I called Apple, the TiBook is still under warranty. I could buy a per-incident plan ($50/incident), let them talk me through checking that the dead pixels really are a hardware problem, then likely not pay for the incident.

Or, I can give them $350 for a 3 year AppleCare plan, that covers phone support and troubleshooting for software and hardware.

Third option: take it to the local Apple Retail store or Apple reseller. That's likely the way I'll go. Whichever way, I'll probably end up having to send the TiBook back to Apple for some TLC.