When Jeff McDaniel picked up a PSP from Target yesterday, he didn't anticipate it would take three exchanges to find a unit without a glaring problem. McDaniels' first PSP had a cluster of five dead pixels that "looked like the North Star," and his second contained irremovable dust under the screen and a stuck pixel on the left-hand side. Third time was not the charm, though; McDaniel inspected his next PSP, only to discover an enormous dent that looked "like a mechanical pencil had punctured the screen."

Wondering if Target's shipment was simply a bad batch, McDaniel picked up his fourth machine at Wal-Mart -- but discovered a single dead pixel on the bottom left hand of the screen. Though only noticeable during dark scenes of games or movies, it marks one person's fourth unsuccessful attempt to pick up a PSP in mint condition. "I find it completely unacceptable to even have one dead pixel on a system that costs over $250," says McDaniel. Technical issues during a hardware launch are nothing new, but with a machine as delicate as PSP, reports of problems are more rampant.

The most common complaint is a "dead pixel," which appears on a screen in a variety of forms (red, blue, green, white spots, dark spots). Jump on any message board and you'll find posts littered with personal accounts of anywhere from one to 25 or more dead pixels appearing on brand-new PSPs.

SCEA doesn't deny PSP machines may encounter these issues, but doesn't see it as a problem.

Read the rest of this 1UP.com news story: Sony PSP Screen Issues Anger Users

Want more? Then check out "Reading Manga and Books on a PSP" as well as the 1UP.com showdown between the Apple iPod and the PSP.

Copyright © 2005 Ziff Davis Media Inc. All Rights Reserved. Originally appearing in ExtremeTech.