Alienware 15 - Display ghosting?

Has anyone, who has already received their 15 had this display ghosting issue that I'm having?

This is pretty severe for a supposed IPS panel...

 

Here's another. Apologies for the vertical alignment.

 

That's pretty damn awful -- anyone else having this issue? Mine will be here in a week or so to test out.

 

No ghosting on my A15 so far

 

i got it also... i think its the ips panel

 

It shouldn't be ghosting THAT bad though. I would call Alienware over this, maybe there was a batch of defective panels.

 

Probably they wanted to cut display cost too much and that's why you have ghosting. Im 99% sure that they won't replace it for you and anyone.

 

Is this the 4k display or the regular 1080p?

 

It was the regular 1080p display.

 

Not an AW 15, but I know the 13 I previously had with an IPS never did anything like that, it was perfect in comparison, likewise for the TrueLife display on my current one. That looks like a bad panel or possibly some other driver/hardware issue.

I have to disagree with the poster who said Dell would likely not replace it, if it is shown faulty they will.

 

Thanks for this info. Going to have to keep an eye out for it when mine arrives in a couple weeks.

Would be great to hear if others with the 1080p display have similar issues.

 

It's not faulty, it's just worse quality than before. AFAIK all the poeple received same panel with ghosting, just some poeple didn't noticed that in-game.

 

Here's a video of my experience so far:

 

And #2

 

Hmm... okay, I see some ghosting in the test with the UFO's on my AW 13 1440p screen. Not quite as apparent as on the AW 15 screen, but it's there. Tbh, I can't say I have noticed anything though in gaming and I am pretty particular about image quality, but it might be a case where I just don't register it. Wonder if the rates are about the same but the effect is more apparent on the larger screen?

I will say though that I haven's seen anything approaching the prior views with ghosting that were posted of the fps game... that I would be *****ing about day one!

 

Thanks for the feedback and videos, I'll share it with the engineers for them to review and let us know what could be done on this situation. As soon as I have an update, I'll post it here!

 

What could be done? You have to replace all displays in all new alienwares. Im sure you won't do that so You can't resolve this problem.

 

Not a problem...The ghosting is VERY bad on my model, I'll try to take another video tonight. There's also very heavy backlight bleeding on the bottom left corner of my unit. Should I send it back?

Overall, love the performance and everything else!

 

Also -- i'm starting to guess that the panel I received is NOT an IPS panel. The view angles are not what they should be.

 

I actually returned my AW15 because the ghosting was so bad. It might be because I have very discerning eyes but it made all fast-paced games very hard to play. It felt like motion blur was "cranked up to 11" in addition to standard motion blur found in most games.

 

Just give us some time so the engineers take a look at the issue, try to replicate and decide what to do to fix it. As soon as I have an update I'll post it here.

 

Already done, though. I would have waited but your phone tech and customer support was unwilling to help me extend my return window. I wasn't going to risk my return window in order to wait for you guys to fix the problem. The panel was advertised as IPS but clearly wasn't.

Oh and while unrelated to this topic, let's not even talk about the lack of WHQL drivers on your support site. I couldn't do a fresh install because of it, and I really didn't care to edit the inf files.

 

We just uploaded a new driver to our support site. I undertand your concerna and the fact that you decided to send it back to avoid any issues. I will keep
you updated anyway just in case you'd like to acquire another one in the near future.

 

Does this fix the backlight bleeding? Because i'm fairly sure that's a hardware issue.

 

Also -- I don't see any driver updates here: http://www.dell.com/support/home/us...de=alienware-15&languageCode=EN&categoryId=VI

 

Backlight bleeding is a completely different scenario. It will only be fixed with a screen replacement.

Sorry about that, the driver isn't up there yet. It can be found here: http://www.alienwarearena.com/forum...-alienware-laptop-nvidia-graphics-card-driver

 

No problem! Thanks for linking to that, I'll install it tonight. What about the ghosting of the display? Not trying to be negative nancy, but I have a 30 day window for replacement or return. I absolutely love it, but if the 3k/4k display doesn't have ghosting I would've gone for that :/

What can I get you specifically to help you and engineers out? More video and use cases?

 

Thanks for your offer to help. The engineers will try to replicate the issue and determine what should be done from there. Unfortunately, I do not have an ETA for the possible fix. I'll have to ask you for your patience on this case. It may happen within a couple days or it could take longer.

 

How can you fix display ghosting with a driver xD?

 

I haven't said that the ghosting issue will be solved with a driver. I mentioned that the team in charge will decide what to do if they replicate the issue in their lab.

The driver update was mentioned because an user said that there's a lack of driver support.

 

Stop giving him a hard time, he's addressed the problem and has sent to the people who can test the issue. Let's keep this a productive thread.

 

Thanks Porras, I look forward to hearing what they say. I'll hold on to it until I hear from you.

 

You are very optimistic man. I know how corporations deal with their customers with these "reply layouts".Have fun waiting

 

As I said, I have no ETA for this to be completed. It could take anywhere between hours and weeks. What's importante is that we have already shared the information with the team in charge and they are already replicating the behavior. That's the 1st step to get things done.

@the Sandman2236, I appreciate your patience. I understand that this is a personal decision and I assure you that I won't let you alone in the dark. I'll keep pushing until we get something. I'll have a meeting with the L3's on Monday, there should be an update by then, even if the update is that there's no update yet.

 

I think I am experiencing moderate ghosting/motion blur as well, I also have the 1080 matte screen. Ugh, If I had known this was going to be the case I would have gone 4k too. Is this something that can be fixed with settings/drivers or is it just locked to the panel?

 

So I called Dell after interacting with @Alienware-L_Porras, they mentioned that they already knew about the ghosting issue and are working to see if it can be fixed with bios, firmware, or panel replacement. They gave me an ETA of next thursday to see what their engineers come up with.

 

Excellent! Post here when you do. I think I will give them a ring as well just to make sure they are aware of the issue from multiple users and keep posted here to find out what the update will be.

 

Why didn't they examine their screen product before deciding on their final production selection? I imagine, if displays will need to replaced, that it will be a financial and time management drain. I swear whether it be games or laptops, I feel that we are too often glorified beta testers. Put out a finished product and quit wasting both of our times. I already returned the Clevo 650se with its crap plastic build quality, this month, and will be very disturbed if my Alienware 15 is in need of a return.

 

Does anyone here with the 1080p display not have ghosting?

 

Bah... i hope this doesn't happen to me...

 

No, All 1080p panels have ghosting just some poeple didn't noticed that because they aren't playing fast-action games. It's bad panel quality and can't be fixed with firmware,bios etc etc.

 

If true thats really terrible on Alienwares part and especially for a so called ''gaming'' laptop. For me this could be a reason choosing the AW 13 over the AW 15,
because the FHD panel of the AW 13 seems to be great.

 

You can also read about bad quality of new 2015 laptop series on this forum. Alienware M17xR3 and M18x could survive years of heavy using without any signs. 2015 AW17(prob 17 i don't remember) have problems with rubber-like material torns off after 2 months. I was interested in new series but after reading 2015 AW forum im not

 

Well, customers are the new alpha and beta tester for products
Just look at Ubisoft (AC Unity, Watch Dogs) or EA (Sim City), apparently this applies to hardware manufactures now as well.

 

Got bad news for everyone, but it's always been this way, as far back as I can remember in IT (circa 1991), consumers are always the true testers. This applies to everything really, because the range of use cases tested by a manufacturer of things or software is very limited. I will say the problem I am seeing more and more on the laptop side is that too many low-end competitors are rushing crap to market (MSI, ASUS, etc) and the general quality overall is suffering. Dell in turn is forced to hold out as long as they can then push things out and at the same time the need to maintain margins is creating situations like this, where a poorer quality screen was selected from the available pool to almost certainly keep costs up without a desire to fully vet it. The danger to Dell for the Alienware line is many people (myself included) have been loyalists despite the "real gamers don't buy Alienware - blah blah blah" nonsense because despite the higher cost and sometimes better, sometimes worse performance, we banked on a solid, thought through product that was well constructed but I am concerned but not yet fully worried for the following reasons. Based on the defect rate I have seen with the AW 13 (every unit had some issue, though one was purely cosmetic), and now it the AW 15 screens it's telling that QA has suffered this round. I was really expecting something like this due to the significant design changes mid-cycle on the units. If Dell stays true to form, the Alienware line will resolve the issues within 3-6 months, but a general issue (like the legendary M11x hinge issue) might unfortunately take longer as they seem to hate to admit to these kinds of production gaffes. Software/BIOS issues get fixed (usually) within a few weeks or months, but hardware issues are another matter. The hinge issue was well known on the M11x-R1, and was continued into the M11x-R2 until after enough pressure was on Dell they relented and created a new design and then issued a one-time, life-time fix for the hinge even for units out of warranty. I hope we don't see this kind of scenario from Dell this time around, I think between the move to BGA, and something like this, the line's following could really start to suffer and look elsewhere.

I am gathering the funds up for an AW 15, but this news is giving me pause to hold off on any buying till it's resolved, and I suspect I won't be alone. Alienware_Porras, I know you don't have control but please give the feedback to your folks that they seriously need to fess up and address this issue QUICKLY; Alienware cannot deal with both the fallout from the BGA move and a clear demonstrable problem with their IPS panels.

PS: Anyone know if the 2160p panel is suffering the same problem or not? I get minimal ghosting on my AW 13 with the 1440p screen, curious if the TrueLife screen for the AW 15 is about the same or not.

 

How bad is the ghosting compared to ghosting-free screens?

Watching the linked YouTube videos, I notice some stuttering, which can also come from the camera or the YouTube video conversion. Additionally, the video with Blur Buster is only with 30 Hz.

I tried Blur Buster on my current laptop (see below, it got a IPS panel) and, beside the stuttering, dint notice a big difference. It is possible though, that I never saw a ghosting free screen ^^

I will test it on my Dell U2414H monitor later.

EDIT:
I watch the video again, now I see a UFO in front and after the actual UFO. That is ghosting, right?

 

Themn, I have to test mine when I get home from work this evening

 

I ran the same tests on my Dell U2713H monitor and absolutely no issue at all, while the AW 13 1440p screens shows *minor* ghosting (nothing on par with the video - which is as einsteinchen indicated probably much worse due to the Youtube conversion).

 

So that is what I've been experiencing. Ghosting. It affects the 13 1440p panel like you said, and it can be rough from what I've seen (I have a video linked in the 13's Owners lunge if anybody cares to view what I mean).
However, I've only seen it happen on Windows 8.1 when on battery. When plugged in, no ghosting. No ghosting is present in Windows 7, on battery or plugged in, on my 13 as well. All works fine in relation with the panel.
Anyone here have a AW15 with Windows 7? From this thread, I've only seen Windows 8.1 shown.