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Do all 27" imacs have the high pitched noise when lowering brightness?

H

hirama

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 11, 2010
3
0
Hi, I am asking this question because I am on my 4th replacement and all my iMacs have had this issue (among others). This last replacement is actually the best one I have recieved, as it only has this problem and some gray banding.

This has been my experience so far:

1st - Yellow tint, high pitched noise (when lowering brightness), 1 dead pixel.

2nd - Yellow tint, high pitched noise, 1 dead pixel (like the 1st one!)

3rd - Minor Gray banding, high pitched noise, 2 dead pixels.

4th (and current one) - Gray banding, high pitched noise.


I can see how unlucky I am. On the other hand, I have a friend who recently bought a 27" and also has the high pitched noise. He says he can live with it, as he's always on 100% brightness.

The thing is, are there really imacs without this issue? To all the people saying that they have a 100% perfect unit, have you tested THIS?

I am aware that as people age, they stop hearing high pitched sounds (high frequency). Maybe the people that say they can't hear it it's because they are uncapable to do so? I'm 21 years old and have heard it in all my imacs.

Please I would like some advice, as I'm starting to get tired of this. Thank you!
 
At some point you will need to decide what you can tolerate. For me, dead/stuck pixels is totally unacceptable. As far as gray banding and yellow tint, I won't run any test to find out. If I don't see it, I'm not going to look for it. If I do, surely I will find it. Is the noise that bad? Do you have music on or some other ambient noise to drown it out? I'm not trying to be mean, but if you are in a dead silent room, listening for it, you will hear it. I always have music or the TV on so I will never hear this noise more than likely. So it's not necessarily about age, it's likely about environment. The iMac I have at work is perfect. And that's because I never ran any tests for yellowing or banding or operated outside of what I do normally.
If all else fails you, Dell always has some great bargains going.
 
Can anyone state whether his/her new iMac has this buzzing noise if you reduce brightness? And please, just say whether you have it or not, without trying to be smart as lcseds...
 
I have seen about 10 iMacs since the end of 2009. They all had this issue more or less.

The best one i've come across is the one I have now. There is no buzzing at all under normal circumstances. BUT when doing something CPU intensive (like exporting in FinalCut or iMovie) at a certain level the buzzing starts to hit really bad (with reduced brightness).

Also i'm afraid that the buzzing might be kicking in in the future with normal CPU-Usage as well, as it currently really isn't consistent.

Funny thing is, that the support everytime told me that this is not a known issue.
 
Felias said:
I have seen about 10 iMacs since the end of 2009. They all had this issue more or less.

The best one i've come across is the one I have now. There is no buzzing at all under normal circumstances. BUT when doing something CPU intensive (like exporting in FinalCut or iMovie) at a certain level the buzzing starts to hit really bad (with reduced brightness).

Also i'm afraid that the buzzing might be kicking in in the future with normal CPU-Usage as well, as it currently really isn't consistent.

Funny thing is, that the support everytime told me that this is not a known issue.
Click to expand...

That sounds pretty strange. Maybe you should use your Apple Care and let Apple fix it...
 
0087215 said:
Can anyone state whether his/her new iMac has this buzzing noise if you reduce brightness? And please, just say whether you have it or not, without trying to be smart as lcseds...
Click to expand...
Personall, I don't think lcseds was being "smart". I think his observations reflect those of the majority.

Obviously, severe faults are unacceptable and should be attended to. However, reading threads complaining of noises and yellow screens seem, to me to be more than somewhat exaggerated. Some people seem to just look for problems.

First, noise. If they have a cooling fan/s, all computers are going to make a noise. One of my first machines used to sound like a jet taking off!! I think I'd be more concerned if my iMac didn't make any noise! Electronic circuits, particularly mains powered, can make all sorts of noises too.

Don't forget that when working with an iMac, all the electronics, cooling fans, DVD drive etc are only a short distance from your ears and not hidden away beneath your desk or wherever.

With reference the "yellow screen syndrome" Before complaining, I wonder how many have tried adjusting the colour profile of their display?! Finally, check out the screen by looking at a real picture! Not a test card!! Funnily enough, that yellow cast can disappear like magic!

I suppose, all I'm trying to say is we should try to live in the real world and, unless they become really necessary, not become obsessed with test cards and diagnostic tools. Don't waste time looking for problems - just enjoy your iMac :)
 
No I don't and I did considerable testing when I received it. I have just played around with the settings again for you and I still don't have any high pitched noise.
 
John T said:
Personall, I don't think lcseds was being "smart". I think his observations reflect those of the majority.

Obviously, severe faults are unacceptable and should be attended to. However, reading threads complaining of noises and yellow screens seem, to me to be more than somewhat exaggerated. Some people seem to just look for problems.

First, noise. If they have a cooling fan/s, all computers are going to make a noise. One of my first machines used to sound like a jet taking off!! I think I'd be more concerned if my iMac didn't make any noise! Electronic circuits, particularly mains powered, can make all sorts of noises too.

Don't forget that when working with an iMac, all the electronics, cooling fans, DVD drive etc are only a short distance from your ears and not hidden away beneath your desk or wherever.

With reference the "yellow screen syndrome" Before complaining, I wonder how many have tried adjusting the colour profile of their display?! Finally, check out the screen by looking at a real picture! Not a test card!! Funnily enough, that yellow cast can disappear like magic!

I suppose, all I'm trying to say is we should try to live in the real world and, unless they become really necessary, not become obsessed with test cards and diagnostic tools. Don't waste time looking for problems - just enjoy your iMac :)
Click to expand...

I didn't look for any problems, I just spend a lot of time in front of the computer and ended up seeing/hearing weird things. (parts of the screen were more yellow/red, it's not hard to see in white surfaces such as finder or a browser).

With reference the "yellow screen syndrome" Before complaining, I wonder how many have tried adjusting the colour profile of their display?!
Click to expand...
I have. I've tried many different calibration methods but the yellow tinge is not uniform along the screen so the results have not been good.

I work in a pretty quiet environment, but whenever I turned down the brightness in any of the imacs I had, I could hear the high pitch noise even if I turned on the tv. And I know fans make noise, but this noise that I'm talking about does not come from a fan. It's very high pitched, so it's really really annoying.
 
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