You are really unlucky to receive three flat panels with stuck pixels in a row. I guess everyone who's aware of deal pixel problem crosses his/her fingers when ordering a flat panel online. So did I and I was lucky so far with two orders and no dead pixels. Dell probably can politely refuse another replacement since their quality standards allow up to 5 dead pixels. (http://support.dell.com/us/en/kb/document.asp?dn=1018431)

With flat panel production reaches mass quantity and manufacturing technology improves, throwing away dead pixel panels probably won't cost too much as it was for manufacturers, so the dead pixel policy should be changed accordingly. No dead pixel is what every consumers want. It's not really being fanatic.

You probably want to try another model. 17" is a little small for me when viewing text. The text is clear and legible just small.

Disclosure: FWIW, the two flat panels I ordered (from Dell) with no dead pixels are Viewsonic VP171b and Dell 1901FP.

Up to 5 dead pixels are acceptable and industry standard?!?  That anything less does NOT detract from the image quality of the monitor?

What kind of standard is that?  I think Dell needs to put this link/disclaimer on all their product webpages for their monitors.

What if other businesses took on that same standard?  When you buy a new car, suppose there's 5 paint chips or dents on the car.  What if the contact lenses or pair of sunglasses have 5 cracks, rips or scratches on them?  Suppose you get laser surgery and you have 5 dead spots with your vision?

Had I known about this industry standard before things may have been different. 

 

Message Edited by Moose Knuckle on 03-18-2004 10:31 AM

   Wow! Either you are really unlucky, or the quality standard has gone way down hill. Did you happen to check the build dates on any of the monitors you returned? Rumor is that the early build dates are the worst for dead/stuck pixels. By now I'm sure Dell is re-shipping the early returned monitors. I wonder if you got a couple of original returns with a November build date that was checked by Dell then shipped again as new?

I received two of these monitors at school on Monday. One for myself and the other for the secretary. I set both up and they were perfect in every way! Great colors NO DEAD pixels. The only complaint I have, is wow, what a  bright screen! I had to turn the brightness down to 70 which fixed that........... Seems to be pretty good!

   One question.  Do they have a 1 or 3 year warranty? I bought it with a system with a one year basic warranty. However if you by the monitor by itself its 3 years???????????

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@AximAl wrote:

One question. Do they have a 1 or 3 year warranty? I bought it with a system with a one year basic warranty. However if you by the monitor by itself its 3 years???????????

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Yep. Strange but true! I bought my first with a system (1 year system warranty) thinking I would be getting the advertised 3 year monitor warranty. Now I buy the monitors separately (usually cheaper too since you can get them on sale and buy the computer when the "special" is something other than monitor discounts). Oh, of the 4 Dell LCD monitors there were no dead pixels (1504FP, 2-1702FP, 2001FP).

Well keep in mind, you didn't buy one of the ULTRA SHARP displays, I bet you wouldn't have had one dead pixel on it!  I know TONS of people who have them and never once have I heard one complaint!  If you go cheap, you get cheap:)

NOT TRUE!

"Well keep in mind, you didn't buy one of the ULTRA SHARP displays, I bet you wouldn't have had one dead pixel on it!  I know TONS of people who have them and never once have I heard one complaint!  If you go cheap, you get cheap:) "

My school has 5 of the Ultra sharp monitors that are on 24hrs a day, never shut off. TWO died after only 2 weeks of use and had to be replaced last week. I would say thats worse than a dead pixel. I also wouldn't say $450 for a monitor is cheap... JMO

$450 is cheap for a monitor?

I saw the specs on the UltraSharp and on the only thing majorly different is another 5 degrees or so of viewing angle.  Even the Dell sales rep on the phone said that it's not worth it and to use the money on upgrades for the computer.  I don't know about you, but I don't have friends over the house to watch movies on a computer monitor--that's what my 65" widescreen TV is for.  There isn't a bunch of people corraled around a screen to watch something.  It's me and only me.  Plus I don't want people at an angle to know when I'm looking at porn.

Message Edited by Moose Knuckle on 03-24-2004 12:16 PM

The extra viewing angle means you can move around with less dimming and the screen will also appear more uniform, especially if you are sitting close. It's more than 5 degrees -- E172 is +/-60V +/-70H while the 1703FP is +/-85V and +/-85H -- basically you can view from any angle at all! In addition the 1703FP has 600:1 rather than 400:1 contrast ratio, supports portrait mode, and, perhaps most important of all, supports a DVI connection.

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Well keep in mind, you didn't buy one of the ULTRA SHARP displays, I bet you wouldn't have had one dead pixel on it!  I know TONS of people who have them and never once have I heard one complaint!  If you go cheap, you get cheap:)

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I bought a 17" ULTRA SHARP and I got one dead pixel.