Written in 27. Nov - 3. Dec 2009 by Paul Pekkarinen (paulkp@mbnet.fi)
Back some time I decided to get a notebook. The following sad story is part my fault, because as an experienced computer geek I should have know better to find out about the product I'm going to buy. Always read reviews and user experiences before buying anything. It seems to be the mantra today, because you can't trust manufacturers to produce even closely decent hardware.
I probably had a chance to return the product, but I really didn't pay attention to the backlight bleed fast enough. Actually I thought it was some kind of gradient graphics of Windows 7. I did the usual maintenance like removing Norton's programs and installed some other programs. Then I started to realize the screen was bleeding bad.
I contacted Fujitsu's customer support and the guy asked me to send images from bleeding. I took one picture from my LG Flatron L227WT monitor as a reference and other from Pi 3560. Then he said the computer should be fixed, because the bleeding is not normal.
Guess how the repair went? In a message I got back with the computer they had compared the screen to a "reference" one and there was nothing wrong with it. They also added that it was free this time. I don't know, but that sounded like a threat.
These images were taken with my reference. It's my dad's Amilo, just much older model. The old model is on left and Pi 3560 is on right. Both screens are set to same angle and distance from the camera and they are set to black (0,0,0) with a white (255,255,255) cursor and "Test" text on screen. No, there isn't a gradient graphics of any kind on Pi 3560's screen. It should be black.
In the first image the brightness is set to as low as it gets in both computers. You can see what I'm complaining. The screen of Pi 3560 is not only bleeding, it's glowing.
In the second image I have set the brightness to full in both computers. You can see that the older model is also bleeding, but much less and it stays at the borders of the screen. The old model has normal bleeding, but look at Pi 3560. It has become a light bulb.
These images don't show the real bleeding which is less worse, but the comparison is clear. The old model wins hands down and it's not a super quality screen. It's an average quality screen that has normal bleeding.
When I asked if it's possible to return the computer they said no. The shop where I ordered the computer also asked for images to see if there was some kind of problem with Fujitsu's repair policy. I haven't got any answers, but I'm skeptical that anything will happen after Fujitsu decided that this is normal backlight bleeding.
I don't even know if this really is a feature or a broken screen and other Pi 3560's have less backlight bleed. I think there should not be anything like this in modern computers.
It's annoying to stare at grey screen when it should be black. Backlight bleed of this magnitude is not good for eyes, because you are basically staring at light. The way they returned the computer without even considering it broken was humiliating and depressing.
I hope this article will be found when people look for information about Pi 3560. They can then make a better decision than I did.
The led technique for producing backlight seems to be the culprit and people are just starting to realize it with introduction of edge led screens. What manufacturers did was replaced the CCFL with cheaper LEDs and they even came up with advertising lines like "spends less energy", but they keep really quiet about backlight bleed problems.
And they get away with it.