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Hows does my 24" ALU screen compare?

How does YOURS compare?

  • Mine is BETTER than this - no blueish tint on grey background

    Votes: 19 65.5%

  • Mine is nearly IDENTICAL

    Votes: 6 20.7%

  • Mine is WORSE and/or has uneven backlighting

    Votes: 4 13.8%
  • Total voters
    29
R

rpeters83

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 31, 2007
104
0
Last gradient thread, I promise.

grey background: http://public.ryanpetersonline.com/imac/DSC00476.JPG

(I also have a bunch of photos here: http://public.ryanpetersonline.com/imac)

For those who are happy and satisfied with their machines, how does yours compare? Does it have a slightly bluer tint to the left side? Does it honestly bother you? This photo is pretty accurate, maybe a little over exaggerated with maybe a little less yellowing towards the middle, but pretty good. I want everyone's quick opinion if/before I return it. Thanks.
 
Are all of those who are voting in the poll current owners of those machines, or did you return them because of this? I'm looking to hear from CURRENT owners who are keeping theirs. Thanks.
 
Darkroom said:
i can't fairly judge your photos because of my screen gradient :p

(mine is pretty much identical to yours. my computer is an M8810)
Click to expand...

W8811 here. You still keeping yours?

Also, did everyone who voted for the first option actually try setting their background to grey and looking? Don't get mad if you notice it then though :-D
 
Darkroom said:
nope, taking it back early next week. going to request an VM820 or VM821, so i hope they have one.
Click to expand...

What's so special about those ones? Is yours that bad you can't compare? Will a store let you look up one by serial number? Hmmmm...
 
rpeters83 said:
What's so special about those ones? Is yours that bad you can't compare? Will a store let you look up one by serial number? Hmmmm...
Click to expand...

i was joking about not being able to compare... but my screen is identical (cool blue on the left, and warm yellow band in the middle).

not sure if they'll let me request a serial number, but if they have an inventory database (which i'm sure they must) i don't see why they wouldn't. if they don't have a VM820 or 821, i'll request one later than week 20 that was manufactured in the states.
 
Darkroom said:
i was joking about not being able to compare... but my screen is identical (cool blue on the left, and warm yellow band in the middle).

not sure if they'll let me request a serial number, but if they have an inventory database (which i'm sure they must) i don't see why they wouldn't. if they don't have a VM820 or 821, i'll request one later than week 20 that was manufactured in the states.
Click to expand...

How do you know that these ones are better? I might try seeing if they can search by serial.
 
Colour me with a nearly identical gradient to yours.

@Darkroom - my serial number is VM822..

I think you could be on a red-herring here..
 
moondad said:
I think you could be on a red-herring here..
Click to expand...

*confused* What does that mean?

At any rate, I returned mine just now.

I fired it up and the blue hue on the left was plain as day to me, however, the Apple tech claimed he couldnt see it. I was amazed he couldn't, since under the bright lights of best buy, it was readily apparent to me. My wife saw it too.

I stopped by office depot later on and looked at an HP 24" screen. It looked like a TN though, but the contrast and sharpness was on par with the imac. Only downside is the top-bottom difference that is apparent in all TN panels (if you tilt the display and look at it, it corrects itself), but I'd rather have that than a color/hue difference from side to side any day! The solid grey desktop on the HP was even left to right as well.

Oh well, I'll wait until the mini's are updated and I'll pick up a 23" ACD instead. I'll stick with my trusty macbook for now.
 
rpeters83 said:
*confused* What does that mean?
Click to expand...

A 'red-herrring' is a false lead, a pointless pursuit based on non-information. What I meant in this case, is that Darkroom's notion that these machines with particular serial numbers will be free of this issue seems to be proven wrong by my machine.
 
moondad said:
A 'red-herrring' is a false lead, a pointless pursuit based on non-information. What I meant in this case, is that Darkroom's notion that these machines with particular serial numbers will be free of this issue seems to be proven wrong by my machine.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I never heard that phrase before. Guess I'm a youngin'.
 
My screen does not display the gray as flat as on a CRT monitor, but show me an LCD that does.

I don't have the blue gradient - it's more of an uneven feel of the entire screen. Nothing much, and certainly not enough to bother me. Then again, my graphics days are over and thus I'm not as fanatic about my screen fidelity.

If I had bought the iMac for graphics work, I would probably be quite negative. However, I would never buy an all-in-one system as a graphics workstation, and I would spend 50-80% of the budget on the screen.

Mine is a VM821 in case you wonder.
 
Mollemand said:
My screen does not display the gray as flat as on a CRT monitor, but show me an LCD that does.

I don't have the blue gradient - it's more of an uneven feel of the entire screen. Nothing much, and certainly not enough to bother me. Then again, my graphics days are over and thus I'm not as fanatic about my screen fidelity.

If I had bought the iMac for graphics work, I would probably be quite negative. However, I would never buy an all-in-one system as a graphics workstation, and I would spend 50-80% of the budget on the screen.

Mine is a VM821 in case you wonder.
Click to expand...

That's the thing. I've seen many LCD's that display consistent greys BETTER than this, though, yes, it's not 100% perfect. The flaw is that left blue tint. If that blue tint was not on 1/3 of my screen, I would've been a happy camper.

Oh, that, and there was a bug crawling around inside my display...:p
 
moondad said:
Colour me with a nearly identical gradient to yours.

@Darkroom - my serial number is VM822..

I think you could be on a red-herring here..
Click to expand...

the user Dantay from other threads has returned 16 iMacs. his final iMac, which he claims is perfect, is a VM820. he asked for a VM820 because he saw the iMac that a friend of his bought, which was also perfect from the same week of production. also, there were thousands of models apart. that is enough lead for me to requst this model. i assume week 20 productions from czech republic were fitted with good screens... if i get one next week i'll let you know. i also heard that week 21 were ok also. then later screens became worse again.

finally, i haven't seen any posts online from anyone who has a bad screen from other plants. it seems that all bad screens are from W8 (china) or VM (czech republic).

my screen has a color cast AND screen bleed-out AND a touch of uneven lighting in the corners. if your'e screen just generally feels uneven, i think that's better than having cool blue and screen-bleed.
 
Darkroom said:
my screen has a color cast AND screen bleed-out AND a touch of uneven lighting in the corners. if your'e screen just generally feels uneven, i think that's better than having cool blue and screen-bleed.
Click to expand...

I agree, if yours honestly has just a touch of unevenness, that's pretty good. I could handle some backlight bleed (the one I just returned had a little but was fine for me) and corner dimming, as I know that LCD technology isn't perfect and it's something I've seen on all screens. But, it was the blue hue that killed me. Couldn't stand it.

Darkroom, let me know if you are able to get one of that serial and if it looks good. I know you're like me when it comes to checking for these things.

In the meantime, I'm chilling in my backyard with my trusty (evenly lit) macbook, drinking some trusty guinness .... heavily.
 
OP, yours looks perfect. I'm not a photographer or anything but I've seen a lot of screens, and I can't see any gradient at all (sorry...lol).
 
queshy said:
OP, yours looks perfect. I'm not a photographer or anything but I've seen a lot of screens, and I can't see any gradient at all (sorry...lol).
Click to expand...

Seriously? Look at the top left corner, then at the bottom right - surely you can tell that the colour is not consistent? The top left has a cold/blueish tint, where the bottom right is warm/yellowish. Are you really unable to tell any difference at all?
 
I've had 3 now.

1st, a VM818 with a stuck pixel
2nd, a VM820 with a left-right gradient
3rd, a VM821 with bleeding

My 4th is now in the depot, and will be a VM823.
 
are there any other iMac models produced in other plants other than China (W8) or Czech Republic (VM)? because i have yet to read a post where someone has a problem with their screen that wasn't from W8 or VM.

it would be nice for those who have selected they had no problems with their screens to say where their iMac was produced.
 
Darkroom said:
are there any other iMac models produced in other plants other than China (W8) or Czech Republic (VM)? because i have yet to read a post where someone has a problem with their screen that wasn't from W8 or VM.

it would be nice for those who have selected they had no problems with their screens to say where their iMac was produced.
Click to expand...

Aye, here goes once again:
Mine is a Czech Republic produced VM821

No blue gradient on gray background with this one (after I made the yellow counter-gradient DIY bg-patch :rolleyes: (Nah!)). I do have a slight fade in back light at the last 1/4" at the edges - nothing that could possibly bother me. There is also an ever so slight unevenness to the back light - but again, nothing I haven't seen on every LCD I have looked at.
 
Darkroom said:
are there any other iMac models produced in other plants other than China (W8) or Czech Republic (VM)? because i have yet to read a post where someone has a problem with their screen that wasn't from W8 or VM.

it would be nice for those who have selected they had no problems with their screens to say where their iMac was produced.
Click to expand...

My 24" 3.06 serial number starts with QP821. Looks perfect to my eyes. This is my second iMac. The first one had a bad case of stuck pixels, uneven lighting left to right, one dead pixel and its serial # was a QP as well.
 
moondad said:
Seriously? Look at the top left corner, then at the bottom right - surely you can tell that the colour is not consistent? The top left has a cold/blueish tint, where the bottom right is warm/yellowish. Are you really unable to tell any difference at all?
Click to expand...

Yeah, I see what you mean, but I've seen hundreds of displays and have never seen one with 100% uniformness. For me, a slight gradient wouldn't bother me, but if I were into photography I'd have more of an eye for it and it would probably be way more noticeable. Glancing at the OPs screen told me it was fine, nothing noticeable. Who uses a gray background anyways? But I do understand where you're coming from...
 
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