An all too common annoyance to users of laptops with Active Matrix Thin Film Transistor (TFT) Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) screens is the dreaded "dead pixel" phenomenon (lit or missing). This is because it is impossible to guarantee 100 percent perfection in all those millions of tiny transistors while keeping the price of the product affordable. Each manufacture has a different standard of what is acceptable regarding a certain number of sub-pixel anomalies (a pixel stuck on or off).

Dell's policy is that a screen is defective if it has seven or more faulty pixels, IBM allows 6-11 (depending upon the laptop), Toshiba five and HP/Compaq seven to nine (see attached table).

So, if you purchase a refurbished laptop and there are a few dead or missing pixels you most likely will have to live with the situation. In most cases you won't even notice that there are any problem pixels.