Finding dead Pixels...

From my experience (which consists of about 6 LCD screens) dead pixels are not that common (not rare either though). Also, there is a difference between a "dead" pixel (which nothing happens on that spot) and a "stuck" pixel, which is stuck on some one state. My girlfriend has a pixel stuck on red, but it doesn't bother her and me too much. A good way to check for pixel problems is to use something like Appleworks (I used the drawing part) and make the screen all black and then all white. You should be able to notice if there is anything wrong. Some people, like myself, are not bothered by a few mixed up pixels and don't notice it much. Others find it very annoying.

And I have never heard of anyone rubbing out dead pixels.

 

I read about an app in an older thread called Screen Query and it essentially runs through a variety of screen colors to help you ID dead/stuck pixels. Also, I have heard of rubbing stuck/dead pixels back to life-- I tried it, because I noticed one tiny blemish on my iMac; no problems now.

 

I have encountered tons of dead pixels. Apple, fortunately, has good quality control usually on their screens - laptop and desktops. I bought a Thinkpad when they first debuted the 1400x1050 SXGA+ screens back in 2000 and it had 3 stuck green pixels right in the upper center of the screen - it was awful and they weren't going to replace it! I finally got it fixed but the new screen they installed had a faint red stuck pixel.

Through manufacturing innovations and better quality checking, dead/stuck pixels have been reduced and the Dell Latitude I'm using now has a 1400x1050 screen that's flawless. I've had dead pixels on Sony digital camera screens, my JVC camcorder LCD and an LCD I bought - almost everything with LCDs that I buy seem to have flawed screens, but things I've gotten more recently are better.

Basically, pixels can be stuck on a certain color, or can display some colors and not others, or they can be totally dead and black (not active).

Sometimes you can rub them back into working order, but most of the time, in my experience, they reappear or don't respond to rubbing at all.

 

dead pixels are basically little black spots on the screen. i have two dead pixels on my dell screen but only for the red color. even with the software mentioned above they are hard to see. in normal operation there is no way to find/see them.

stuck pixels are bright spots in one or the other color. they are more easy to see and therefore can be annoying.

there is a rumor that you can rub around a stuck or dead pixel to fix it. some people claim it works, other say it doesn't work, others again say it only works on stuck pixels. if the pixel isn't really very bad i wouldn't rub around it. you may damage the screen.

 

Check your screen

To check your screen, run this program, which shows your screen all white/black/red/green and blue.
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