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General discussion

Should a few dead pixels put me off a great deal?

Dec 10, 2006 3:11AM PST

Hi guys, I'm new to the forum

Anyway, I'm looking for a little wisdom. I'm a student in the market for a very cheap laptop (I'm in Ireland, and my budget is

Discussion is locked

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Ask for money off. The battery is often dead in such.
Dec 10, 2006 3:15AM PST

Or runs the machine for a few ten minutes.

I wouldn't touch it. The replacement LCD can cost as much as the machine...

Bob

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Thanks
Dec 10, 2006 3:24AM PST

Hi Bob, thanks for the reply. Actually the battery is fine, and I'm already getting a pretty good price I feel. If anything else is wrong with the machine I won't take it, it's just a matter now of weighing up whether the dead pixels are going to be an issue or not.

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How do you know the battery is fine?
Dec 10, 2006 3:31AM PST

Look at the date on the battery. If 18 or more months old, it's past its prime and not worth buying. That's 100 bucks here and you don't want to know how many used laptop buyers get stung on that.

Dead pixels is a personal choice but repair is not usually done due to the cost of the panel.

Bob

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I think you will be surprised at what
Dec 10, 2006 8:25AM PST

a new LCD screen for this machine will cost you.
I would be prepared to pay, at least, what the whole machine cost you in the first place. Replacement LCD's are not cheap, which is one reason we recommend AppleCare to those that ask.

If you can live with the dead pixels, I did not see them in the pic, then do so. If not, put it up for sale.

Bob is right about the battery, pay heed.

P

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pixel masage
Dec 14, 2006 8:11PM PST

BrainFuel has posted confirmation that the ?massaging dead pixels back to life? trick does actually work. Cool. There?s an article on WikiHow on doing this too but the article is a little vague. Check this out:

Turn off your computer monitor.
Get yourself a damp cloth, so that you don?t scratch your screen.
Apply pressure to the area where the stuck pixel is. Do not put pressure anywhere else, as this may make more stuck pixels.
While applying pressure, turn on your computer and screen.
Remove pressure and the stuck pixel should be gone. This works as the liquid in the liquid crystal has not spread into each little pixel. This liquid is used with the backlight on your monitor, allowing different amounts of light through, which creates the different colours.
The emphasis above is mine. How do you add pressure to just where the dead pixel is without putting pressure on a much bigger area and possibly making things worse?

Another trick that I?ve found is to use a color flashing video that Sony released for the PSP (to fix pixel problems on the PSP I guess). The process is detailed in jeffey.blog and the video is available for download from his site. This video changes the screen color at a rate of 30 times a second and running this for 30 minutes or so (or longer) on the area with the problem might fix it.

But there?s more. There?s a free program called UDPixel (short for undead pixel I guess) that will do the same thing. Download this and run it on the area with the dead (or tired) pixel or pixels for a few hours and see if that works.

I?m trying this out as I speak on a flat panel which has one dead pixel and will report back later.

Quickly bookmark Confirmation that the ?massaging a dead pixel? trick works at







This entry was posted by the PC Doctor on Friday, March 31st, 2006 at 09:24 and is filed under PC Doctor Repair/Upgrade Tips, PC Doctor's Thoughts, PC Doctor Tips. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.
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