Of course it's not receiving media attention...because it SHOULDN'T.
The majority of happy Mac users is not on these forums...they count thousands or perhaps millions, and are out there enjoying their fantastic machines, which can be easily considered the best desktops on Earth. Nothing else comes close.
I haven't had issues with my new iMac (unless I really wanna find them with a colorimeter/spectrometer/whatever), and I would advise any prospective users to take these forum "advices" with a grain of salt. Some people may have problems, but MOST DO NOT, and are absolutely happy with their aluminum Macs. Even those owning 20" models are fully satisfied in their majority, and couldn't care less about narrower viewing angles or anecdotal evidence that the screens are "bad".
Again, read these forums and use your rights; but don't reach the conclusion that bad iMacs are the rule.
I don't understand why many users suggest that this issue doesn't merit attention. Nobody in this thread has suggested that they don't like their iMac, nor that they don't
love their iMac, nor that they wouldn't recommend one to a friend. But they do so
despite the screen problems.
I recommend the iMac to friends and family all the time. I just purchased and installed a 20" for my mother's office, and encouraged the purchase and set up a 24" for my father's business. Nobody is suggesting that they are bad...or even that they aren't one the best desktop computers money can buy (I believe they are!).
However, I do understand why many users feel that the problems with the iMac screens aren't a big deal. Most people have never owned or used a S-IPS or H-IPS display before. 90% of the monitors sold at your local electronics store are TN displays. Poor viewing angle and color shifting at angles are the norm. It makes sense that a switcher, or someone coming from a TN display wouldn't think the color cast or gradient are an issue, and wouldn't understand what the fuss is all about. Most if not all of the iMac displays DO have problems in my experience (to varying degrees), but most users won't care.
Coming from a TN panel, the 24" iMac, gradient and all, is still a huge upgrade.
glossywhite said:
It's simple really; some people will NEVER be happy, and are always LOOKING for flaws to moan about, even if said flaw is barely perceptable at all.
Let me tell you my story. 2 years ago, I could have purchased an iMac with today's iMac's screen, and I, like you, probably would have told people to stop complaining.
But I purchased a top of the line white 24" iMac. For as long as I owned that computer, I never thought about the "quality" of the display. I did however, log a few thousand hours using the screen. I gamed, browsed, but particularly, I watched a ton of video content, from across the room, using front row and an apple remote.
In April 2008, after owning the machine for 19 months, I decided to sell it...anticipating an update to the product line.
For the last 6 weeks, I've been using a borrowed macbook connected to my 22" Acer P ("Professional") series LCD. Don't get me wrong, it's a phenomenal display for a TN (dead even backlight, very minimal backlight bleed, no colour cast), but it's night and day compared to the S-IPS in my old iMac.
The first night using this set up, I invoked front row, and threw on an episode of a favorite tv show. Something was wrong. Blacks were inverted on the top half of the screen. Hmm. I was lying on the couch about 8 feet away from the screen, two feet below it. The vertical viewing angle of the TN display wasn't sufficient to watch a tv show in this orientation (the image looked great if I sat up though!).
A few days later, I went into my mother's office to set up a new 20" Aluminum iMac. While setting it up, I copied several network and printer settings from a nearby white 20" iMac. I was floored by the difference in the quality of the displays. The color and "depth" of the image on the white iMac were incredible...I saw no color or brightness changes looking at the screen from 180 degrees. The Aluminum 20" was a whole other story...massive color shifts (inversion if the angle is too steep).
A week later, a refurb Aluminum 24" iMac was purchased for the house. At first the screen looked fine...but after opening a few fullscreen safari windows, the flaw was evident. The centre of the screen was muddy (warm) in color, whereas the left was fairly cool, and brighter than the right. The computer also has moderate backlight bleed in the corners.
Since then I've checked 3 or 4 more units belonging to friends, my father's office, and a local electronics store. All of them had most of the issues, to varying degrees of severity.
By comparison, my sold white 24" iMac had no gradient, no visible bleed, and dead even color.
glossywhite said:
some people will NEVER be happy
Previous (white generation) iMac owners probably won't be, until new screens are made available in the iMac. The 20" white iMac shared its panel with the 20" ACD, and the 24" was even better. Critics praised the white 24" iMac for bridging the consumer/pro gap (first consumer mac w/ firewire 800), and it was a viable professional work station.
S.J. told us in August 2007 that the displays in the Aluminum iMac are better, more professional, etc. While that statement is not true at all for the 20" iMac, it's true on paper with regards to the 24".
The 24" Aluminum iMacs have H-IPS displays in them, the best displays commonly available on the market. All the "consumers" in this thread are looking for, is for the display to work
the way it should.
I read online today that threads on the Apple support forums with regards to screen gradients in the iMacs are being closed or censored (link:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/apple-display-update,1747.html).
However, barring an update to any of the computers in the Mac lineup, or the introduction of a new computer, I'm going to buy a 3.06 unit after the keynote on June 9, and hope for the best.
seeing as you are the authority on all Macs sold, and to whom!
