laptop screen question

[Pica]

i need someone(s) who are more familiar w/ mac laptops than i to help me out. my friend just bought a g4 powerbook on ebay and has 2 days to check it out and make sure all is well and return it if it isn't. he asked me to take a look at the screen to help determine if there's a problem with it.

here's the deal: it has a 15inch screen. there is an area of nebulous size/shape (between a golf ball diameter to playing card size area maybe?) that may or may not be darker than the rest of the screen. it's only a shade or two darker than the rest of the screen and isn't really noticeable when you're in an application, only if you're looking for it. the machine will be used for general home use, print and web design and photo processing. it's definitely usable right now, but the matter in question is: is this an indication of a bigger problem; will it be a progressive problem (will it keep getting darker, will the area spread)? if either of those are true, is this something that can be fixed economically down the road? has anyone encountered this personally?

thanks in advance for any advice you can share!

[Riya]

I'd send it back.
Abnormalities on an lcd don't go away and usually get worse. It might not be that bad if you weren't using it for design work, but you are, so color is important.
Unless of course you or your friend are the adventuring type and willing to put forth the required time and effort find a working screen from the EXACT same brand and model and replace it yourselves (keep in mind that laptop repairs are very tricky), it will probably cost you a couple hundred to get it repaired at a shop.

[Drazan]

send it back.

The off color could be from a multitude of things that could go wrong.
* the screen itself
* the connectors
* the cables
* the board connectors

There's many other laptops used and new - why buy something that already has a problem?

[xplod_ldg]

Send it back. The problem will only get worse in time...

[mojoprime]

did you try making a white desktop pattern and seeing if you can tell it easily with that?

everyone's right. it'll spread or the display will fail. send it back.

["Technical" Terry]

You could narrow down the problems that Drazen brought to the table. Connect an external monitor to the laptop and see if there a problem on the external.

If no problems with the external AND you got some kind of SUPER, GREAT, OUTSTANDING deal - maybe you could live with having to belly-up to a dektop monitor everytime you want to use the laptop.

[Riya]

^ but only if you really did get a super oustanding deal on the laptop.... If you paid for something fully functional, you should get it.

[Pica]

thanks everybody for the responses. he had the tech guy at our office look at it and he spent 2 days playing w/ the thing, checking the battery life, the monitor, the usb ports, and so on and so on and he gave it a clean bill of health. the weird screen thing turned out only to be noticeable at all when it was under bright florescent lights and tilted at an extreme angle, you were looking for it, and there were no applications open. i think we only noticed it at all because the seller mentioned it. it actually went away entirely when the comp had been on for a while. i think the tech guy said it was from the keyboard pressing against the screen when it was closed but said that if you put some sort of padding between the two when it's closed that it won't get any worse. the comp was a pretty good deal and looks like it's in perfect shape otherwise. now we just have to drum up some more freelance biz to justify "neeeeeding" a cool new laptop.

:o)


hmmm, i shouldn't have had that venti redeye this morning huh?