FS742w: Light leak or am I crazy?

So, I got my new FS742w and I love it. But while shopping, I read all these reviews about Dell laptop light leaks along the bottom edge of the screen. Thing is, I've also seen notes that all LCD panels leak some light.

There's a faint glow along the bottom edge of my screen, noticeable when the screen is black (say, during a letterboxed DVD). It's not on any other edge. I have the brightness setting to about 7/10 (due to the screen being so bright, not the supposed light leak) and it's subtle, but still noticeable.

I'm sure part of this is "I'm seeing it because I'm looking for it", but should these screens not leak any light at all, or is a little on the bottom normal?

Over all, the screen is the most beautiful one I've ever seen.

And there is a Sony store nearby where I may take it in just to compare to their floor models.

Any suggestions/thoughts?

 

Light leak is normal in enhanced screen, especially the really bright one like Sony's. The severity that you described seems normal -- FS should only have 9 level of brightness instead of 10, from 0 to 8, so you are really talking about 8/9 or 7/9 and these are pretty bright.

You can find Sony store locations at SonyStyle.com, but it's probably easier to just go to BestBuy or other retail stores that carry Sony laptops.

 

they all have it, probably the best i've seen was a s480 where ther was only faded left and right edges other than that blacks were perfectly black, whites on the othher hand werent that good. I have a 745 and the screen is great, backlight could be better on total black screen but the floor models have the same problem too if you look at them in the store, its more noticible at home cause you dont have blazing photographic lighting in your house.

 

Thanks for the replies. It's a beautiful notebook and the screen is stunning. I just didn't remember noticing ANYTHING except pure black when I saw it at the store. And then I read all those complaints about Dell light leaks and, well, mind started running wild. Did I have a defective monitor, etc.?

But as long as it's normal, I can definitely live with it. It's only noticeable if I'm looking for it...

A friend has a VGN-T340P (the little 10.6") one and I can't see any light leak (or light fade-thru, or whatever you call it) on the edges. Maybe because the screen's so much smaller?

I guess nothing's perfect. But it's still pretty **** close!

 

as 15 inches goes its the best u can get, the t series has a nice screen but its so small, its mainly a dvd watching puter.dell screens are horrible, i think the worst.

 

Yeah, I don't think it's anything to be overly concerned with. My old Vaio B100 had a severe backlight leak and it seems I'm the only one who was bothered with it. My new S460P has a light leak at the bottom.. My old A150 is pretty darn good, there's very little light leak if anything.

 

yeah this is normal.i also have in my VGN-FS38GP.