None of this justifies why my ipad 1 had no bleed and my ipad 2 did. I saw *many* ipad 1s. I saw many ipad 2s. The 2s had bleed. The 1s did not.
It does not have to be like this
I had 8 ipad 1's, and they ALL had light bleed. Finally settled on one that had very little, but it still existed. Just do a search on the net, and you'll find the same conversations going on all over again with the iPad 2.
I have to laugh at all of these people exchanging over and over again, like I did before I might add, and expecting some kind of different result. Edge lit panels are this way by way of their technology and assembly. There is no way around it. If you can't live with it, then just DON'T BUY ONE. These panels are used for two reasons, cost and form factor, and most likely, won't be changing anytime soon. The majority of iPad 2 purchasers have no idea what light bleed is and are happy with their purchase.
Try going over to the Samsung, Sony, or LG television panel forums. In the quest for having the thinnest television on the wall these days, they are having the exact same issues, and have been for years, as the iPad 2 is having. Why does everyone think that this technology for the iPad 2 is any different??
Realistically, you watch movies in the dark how often, maybe 3-5% of the time at best? I get the whole, "I want a perfect screen no matter what I'm doing as I've paid good money for this thing" bit, but at the end of the day, this expectation of perfection is based more on principle than it is functionality. And because the technology used is limited, its just a moot argument anyway.
Would you rather have a screen that has little to no light bleed and thicker, but another $200 in cost? Honestly, I probably would, but I don't see Apple giving up this price point, as they have the competitors by the short hairs.