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    9300 Wuxga Issues

    Discussion in 'Dell' started by Jeff Ornstein, Aug 20, 2005.

  1. Jeff Ornstein

    Jeff Ornstein Notebook Enthusiast

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    Hello,

    I have a 3-week old 9300 with Wuxga and the 6800 graphics card.

    The problem I am having is that the screen has alot of uneven brightness to it. When I look at it dead center, the left and right sides seem to be darker than the middle. When I move my head to the left or right, the left or right side of the screen lighten up and the middle gets darker.

    Believe me, I know about "viewing angles", as I have a 19" flat panel monitor on my desktop, but this is really too much. This is my first laptop and I know they usually have more condensed viewing angles than stand alone lcd's, but this seems to be extreme.

    Does anyone else have the same problem? Is this normal? I do not know what screen I have, everything tells me "default monitor" and nothing else. No mention of the manufacturer in hardware or display settings.

    Also, the blacks are very black, and it seems to overtake alot of details in some pictures, details that I can see very well on my desktop. I tried the nvidia brightness, etc., settings, and it still isnt getting it right.

    I'm really somewhat disappointed considering I got the high end screen and graphics card. My desktop with a nvidia 64mb geforce mx 4 40 seems better.

    Am I being too critical??? Was I expecting too much??

    Thanks

    Jeff
     
  2. doobie04

    doobie04 Notebook Consultant

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    i know what you are talking about. i had light leakage spots all over on the wxga+ 9300. i dont notice in on my wuxga 9300, except for the very bottem of the screen.

    yes, the screen is very dark at times when looking at pictures, im always adjusting the angle of the screen.

    i dont think your being over critical, you did pay over 1000 bucks.

    i still think the 9300 is the best bang for the buck despite the few "sucky" things about it. this is my first laptop/flat panel, though.
     
  3. Brian

    Brian Working at 486 Speed NBR Reviewer

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    There have been several people with screen quality issues in this model. You can send it back and try another display, there aren't any self help remedies for this one.
     
  4. sansin

    sansin Newbie

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    Jeff,

    let us know if you could resolve this issue by sending it back.
    Or did you just decide to live with it.

    thanks
     
  5. Jeff Ornstein

    Jeff Ornstein Notebook Enthusiast

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    As an update:

    I really needed something to compare against. So I went to two local CompUSA's yesterday to look at the laptop screens. Honestly, I wasn't very impressed with what I saw on most of the laptops. What I described happening on my 9300 seems to be the norm for lots of brand name computers from the likes of HP, Toshiba and Compaq. In fact, some looked worse than my 9300. There was obvious darkening at both sides of the screen and when you moved your head up and down, the screens went from light to dark.

    The only notable exception was the Sony WUXGA, which cost nearly $3,000. And a Fujitsu, which was close to $2000. Everything else looked mightily unimpressive. None of the laptop screens were as good as stand-alone LCD flat panel monitors.

    After working more on my 9300 yesterday, it really did not seem all that bad.
    When there is a dark colored background, the 9300 screen is really quite excellent. I was looking at some high-resolution photos on it yesterday and it was quite impressive. You view photos with a clarity not possible with sxga or sxga+.

    Considering I paid $1190 for it (using the 40% off coupon) with Wuxga, 6800 go, media center and 512 ram, I really can't complain much. Everything else about the computer has been pretty good so far. It doesn't run hot, the keyboard feels fine (alot of the computers at CompUSA had flimsy feeling keyboards) and using wireless, it seems faster then my desktop which is hard-wired to the cable modem. It is simply not possible to get a laptop with these specs for this price, except from Dell.

    If I tried another screen, it could be worse. Or I could get a 9200 screen, which some others have reported getting after they complained.

    So for now I'm keeping it.

    Jeff
     
  6. bryan986

    bryan986 Notebook Enthusiast

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    Thats LCDs for you

    I have a similar thing with my desktop LCD, but if you tweak the brightness/contrast/gamma settings on the monitor itself and in windows, you can probably get it to where you wont notice it very much if at all
     
  7. LuckMC11

    LuckMC11 Computer Extraoirdinaire NBR Reviewer

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    thanks for letting us know about it Jeff :D ...good thing you decided to keep it
     
  8. s1mon

    s1mon Notebook Enthusiast

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    In the shops when i compare the lcd screens on various laptops, i must say, the sonys really stand out. They definitely have the best screens. its ironic that they dont manufacture their own panels and still do a better job than others. Having said that, they are much more expensive when compared to similar spec laptops from other brands.

    HP's however seem to have the worst screens.
     
  9. LuckMC11

    LuckMC11 Computer Extraoirdinaire NBR Reviewer

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    what??...are u serious???
     
  10. s1mon

    s1mon Notebook Enthusiast

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    Well they dont seem as bright as other screens and the brightness is uneven. they also have more leakage at the bottom of the screen. The toshiba qosmio's have the brightest screens (i think they have twin backlights or something).

    ...Well at least to my eyes.
     
  11. woah

    woah Notebook Guru

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    The screen that came with the XPS Gen 2 I bought wasn't that great either. Although the colors and hues were nice, I was almost convinced Dell had tried to fit another one of those LED's below the screen (which was in addition to having to see the reflection of my ugly face the whole time).
     
  12. Charles P. Jefferies

    Charles P. Jefferies Lead Moderator Super Moderator

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    But then again, the toshiba qosmio's are almost $3kUS.

    HP's have one of the better screens in my opinion - I've used Dell, Toshiba, Acer, and HP. My HP BrightView was definitely the best, but I don't think I would get another "glare" type screen because they are hard on my eyes.
     
  13. Jeff Ornstein

    Jeff Ornstein Notebook Enthusiast

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    I think you'll have a hard time getting a non-glossy screen in the (near) future - if you shop around, you'll see that 9 out of ten (or maybe more) of the laptop screens now are of the glossy variety. Matte finishes are a thing of the past now, it seems.
     
  14. conghelach

    conghelach Notebook Consultant

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    It sounds like you may have an LG lcd panel, the samsungs have better viewing angles than the LGs, check your service tag at dell support and see what your system came with.
     
  15. conghelach

    conghelach Notebook Consultant

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    First of all No one can accurately answer your question....whys that??? Because you have neglected to tell us what panel make and model you got, WUXGA doesnt cut it buddy boy, we need to know if it is LG or Samsung and what model Number, then we can answer your question.

    Poor viewing angles are commonly attributed to an LG panel.
    How do I know which panel I have???

    Go To Dell Support and where asked for it, enter your service tag number and click on "original system configuration" where you can find the panels make and model number.