Dell Latitude D620 Display Problems

mobileT

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Aug 9, 2006
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Anyone else have this prob? I received my new latitude D620 today. The screen was horrible. It is very "grainy." It looks like it's something in the matte coating. Very annoying. It's too bad. It seems like a decent little laptop. It used to be a pretty safe bet that when buying from mailorder you'd get a decent display. Now I dunno.

I don't think I have any choice but to return it.
 

chicaroni

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Aug 20, 2006
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I recently experienced the identical problem with a new D620 purchased for my business. Grainy, shading and colors were off, generally poor. After one email to DELL Support they had me confirm if the issue was in the display or the video card by connecting an external monitor. Since the graphics on the ext monitor were as expected, they scheduled an onsite service call to replace the display entirely. The whole issue, although inconvient, was resolved in 3 days. The new display is excellent.

So although it was unfortunate to receive a defective machine out of the box, I am still a fan of this model with it's features and overall build. As a side note, I have purchase 2 additional laptops of this model since that first one with no issues.

Not sure what service option you got when purchasing your model, but if you feel like the balance of the system meets your expectations take the time to have the display replaced. It's a good system.
 

mobileT

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Aug 9, 2006
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First, I loved the D620 notebook. It is compact, powerful and seems to have good construction. The display is where it failed for me and some others. How about the silvery sheen and the restricted viewing angles? Do you know the manufacturer of the display you have on your good D620s? (Astra32 is an app that you can use to determine.)

Regarding calling Dell, I did that. They offered to replace the motherboard, video card and display for me. That was very good, don't get me wrong. But, I declined. I wasn't to excited to have my one-day-old notebook up on the rack. It's like buying a new car... and having the transmission blow the next day. They can offer to fix it, but my new car is now *too worked on.*

A fair number of people, though, reported it to Dell, had the service call, only to have the display replaced by an equally poor display. I don't know how rampant the issue is.

Here's a thread on the problem from the Dell forums:
http://forums.us.dell.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=latit_video&message.id=21944&view=by_date_ascending&page=1

The thread is now 28 pages long and quite an interesting read. But it does underscore that new electronics equipment should be tested as deeply as possible, immediately. Dell offers 21 days to return. Use these days to get a feel for your equipment or risk getting burned. You are never more powerful than you will be for those 21 days.