Yeah, I've been very unhappy with the bright left 1/4, dark 3/4 of the screen issue. I've tried 2 replacements, with no luck. I contacted Apple Executive Customer Services and the lady helping me did some research. She said one of the top engineers that's "in the know" with Apple LCD's said the iMac is a consumer product and the uneven display is more than good enough for consumers. If I want better I need to get a cinema display and a MacPro. The only thing offered to me was a return of my BTO iMac, which is against Apple's policy. I didn't give her an answer yet, but that's what I'll probably do. It's such a nice machine, but I guess it's not good enough for me in Apple's eyes.
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iMac 24" owners. LISTEN UP!
- Thread starter rainydays
- Start date
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Hold on to your iMac and just live with it. It's really not that bad, honestly. I love my machine and I knew right out of the box about the lighter 1/4 of the screen on the left. The only reason I knew to check for this is because I just sold my 23" Cinema display that had a dark vertical band from top to bottom off center to the left. It's gets worse, it had pink edges and it was getting pinker all around. It was obvious to anyone and worst of all Apple was shipping all of them this way.
All LCD's will have either not perfect color or uneven backlighting unless you pay top dollar and get an Eizo LCD panel and they can cost much more than an iMac.
Don't expect the Cinema displays to be any better. I have seen the 30" Cinema display half dark at the top and lighter on the bottom half at the Apple stores.
just got everything set up and i do not know if i just want it to be right but everything is looking great. made two quick calibrations out of the box and so far i am happy. i will be importing all my photos and fine tuning the calibration over the weekend and will report again what i see.
evenly lit and no yellow (once calibrated)............
My father just got a Samsung 215tw that I recommended to him from reading reviews, so I went to check it out and I have to say that is one amazing screen. Perfectly lit and uniform colors across the whole screen. I've never seen such a good screen in that price range (about $450), it easily compares with screens that costs twice as much and it's way better than the 20" cinema display.
The only negative thing about is that it isn't very stylish. It's not ugly but pretty anonymous.
Anyhow, it puts my 24" iMac to shame really and it makes me wonder if Samsung can make such an amazing 21" screen at $450 (retail) why can't Apple put a better panel in a computer that costs $1800? I know 24" are harder to make uniform, but I've seen much better 24" screens at fairly low prices. Might be that they have some kind of binding contract with LG-Philips perhaps?
That said, I've noticed after one week of use that the yellowing on this screen has faded a little bit. Not much but definitely noticeable. I wonder if it might go away after a few months of using it? I doubt it though. It might even get worse (these kind of things usually do from my experience).
The only negative thing about is that it isn't very stylish. It's not ugly but pretty anonymous.
Anyhow, it puts my 24" iMac to shame really and it makes me wonder if Samsung can make such an amazing 21" screen at $450 (retail) why can't Apple put a better panel in a computer that costs $1800? I know 24" are harder to make uniform, but I've seen much better 24" screens at fairly low prices. Might be that they have some kind of binding contract with LG-Philips perhaps?
That said, I've noticed after one week of use that the yellowing on this screen has faded a little bit. Not much but definitely noticeable. I wonder if it might go away after a few months of using it? I doubt it though. It might even get worse (these kind of things usually do from my experience).
So you mean that it was yellow before you calibrated it?
Good to know that you are happy with it though!
The mystery of the iMac 24" display continues... Different screens seem to behave differently. Rainydays tried my profile and it looked too cold on his screen, here it looks perfect apart from the 1/4 to the left that is a little colder than the rest.
A friend of mine just picked up a 24" and he told me the default iMac profile does not look yellow. I went there and it is true, with the profile that looks yellow on my iMac it looks great on his. No yellow cast at all. The 1/4 to the left is still brighter, but I can easily survive with this as long as the yellow is gone. (I still had to re-calibrate his screen since gamma was way off)
This is encourages me to change mine although I have been able to get rid of all the yellow cast with my color sync profile.
Will report with the result when I have swapped.
/ Jacob
A friend of mine just picked up a 24" and he told me the default iMac profile does not look yellow. I went there and it is true, with the profile that looks yellow on my iMac it looks great on his. No yellow cast at all. The 1/4 to the left is still brighter, but I can easily survive with this as long as the yellow is gone. (I still had to re-calibrate his screen since gamma was way off)
This is encourages me to change mine although I have been able to get rid of all the yellow cast with my color sync profile.
Will report with the result when I have swapped.
/ Jacob
Yeah, I haven't spent much time with the newer 23" and 30" Cinema Displays, so I can't say much about that. But I already have a older style (non AL) 20" Cinema display at home that looks much better than my 24" iMac (at least with even brightness), so I think the MacPro makes sense. I get more power and but less convenience. I can't wait for the day that everything is LED backlighting, because I hear they are more consistent!
the "iMac" profile out of the box is yellow (to my eyes). This morning i woke up and it seemed like the right side was a bit dimmer and a you could see a color shift. this of course is with the sunlight coming in.
this is all way in my head and i hope this will not have a lasting impact and prevent me from enjoying my iMac. i am determined to get this fixed!!!!!
i think this is a combination of calibration since you can can eliminate the yellowing through some serious time spent and a bulb issue. My first machine was in the middle of the screen, this one seems to have the brightness issue in the far left.
again i will spend more time over the weekend and report back along the way.
i say we keep making a noise and hope for a software/firmware update.
let's keep this topic active!
As far as I know, the uneven backlighting to the left is normal for this display. They all seem to have it and I'm not overly concerned about it to be honest.
However, the yellow tint in the middle seems to be defect since it's not there on all displays, and that is bugging me a lot.
I don't think any software/firmware patch will fix this I'm afraid.
the first iMac i received, the yellow was in the middle. this one was not there last night but this AM i could see it on the right hand side.
i just read there was an update released but i am at work and will not be able to install until later tonight. i am with you on the software/firmware but you never know!
as of right now i am going to stick with this one but this weekend will be a true test!
That update doesn't do anything about the screen I'm afraid (I've installed it).
And considering that this issue has been there since the first 24" white model they would most likely have come out with a patch a long time ago if it was possible.
Well, according to the package contents it does.
Code:
/Library/Receipts/iMacSoftwareUpdate1.1.pkg/Contents/Archive.bom
. 41775 0/80
./System 40755 0/0
./System/Library 40755 0/0
./System/Library/Displays 40755 0/0
./System/Library/Displays/Overrides 40755 0/0
./System/Library/Displays/Overrides/DisplayVendorID-610 40755 0/0
./System/Library/Displays/Overrides/DisplayVendorID-610/DisplayProductID-9c6a 100644 0/0 4127 2078667664OK - I replaced mine today and the replacement has the same problem. I am not surprised. Even worse is that this one has much more bleeding (when the screen is black you can see that the backlight bleeds through on some places). The one I returned had only a slight bleeding in the bottom of the screen. This one has a very obvious bleeding on top, to the left of the center. Not good! I am very disappointed and actually considering returning the computer.
Here is how it looks:
Bleeding problem:
Color tint on solid gray background:
Yellow colors amplified:
Blue colors amplified:
Color picker on the white area in the Finder window on right side:
Color picker on the white area in the Finder window on the left side:
Illumination, left side is much brighter than right side:
I will call Apple on Monday. If they can't give me an iMac that has a proper display I will return it and buy a second-hand white iMac 24" with matte display.
/ Jacob
Here is how it looks:
Bleeding problem:
Color tint on solid gray background:
Yellow colors amplified:
Blue colors amplified:
Color picker on the white area in the Finder window on right side:
Color picker on the white area in the Finder window on the left side:
Illumination, left side is much brighter than right side:
I will call Apple on Monday. If they can't give me an iMac that has a proper display I will return it and buy a second-hand white iMac 24" with matte display.
/ Jacob
You will have to realize that these issues exist on the white iMac as well. It uses the same screen model.
And the illumination issue is there by design. They all look like that. So I've just accepted it and you should probably too if you still want an iMac.
Judging by your pictures there seem to be way less color tint on yours compared to mine. However, if the backlight bleeding is as bad as your picture show then I would return it for sure because that's really bad.
My first one had a slight backlight bleed, but this one has pretty much none. It's only the yellow tint that is the problem for me.
iMac and ACD colors
I am a graphic designer also. I had the second generation ACD 21". Used it for 4 years. I loved it! I thought the colors would be better than in an iMac! Wrong! There was a difference from left to right! Was brighter on one end and lighter on the other!
I wanted to get a new display last year, and traded it in. It was returned to me because the colors were 'soft' as the company said!
NONE of these issues with these displays has caused me any problems with color correcting, or putting together any design work that I do. When I receive my proofs from the printer, they are as I expected and saw on my screen!
You stated that they don't make a 24' monitor! Huh, how do they get it to be 24"???
Is this about the WHITE 24" iMacs? And not the aluminum glass ones?
I doubt that after the first year of warranty that you will be able to keep returning your iMac! Although I just bought the new 24" aluminum/glass model!
I agree about the MacPro. I do not need a huge machine like that and the new iMac was a better choice for me. And since I already have an ACD I would have preferred a headless model, (but this will probably never happen!)
When I get the new iMac I will post here.
I am a graphic designer also. I had the second generation ACD 21". Used it for 4 years. I loved it! I thought the colors would be better than in an iMac! Wrong! There was a difference from left to right! Was brighter on one end and lighter on the other!
I wanted to get a new display last year, and traded it in. It was returned to me because the colors were 'soft' as the company said!
NONE of these issues with these displays has caused me any problems with color correcting, or putting together any design work that I do. When I receive my proofs from the printer, they are as I expected and saw on my screen!
You stated that they don't make a 24' monitor! Huh, how do they get it to be 24"???
Is this about the WHITE 24" iMacs? And not the aluminum glass ones?
I doubt that after the first year of warranty that you will be able to keep returning your iMac! Although I just bought the new 24" aluminum/glass model!
I agree about the MacPro. I do not need a huge machine like that and the new iMac was a better choice for me. And since I already have an ACD I would have preferred a headless model, (but this will probably never happen!)
When I get the new iMac I will post here.
well after messing around again last night for a few hrs with calibration there is defiantly the yellow tint on the right hand side. it is driving me nuts and i am going to try again and get it replaced one more time then request a refund. my first one had blacklight bleed on three of the four corners this one does not.
i wonder about the poll results of this thread is it accurate when the people report back with this not being an issue or they just not see it. this is the bad part of forums.........no one reports about having a "perfect screen"
i'll keep trying
i wonder about the poll results of this thread is it accurate when the people report back with this not being an issue or they just not see it. this is the bad part of forums.........no one reports about having a "perfect screen"
i'll keep trying
Where did I state that? I suppose I was either drunk (which only happens twice a year so probably not) or tired. Or you simply misunderstood me.
This is about both actually.
I actually wouldn't have any problem if the whole screen had the yellow tint. But as it is right now different parts of the screen differs a lot in temperature. So a brown or yellow tone is grayish on one part of the screen, a blue tone in one part is gray in another one. I do consider that a problem when trying to choose colors for a design and trying to get an overview of how the page looks.
But it's not only a practical problem, it's an estethical issue as well. What would you do if you bought an expensive white t-shirt and realize when you get home that it has a large brown stain all over it? Would you happily keep it or would you return it?
It's not fun to pay a lot of money for a computer with a screen that looks like an aged newspaper.
jajo......
please keep us informed. let them know there are other out there willing to submit screen shots!!!!!
thanks for the update
jajo,
I just wanted to point something out.
You show the color-picker screenshots, and those don't actually represent the video screen.
The color codes and shade numbers presented represent what OS X is seeing itself.
So, that would represent the colors of the background as they are intended in OS X. Why you would be getting different readings, I don't know. But, taking color measurements within the Operating System will not represent the actual hardware as much as just what the OS itself is telling the monitor.
To get a measurement of the yellowing on the screen (as caused by the screen itself), you would need to make sure that your computer was sending identical color codes to each pixel on the screen, and then measure the color readings from an external device.
I just wanted to point something out.
You show the color-picker screenshots, and those don't actually represent the video screen.
The color codes and shade numbers presented represent what OS X is seeing itself.
So, that would represent the colors of the background as they are intended in OS X. Why you would be getting different readings, I don't know. But, taking color measurements within the Operating System will not represent the actual hardware as much as just what the OS itself is telling the monitor.
To get a measurement of the yellowing on the screen (as caused by the screen itself), you would need to make sure that your computer was sending identical color codes to each pixel on the screen, and then measure the color readings from an external device.