Xps 14 Screen Problem?

Hi,

I just got the XPS 14 with Win 7 64-bit professional and I immediately noticed some sort of pixelation even when I have a page of black text on white background. It's more noticeable on the white background. It looks like a faint grid of grain floating behind the text. Makes things look gritty.

I was looking at photos and saw this type of mesh pattern on the photos. I'm at 1366x768 resolution.

I am coming from the M1330 and it has a great screen at 1280x800.

 

I bought the exact same laptop as you. It's perfect, except for the screen. It is pixelated/grainy as you said. It looks like an LCD from the 90s or something. And the viewing angle is extremely narrow (if you adjust your position in your chair even slightly you have to also tilt the screen). There is nothing "wrong" with monitor; all of the xps screens are like this I suspect. It's just annoying that is has that grid-pattern in the background.

To better explain this to someone who is thinking about purchasing this:

It looks as is there is a black hair-line in between every single pixel. There is a tiny separation between pixels that makes the screen appear as though it's lower-res than it is. It's just not very nice; especially when I compare it side-by-side to my wife's Studio 17 RGB LED LCD, which is much brighter than this one, and has no hint at all of graininess (the RGB LED LCD is, of course, a nicer screen, but the fact that the screen on this new XPS 14 is barely an improvement over my 6-year-old Inspiron laptop screen is a bit disappointing).

The whole thing is kind of like making the perfect pie-filling, with the freshest and finest ingredients, and then baking it into a store-bought (grocery-store brand) pie crust.

When everything great about this laptop is experienced by the user by way of the screen, it sort of makes all of those "great" things feel like a bit of a waste.

Too bad, because it's nearly close to perfect.

 

I don't have the pixelation/grain issues with my XPS 14, but the viewing angles are definitely very narrow.

 

Other than the screen how comparable is the XPS 14 compared to the XPS M1330? Dell is replacing my XPS M1330 after 4 motherboards, the lcd, the palmrest, heatsink replacements all within the last 3 months.

 

There are many things I like about the XPS 14 but the M1330 really holds its own even after almost 3 years. What I like about the XPS 14: sounds system, backlit keyboard, e-sata/usb cable, hdmi, preinstalled with Win 7 64-bit. I don't like the size, heft, screen, and viewing angles. It's around 5.5 pounds with standard battery.

I wasn't blown away with the speed difference from Core i5 2.66ghz(xps14) from the core 2 duo 2.13(I think)ghz on the M1330. As an example, Lightroom processes 12 megapixel images in 4.5 seconds(xps 14) vs. 6 seconds (M1330). The two laptops I have are closely matched with same 4gb ram, 7200 rpm drives(320 vs. 500gb). I was actually expecting more of a speed bump from the i5.

I was really frustrated with the M1330 motherboard dying every three-5 months. It was replaced in July 2010 and died in October 2010. Dell came and replaced it but the motherboard they replaced was faulty. Pretty pathetic. Dell/Unisys tech was sick of coming over and fixing this item that he insisted I get a replacement.

I was using temporarily using a replacement M1330 that randomly shuts down because of motherboard issues.

But after using the XPS 14 I have come to appreciate the M1330 because the XPS 14 screen is the worst I have ever used. Reminds me of the early TFT screens in the mid-90s. It's like film grain on the screen. Reading black text on a white background is annoying because your eye shifts focus from text to background grain.

Using Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom is really problematic, especially when you are trying to judge sharpening parameters or trying to set noise-reduction filters on hi-ISO images. The grain is really apparent in the shadow detail of images shot in low-light.

I spent an hour at a very big computer store and saw screens from a lowly $290 Asus Netbook, a $900 Sony VIAO P, Acer, Toshiba, to $1000-2000 Apple MacBooks.

Looking at the XPS 14 screen is like looking through a sieve. I've had about a dozen computers in the last 10 years. Many Dells. None have this screen issues.

It's sad that Dell can't get its act together in their latest reincarnation of the XPS line.

What's even worse is the Dell support reps that have been disingenuous about the widely discussed issues surrounding the Nvidia chip problem on the M1330. Dell rep even tried to assuage my concerns about NVIDIA-M1330 motherboard issue affecting other XPS machines:

"While I can appreciate the concern, I know of no "known issue" with any of these systems. Had there been one, Dell would have taken whatever steps were necessary to rectify the situation. While message boards and forums can provide valuable tips and information, those identifying "known issues" are, more often than not, basing their information on hearsay or opinion and not facts."

Dell's techniques have been highlighted by these articles:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/29/technology/29dell.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/19/technology/19docs.html

Dell support stated: "The LCD on the XPS14 is a TrueLife HD LCD where as the LCD on the M1330 was just a standard non-Truelife HD LCD and this could be why there is some difference between the two."

Call it what you will. The screen is an embarrassment.

 

The same thing happened with the XPS M1530 screens 3 years ago. I paid an extra $100 for the "upgraded" screen and it was a horribly grainy ugly screen. It was made by Samsung and pretty much everyone who got the Samsung screen was unhappy. I ended up paying an extra $150 and just bought my own replacement LG brand screen on eBay because dell wouldn't do anything about it.

I still have my 1530 with the LG screen and it's still a beautiful screen. There's no way I could have lived with that Samsung screen for the past 3 years.

Dell has been pulling this bad screen crap for at least 3 years on their XPS systems.

If you want to take a look at this old thread, you'll see that a lot of people complained about the screens looking pixelated and grainy.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/dell-xps-studio-xps/206527-how-do-i-fix-my-m1530-grainy-screen.html

With my new XPS the screen is amazing so I'm very happy with it!

 

Thank You all of you for posting on this thread about the screen problem....
I ordered Dell XPS 14 on 6th of December but later changed my Order to Dell XPS 15 with FHD display... All because of you guys.... Now waiting for my laptop to arrive... MW i saw xps 15 at my friend's house n it was awesome.... JBL speakers truly rock.... You will not need extra speakers with this baby....
Again keep posting ur experiences n so will I do after getting my laptop....
My configuration:
DELL XPS 15
Core i5-460M
15.6 FHD (1920x1080) B+RGLED display with TrueLife
500 GB HardDisk
9 Cell battery
Backlit Keyboard
1 GB NVIDIA GT 420M

 

Does anyone know how to replace the Dell XPS 14 Keyboard? I can't figure out how to get the topcase off so i can get to the keyboard screws to replace the keyboard. This si the L401x XPS 14.

 

Repair manual link is listed in the L401x thread