[Adam]

After months of waiting, I've finally got my PowerBook 12", unfortunately it also came with a dead pixel. Just wondering how many others have received PowerBooks (or iBooks) with dead pixels, or if I've just got very bad luck.

I've heard some have been able to "revive" the dead pixel by gently massaging the affected area on the screen. I'm hesitant to do this, but was wondering if anyone else has had any luck with this method. Thanks,

Adam

 

[sinjin]

I have a PB G4 667. It has one "stuck" pixel - always showing white. Tried the massaging trick, but didn't work.

As a side note, I bought my PB through the "Education" store and figured at the time that Apple may unload some of their less-than-perfect LCDs on the education market - since we pay less and the end user is often not the buyer. No idea if this is the case but would be interested in hearing what market others with dead/stuck pixels bought from (consumer, business, education, government).

 

[hayesk]

No, they don't unload them to educ or anywhere. It be too expensive to check and divert them all.

 

[sniper]

i've got one. but i don't see it all the time, because when i'm at my desk, i run it closed, with and external crt.

 

[Betty Fooz]

when i received my imac it also came with one dead pixel, and now has one more.

 

[M. Warren]

My iBook has two stuck pixels (blue) right next to each other. When I first got it I was bothered but now I never really notice them.

 

[mojoprofilms]

I did end up with a stuck pixel (blue) on my 17" flat screen imac, but I tried a combination of the massaging trick (this is fine, just use a soft cloth, preferrably Apple Cleaner dry cloth, and go in gentle circles) and I zapped the P-RAM. After doing this and rebooting it seems to be gone, so try it out.

 

[live4ever]

I have one of the new 15 inchers and it has no dead or stuck pixels.

 

[jonmon]

No dead pixels here..whew!

 

[Fox]

My Pismo was bought through the Education channel; it has one bad pixel (always white). I rarely notice it; no big deal at all.

 

[sinjin]

Oh, forgot to mention my wife's 17" iMac is 100% dead/stuck pixel-free. Very nice. The wife, too.

 

[elmer]

12.1 pixel-perfect inches here

 

[Adam]

As a side note, I bought my PB through the "Education" store and figured at the time that Apple may unload some of their less-than-perfect LCDs on the education market

hmm, I bought mine through the Education store as well.. So that makes three of us who bought edu macs, and three who have encountered dead pixels.. I wonder if there may actually be some truth to your theory.

Adam

 

[ehMax]

Here is some relevant info. [apple.com]

I see LOTS of LCD screens. Been my experience you have about a 1 in 3 chance of getting a LCD screen with a pixel anomaly. Apple has a lot tighter tolerance than a lot of other PC companines do with their LCD's.

 

[SINC]

No dead pixels here either, but then again I didn't get it in an education store. Considering the evidence to date on this thread, I would be hesitant to buy at an education store without them starting it up for me first, although come to think of it, they probably wouldn't do that.

 

[sinjin]

Re: Apple Store for Education.

I'd like to see more numbers, but I suspect haysek is correct. Apple would need to have a system in place to separate LCD qualities and that might be economically unfeasible. This got me thinking more critically about the issue; I thought about my lab group at school. Over the past 5 yrs we've purchased 10 LCD-based products from the Apple Store for Education:

3 iBooks, 12"
3 PBG4, 15"
2 PB G3
2 iMac G4, 17"

Of those, only my machine, the PBG4, did I notice had a stuck pixel. I have used, however briefly, each of those computers and never noticed a defect in the LCDs. So that isn't too bad.

 

[VertiGoGo]

I had a G3 PowerBook (Pismo) for just over two years and no dead pixels.

Here's a question though. If you buy a laptop and have a dead pixel or two...can you insist that Apple either give you a new computer or replace the screen or something?

I wouldn"t accept buying a new car that has a scratch in the paint...so why would anyone accept a dead pixel on a new computer they just forked out some major cash on?

Just curious.

 

[Lawrence]

If you buy a laptop and have a dead pixel or two...can you insist that Apple either give you a new computer or replace the screen or something?

I seem to remember reading something about that,
I read that Apple will only replace it if it's more than
three pixels and that they are are in a line together.

Glad I have nothing wrong with my Lombard.

Dave

 

[ehMax]

See my previous link. No, a single pixel will not be replaced to matter how much insisting. And no, Apple does not send lesser LCD screens to education.

Conspiracy theories are fun and all but no, Apple does not boot up each Mac to see if there is any dead pixels them fire them off to a school cause they won't care as much.

Its just the nature of LCD technology. If they had a zero tolerance for dead pixels, the yield of LCD screens would be really low and they would likely be 3x the current price.

 

[Adam]

After playing around with the Powerbook some more, it looks like my "pixel anomaly" is intermittent. When I open the lid of the powerbook, or touch the back of the lid where the dead pixel is, it sometimes disappears (or at least flickers). But it always comes back unfortunately. Now my question is, will Apple be willing to do anything considering that this doesn't seem like a simple "dead" pixel? The fact that it sometimes flickers is _incredibly_ annoying.. I'm going to call them tomorrow and find out. I don't imagine they'll do anything, but you never know..

When I buy something used, I expect the quality to be less than perfect, or there to exist some problems that I just have to live with, but not when I buy something new, especially with the amount of money the Apple charges.. There was also a scratch/nick on the underside of the powerbook when I got it, possibly from when the hard drive was factory upgraded from 40 gigs to 60 gigs.. It's not such a big problem, since in the future I'm sure it'll become quite scratched up, but it just sucks for it to come from the factory like that.. I'd prefer the scratches to be caused by myself (and I'm pretty careful with my stuff, so that may not even happen)

Adam