RANT: New IPS monitors are full of QC issues it's infuriating

[AltF4_345]

In the last 2 years I had 5 monitors, one Viewsonic XG2405, which came with 3 dead pixels and 3 stuck pixels, and then made the exchange for another one, and that one came with a dead pixel on the bottom edge. After upgrading GPU I got the itch to buy a 1440p, which at that time I bought an MSI MAG274QRF-QD. Guess what? It came faulty, with 4 dead pixels and what seemed like a big speck of dust inside the middle of the screen. I then sent it back and was refunded and then bought an ASUS ROG Strix XG27AQ which I have since a month ago, and it was good when I bought it, since It has zero dead pixels, but now, sadly again, another problem arose. You see, in a black background or any dark background, it is full of green stuck sub-pixels.

 

Here are some photos:

 

 

I also have photos of my previous monitors issues:

 

MAG274QRF-QD

 

Viewsonic XG2405

 

After all these experiences I am planning to keep the Asus since the bright sub-pixels are only noticeable if I try hard enough to search for them in a dark room. With the room's lights on and the monitor on low brightness (which is what I am accustomed to use) it is even less noticeable. Still, it is veeery annoying (maybe a bit less to people who don't suffer from OCD like me) to have to deal with all these issues and shame on all these brands for selling us faulty products as new. As I read somewhere on the internet, you don't buy a car with 3 tires instead of 4, and the car brands certainly don't expect you to think it's normal, so why do these monitor manufacturer's expect you to be alright with more than 3-5 dead pixels-stick pixels? What makes it ever worse for me is that I live in Latin America and here RMA is non-existent (when I bought in the store they didn't even let me try the monitor in the store) and in my country official support is bad since, they don't even the same model in stock to replace so, support is almost non-existent.

 

The previous monitor I had before trying 144hz and buying a new one was a Dell UltraSharp U2414H, it was practically flawless, no issues whatsoever.  I would keep using it and sell the Asus, but after trying Adaptive Sync and 144hz - 165hz, i'm not going back, I can't.

 

 

[Shimejii]

Yeah Monitors can be an absolute pain in the ass sadly  with issues. I got pretty lucky with my 2015 one, but it too has some issues, its quite hard to find a single panel that has absolutely no issue. Thats within tolerances usually, as someone will buy it and be fine with it.

[AltF4_345]

12 minutes ago, Shimejii said:

Yeah Monitors can be an absolute pain in the ass sadly  with issues. I got pretty lucky with my 2015 one, but it too has some issues, its quite hard to find a single panel that has absolutely no issue. Thats within tolerances usually, as someone will buy it and be fine with it.

My dell is from 2014 and it is perfect QC wise. The only problem was that the panel (from LG according to TFT central) had mediocre contrast even by IPS standards and the anti glare coating was too aggressive.

 

Sadly it is unusable for me now since I now need Adaptive Sync and 144hz.

[Bombastinator]

This has been the case for a long time.  It used to be part of the production process which was fundamentally analog in nature.  The holy grail for some time was a digital process to end that, but it doesn’t seem to have done much.  If anything it’s worse these days.  My personal solution is to buy a monitor at a B&M outlet and check it in the store to speed up the return time. May have to g0 through several to get one without annoying flaws.

Edited November 26, 2022 by Bombastinator

[AltF4_345]

Just now, Bombastinator said:

This has been the case for a long time.  It used to be part of the production process which was fundamentally analog in nature.  The holy grail for some time was a digital process to end that, but it doesn’t seem to have done much.  My personal solution is to buy a monitor at a B&M outlet and check it in the store to speed up the return time. May have to g0 through several to get one without annoying flaws.

That would be ideal if I lived in the US or in Europe, but sadly I don’t. Buying one here is buying something that you won’t be able to replace since it was bought by one store in the whole country and was imported in small quantites from the us with stock being depleted very fast.

[GoodBytes]

My 2x LG IPS (LG 27GP950) were perfect. Checked both with a magnifying glass with different colors.

Dell UltraSharp is usually good. They do have the best warranty on the market, and the majority of models are powered by LG IPS panel

[AltF4_345]

7 minutes ago, GoodBytes said:

My 2x LG IPS (LG 27GP950) were perfect. Checked both with a magnifying glass, different colors.

Dell UltraSharp is usually good. They do have the best warranty on the market, and the majority of models are powered by LG IPS panel

Wish I would’ve bought an lg but sadly there’s none available here in where I live, that why I bought the XG27AQ (AU Optronics). Seems that aside from less contrast ratio (for an IPS panel) the LG Panels are much better than AU Optronics and BOE/ Panda provides in terms of QC. I don’t know about Innolux.

[heimdali]

18 minutes ago, GoodBytes said:

Dell UltraSharp is usually good. They do have the best warranty on the market, and the majority of models are powered by LG IPS panel

How do we know these things?  I mean does that mean it's advisable to look for monitors using IPS panels from LG, and how do we know which monitors use them.  Are there some lists available I could use?

 

I need to pick monitors for office work and I can get lucky to make a good pick or a bad one pretty much randomly.  There's also no place I could go to look at some that would have a selection of relevant monitors on stock, let alone on display.

 

Now I'm reading that quality has been reduced.  Do manufacturers pick their monitors by country so they can send them where people don't have much chance to do something when they get a bad one?

 

[AltF4_345]

2 minutes ago, heimdali said:

How do we know these things?  I mean does that mean it's advisable to look for monitors using IPS panels from LG, and how do we know which monitors use them.  Are there some lists available I could use?

 

I need to pick monitors for office work and it's more like I can get lucky to make a good pick or a bad one pretty much randomly.  There's also no place I could go to look at some that would have a selection of relevant monitors on stock, let alone on display.

 

Rtings.com, PCmonitors, TFTCentral and Hardware Unboxed monitor reviews on Youtube come to mind. Those are the site where it gives me a proper idea of what monitor to choose from. 
 

From my experience, 60hz monitors have less qc issues, since every single 144hz I had and have is faulty and all the 60hz I owned were perfect, especially my Dell U2414h.

[heimdali]

10 minutes ago, AltF4_345 said:

Rtings.com, PCmonitors, TFTCentral and Hardware Unboxed monitor reviews on Youtube come to mind. Those are the site where it gives me a proper idea of what monitor to choose from.

Well, I tried to find canditates so I could read reviews and watch videos.  It turned that there aren't many candidates and they are difficult to find because the search criteria don't allow to easily find them.  I ended up with two monitors and the videos showed that the cheaper one is bascially a crappy TV that can function as a crappy monitor and there were only two videos about the other one.  One of those was questionable because the image quality shown in the video seemed somewhat poor, but I suspect the person making the video got the settings wrong.  The other video basically showed it's a good monitor and so far, it's the one I would pick.

 

But I'm not happy with that because it's more circumstantial and random than anything.

10 minutes ago, AltF4_345 said:

From my experience, 60hz monitors have less qc issues, since every single 144hz I had and have is faulty and all the 60hz I owned were perfect, especially my Dell U2414h.

Does someone still make 60Hz 4k monitors?

 

[AltF4_345]

9 minutes ago, heimdali said:

How do we know these things?  I mean does that mean it's advisable to look for monitors using IPS panels from LG, and how do we know which monitors use them.  Are there some lists available I could use?

 

I need to pick monitors for office work and I can get lucky to make a good pick or a bad one pretty much randomly.  There's also no place I could go to look at some that would have a selection of relevant monitors on stock, let alone on display.

 

Now I'm reading that quality has been reduced.  Do manufacturers pick their monitors by country so they can send them where people don't have much chance to do something when they get a bad one?

 

Didn’t see your last edit, I think in my case, where I live, the computer and display industry is very small because over here the products are full of taxes, everything is double the price, so no desire to sell since people can’t afford it.

Because of that usually when they sell monitors it is either because they are selling you a cheapo 1080p 144hz VA/IPS panel or selling you a premium monitor from a wildly popular brand like Asus.

[AltF4_345]

1 minute ago, heimdali said:

Well, I tried to find canditates so I could read reviews and watch videos.  It turned that there aren't many candidates and they are difficult to find because the search criteria don't allow to easily find them.  I ended up with two monitors and the videos showed that the cheaper one is bascially a crappy TV that can function as a crappy monitor and there were only two videos about the other one.  One of those was questionable because the image quality shown in the video seemed somewhat poor, but I suspect the person making the video got the settings wrong.  The other video basically showed it's good monitor and so far, it's the one I would pick.

 

But I'm not happy with that because it's more circumstantial and random than anything.

Does someone still make 60Hz 4k monitors?

 

I think Dell still makes them. The UltraSharp line

[heimdali]

1 minute ago, AltF4_345 said:

Didn’t see your last edit, I think in my case, where I live, the computer and display industry is very small because over here the products are full of taxes, everything is double the price, so no desire to sell since people can’t afford it.

I'd be surprised if any monitors would be developed or even manufactured here.

1 minute ago, AltF4_345 said:

Because of that usually when they sell monitors it is either because they are selling you a cheapo 1080p 144hz VA/IPS panel or selling you a premium monitor from a wildly popular brand like Asus.

Since when is Asus popular for monitors?

[AltF4_345]

Just now, heimdali said:

I'd be surprised if any monitors would be developed or even manufactured here.

Since when is Asus popular for monitors?

In my country it is, but only for gaming monitors. Asus in general no, but the ROG sub-brand.

[AltF4_345]

3 minutes ago, heimdali said:

I'd be surprised if any monitors would be developed or even manufactured here.

Since when is Asus popular for monitors?

Well, yes, where I live all electronics are imported, since no one wants to develop or manufacture here because of the high costs. 

[heimdali]

3 minutes ago, AltF4_345 said:

I think Dell still makes them. The UltraSharp line

Thanks!  When I use the filters on Dells website, I get only one monitor: Dell UltraSharp 43 4K-USB-C-Monitor: U4320Q

 

I don't know what to think about it.  Maybe I can find out more tomorrow.

[GoodBytes]

14 minutes ago, heimdali said:

How do we know these things?  I mean does that mean it's advisable to look for monitors using IPS panels from LG, and how do we know which monitors use them.  Are there some lists available I could use?

In-depth reviews sites, as mentioned, and my personal experience (I am not afraid of opening things, in fact I am always curious). Heck, even my 2x LG panels, I opened already and added HDD vibration absorbing mounts to the fan mount (was a good fit), just to reduce the fan noise from quite to even quiet, barely audible when you bring your ear next to it. 

 

14 minutes ago, heimdali said:

I need to pick monitors for office work and I can get lucky to make a good pick or a bad one pretty much randomly.  There's also no place I could go to look at some that would have a selection of relevant monitors on stock, let alone on display.

Neither in Canada, beside select stores with select monitors.

 

14 minutes ago, heimdali said:

Now I'm reading that quality has been reduced.  Do manufacturers pick their monitors by country so they can send them where people don't have much chance to do something when they get a bad one?

I don't know where you live, so I can't comment.

All I can talk about is Canada and US, as they both share a similar market and laws.

Dell, in Canada and US, offers free shipping and free return for 30-days, full money back, for any reason.

Plus, the UltraSharp series comes with 3-year "Advanced Exchange Service" (meaning, you get to keep the monitor while Dell ships you a replacement one (refurbished), and once you get it, you can swamp them, and return (shipping label provided in box) back to Dell. So, you always have a monitor on your desk, assuming it works)

Also, it features 0-bright/stuck pixel warranty during those 3 years. If any pixel is stuck on a color or white -> replacement, even if there is only 1 on the corner. As for dead pixels, it is 6 or more. But no zoning, no distance... you count 6 or more anywhere -> you are covered. Oh, and regardless of resolution, if I remember correctly.

 

Even LG doesn't provide this kind of warranty. You have 1 year with them, and that is about it. Everything is like any other manufacture. So, you have to make sure your monitor is purchased at an easy to return store, say: BestBuy, and make sure the panel is perfect within the 30-day return window. This is despite Dell using, on most of these UltraSharp monitors, LG panels.

 

So, you have to look at Dell website and see their terms and condition

[heimdali]

4 minutes ago, AltF4_345 said:

In my country it is, but only for gaming monitors. Asus in general no, but the ROG sub-brand.

Strange ... Asus is well known for mainboards and I had a board from them and they had a crappy fan on it and it sucked, so I'm not buying Asus again ...  What's ROG?

 

[AltF4_345]

33 minutes ago, heimdali said:

Strange ... Asus is well known for mainboards and I had a board from them and they had a crappy fan on it and it sucked, so I'm not buying Asus again ...  What's ROG?

 

Republic of Gamers. Asus varies wildly in quality depending on what component you’re referring to and what sub-brand. For example the 20 series TUF gpu from Asus, according to some people, were terrible, but that is not the case for the 30 series TUF gpus. I have an Asus Prime Z370-A (since 2017) and a Asus TUF 3060 ti and they have zero issues. 
 

In my opinion, monitor qc, is not only due to ones that manufactures the monitor but also the one’s who makes the panel (not the casing and the rest).

 

Cheap Asus boards, like the prime series vary in quality, and the ROG motherboards (Maximus Hero and Dark Hero) are enthusiast-grade with some really good ones (there might be a bad model or two but they usually are good but stupidly expensive)

[xg32]

it's gotten better in recent years, 10-15 years was actually dead pixel galore i'd check the monitor at best buy first before bringing it home

[Bombastinator]

2 hours ago, AltF4_345 said:

That would be ideal if I lived in the US or in Europe, but sadly I don’t. Buying one here is buying something that you won’t be able to replace since it was bought by one store in the whole country and was imported in small quantites from the us with stock being depleted very fast.

Well damn.  And the people selling them know it too so you’re an ideal dumping ground for parts they know will just get returned elsewhere.  Suxor

[AltF4_345]

29 minutes ago, Bombastinator said:

Well damn.  And the people selling them know it too so you’re an ideal dumping ground for parts they know will just get returned elsewhere.  Suxor

Yes, that’s the worst part of all. Every single high refresh rate monitor I bought was defective, and when I go to the store, they tell me that they do not accept returns, and that I should go to the official warranty service which is almost non existent. 
 

I even imported the MSI monitor I mentioned myself through a third party store who buys products in usa directly from amazon. It still came with defects, and I refunded it and tried again with the Xg27aq, that one actually came damaged because of shipping afterward by pure coincidence found the same monitor on sale here and that’s the Asus I have right now. Hate my luck, all of the them either defective or straight up broken.

[Bombastinator]

5 minutes ago, AltF4_345 said:

Yes, that’s the worst part of all. Every single high refresh rate monitor I bought was defective, and when I go to the store, they tell me that they do not accept returns, and that I should go to the official warranty service which is almost non existent. 
 

I even imported the MSI monitor I mentioned myself through a third party store who buys products in usa directly from amazon. It still came with defects, and I refunded it and tried again with the Xg27aq, that one actually came damaged because of shipping afterward by pure coincidence found the same monitor on sale here and that’s the Asus I have right now. Hate my luck, all of the them either defective or straight up broken.

So basically buying off the beaten path has additional complications because the people selling KNOW it is off the beaten path and take advantage of that.  “We do not accept returns” is generally a monopoly move.  The seller knows you have no alternative but to buy from them.  This can and does happen in the US, but only if the seller has a monopoly.  If they don’t, all of a sudden they’re much more easy going.

[AltF4_345]

30 minutes ago, xg32 said:

it's gotten better in recent years, 10-15 years was actually dead pixel galore i'd check the monitor at best buy first before bringing it home

I can’t even check it at stores in my country. They’d straight up say they don’t allow that when I went to buy the monitor I have now. 
 

And since that store is the only one that sells 27 inch 1440p 144hz monitors I didn’t have a choice

[AltF4_345]

2 minutes ago, Bombastinator said:

So basically buying off the beaten path has additional complications because the people selling KNOW it is off the beaten path and take advantage of that.  “We do not accept returns” is generally a monopoly move.  The seller knows you have no alternative but to buy from them.

Exactly. It is awful. But, to be honest, if it wasn’t for manufacturers themselves and their shitty QC I wouldn’t be so anxious and spending so much of my time either thinking about trying another one or angry at the way stores here work with returns.

 

I hope sincerely, someday that these qc issues would bite them in the ass.