Inspiron E1505 / 6400 LCD back-light leakage/bleeding & other quality issues

Re-posted here from the Dell Support Forums:

http://www.dellcommunity.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=insp_video&thread.id=163076


Greetings,

I'm reporting a well-known but perhaps not so well acknowledged issue from Dell; that is the poor quality LCD displays provided in their E1505/6400 notebooks, and apparently others such as the E1705 and D620. I recently purchased a new E1505, now only a few weeks old, and from the beginning I noticed various quality issues with the LCD: light leakage/bleeding from the top and bottom of the display, dark vertical bands/patches on the left and right sides of the display, dark spots in the bottom left and right corners of the display, and other back-light related inconsistencies. Most of these problems are best seen when a blank screen is displayed, i.e. blank screen-saver preview. For the record, I purchased the 15.4 inch UltraSharp WXGA+ display with TrueLife, of which mine was manufactured by AU Optronics.

My first approach with Dell tech support was to have them send me a new LCD which I would replace myself. I was sent a refurbished WXGA Samsung model. No good; not WXGA+ and it was refurbished, despite claims from support that it would be new. Next they suggested I replace the entire notebook. Okay fine, but this one still had light leakage issues, plus the display was so bright, anything displayed would look somewhat washed out, and dark tones were especially too bright. This LCD was manufactured by Chi Mei Optoelectronics. Next suggestion from Dell? Another replacement. Sure, not exactly the most cost effective way of troubleshooting an issue, but fine. Again however, light leakage problems, actually the most prominent light leakage so far, although, this display which I am currently using, is probably the best overall quality otherwise, in that it doesn't have this so-called "sparkle" effect like the AUO, and isn't washed out like the Chi Mei. And behold, it is manufactured by LG, which is what I originally requested from the beginning as a replacement, as a result of some research I did in this forum and others. Still, terrible light leakage, dark spots in the bottom corners, and the right side of the LCD is slightly faded darker.

So what does Dell have to say about this? Apparently, this is a problem with ALL TrueLife displays. I might accept that answer if it were true for EVERY TrueLife (glossy) display in the notebook computer industry, but after looking at various models from HP, Gateway, Toshiba, Compaq, Sony, ASUS, etc., NONE appear to have back-light related issues. Okay, a number of them had dark spots in the lower corners, but none had so-called light leakage/bleeding emitting from the top or bottom of the displays, which is the largest problem I and many others in this forum are unsatisfied with. And I noticed that none of these LCDs that I had seen were manufactured by AUO or Chi Mei, but I believe one or two were from LG. I have a friend who owns a Compaq though, with a 15.4 inch glossy screen manufactured by AUO, which does not have these problems.

So apparently, only Dell has serious problems with these LCDs, and judging by the reports over the years on this issue, nothing has been done to fix the design of the panels for these models, which obviously seems flawed. I would really be interested in any feedback, suggestions or experience others have had with this, and if or how they got this resolved. Unfortunately, I am beyond the 21-day return period so returning this notebook will be a fight. The problem is, I don't want to return it! I am otherwise happy with this machine, and for the same price, I could get a notebook from a different manufacture, but would have to opt for lower-end components. So, resolving this is a priority, and any help from you all would be appreciated.

Thank you,
--Chris

 

is light leakage really such a big issue? As long as you can see the screen fine, its ok. There is always going to be some amount of leakage.

 

Some light leakage? I'm sure that would be bearable, but the light leakage is worse than normal. The glow at the bottom extends about an inch and a half upwards, and at the top, there's more of a parabola shape which reaches down about 2 inches in the center of the screen.

The picture above is not from my system, but is similar and shows clearly just how bad the problem is. Under normal desktop viewing conditions, you don't see this, but with dark desktop backgrounds, and especially when watching widescreen DVD movies, this becomes very distracting.

The point is, this shouldn't be happening. Dell's LCDs for these models are defective! Most people who wouldn't know what they're looking for may not find this a problem, but the fact remains, these things are flawed by design.

 

Hi, solariansix.

Sorry to hear of your problems. It seems as though you have been particularly unlucky with your screens. I have a Dell Inspiron 6400 with the 1440 x 900 TrueLife screen, and I'm absolutely thrilled with it.

I had great difficulty finding a laptop without lighting issues - I had a Hewlett Packard, a Sony Vaio and a Rock, all of which I sent back immediately because of either faulty or very uneven displays. The Dell is by far the best laptop screen I've ever seen - the quality is wonderful and there's no noticeable unevenness or light leakage.

How can you tell who manufactured the LCD panel? If I can find out who made my screen, I'll let you know.

I hope this gets sorted out for you soon.

 

Well okay, glad to hear there are screens of this type without these lighting issues.

There's a great little program called ASTRA32 at astra32.com which will analyze your system and report the manufacturer of your LCD.

Thanks for your help.

Cheers,
--Chris

 

No problem, Chris.

Nifty program! It tells me that the monitor Vendor is CMC, and gives the model as CMO 1538, so it seems like a Chi Mei Optoelectronics panel.

I hope this helps, and that you soon have a screen that you're really pleased with.