1704FPT 17" Monitor Dark on Top and too Bright

I just got a Dell refurb 1704FPT Ultra 17" LCD monitor. I have two
problems with it:

1. It has a dark gradient on the top of the screen; in order to view
the entire screen (uniformly bright), I have to either tilt the screen
toward myself, or sit up straight and look downward at the screen.
Viewing the screen perpendicular results in the top being dark and
harder to see.

2. The monitor is too bright: I work at home in a softly lit room, and
I have to turn the brightness to zero, and the contrast to about 13%,
and still the LCD is hard on the eyes.

Compared to my Hitachi 19" CRT, the Hitachi is easy on the eyes, very
adjustable, and super sharp and crisp. The Dell LCD appears to have
thicker dark areas, which is cheap-looking.

Is all this normal for LCDs ... or do I have a defective monitor ?
Any other comments appreciated.

SteveH

Of course the monitor is defective. No monitor, CRT or LCD, should have
dark areas, light areas or any other anomaly present. Send it back.

"cgai" wrote in message
oups.com...
I just got a Dell refurb 1704FPT Ultra 17" LCD monitor. I have two
problems with it:

1. It has a dark gradient on the top of the screen; in order to view
the entire screen (uniformly bright), I have to either tilt the screen
toward myself, or sit up straight and look downward at the screen.
Viewing the screen perpendicular results in the top being dark and
harder to see.

2. The monitor is too bright: I work at home in a softly lit room, and
I have to turn the brightness to zero, and the contrast to about 13%,
and still the LCD is hard on the eyes.

Compared to my Hitachi 19" CRT, the Hitachi is easy on the eyes, very
adjustable, and super sharp and crisp. The Dell LCD appears to have
thicker dark areas, which is cheap-looking.

Is all this normal for LCDs ... or do I have a defective monitor ?
Any other comments appreciated.

SteveH

I would say that this is probably why it was "refurbished"

-gg-

Of course the monitor is defective. No monitor, CRT or LCD, should
have dark areas, light areas or any other anomaly present. Send it
back.

"cgai" wrote in message
oups.com...

I just got a Dell refurb 1704FPT Ultra 17" LCD monitor. I have two
problems with it:

1. It has a dark gradient on the top of the screen; in order to view
the entire screen (uniformly bright), I have to either tilt the
screen toward myself, or sit up straight and look downward at the
screen. Viewing the screen perpendicular results in the top being
dark and harder to see.

2. The monitor is too bright: I work at home in a softly lit room,
and I have to turn the brightness to zero, and the contrast to about
13%, and still the LCD is hard on the eyes.

Compared to my Hitachi 19" CRT, the Hitachi is easy on the eyes, very
adjustable, and super sharp and crisp. The Dell LCD appears to have
thicker dark areas, which is cheap-looking.

Is all this normal for LCDs ... or do I have a defective monitor ?
Any other comments appreciated.

SteveH

Gray Ghost wrote:

I would say that this is probably why it was "refurbished"

Although it sounds as though QA was asleep when this monitor went past
their station. I bought a refurb 1704FPT 5 months ago which looks like
the 1905FP I bought new (although smaller, of course).

That would surprise me, as refurbs are well-tested (better than the new
ones). Anything broken doesn't go back for sale.

Unless they missed it

Tom
"Gray Ghost" wrote in message
...
I would say that this is probably why it was "refurbished"

-gg-

Of course the monitor is defective. No monitor, CRT or LCD, should
have dark areas, light areas or any other anomaly present. Send it
back.

"cgai" wrote in message
oups.com...

I just got a Dell refurb 1704FPT Ultra 17" LCD monitor. I have two
problems with it:

1. It has a dark gradient on the top of the screen; in order to view
the entire screen (uniformly bright), I have to either tilt the
screen toward myself, or sit up straight and look downward at the
screen. Viewing the screen perpendicular results in the top being
dark and harder to see.

2. The monitor is too bright: I work at home in a softly lit room,
and I have to turn the brightness to zero, and the contrast to about
13%, and still the LCD is hard on the eyes.

Compared to my Hitachi 19" CRT, the Hitachi is easy on the eyes, very
adjustable, and super sharp and crisp. The Dell LCD appears to have
thicker dark areas, which is cheap-looking.

Is all this normal for LCDs ... or do I have a defective monitor ?
Any other comments appreciated.

SteveH

Oh I agree, I'm just stating that perhaps there is a chance that this is
why it was refurbished... maybe it just wasn't caught. :-\

I've got a Dimension 8400 that was refurbished, runs just fine.

That would surprise me, as refurbs are well-tested (better than the
new ones). Anything broken doesn't go back for sale.

Unless they missed it

Tom
"Gray Ghost" wrote in message
...
I would say that this is probably why it was "refurbished"

-gg-

Of course the monitor is defective. No monitor, CRT or LCD, should
have dark areas, light areas or any other anomaly present. Send it
back.

"cgai" wrote in message
oups.com...
I just got a Dell refurb 1704FPT Ultra 17" LCD monitor. I have two
problems with it:

1. It has a dark gradient on the top of the screen; in order to
view the entire screen (uniformly bright), I have to either tilt
the screen toward myself, or sit up straight and look downward at
the screen. Viewing the screen perpendicular results in the top
being dark and harder to see.

2. The monitor is too bright: I work at home in a softly lit room,
and I have to turn the brightness to zero, and the contrast to
about 13%, and still the LCD is hard on the eyes.

Compared to my Hitachi 19" CRT, the Hitachi is easy on the eyes,
very adjustable, and super sharp and crisp. The Dell LCD appears to
have thicker dark areas, which is cheap-looking.

Is all this normal for LCDs ... or do I have a defective monitor ?
Any other comments appreciated.

SteveH

Thanks for all the comments ...

Since you actually own a couple of these LCDs, can you tell me if yours
appears darker toward the top edge, if you look at the screen straght
on? I kind of had that issue with my old ThinkPad as well.

Also, my screen looks sharper when I switch to 1280x1024 (native mode)
.... but it would be nice to choose my resolution (1152 is better for
me, but does not look very sharp or pleasant).

Thanks,
SteveH


Sparky Spartacus wrote:
Gray Ghost wrote:

I would say that this is probably why it was "refurbished"

Although it sounds as though QA was asleep when this monitor went past
their station. I bought a refurb 1704FPT 5 months ago which looks like
the 1905FP I bought new (although smaller, of course).

It is always going to be sharpest at the native resolution. That's a
weakness of LCD displays. You can't resize and get good results. Some
panels are better than others, but it is still inferior at the 'wrong' size.

Tom
"cgai" wrote in message
oups.com...
Thanks for all the comments ...

Since you actually own a couple of these LCDs, can you tell me if yours
appears darker toward the top edge, if you look at the screen straght
on? I kind of had that issue with my old ThinkPad as well.

Also, my screen looks sharper when I switch to 1280x1024 (native mode)
... but it would be nice to choose my resolution (1152 is better for
me, but does not look very sharp or pleasant).

Thanks,
SteveH


Sparky Spartacus wrote:
Gray Ghost wrote:

I would say that this is probably why it was "refurbished"

Although it sounds as though QA was asleep when this monitor went past
their station. I bought a refurb 1704FPT 5 months ago which looks like
the 1905FP I bought new (although smaller, of course).

In article ,
Tom Scales wrote:
It is always going to be sharpest at the native resolution. That's a
weakness of LCD displays. You can't resize and get good results. Some
panels are better than others, but it is still inferior at the 'wrong' size.

I have recently got a 2005FPW monitor which has native res 1680x1050,
and I've temporarily been using it with the analogue input at 1280x800,
from an older computer. The display quality has been excellent, even
though it is not the native resolution.

Cheers
Tony
--
Tony Mountifield
Work: - http://www.softins.co.uk
Play: - http://tony.mountifield.org

cgai wrote:

Thanks for all the comments ...

Since you actually own a couple of these LCDs, can you tell me if yours
appears darker toward the top edge, if you look at the screen straght
on? I kind of had that issue with my old ThinkPad as well.

Definitely not.

Also, my screen looks sharper when I switch to 1280x1024 (native mode)
... but it would be nice to choose my resolution (1152 is better for
me, but does not look very sharp or pleasant).

I run them at their native resolution (including my ThinkPad R40).