I have a similar tale of woe with 23's at work. Bought two for the retouchers (me and the other guy), tried to convince ourselves that the pink stripe covering the left third of the screen was liveable. Got tired of it, sent them in for warranty repair and now they have a tobacco color in that same vertical third and uneven lighting side to side. Sent those back, will report on pair #3....

Dell 2005FPW and 2001FP at home, Dell 1900FP handed down to mom, and they are all ideal. No dead pixels among the three of them, pretty even lighting and most importantly even-colored side to side.