New ZD8000 Screen faded/lighter at bottom and top

I recently purchased a ZD8000 with the 1440x900 BrightView screen (Didn't go for the larger resolution mainly because I figured this would be a bit easier on the graphics card and I don't like things too small).

Anyway, when the screen arrived, the bottom and the top were faded out/lighter, the bottom more so than the top. You could really only see it on dark backgrounds, and the viewing angle had a lot to do with it too, but there was really no way to get it to go away all together. I sent it back to get repaired and got a replacement screen, which looked great except it had a dead pixel :/ and was also the higher resolution screen... not sure if they meant to do that or not.

I filled out an online survey and an awesome support person contacted me and suggested that I get a replacement notebook because of the dead pixel and seeing that I had just gotten the laptop; he even let me keep the one I had until the new one arrived. Wonderful service despite what I have heard.

Well to my dismay the new laptop screen looks almost exactly the same as the first one (resolution is 1440x900 on this one too btw).

I guess I'm posting this to get ideas suggestions... It almost seems like a mechanical problem of the screen casing pressing against the screen too hard and making it lighter.. not sure... if so is there a possibility it will go away as it "loosens" up? I'm just wondering as two of these have done the exact same thing brand new...

Maybe I'm just being too anal about this... just really gets on my nerves when watching a movie/tv... and at times when playing games. Wondering if I would of went with the higher resolution screen I wouldn't be having this problem...


Thank you in advance for any ideas,
Mirek

 

I have the same problem on my zv5000z I bought last year. It seems more noticeable at night when using artificial light at night but not so in the morning and afternoon. I've found that lowering the screen's brightness seems to help the problem, but it's just something you'll eventually have to get used to. HP's notebook screens just aren't top notch (you get what you pay for), so they're probably leaking light at the bottom and top as a result.

The only way to get around this problem is to get another manufacturer's notebook. The people at the forum here mostly agree that Fujitsu or Sony have the best enhanced screens; Toshiba's Qosmio screens might also fit into this category, but all of the three are much more expensive than HP.

Hope this information helps you.

 

Thanks, that does help... at least it's not just me... wonder why the replacement screen with the dead pixel didn't have this problem...

you mention light leaking... maybe there would be a way to mask the edge of the lcd somehow to fix this?

 

I think the reason why the replacement screen didn't have the same problem is because from what I've heard, HP has two main suppliers for its notebook LCD panels: Hitachi and LG/Phillips. I have a Hitachi screen, so my likely guess is that the replacement one was probably an LG/Phillips screen with none of the associated problems.

Masking the edge of the LCD sounds like a great idea. Let me know if you find something suitable to cover the LCD.

 

Alright... If the light is in fact somehow just bleeding from the edge of the screen instead of trough it, it shouldn't be hard... aside from taking the thing apart to get to the edge... I'm not too familiar with the mechanics of LCD screens though so this may be something that just isn't plausible.


I have a 3 year warranty on the thing as well... so I guess I could just keep sending them to get repaired until I got lucky with a good one, lol... then again waiting a week each time kind of sucks.