Hot/Stuck Pixel on 14" M3 Pro [solved]

[Makisupa Policeman]

Subject pretty much says it, but I'm a little annoyed and slightly shocked. I've had the computer less than 4 months. I have never had a dead pixel on an Apple screen, and only once on any computer--on a cheap HP laptop about 10 years ago.

I have AC+ so it's not the end of the world, but that's beside the point. I'm just surprised at Apple's recent build quality, between this and getting those infamous micro dents/scratches on the screen from extremely light use, It's like these things are made of porcelain or something haha.

I think the M1 series has been the high water mark for recent Apple so far. M2/M3/Mx seems a bit of a downgrade.

Edit: I’m speaking strictly of build quality above.

Edit 2: changed title because it’s not necessarily a defect but more likely being caused by a bug using the Vivid app (see below).

Edit 3: the “hot” pixel is actually a feature of Vivid that allows it to unlock 1000 nits brightness. Again, see below.

 

[MrGimper]

Have you had the dead pixel from unboxing, or just randomly happened.

If the latter, Apple can’t really help that. But, they’ll sort it without fuss. Had a few screens replaced for random screen defects that popped up.

 

[Makisupa Policeman]

It was random, I believe. It’s very tiny in the left bottom corner so it’s possible I didn’t notice, but I’m pretty methodical about that kind of stuff.

I’m now thinking that because it shows up differently depending on color grading (with one of those dead pixel tests) that it could actually be a stuck pixel but I’m not sure. I’m going to test a few things before giving in to making a Genius Bar appointment just yet. I’d almost rather wait for a few more fun keyboard marks and scratches to appear to make it worth my while 🤣

 

[Makisupa Policeman]

A new layer discovered: just for kicks I decided to boot into safe mode only to find the issue had stopped! I ran the dead pixel check to make sure, still nothing. Then I restarted into “normal” mode and…still good! No more stuck pixel! No trip to the Genius Bar! Hooray!

That is, until I turned on the app Vivid which unlocks 1000 nits of sustained screen brightness all the time instead of just HDR content. As soon as I enabled Vivid in my toolbar the “stuck” pixel was back. And as soon as I disabled it it was gone again!

The logical assumption is the software is causing an issue since it’s doing something that isn’t normal, however I’ve read from the app developer and many other places that’s it’s totally safe. Either they may be wrong, or using the 1000 nits more often than designed has either caused or inadvertently found an underlying issue with the screen?

I’m not sure but starting to lean towards Vivid being not recommended software.

I’ve reached out to their support so I guess we will see what they say. Stay tuned if you’re interested…

 

[MrGimper]

A new layer discovered: just for kicks I decided to boot into safe mode only to find the issue had stopped! I ran the dead pixel check to make sure, still nothing. Then I restarted into “normal” mode and…still good! No more stuck pixel! No trip to the Genius Bar! Hooray!

That is, until I turned on the app Vivid which unlocks 1000 nits of sustained screen brightness all the time instead of just HDR content. As soon as I enabled Vivid in my toolbar the “stuck” pixel was back. And as soon as I disabled it it was gone again!

The logical assumption is the software is causing an issue since it’s doing something that isn’t normal, however I’ve read from the app developer and many other places that’s it’s totally safe. Either they may be wrong, or using the 1000 nits more often than designed has either caused or inadvertently found an underlying issue with the screen?

I’m not sure but starting to lean towards Vivid being not recommended software.

I’ve reached out to their support so I guess we will see what they say. Stay tuned if you’re interested…

This seems "odd".... Vivid just changes the brightness of the Mini-LEDs, it's doesn't do anything odd with actual pixels from my understanding. So unless it's a heat issue where the additional brightness generates heat that pushes this pixel over-the-top and fails, I can't see it.

Does it only appear when you have Vivid enabled and have full brightness? (1000 nits)

Try and match the non-vivid brightness with the vivid brightness and test.... for example with vivid enabled, does it only show up from 50% (500 nits). If so try full brightness with Vivid disabled, which is about the same brightness.

 

[Makisupa Policeman]

This seems "odd".... Vivid just changes the brightness of the Mini-LEDs, it's doesn't do anything odd with actual pixels from my understanding. So unless it's a heat issue where the additional brightness generates heat that pushes this pixel over-the-top and fails, I can't see it.

Does it only appear when you have Vivid enabled and have full brightness? (1000 nits)

Try and match the non-vivid brightness with the vivid brightness and test.... for example with vivid enabled, does it only show up from 50% (500 nits). If so try full brightness with Vivid disabled, which is about the same brightness.

You know it was obviously pretty late when I wrote the post above, but now that I think about it it happens as soon as vivid is enabled, and since I typically have the brightness about halfway I’d only be starting at about 500 nits. Also, iirc I did turn it up all the way with Vivid off and the stuck/hot/whatever pixel didn’t appear.

I’ll keep playing around with it and test different comparative brightnesses.

 

[steve123]

Sounds to me like you have a defective pixel that was "unmasked" by Vivid. You are still under warranty so I recommend you plan to get it fixed under warranty. Vendors will often use software techniques to "hide" defects so they are not noticeable to achieve acceptable manufacturing yields.

You might want to carefully read Apple's warranty. Years ago I seem to recall there was a defective pixel clause that "allowed" a small number of defective pixels. Not sure if that clause still exists.

 

[Makisupa Policeman]

Looks like it is a bug in the app. The developer is aware of but currently has no fix.

See this thread on Reddit:

https://www.reddit.com/r/macbookpro/comments/13kg96e

But the unmasked defective pixel I won’t rule out either.

 

[steve123]

Looks like it is a bug in the app. The developer is aware of but currently has no fix.

See this thread on Reddit:
https://www.reddit.com/r/macbookpro/comments/13kg96e

Is the location of your "defective pixel" exactly the same? If it is in the exact same location then you are likely correct, it maybe a Vivid software defect.

 

[MrGimper]

Sounds to me like you have a defective pixel that was "unmasked" by Vivid. You are still under warranty so I recommend you plan to get it fixed under warranty. Vendors will often use software techniques to "hide" defects so they are not noticeable to achieve acceptable manufacturing yields.

You might want to carefully read Apple's warranty. Years ago I seem to recall there was a defective pixel clause that "allowed" a small number of defective pixels. Not sure if that clause still exists.

In November I had a screen replaced on my i9 16" via AC+ for a single duff pixel. Genius was very apologetic.

 

[Makisupa Policeman]

Is the location of your "defective pixel" exactly the same? If it is in the exact same location then you are likely correct, it maybe a Vivid software defect.

Appears to be. Extreme bottom left corner just like the picture on Reddit.

 

[Makisupa Policeman]

So I received a reply from the app developers and apparently they say the "hot" pixel is a feature not a bug! That's honestly fine with me—it’s not all that noticeable, and it’s worth the trade off of being able to make the screen brighter, especially for outdoor computer use.