14 DAY TRIAL // Ultrabooks sales are weak enough even without quality problems, but that doesn't mean there aren't any. In fact, a pair of ASUS models are exhibiting “light bleeding.”
“Light bleeding” is when scattered light from the backlight of the display comes through the screen wrong and distorts the colors and visibility.
It is somewhat similar to the way colors go haywire when pressure is placed on an electronic screen, only permanent.
NordicHardware got their hands on the Zenbook Prime UX31A and Zenbook UX32VD. They found both of them to suffer from this problem. In fact, they posted a short video of what this “light bleeding” looks like.
Dark screens, such as those during Windows log on and movie playback, are where the defect is most noticeable. We suppose the latter issue can be circumvented by streaming the video to an HDTV or monitor, but that does not make up for the problem in the slightest.
Right now, the production process of the displays is where the quality problems are believed to be stemming from.
There is a small consolation in the fact that only the 13.3-inch Zenbooks from ASUS are affected. The 11.6-inch UX21A is free of it, as far as we can tell.
Regardless, if this is really a hardware issue, ASUS probably won't be able to fix it with a driver update, so the best idea is to avoid buying the ultrabooks altogether until the company gets to the bottom of it.
As for those who already own one of the aforementioned pieces of electronic equipment, we are sure ASUS will refund or exchange the notebooks for fault-free ones when the option becomes available. That is the whole point of warranties after all.
Unfortunately, the company hasn't officially said anything yet, so we can't say for sure how fast the matter will be solved.
