[orlick]

I am a switcher. I've been using PC's my whole life and after months of saving I've managed to get myself an 12'' iBook G4.

I purchased it from the Apple Store with 640MB of RAM, a 60GB hard drive, and Airport Extreme.

After waiting about 3 weeks, the iBook arrived and I discovered it had a faulty CD-RW drive. I called Applecare and they shipped me out a replacement. Probably one of the best experiences I've had with tech support in a long time.

2 weeks later I get my second iBook. This one has a dead pixel in the center of the screen. I know it's such a small thing, but on a computer I use upwards of 8 hours a day it is slowly driving me insane.

Coupled with the dead pixel it turns out that iBook G4's are unable to mount .dmg files correctly after the 10.3.1 update is applied. I fixed this by reinstalling Panther.

After a few miss-steps, the iBook really is a fantastic computer. I was worried that the screen size would be too small but I am absolutely in love with the form factor. When I'm at my desk I plug it into a second monitor. The size is perfect for carrying around and using anywhere.

The iBook absolutely blows away other Windows laptops in turns of wireless reception, battery life, and waking from sleep.

I've gotten off to a pretty inauspicious start but I think I'm growing to love my new iBook.

[nickgold2012]

Is the pixel dead (black) or stuck (a color, usually red or blue)? Stuck pixels may be fixable -- with a very soft cloth gently "massage" the screen at the point of the stuck pixel. SOmetimes they will remain, sometimes they will go away permanently, and sometimes they will disappear for a little while, only to return days or weeks later. But it's worth a shot.

Not too sure if dead pixels can be brought back to life in the fashion.

[orlick]

Yeah, the pixel is stuck red. I'll try rubbing it with a soft cloth. Thanks for the advice. Has anyone had any luck with this method?

[cryon]

Oh, a red glowing pixel, thats not fun i had one like that on my first (pc) laptop. That's almost impossible to work with. I had the bad luck to have it in the middle of the screen and that was a 14.1" screen with 1024x728 so i was really big. I hope you have luck with removing it.

[orlick]

yeah, it's stuck right in the middle of the screen. i've heard a lot of people being able to remove them by rubbing the screen with a cloth. we'll see when i get home tonight from work.

[CPU]

Originally posted by orlick:
Yeah, the pixel is stuck red. I'll try rubbing it with a soft cloth. Thanks for the advice. Has anyone had any luck with this method?

Luckily my ibook doesn't have any stuck pixels. I did however, have one on my 17" lcd screen. It was stuck on blue and near the center of the screen. I was able to get it out using a lint free cloth and applying a little pressure. A few days later it returned, but after I removed it, it has been working since.

[kayam1977]

i finally took the time to play with the spanning hack for ibook, and you can hook up external monitor and change assignment of primary and secondary monitor, as in you make external primary, at higher resolution..
useful to have topbar and dock on the external monitor if that what you are using it. I did notice there is a lag in expose when doign this but oh well, 1280x1024 or 1600x1200 is nice to work when you're on at a 19" or larger..

[recogniser]

The thing I like about the spanning hack is that with the TV video adapter you can use the tv as a second monitor. So you can be watching a DVD on the TV screen at the same time you are doing "work" on the iBook. It's pretty useful for hotel stays.