Dead Pixels / LCD Problems -- Repair possible?

I bought a high-end GT70 several months ago. I'm a grad student in CS, and do relatively high-performance programming, so it was extremely important that I got a high-memory, high-core laptop. The GT70 fit this perfectly.

However, I noticed a couple months ago that there was a bright spot on my monitor. It's not a single pixel. It's a cluster of pixels, forming a spot, where everything is brighter. It's far more noticeable when the screen is white than when it's colored, and it isn't noticeable at all when the screen is black.

I'd like to get this fixed, but there's some issues. First, I don't know if this would be covered by warranty. Second, even if it was, I modded my laptop (replaced the 128GB SSD with a 256GB SSD). Does this void the warranty? If it didn't, they'd obviously need to fix this laptop rather than just send me a new one. I'd also prefer to not mail in my laptop, since I use it very heavily and it would be difficult to go a week without it. The ideal solution would be for them to send me a new monitor, and I'd do the replacement myself, but I doubt they'd go for that.

If none of that works, how would I go about getting the screen replaced, ideally for under $200?

 

just put in the original SSD and send it in for repair. Just back up you laptop

 

I think I lost the original SSD. :/ I would have sold it if I hadn't lost it anyway.

 

The machine must be returned to the stock config for warranty repair.

 

Are you sure about that? There's definitely a "Warranty void if tampered" sticker that I had to tamper with when installing the hard drive. I'd be pretty pissed if that did indeed void my warranty, since MSI seemed pretty supportive of self-modding (considering their big emphasis on the RAID potential for the system, which isn't used by default), but I have no way of knowing. I'd like to avoid asking them directly in case they say no...

 

So long the system isn't damaged from your upgrades or usage they will not enforce the sticker, but this is within US/Canada as other regions may enforce the sticker.
If you want peace of mind, you can also give them a call to obtain confirmation verbally.

 

I have spoken with MSI on a number of occasions to confirm this myself. I asked them "before" I changed my CPU to the 4900MQ. I was simply told that I must put the 4700MQ back in before I return the laptop for warranty repair. My guess is that if you simply send the laptop back for warranty service, they most likely will not even notice that you don't have the stock SSD. Downside could be that if they decide to completely replace your system, you might lose that SSD drive. I would just call them and speak to them about the issue, they seemed very nice and fair when I spoke with them.

Edit: In their own words, the sticker in the US means absolutely nothing, and will NOT void the warranty as long as YOU don't physically cause the damage to the laptop with your tinkering or upgrades.

 

No, the main point is if you use stock components you can sometimes accidentally find that the problem is with your component but not theirs.
You can send the system in with your components and they will not take yours. But if they find out that the root cause is related to your components then they can't do anything about it and will just return the system back to you.