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When showing colors of medium brightness (between black and white, in this test case the color is gray, or #888888), there are a few darker spots on the monitor. They are much less visible when showing bright colors, or dark colors. Playing with monitor contrast and brightness does not help. It is not a video card issue, since I've been through 3 different video cards, nor a cable issue, since this is behaving the same on DVI and Display Port.

I have also noticed that they are more visible when the screen just turns on, and over a few minutes they become a bit harder to see, but still visible and sometimes annoying.

Here is a photo: enter image description here

You can see a small but strong dark smudge in the top of the screen, and a weaker, but much larger smudge on the right side. The small one on the top is about 1cm wide and 2-3mm high. The one on the right is about 3mm thick and goes down about 12cm.

What are these smudges, and are there ways to fix them?

An update to the situation

It got worse. Significantly worse. Appallingly worse. Small spots turned to large spots. Eventually the entire monitor was affected. They became big, dim, reddish in color, and had I used the monitor myself, I would've thrown it out long ago, but it was my parents, who were not bothered by it. The monitor lasted for what? 3 years? maybe 2 "usable" years? It's appalling that such a bad piece of hardware could cost 1000$. I had to force my parents to throw it out, by getting them a replacement 27" monitor that I bought for 270$, albeit 1080p (they won't notice), that is SO MUCH BETTER, and lower power consumption, lighter, thinner bezels, brighter, and no spots.

Judging from the amount of traffic this question is getting (I just got notified that it's been viewed 1000 times), I am guessing that a lot of people have the exact same issue. My advice - never buy expensive monitors from Dell. And if you have this behemoth now on your desk, get rid of it, and get yourself a lower powered monitor that's gonna perform much better.

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  • They are monitor defects. On the off chance it is not, have you taken a light moist cotton towel to wipe the area? Is this issue similar to yours? hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1710120
    – Sun
    Dec 4, 2014 at 16:50
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    … though closer examination of that pic makes it look more like moisture damage. Ring Dell, their 5 years guarantee on those screens is good, they replaced mine when it went south, after only a couple of years.
    – Tetsujin
    Dec 4, 2014 at 17:57
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    The display is a sandwich of many layers of different kinds of films. The picture looks like a bubble or separation in one of the layers or between the film and the surface glass. I'm not aware of anything you can do to fix that. Hopefully, you have warranty coverage.
    – fixer1234
    Dec 4, 2014 at 20:51
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    @MikeB unfortunately no. The spots disappear when the monitor isn't heavily used for a long time, that's the only good think in all of this.
    – Alex
    Feb 15, 2016 at 13:43
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    I have this issue on both of the U2711s I own. One had this appear in a minor form about a year and half after unboxed, and has gotten progressively worse. The other is a slightly older monitor and is developing it at a more accelerated rate than the first. This is clearly a manufacturing defect, and though I have a 5 year warranty on the monitor, Dell claims that the monitor is no longer under warranty, and is passing the buck to my local distributor, who previously passed the buck to Dell. I am not a happy camper, and will no longer be purchasing, retailing or recommending dell monitors.
    – user584485
    Apr 18, 2016 at 20:09

1 Answer 1

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I had exactly the same problem and the splotches grew worse over the last week, covering the top left, nearly all of the center and again on the lower right.

I filled my screen with a medium grey (a color where the splotches show best), took a picture and sent it to the Dell tech. They had me run a diagnostic and between that and the picture they agree this is a defect of some sort.

I am sending the monitor in and they are replacing it with a new monitor. The unit has a 3 year warranty so depending on when you bought it you should be able to get Dell to replace it.

enter image description here

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    The only "solution" listed here is someone saying "I think it's defective." I have proof it is defective after talking with Dell. I think if somebody else searching the web were to see this post they would know that their own monitor is defective and can contact Dell for resolution. Just my two cents, but I see this information I've provided as clearly a solution to the OP.
    – Katherine
    Mar 31, 2015 at 18:10
  • Unfortunately I asked for ways to fix them, and did not get an answer. Returning it to Dell is not an option for me. I will vote it up though, so people who see this question would pay more attention to this as a solution for them if they could return it to Dell.
    – Alex
    Apr 1, 2015 at 12:33

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