My girlfriend recently purchased a Dell Inspiron 6400 with a 15.4" widescreen display from an "official reseller for reconditioned Dell machines" (or somesuch) via Ebay. The same pixel-wide white line appeared on her screen after a couple of hours' use. She contacted the seller and an engineer came out inside two days and replaced the display... better service than if she'd bought a brand-new one from the sound of things! He told her he was doing ten or more replacements a week; and took the opportunity to offer an extended warranty - exactly the same as Dell's but at half the price - while he was at it.
It appears that Dell are perfectly aware of the problem and are even continuing to sell laptops with displays from faulty batches, on the grounds that many people won't bother to replace them or will be put off by the customer service tomfoolery!
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It's not just the 17-inch screens...
My girlfriend recently purchased a Dell Inspiron 6400 with a 15.4" widescreen display from an "official reseller for reconditioned Dell machines" (or somesuch) via Ebay. The same pixel-wide white line appeared on her screen after a couple of hours' use. She contacted the seller and an engineer came out inside two days and replaced the display... better service than if she'd bought a brand-new one from the sound of things! He told her he was doing ten or more replacements a week; and took the opportunity to offer an extended warranty - exactly the same as Dell's but at half the price - while he was at it.
It appears that Dell are perfectly aware of the problem and are even continuing to sell laptops with displays from faulty batches, on the grounds that many people won't bother to replace them or will be put off by the customer service tomfoolery!