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My iMac has no problems :D
- Thread starter Muncher
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I've had this wonderful aluminum imac for only one month now and absolutely no problems at all! Quiet, very easy on the eyes and IT JUST WORKS. In hindsight, I can't understand why I put up with all the **** from my old PC for so long!
Morod
Morod
It's good to hear that people are happy with their machine!
But it makes it even more confusing for those of us who got a problematic machine. It almost seems like a gamble to buy an iMac. I got mine this Monday, and I am returning it today, because I had a serious case of the gradient problem.
White color became yellow/brown on the right side of the screen.
(http://downloads.zac.ch/imac/imac_gradient_test_24.html).
I hope Apple continues to pump out good machines, because I want to buy one soon. But because I got burnt this time, I want to wait for another revision. Hope it comes soon
It makes it more confusing for those with problematic iMacs to hear that many, many people got good ones? Why exactly? Because it makes getting an iMac a gamble? Well, let me help you out a little: every single product ever made in the history of the industrial age has a certain failure rate. Some people will get the bad ones, and most will get good ones. Yes, it is like gambling, except if you lose, you still win, because there is this thing called a warranty (or better yet, a return/exchange period, as you have no doubt made use of). If you wait for a revision, you will probably have almost the exact same chances of getting a bad one then, except you will have gone without a Mac for 1, 3, 9 months.
Mine 24" iMac great, problem free and working great. Bought in October 2007.
I hear ya. It's just that I've been reading so many posts about problematic iMac Alu displays. And a fair amount of people write things like: "sure, I can see the gradient thing on my display too, but I didn't see it before I looked for it. It doesn't bother me."
My idea is that in this price range, the screen should be perfect on all shipped machines. There should be no gradient issue no matter how close you look! Especially on iMacs, where you are actually stuck with the same display forever.
That's what I mean by "confusing". It is difficult to draw the line: when does the gradient issue become a problem, because many people admit to having it to some extent. In my case, everything on the right side of the display was somewhat darker, brownish/yellowish.
Furthermore, I've read often that people who compare the display of the white iMac and the Alu iMac say the former is much better. So, with stories like this, the Alu iMac seems like a "gamble" to me. So when I get one with a bad display myself, who can blame me for being paranoid
I hear ya. It's just that I've been reading so many posts about problematic iMac Alu displays. And a fair amount of people write things like: "sure, I can see the gradient thing on my display too, but I didn't see it before I looked for it. It doesn't bother me."
My idea is that in this price range, the screen should be perfect on all shipped machines. There should be no gradient issue no matter how close you look! Especially on iMacs, where you are actually stuck with the same display forever.
That's what I mean by "confusing". It is difficult to draw the line: when does the gradient issue become a problem, because many people admit to having it to some extent. In my case, everything on the right side of the display was somewhat darker, brownish/yellowish.
Furthermore, I've read often that people who compare the display of the white iMac and the Alu iMac say the former is much better. So, with stories like this, the Alu iMac seems like a "gamble" to me. So when I get one with a bad display myself, who can blame me for being paranoid
If by perfect, you mean within the fat part of the bell curve where the technology is capable of performing, then I will agree with you. There are no "perfect" LCDs.
You should consider another concept: on-line forum bias.
If you get one that you consider bad, return it. There are a lot of good ones out there, as evidenced by all the threads about here, even with the on-line forum bias.
Yeah, I guess we agree. It's just that I got my worst fears confirmed when I discovered the problems with my own display. And that after waiting for so long for the machine to arrive (Apples bought online in Norway are shipped from the Netherlands). I was disappointed, basically, and then I think to myself: "Why the hell can't Apple make sure the display is OK before they send it to me? Is it too much to ask?" But, as many in the forums have pointed out to me, it is too much to ask
Well of course if something is wrong with the product forums like this are ideal to vent one's frustration.
I must admit though Czachorski after reading your endless posts on here where you seem to constantly defend Apple and the iMac and trivialize the many problems the current Al iMac is suffering from, I'm starting to wonder if you don't actually work for Apple damage limitation.
I love that logic. Since he is having a good experience and you are having or had a bad one that automatically means that he's lying and the entire iMac line is damaged goods, right? You didn't write "the many problems MY current Al iMac is suffering from" you used "the".
I guess it really is true that misery loves company.
I love that logic. Since he is having a good experience and you are having or had a bad one that automatically means that he's lying and the entire iMac line is damaged goods, right? You didn't write "the many problems MY current Al iMac is suffering from" you used "the".
I guess it really is true that misery loves company.
I guess he wrote the because the iMac Alu product on the whole has a lot of problems. Just search for "imac gradient" or "imac backlight" on google, and you will see what I mean. Many people do in fact have problems with the Alu iMac displays, and it surprises me that you are not aware of it, being active on these forums yourself. So why should he say "my" iMac? It is grammatically correct to say "the" in this case
No problems on mine. Bought it Oct 23 from the Apple Store in Columbus, OH. My upgrade disc for Leopard didn't come till after 10.5.1 was release so after I got that to download and install I have have been great. Also bought 4 GB of RAM from macsales.com at X-mas. The iMac really flies now!!
With all due respect, I read your comment to one of the other gradient threads about "hundreds of iMacs owners" complaining.
I am aware of the "problem" but unlike you and Nordichund and others of like mind I am not ready to concede that this is a widespread defect across the entire iMac line. That is not to say I am denying that some iMacs don't have bad gradients.
I really think we're beating a dead horse here. If you have a gradient problem with your screen send it in for repair/replacement. I had the LCD panel on my own 24" iMac replaced recently for a scratch on the panel and at first I thought the new one had a bad gradient. I noticed that after heating up (about 15 minutes of use or so) the gradient dissipated to near nothingness. There was also a backlight flickering issue which I took a video of and was preparing to send it back in to Apple. The flickering just stopped altogether and believe it or not the gradient did too. It's not even there when I start it cold anymore. Am I imaging it or have I just accustomed myself to it?? NO. I know very well what a gradient is.
So why should he say "my" iMac? It is grammatically correct to say "the" in this case
He should say "MY" and not "THE" iMac because he can only speak from his own experiences. Even if he adds in the "hundreds of users" from these forums he is not entitled to use "THE" because clearly this is not a product-wide issue. The vast majority of users posting to these gradient threads ALONE report no problems. Add to them the hundreds of thousands that never see reason to visit here to begin with because they have no issues.
The freezing problems that Apple eventually fixed with the 1.3 patch qualified as a "THE 24" iMac" issue. Since it is now history it does not.
I think all Czachorski was trying to say is that there is no perfect in LCD technology. Apple is not exclusive of that.
Correction: After actually consciously searching for a gradient there is still a very slight one when the machine is cold right at startup. I can see that the left side is the slightest bit brighter. However, it is less than when I first used it and after 15 minutes of use it is gone altogether.
I got My 20" 2.4 GhZ on December 27th. It has been pure joyus bliss ever since. I love it, and it has been my best Machine so far. Every other PC I've ever had has been full of weird little quirks, that I've had to live with, or work around. My iMac just works as it should right out of the box.
My 24" Alu iMac is my second iMac. My first was a 20" G5 a couple of years ago. An incident with the G5 showed me how tough it was. It feel off of a desktop when bumped by me working behind the unit. It landed LCD down on a hardwood floor. I stood there looking like this -> , when I finally picked it up I saw the LCD was intact but the case had separated. I disassembled the case and reassembled it, fired it up, and it ran like nothing had happened.
Neither iMac has ever given me any trouble.
Let me see if I understand your problem ....
Your iMac running Mac OS X is flawless, when you run Microsoft Windows you have a problem. I would say it is a driver issue, or perhaps a setting in Windows.
, when I finally picked it up I saw the LCD was intact but the case had separated. I disassembled the case and reassembled it, fired it up, and it ran like nothing had happened. Neither iMac has ever given me any trouble.
i do have a problem, if you solve it, i will post in your thread saying no problems at all
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/435022/
Let me see if I understand your problem ....
Your iMac running Mac OS X is flawless, when you run Microsoft Windows you have a problem. I would say it is a driver issue, or perhaps a setting in Windows.
My 24" Alu iMac is my second iMac. My first was a 20" G5 a couple of years ago. An incident with the G5 showed me how tough it was. It feel off of a desktop when bumped by me working behind the unit. It landed LCD down on a hardwood floor. I stood there looking like this ->
Neither iMac has ever given me any trouble.
Hehe, I've done that before... with someone else's stuff. Nothing was hurt, but it scared me good. Glad to hear it still worked afterwards.
To SaSaSushi
I agree we are beating a dead horse here. And I also believe that most iMacs are just fine. The reason I tend to expect that even more people have this problem than what is actually reported on these forums, comes down to experience. So many times have I had people sitting in front of an old PC monitor with a flickering CRT screen set to 60hz (when default should be 85), telling me that their screen is completely alright and flawless and nothing to complain about. I then install proper drivers and set a proper resolution and hz, and they agree it is so much better. But they didn't see it before (amazingly enough)! I sincerely believe that when a fair number of people actually report the gradient problem, then a a far larger amount of people really have the problem, but they don't bother, they accept it, they don't realize it and so on. This seems to be especially true of the older generation, in my experience.
One guy over at a Norwegian forum (www.mac1.no) just talked to Applecare and they told him that he should somehow accept the gradient problem, because the new screens are very bright, and this somehow makes the gradient thing more visible. Personally I don't like that idea, but whatever. The horse is pretty dead already, and maybe it comes down to a matter of preference. If Mac Pro was within my price range, I would go for that and a 3rd party screen.
I agree we are beating a dead horse here. And I also believe that most iMacs are just fine. The reason I tend to expect that even more people have this problem than what is actually reported on these forums, comes down to experience. So many times have I had people sitting in front of an old PC monitor with a flickering CRT screen set to 60hz (when default should be 85), telling me that their screen is completely alright and flawless and nothing to complain about. I then install proper drivers and set a proper resolution and hz, and they agree it is so much better. But they didn't see it before (amazingly enough)! I sincerely believe that when a fair number of people actually report the gradient problem, then a a far larger amount of people really have the problem, but they don't bother, they accept it, they don't realize it and so on. This seems to be especially true of the older generation, in my experience.
One guy over at a Norwegian forum (www.mac1.no) just talked to Applecare and they told him that he should somehow accept the gradient problem, because the new screens are very bright, and this somehow makes the gradient thing more visible. Personally I don't like that idea, but whatever. The horse is pretty dead already, and maybe it comes down to a matter of preference. If Mac Pro was within my price range, I would go for that and a 3rd party screen.
And would you expect "perfection" from that 3rd party screen? What is your definition of "perfect"? Do you think there is some probability that you would get a dud 3rd party screen? Tell me how you expect your experience with a 3rd party screen to be any different? You are still going to get a consumer electronics device with some chance of issues.
I think the beginning of your post highlights the circular logic issue that exists in these discussions. A very small few have gotten screens with "the gradient", which is a 200-250% variation in brightness from left to right. Are you going to tell me that a large number of people would either not notice that or not care? I find that hard to believe. (I gotta tell you too, it cracks me up when people use the "everyone has the problem but they are blind to it" argument). Most people have gotten a screen with either none or some slight gradient (perhaps 20% or less brightness variation), which is within the normal limits of the LCD technology. Are you going to tell me that this is a defect? I find that hard to believe. I think that most of the messiness of this debate has been caused by this discrepancy. Those saying that "all iMacs have gradients" are pointing to normal LCD performance which includes very small brightness variations, while those saying that "most iMacs are fine" are speaking to the overwhelming vast majority of iMac screen that fall into normal LCD performance ranges, without the 250% variation, but not perfection.
I am not surprised that the person (Norch) who would post such obvious logic fallacy would also incorrectly conclude that the person pointing out the fallacy "must work for Apple". At least it shows consistency in their logical fallacy.
Stop fooling, please. By perfection I mean that there are no obvious flaws, like the gradient issue. I know LCD has its limitations. But if I bought a Samsung and found problems, I very much doubt I would experience people on the Samsung forum telling me that I'm a **** because I complain about the product. Furthermore, it would be easier to return the product because I could keep the rest of the computer at home, using another display in meantime.
I see your point. On the other hand, according to your logic I and the two or three others with the gradient issue are some of the most unfortunate iMac buyers in the world, in something like winning the bad iMac lottery of the year. Of all the flawless products in their European stock, they reserved the flawed one for me. Neat.
No, that would be totally acceptable.
I agree with this point. I earlier said that buying an iMac seemed somehow like a gamble to me, because it could be difficult to prove whether or not your machine was just within the acceptable boundaries of LCD performance or just outside. If I should rate my own machine, I would say the variation from left to right was maybe around 100%. Maybe a less critical eye would say I was too picky, maybe a more critical eye would say even 20% variation is too much. That is why this case is difficult.
Mine was plagued by overheating and freezing when i upgraded to Leopard but after Apple updated the software to fix the problem it only froze once more and no problems since then. I have a 20" aluminum 2.4 GHz 2GB RAM and I have had it since september.
TJ - a 100% gradient we would all agree is a defect and you are subject to a return. No one is calling you a **** for that. The only place where you get yourself into trouble is where you tried to extend your experience to all iMacs. Yes, you will get slammed for that.