Aspire R13 (R7-371T) Image retention / Ghosting

Hello,

I have seen quite a few people complaining about their R13's display showing signs of image retention but no dedicated discussion thread, so here's one.

Image retention, also known as ghosting, is a problem affecting some displays where images get temporary imprinted on the screen if displayed for a certain amount of time.

I invite all R13 owners to test their display by setting brightness to maximum and displaying an image with high contrast patterns for around a minute and then switching to a neutral image (plain grey for example).

Here's a link to a website performing this very test:

http://www.marco.org/rmbp-irtest.html

If after leaving the pattern on display at full brightness for at least 30 seconds / 1 minute, it remains noticeable after switching to the grey background, the display suffers from image retention.

Mine shows image retention on the edges for about a minute after displaying the grid for as little as 30 seconds.

How many R13 owners are suffering from this problem?

Accepted answers

All comments

abasu

I have had the same issue, and unfortunately I am past the return period. I spoke with Acer support, and they gave me the usual 'send it in, we'll take a look'. I use my laptop every day and cannot afford to not have it for 7 to 10 business days.

I had a feeling that others would have the same problem! We should let Acer know, because it seems they are not aware this is a serious problem with the R13. By the way, I have the FHD (1920x1280) IPS display. The R 13 has the option of a QHD screen as well, and I don't think the problem exists on that screen. Perhaps Acer would consider replacing our screens with the QHD version if this problem cannot be fixed?

Amar

maximemoreillon

I recorded a video to further illustrate the issue:

http://youtu.be/NP3y4v9xq60

Also, my R13 was sent for repairs to get this issue fixed along with the keyboard problems. It came back with neither of these problems solved.

ImNotImpressed

Hi Maxime,

Nice Youtube video about the issue.

I faced that issue with many touchscreens I tried. Below you will find the most commun explainations I found. You should clearly get an exchange or even better a refund. It is a very important problem. If the reason is link with 1) or 2), it is likely to worsen overtime.

1) There are many technical explanations you could find that are mainly related to bad conception of a laptop. For example: devices or wires that cause interference with the screen

2) Problems with the screen itself, for example: dust inside when the screen was manufactured

The 2 following explanations was by Jacob Andrew (thx to him)

2) Slow Response Time

The response time is the amount of time it takes a single pixel on the screen to change from black to white and back to black. If this response time is more than 10 milliseconds, then you’ll begin to experience ghosting. Most modern monitors and TVs have faster response rates than 10ms. Ghosting is most evident in games or video with a lot of motion. You can sometimes increase the response time by lowering your monitor resolution.

3) Optional feature

On occasion, television and monitors include features to improve picture quality. These tools cause the screen to go through additional steps before the pixels are changed, increasing the response time. Samsung’s digital noise reduction, for example, caused ghosting in some of its earlier LCD televisions. Most TV manufacturers take steps to ensure that their products do not cause ghosting; however, turning off optional features on your television or monitor offers one option for eliminating ghosting.

ImNotImprressed

ImNotImpressed

Just a correction on my last post:

The explanations should be read as 1), 2), 3), 4), The slow Response Time (number 3) is not likely to worsen overtime.

ImNotImpressed

sjm01

I've been having an issue with my R7-371T retaining fragments of images that are actually attached to windows that can be moved round with the window. I can't specifically cause the issue, but it occurs often enough to be a significant annoyance. As an example of the problem, I'll be using MS Word, and part of the toolbar will get a black stripe through it. In the document text area, parts of the text will be scrambled or sometimes just disappear with only the background color displaying. I've tried reinstalling the display driver, thinking that it might have been corrupted, but the problem remains. I'm not willing to take the machine back to factory and build the drive again from scratch to see if I can isolate the cause (as suggested by Acer support). It's less trouble to just reboot the machine and wait until it happens again. As a side note, I use Displaylink to run external monitors when I'm USB docked, but this issue will occur even when the notebook is being used with no external devices attached.

I plan to force install updated Intel drivers for the integrated graphics to see if this helps.

Not looking for a solution at this point, but I want to get it into the forum that it's an issue I'm experiencing related to the topic of this thread.

A screenshot showing the type of mess I end up with is provided below.

screen atrifacts.JPG

bwieler21

I am having the same issue. I noticed it when I switched from my web browser (Chrome) to my calculator and I could see vivid image retention around the edges. ACER needs to fix this. I am a huge fan of acer products espcially of their innovations like the R13, but with modern day display technology this shouldn't be an issue.

tout-puissant

I just made a new post with this same issue (sorry, searched but didn't see yours), I wonder if this issue has been updated or a fix found..?

mark

sjm01

it was very bad for quite some time and several weeks ago, it stopped happening. It wasn't anything that I deliberately did to try to fix it, but perhaps just part of a regular Windows update that affected the problem.

tout-puissant

Fascinating! I'm at work but will re-try the online test when I get home.

Can anyone else report a change in this behavior, one way or the other?

Mark

tout-puissant

Update: I've tried the same test as before, following all the updates after breaking my R13 out of the box, and it still displays the ghosting issue. Still debating over whether this makes it retur-worthy before my return window expires next week.

I dont' suppose anyone has looked at the newer FHD units built in 2015 and seen if theirs has ghosting issues too?

Mark

Cory-Acer

tout-puissant wrote:
Update: I've tried the same test as before, following all the updates after breaking my R13 out of the box, and it still displays the ghosting issue. Still debating over whether this makes it retur-worthy before my return window expires next week.

I dont' suppose anyone has looked at the newer FHD units built in 2015 and seen if theirs has ghosting issues too?

Mark

Hi tout-puissant,

I'm having trouble finding the content, and I believe we've said this elsewhere, I'm just having trouble finding it at this time. The ghosting that can be observed on the R7-371T with the IPS panel is normal in the sense that we see it and there is not a fix for it. It is a product of the IPS technology used. The image should not stay viewable, and it should never "burn-in", but some brief period of time, a faint image around the edge of the display is noticable in the product.

Cory

sjm01

Sorry...my previous post was NOT correct. I forgot that I did go through a forced installation of the latest driver for my chipset obtained directly from Intel's site. The driver on Acer's Web site is not the most current version for this chipset. The version that I'm running is 10.18.14.4170, and it was issued 3/16/2015. Since I installed that driver, I've had no issues with ghosting, which has been great!

seattlematt

This is not really new stuff. Just a little tidbit from Apple:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202580

p0wer

This has been an issue for me aswell. I first had the annoying beeping and lag issue with the track pad, thankfully I fixed that. I have been noticing the ghosting issue for sometime now. I notice it everything I close my chrome browser, I can see the top portion of the browser with the address bar, bookmarks bar, and all the icons. This is a troubled little laptop, I really hope the ghosting effect doesn't become permanent and I see a burnt-in image everything I turn the laptop on.

padgett

BTW I do not think that is a burn-in issue if it goes away, more a failure to properly clear the video buffer (a software issue). Afaid I cannot help more since I have not experienced this (though did have some strange displays when the video adapter became set to 59hz instead of 60) on the R11 or R14 here..