light leakage X1 - need advice

Hey!

Just unpacked my Dell X1 from their UK outlet. Besides sending me the wrong extra batterypack, the screen has quite a bit of backlight leakage. I do not have a great deal of experience with TFT/LCD technology. I do have a Viewsonic VP171b though, and while I did not expect the X1 to be in the same class I have to say that im very dissapointed by the amount of light that comes through the bottom half.

The question is, how much is too much? Is my leakage severe enough to warrant sending it back?

I have attached three pics, unfortunately the photographing of screens is not a very reliable bussiness. Ive tried to make them as close to "real life" as possible.

Thanks a lot beforehand for any advice!!!

PS. When bluetooth is off i get a high frequency noice from the about the middle of the keyboard (only audible if one puts ones ear near the keyboard). Any idea what this could be? Sounds esp when using a MX 1000 mouse for scrolling on webpages. DS..

Cheers again!

 

I would say that you have more than average light leakage. All LCDs have some sort of light leakage.

As to wether it is enough to send it back, that is up to you. If the light leakage isn't bothering you when you use the laptop, then it probably isn't worth it to send it back. If you think that it will bother you when watching a dvd or something, then it would be a good idea to send it back and get a new one.

SG

 

yeah, what SG said.

can you post of pic of the windows desktop (something that isn't fully dark or black)?

 

I agree you have to figure if you can deal with it or not. But honestly im gonna guess the next one will be the same some models are just worse than others.Watch a movie if it doesnt bother you in that it wont bother you in anything else.

 

Thanks for your replies!

It's not only that there is light leakage unfortunately the colour seems uneven as well. I.e. upper right corner darker than the rest of the screen, esp noticable when turning the brightness down.

Hmm, i suppose it is up to everyone to make that judgement. It's hard though, because obviously one wants a perfect screen but at the same time it is annoying to have to send it all back and wait for god knows how long (plus the hassle of having to talk to call centres).

Someone, somewhere said that light leakage will decrease with use. Is this true? If, how does it work?

Cheers

 

Judging by your last set of pictures, you really should send it back. Considering that you bought this from the outlet store, I'm guessing that it was returned because of the light leakage. If it wasn't effecting your dvd playback, then I think it would be fine, but that doesn't seem to be the case.

I've never heard of light leakage decreasing with use, so I'm not sure if that is true or not.

 

Are you sure? I never noticed "light leakage" on any of my LCD screens until I bought this Dell 9400 (with the 1440x900 lcd). The screens I compare it to: Samsung 191T, Samsung 730B, and Sony VAIO XBRITE laptop.

I had heard and read many good comments about Dell laptops but never tried one. Gotta say I'm disappointed with them on such a critical component as the screen. I've jacked around with the gamma on the Nvidia control panel and chose a different color scheme to help with the poor contrast. But should I really need to do this on a $2000 laptop???

Anyway, I'm stuck with them because I need the 7800 GPU for on-the-road demoing of my apps. Otherwise, this machine would be sent back for a refund!

 

I believe they do. I read it in some article. It could just be the quality of your screen and the light leakage being so small, that you don't notice it. Normally, it is on the very edge, and it is just barely noticeable. You would only notice it when you are booting up, and should see it on the XP screen. You would also notice it better in a dark room vs. room with several lights turned on.

I'll see if i can find the article again.

 

Dell replaced the faulty battery and did also send over a technician to replace the LCD screen. All in all very helpful ppl over at the customer support. Had some trouble with contacting them via email.

The new LCD is pretty much as bad as the old one. Oh well, I just have to accept a less than very good quality on the LCD screen. Overall it is a nice and above all quiet machine.

Thanks for all the help.