Over the past three years, there's been a number of Dell notebooks that developed a similar symptom: A vertical line of dead pixels running down the screen, with the problem getting worse over time. Initially thought to be a set of isolated incidents, Dell has now confirmed that there is a hardware defect causing the issue. As such, they will be replacing any system with the bad component that exhibits the problem. Though they maintain it was fairly isolated, there was considerable outcry that went so far as to create a site griping about the problem.
The issue stems from a shared component among multiple systems, which include the Inspiron 6000 and 8600, the Latitude D800 and D810 and the Dell Precision Mobile Workstation M60 and M70. Note that this replacement does not include other models, as they don't have that component. For those, Dell is referring customers to their traditional support lines:
Even if you have one of the potentially affected systems with the confirmed component, it does not mean your LCD will develop a vertical line. This specific issue happens on a portion of the 9 systems we're calling out as potentially affected. If you have a notebook display with a vertical line that's not called out here, we will provide traditional technical support to try to resolve the issue.
For those who opted to have their issue fixed outside of Dell's support, they are offering to refund the cost of your repair. If you own one of the systems in particular, it's a good thing to take note of. This is another example of how a manufacturing defect, thanks to the Internet, cannot escape the masses. It is eerily similar to when the iPod Nano was released and had notorious issues with screen scratching.