[Alex @ May 14th 2007 4:49PM]

LEDs are very reliable and last a very, very long time. You shouldn't ever have to worry about an LED bulb going out on you. If you receive a screen with a dead LED, there was probably a manufacturing issue, rather than the dead LCD pixels that are almost an expected part of the technology.

[Realist @ May 14th 2007 5:30PM]

According to the Department of Energy, high-power white LEDs have an estimated useful life somewhere between 30,000 and 50,000 hours or approximately 4 to 6 years (not 80+ years). From a more realistic point of view, drive around town and observe the frequency of dead pixels in LED traffic signals. Since these are typically based on tried-and-true red/green LEDs, you will see that there is reason to be concerned about the details of a companies "dead pixel" policy -- even if the problem is in the manufacturing of the LED panel. Most policies allow for both a total number of allowable dead pixels with an maximum number of adjacent pixels. I would suspect that a single dead LED will be much more obvious than a single dead LCD pixel. It's definitely worth knowing the details of any specific policy before making a purchase.