Buying an LCD, practical question

[Mephistopheles]

I've decided to buy a Samsung 215TW Widescreen LCD and I'm having trouble making a practical decision:

There's store A, which has one 215TW in stock, but has been displaying the LCD to customers for about 10 days. This means it has essentially already "been used" by the store and is a little dirty (not a lot though, I checked). I inspected the screen for any faulty pixels but found none whatsoever. They were even willing to give me a small discount for buying an item that's on display at the store instead of a new, boxed product.

There's store B, which is actually my computer hardware shop of preference. They don't have it in stock, but I could probably backorder it. It would take longer and I would get a boxed product, but I wouldn't have checked for any faulty pixels.

Is there a risk I'd get a LCD with dead or stuck pixels if I get the boxed version? What would you do? I'm kind of anxious to upgrade my 19" LG CRT. (This damned CRT makes an annoying sound when operating at resolutions of 1280x1024 and above, so I use it @ 1024x768, which is just a PITA. I hate this piece of crap.)

Thanks for any input.

 

[Ananan]

How much of a discount?

 

[APieceOfCheese]

It depends on how "used" the display model is. Any time you buy an LCD without the ability to inspect it first you fun the risk of getting some stuck pixels. Most retailers won't take them back unless there are more than 7 stuck pixels. If you think that the discount will make up for the display model being used then I would go for that one. As long as the retailer can guarantee that the model hasn't been significantly damaged in any way. -eg. dropped or spilled on-

 

[Mephistopheles]

It's not really a big discount: it's like 4% only.

The display model isn't very used as far as I can tell, but it also has no stuck pixels. Since the discount isn't big, the main advantage of going this way is really that I've inspected all pixels.

This is a very, very reputable retailer. It's actually a big bookstore that also has a computer section. This bookstore is part of a very popular chain of bookstores here in Brazil. Well, they're big. (that's probably why they wouldn't budge and give a bigger discount too, heh). So I think it's safe to say nothing has spilled on the LCD, and, well, as for falling, it doesn't look damaged at all...

Plus, I'd always have the peace of mind of actually being able to go physically to this store and yell at someone, which is something I couldn't do if I were to buy from my favourite hardware store, which is located about, um, some 600km (375 miles) away from here. (I usually ship hardware from this store using Brazil's equivalent to Fedex/UPS)

 

[MagicPants]

I never seen a pixel break, It's usually a defect in manufacturing. I'd buy the used one if I were you, after you've had the new one for a week it'll be used too.

Just make sure it's in perfect condition before you buy it.

 

[Gh0stDrag0n]

Go with a new one. I haven’t had any problems with Samsung LCDs, I have purchased 6 monitors ranging form 17" to 22" for various family builds and two TVs - 26" and 32". Not 1 dead pixel in 8 panels!

 

[Mephistopheles]

Hmmm, I take it that none of these choices really is much worse than the other.

I've asked store B to give me the lowest price they can make and asked about the delivery dates. I think it'll take them like 20-25 days, which is a long time. I'm leaning towards the first choice: 215TW on display for a small discount.