XPS2 Screen...

I finally had a chance to check out an XPS2 through a Dell Direct kiosk at the mall. I was pretty impressed with the build quality and appearance as well as the keyboard. What I wasn't so thrilled with though was the screen. It was plenty bright and sharp, but as the reviewer here mentioned, those sparkles are a real deal-breaker. I didn't even have to try and notice them. I was bugged by them from the very start. I didn't believe it to start, but then I opened up a blank MS Word document and those sparkles became even more obvious. I value gaming a lot (otherwise I wouldn't be seriously considering this laptop), but those sparkles are unacceptable for things like digital photography where screen quality and color accuracy far outshoot any other factor. Dell, why did you have to botch a near perfect laptop with a subpar screen?

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<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by Eliwood

 

The best way to describe the screen (it afflicts the 9300 too since they post use the same screen) is like like follows.

Imagine for a moment that the screen were made of recycled paper. Ever noticed those little black/whatever color threads that make up the paper? No, this is not dust. The screen I saw was perfectly dustless since this looks like it just came in. Imagine the whole screen smothered by that. It's still perfectly usable, and when you play games, I doubt you'd care, but when you use the computer against any light background or even the default Dell background for that matter, it really degrades the quality of the screen. I'm not being picky here. I simply have no idea why Dell is using this poor screen on its flagship laptop. It's really painful to have to pass up such a great laptop because of this one big flaw.

I hope this answers your question. It's hard to describe, but if you reread the review published here, it mentions that too. I could play the exchange game, but that's painful when you do it with an online-only store.


Edit: Here's an excerpt from the review. The best way to describe it is "dirty white." That's EXACTLY what I mean.

"Here's where the XPS2 falls flat on its face. I have the LPL0000 LG manufactured LCD screen and I see sparkles on it everywhere! It's a very noticeable problem at this resolution. My current Princeton also sparkles but it's a 1280 screen. It's harder to notice the sparkling at that resolution, but at 1900 it jumps right out at you. I'm not happy with the dirty white colors this produces on the screen. I'm irritated that Dell put a cheap quality screen on an expensive laptop. This is the same screen people have complained about on the 9200 and the 9300 Inspiron models. Dell needs to do something about this and do something quick. If you plan to use your computer a lot like I will be doing this will annoy you. I work in Dev-C++, UnrealEd, and Photoshop a lot as well as type reports in Word. If you don't use the computer much you'll easily get used to it. I personally plan to call Dell and see what they offer me or say to me because I'm upset about the sparkling screen given the price I paid for my system. If you want a vibrant true display without sparkling to my knowledge Sony and Fujitsu are the only way to go.

Overall the XPS2 screen rates 3 points out of 4 possible. This passes, but like I said earlier, people who are bothered by sparkles should look elsewhere. I'd be happier with the screen if I hadn't paid nearly $3,000 for the system. That's way too much money to spend on a system with an underperforming part when competitors such as Sager offer better quality screens on their systems at the same price point. Do note, however, that during gaming and movie watching you will not notice the sparkling as much. It's tolerable but very annoying, I can live with sparkles but I can't live with a slow system and that I do not have."

Digital Camera Reviews
The sister site of NotebookReview.com

 

If you don't like the screen, by all means buy something else. I compared the screen of my xps gen2 (an LG screen ) to the display of the apple 30" monitor. They were the same. No difference. I don't notice any "sparkles" with my display.
People are exchanging the lcds because of complaints, people have reported getting replacement LG screens without sparkles and better color reproduction than with samsung screens. It appears there must be variability in the image quality of individual lcd screens.
So it may be a bit of a gamble, you may get a laptop with a display you like or you may not.

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by Eliwood

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by jwardell

 

I really believe that the "sparkle" issue is in the minority. I've had my I9300 since early March and I have no complaints, haven't seen the sparkle yet. Most ppl who got the I9300 or the xps2 probably don't have issues either. The forums are all biased toward ppl who have issues anyway -- as normally if everything works just fine, you tend to keep mum about it -- it's only when something seems wrong that you stir up a storm... [ ] (At least that's what I'd do if something isn't right... lol)

Yea the 19" does seem rather attractive -- WUXGA resolution would definitely be a lot more useable on a 19"! REALLY good luck finding a bag to carry it thou. haha Anyway you should just go for whatever your needs are -- Dell has one of the best, if not the *THE* best return policy in the industry, not to mention the best warranty as well. That's enough for me to want to take a chance. [ ]

cheers,

yass

 

Yes, I agree. It is a gamble ordering from Dell. I'm surprised they had a poor quality screen at the keosk. The Dell keosk at my local Mall used to have a 9200 on display, it's whites were slightly muddy but no noticable sparkles. They now have an xps gen2 on display, I briefly checked it out and it looked good. I compared it to sony's and Toshiba's and didn't notice any difference. Perhaps Dell has gotten it together with better quality screens now. They must be taking quite a hit with all the returns/exchanges/tech calls to change screens etc. that occurred with the early shipments during late March and April. I suspect there must be variability in the quality of the screens being supplied by LG-Phillips and Samsung. Too bad you can't preview your laptop before comitting to buy it but you can't. Your options are to return it and reorder or ask for a screen replacement or a complete replacement.

 

I'm still skeptical, yet I find it very hard to scratch this one off my list because the rest is so perfect. I went to several kiosks and still saw the same sparkle effect. Sometimes it was worse, sometimes it was better. In one kiosk, the screen was oddly tinted magenta. Is that a defect or is it something connected to the whole lights contraption?

Digital Camera Reviews
The sister site of NotebookReview.com

 

I also use mine almost exclusively for development. I currently have the latest beta 2 Whidbey installed. It is nice to ve able to have both toolbars pinned and still have a window in the middle which is large enough to edit in.

I have not seen any sparklies and the whites don't seem muddy to me. The screen is bright and sharp.

I9300 2.0ghz 1.0gb ram 100gb disk 256MB NVIDIA 6800 dvd rw UXGA Bluetooth Intel WiFi Media Center