Purchasing from tigerdirect / compusa.com?

[legocitytruck]

Have any of you purchased a lcd monitor from tigerdirect.com or compusa.com? I am considering purchasing a 24" monitor and there dead pixel policy seems strange. It seems there policy is similar to most other online sellers requiring 5~8 dead pixels for an exchange, however it seems that some of the reviewers for some 24" models were able to return the monitors with one dead pixel within 30 days time frame, and they returns were honored.

I was planning to just buy from a brick & mortar store so that I could excahgne the monitor if it has a dead pixel, but this policy might make change my mind. Does anyone here have experience with this?

 

[brblx]

it's probably all YMMV kinda stuff.

dell has a multiple dead pixel policy, i believe, but people seem to have little issue returning monitors to them with one dead pixel.

 

[Leyawiin]

Originally posted by: brblx
it's probably all YMMV kinda stuff.

dell has a multiple dead pixel policy, i believe, but people seem to have little issue returning monitors to them with one dead pixel.

This is what I would think. I returned one within the first 30 days to Newegg and they on paper have one of the most restrictive policies around. Just call and whine to the rep long enough and they'll usually cave (after that experience I wouldn't buy from anything but a brick and mortar place though).

 

[Idontcare]

The very concept of a "dead-pixel policy" just grinds my gears to use a Peter Griffin phrase.

Imagine if you bought a 1GB dimm and but only 0.98GB actually worked, there were some bits that were just dead. Oh well, that's your problem.

Or what if you bought a CPU and everything worked except one of the SSE4 instructions. Every time your app tried that application it generated an error.

Or if your computer case came and there was just an understanding that not every case would be shipped with all four sides of the case present. Some unlucky customers might be missing the side of the case or the top would be gone. All well, just your luck.

Dead pixels? I'm sorry if your product advertises 1900x1200 pixels of goodness then every one of those pixels better be fully functional. I expect every bitcell in my dram to work at the rate speed and latency, same with my monitors that my eyeballs have to look at all the time.

 

[BarrySotero]

If you buy an NEC it wont matter what seller policy is because they ask you deal with them directly after purchase. I have found them to be generous and easy to work with

 

[VirtualLarry]

Originally posted by: Idontcare
The very concept of a "dead-pixel policy" just grinds my gears to use a Peter Griffin phrase.

Imagine if you bought a 1GB dimm and but only 0.98GB actually worked, there were some bits that were just dead. Oh well, that's your problem.

Or what if you bought a CPU and everything worked except one of the SSE4 instructions. Every time your app tried that application it generated an error.

The difference there is that those are functional errors. A bad pixel is just a cosmetic error, the display doesn't need all the pixels to function properly.

 

[Leyawiin]

Originally posted by: VirtualLarry

Originally posted by: Idontcare
The very concept of a "dead-pixel policy" just grinds my gears to use a Peter Griffin phrase.

Imagine if you bought a 1GB dimm and but only 0.98GB actually worked, there were some bits that were just dead. Oh well, that's your problem.

Or what if you bought a CPU and everything worked except one of the SSE4 instructions. Every time your app tried that application it generated an error.

The difference there is that those are functional errors. A bad pixel is just a cosmetic error, the display doesn't need all the pixels to function properly.

A quality panel shouldn't have any and a bad placed group of two or three stuck pixels in the middle of the screen can ruin your viewing experience. Dead/stuck pixels are defects and the industry, in an effort to lower prices and gain market and resigned itself that a certain number of LCDs going out the factory door are defective in that regard. The cost of replacing them is factored into doing business and they have no intention of "quality control" canning bad screens.

It may be "cosmetic", but I wouldn't accept a new car with a big scratch on the side, rip in the upholstery or crack in the middle of the windshield, never mind it still goes down the road.

 

[Idontcare]

Originally posted by: Leyawiin

Originally posted by: VirtualLarry

Originally posted by: Idontcare
The very concept of a "dead-pixel policy" just grinds my gears to use a Peter Griffin phrase.

Imagine if you bought a 1GB dimm and but only 0.98GB actually worked, there were some bits that were just dead. Oh well, that's your problem.

Or what if you bought a CPU and everything worked except one of the SSE4 instructions. Every time your app tried that application it generated an error.

The difference there is that those are functional errors. A bad pixel is just a cosmetic error, the display doesn't need all the pixels to function properly.

A quality panel shouldn't have any and a bad placed group of two or three stuck pixels in the middle of the screen can ruin your viewing experience. Dead/stuck pixels are defects and the industry, in an effort to lower prices and gain market and resigned itself that a certain number of LCDs going out the factory door are defective in that regard. The cost of replacing them is factored into doing business and they have no intention of "quality control" canning bad screens.

It may be "cosmetic", but I wouldn't accept a new car with a big scratch on the side, rip in the upholstery or crack in the middle of the windshield, never mind it still goes down the road.

I agree with your sentiment but I disagree that a stuck pixel is cosmetic and not a functional issue.

The purpose of an LCD is to make the pixels display colors as requested by the video card. A dead pixel is a non-functioning pixel. Very analogous to dram.

Now you may choose to disregard the non-functioning pixel and keep using the display. You can choose to disregard many memtest+ errors and your rig can in some cases keep on functioning with no stability issues.

A cosmetic defect on an LCD would be something like a scratch in the plastic housing the LCD, or discoloration in the stand, etc. But the function of a LCD is to display colors thru its pixels, something it doesn't do with dead or stuck pixels.

For your car analogy this is more like a flat tire, sure you can drive the car on a flat tire but its not performing to your expectations as that point.

Making the argument that the ramifications of a non-functioning pixel is merely a reduced subjective experience doesn't make it any less of a functional/non-functional argument. I could argue that system stability is a subjective thing too, and as such instability brought on by non-functioning bits is merely a subjective problem for the user. But I suspect such an argument would be shot down (for all the right reasons).

 

[alkemyst]

There are monitors backed by no dead pixel warranties. You simply have to pay for the privledge.

Not everything in life is free. More lenient pixel policies have allowed the price of panels to slide down in to more obtainable prices for many.