E1705 Screen Issues

Hello,

I recently purchased a E1705 (specs below), and I love it. The one thing that is really bugging me though is the screen. I went the extra mile and selected the 1900x1200 Truelife screen. Which looks pretty good despite the what I think is unacceptable nature of the screen itself. There is severe light leakage along th e top and especially the bottom of the screen, the leakage creeps up about 2 inches from the bottom and is noticable even with a blue desktop backround. Also, there are light and dark bars very faint but still noticable that run the entire hieght of the screen about every 3-4 inches, which I suspect is a result of th elight leakage.

During game play it is hardly noticable, well during lighter scenes. DVD playback it is farily annoying. And even during games if you look really hard you do notice bands of darker portions of th screen.

I guess my question is, what is my recourse, will dell if contacted exchange this laptop for another? I just received it last friday, I've had a blast with it despite the annoying issues. I just would rather return it and spend my 1700 elsewhere if they pass this off as quality.. Any recommendatiosn, similar stories with good results? I am worried that if I exchange it I may end up with dead pixels which I dont' have with this screen.. Has dead pixel rate been high? Any input would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Jack

E1705
2.0ghz Dual core T2500 I think
1gb 533mhz memory
Truelife 1900x1200
100gb 5400rpm drive
DVD burner
7800 go

ps--anyone had better luck using the dell chat system vs the cust service #?

 

Do a Dell chat and tell them it doesn't meet your standards and that you want a new screen. They are really good about trying to satisfy a customer so they don't go somewhere else, because they don't make money on the laptop you return cause it is sold in outlet.

Use Dell chat...it is alot easier to understand people and gets more accomplished. That and you can record the conversation if they say that they never said anything like that. At least you have recourse.

Hope this helps.

 

Thanks for the info, I just get nervous dealing with such a huge company..so easy to get frustrated and lost in the system. I will try the chat feature as soon as I get hom and post an update later on.

Thanks again,
Jack

I thought leakage was gone with the 1705, is there any way to determine the manufacturer of th screen?

 

You can go to Dell.com and put in your service code number and it will tell you what have in the computer. My I9300 has a Samsung monitor...it told me. From what I have heard some won't tell you and I think you can use Everest to tell you, I am not sure though.

 

The light leakage on the Dell E1705 is either going to be to your liking, or horrible. In some cases, its not good at all, like this. But if you try getting it replaced, your more than likely going to get a better screen. (Maybe).

I heard the LG screens have less light leakage, but more sparkles, all though it might be mixed up...

 

The LGs do have alot less light leakage but have horrid colors and viewing angles.

To the OP, if you got the WUXGA, ask for a Sharp. If they don't have one, I say try a Samsung again.

 

I have a LG WUXGA screen on my 9300 and i would say the light leakage is very minimal. it does have sparkles, but i only notice them if iam around 8 inches of the screen. the colors on my LG seem very accurate. comparing it to other LCD's and my desktop CRT i think it is much more accurate. i always recieve coments about how nice my screen is. once even a photographer said he wanted a mac, but after seeing my screen he said he changed his mind.

 

On my LG WXGA screen, my light leakage was minimal, but the quality kind of sucked. Truth of the matter is that all LCDs will have some type of light leakage -- yet some are better than others.

My advice is that if it is so bad that you notice it when playing games/dvds or regular activities, then you'll want to try and get it exchanged (might have to order whole new system). If you only notice it on boot up or on black screensavers/backgrounds, but doesn't bother you otherwise -- then it isn't worth trying to get it exchanged. I suggest that because you can't tell whether the replacement screen will be better or worse.

if you want to a replacement screen, you need to do this in your 21 day return period. Otherwise you could be like me and pay $500 for a new screen. I think to get a replacement screen you have to order a new E1705 and then return your current system (shouldn't have to pay restocking fees if the light leakage is that bad).


SG

 

Update:

I spoke with dell via the online chat and they are going to send me a replacement! Though they pushed really hard to have me send it in for repair at a repair depot. Though my 21 day return policy would have expired and there would be no guarantee they would deem the LCD unacceptable and replace it. So I opted to use the 21 day policy to exchange it, this way the 21days starts over with the replacement.

I will try and find out what LCD screen I have, though to me, any replacement will have to be a step up due to the nature of the light leakage on my current LCD. If anything I'll just send the replacement back if it doesn't work out.

Thank you all for your input, I'll update when I get the new notebook.

Jack

 

I'm quite curious of the outcome as well. I got my E1705 not too long ago. I have a bit of light leakage as well, thought it was fine, but it's starting to bug me at times. Not sure if it's because I just notice it more after reading about people having it or not.

I took a few pics, wouldn't mind if people had some input or suggestions.

This one is with the screen slightly tilted back, a little bit of an optimum viewing angle. The light seems to seep up, like a sort of sunrise effect. Only the middle part of the screen has it.
http://img401.imageshack.us/img401/2849/p10202477fv.jpg

These two are if you're looking at the screen head on, screen pretty much perpendicular to the desk. You can see light seeping from the top and bottom. Not sure if it can be seen in the pic clearly or not, but from the top cos of the light, it has a sort of spotlight effect, some bands of light coming down, alternating with some dark bands, then light.
http://img58.imageshack.us/img58/7831/p10202456qu.jpg
http://img58.imageshack.us/img58/3442/p10202423wf.jpg

Wonder if the OP jack had any input, if your machine had a somewhat similar screen or worse? Apologize if the pictures aren't clear.

EDIT: I have the TruLife

 

In my opinion, that is a pretty good screen and very minimal light leakage. I've seen a lot worse where the light leakage goes up to the center of the screen is very bright.

You will notice the light leakage on black screen savers or booting up, but outside of that you probably won't notice it. Mine screen has a bit more light leakage than yours, but overall, I'm extremely happy with it since I've upgraded to the truelife.

 

Thanks for the input SG. I think this is one of those things where 'the more you know, the worse it gets'. Yeah you're right, for the most part, I see it on boot up and on the screen saver. I haven't seen too many other laptops, but I figured most of them would have some sort of light leakage, just wanted a second opinion on the extent of mine.

 

Yeah, most of the LCDs on the market will have some sort of light leakage, some worse than others. Unfortunately, dell is kind of in the middle. Sony has one of the better screens on the market.

With dell it is a hit or miss type of thing. Some screens are great, some are bad. If you are happy with your screen, then don't send it back.

 

Yeah I went over to Best Buy to gauge how other laptops fared, but most of them had locked desktops and as usual no customer serv. nearby when you needed it, and I did notice Sony's had some of the cripest looking screen. But their value and cust serv. stories don't favor their price point.

I used to have an imported Sharp Actius machine a few years ago, I think it was a P2 366 machine or something like that, but man was the screen on that gorgeous. I dare say even more better than this Dell as far as I can remember. Maybe not as high a resolution, but the color, contrast, vibrance and clarity were great on it.

 

Brn80/SG,

My light leakage is pretty severe, much more than the pictures shown. I also have an issue with fuzzy dark vertical bands which are visible ever so slightly on the screen every 3-4 inches. If you have ever put a speaker/magnet too close to a regular CRT monitor and noticed a dark shadowed patch of pixels this is almost exactly what it looks like. It is very slight, but also very noticable. Several people commented on it right away without me even explaining the problem. Almost as if the LCD was installed too tightly within the frame and the pressure on the edges is causing some sort of effect. I wish I had a digi cam handy to show you.

I am fully aware of the light leakage/screen issues with the dell laptops. I have a good friend who has teh XPS Gen 2 and has some minimal leakage and sparkling, I am prepared to live with a certain level of each. However, to have a screen like what I have, well its difficult to understand how one could live with it. At first I thought I was just being to critical, but I have compared it to an XPS and another 9300 and they are both fine...

Anyway, I'll let you know how notebook #2 fares when it arrives this week. Interesting enough, Dell was pretty easy to work with on the exchange...maybe they've changed their CS policies...I have dealt with them in the past and been pretty frustrated.

Jack

 

Could someone explain how you use the service tag to find out the manufacturers of the hardware in your Dell? Thanks.

 

I have that problem with this E1705, they sent a tech out to replace the screen cause they said it would fix another problem I was having. Which it didn't. But this screen also has the same sort of light leakage, they seem to be bad at the bottom. I think its just something that you have to get used to.

 

When you log into the dell website their is a My Systems and Peripherals section. You click into there and put in your service tag number. Then look at the specs.

Hope this helps.

 

Hello all,

Just an update, I received my replacement laptop (finally) a week ago. I was a victim of the 7800go shortage... Anyway, the replacement laptop still has what some would consider an excessive (compared to other laptops) light leakage. Though not as bad as the first one they sent out, also the vertical dark bars/shadows that were part of the originals display are now gone.

Side note: The replacement had an NEC dvd drive vs the sony on the original so I switched them out I also switched keyboards as the 2nd one was kind of clicky, but stiff..while the original was quiet yet a bit flexible. But I wanted quiet.

Anyway, there is hope for those with screen problems.

Jack