if you assume each TFT has similar failure rate, then more pixel you have, more likely you have one failing?

Yes, I do realize this. :p What I meant was, I thought I had read that there is an advantage above and beyond this b/c the technology to fab the smaller screens is relatively older and has been refined more -- the bigger the screen, the harder to anneal it, etc, etc, meaning the big screens are disproportionately more risky than the small screens. But then again there do seem to be some responses with people with 12" screens and dead pixels. :(
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.