What to do about a dead pixel?

[matticus008]

As to whether a dead pixel counts as a "material defect", well, I'd say it does but then I'm not a lawyer.

It's not considered a defect in any legal jurisdiction in the world any more than the 0.1% impurities in Sterling silver are considered defects. It's not a defect if it's a natural consequence of the product (billiard balls have 0.006% tolerance, or more than 3 orders of magnitude more allowable imperfection per unit, and they're among the strictest product standards out there). You may contact anyone intimately familiar with the law and its practice, and you might even wind up contacting me. Even if you don't, they'll all tell you the same thing.

Edit: Perhaps I should clarify here between "allowable" defects and "strict" defects. There is a semantic differentiation between 'perfect' in the strict sense (without flaws, aberrations, or deficiencies of any kind) and 'perfect' in the real sense (the closest practical approximation of a given product or process). Legally, "free of defects" means simply that there is nothing wrong with a product that isn't expected to be wrong. A solar panel, operating at 19% peak efficiency, is not legally defective or deficient--it's only expected to achieve a certain level of performance not anywhere near even 50%--but it is not perfect in the true sense of the word. Here, the panel is expected to be in excess of 99.99999% operational, which allows a handful of errors without legal consequence.

Well, many warranties contain very similar provisions to these but the reality is that consumer protection laws ensure that they are often unenforceable to the extent that the provisions are limiting statutory rights (and I suspect that it's these same laws (state, national or both) that actually have the real "discretion" on what would or would not be considered a defect).

Consumer protection laws do nothing to invalidate valid terms of a warranty which is otherwise valid; they're simply a measure of overriding a warranty where it provides less legal protection than the minimums required in that jurisdiction. Apple's warranty clearly states that it applies where applicable and not universally. Statutory law has nearly zero discretion on what is and is not considered a defect on a per-product level (if you think there are lots of laws now, try legislating product standards). For an issue to arise, a company must be refusing service for an issue for which other companies honor warranty service or identifying a problem as "normal" which is clearly contrary to available evidence. That is demonstrably not the case here.

I also wonder whether any provisions relating to latent defects would work in favor of a merchant that didn't specifically give the buyer any ability to discover their existence prior to concluding the contract for purchase

Latent defects are just that; it's irrelevant to the cause when they're discovered; the product was properly deemed fit for sale with or without them, and all warranties of fitness are thus satisfied. You don't get to examine and potentially reject cars when you order them, nor houses you have built, nor any other mass-produced product shipped to you in a box. You're also free to return the product if you're not satisfied (unless it's BTO). You get to examine produce, books, clothes, and fine jewelry, and not much in between.

Either way, I'm not sure either of us are qualified to be discussing the finer points of a legal agreement, and I've got no personal ax to grind here, so let's just agree to disagree.

Well, I'm certain I'm qualified, but I have no ax to grind with you, so I'm perfectly content to agree to disagree.

 

[spicyapple]

This might help to revive the dead pixel http://www.jscreenfix.com/. I've found gently rubbing helps. Can't be sure how effective it would be on dead pixels, though.

Related thread.