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New Displays....Continue Issues (Gray Banding)

M

MT0227

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jun 16, 2009
340
1
I just had my week 46 i5 display replaced because of brightness uniformity issues; right side of the panel was brighter than the left. After getting it home and powering it up I noticed a gray band, about a 1/4 inch thick, about 2 inches up from the bottom of the panel that went across the entire display. I noticed this during the Apple bright white splash screen at boot up. Clearly I was not happy; I decided to see if keeping a bright white color slide up at full screen for a while, letting the machine warm up, would make a difference. Nope :(

I called the retail store where I purchased the machine, they offered me a replacement; great news right....well...not so much. The "Lead Genius", took a look at my machine at totally agreed and saw what I saw. He then brought out a week 7 new i5 and said he would like to power it up just be be sure everything was ok. Well, upon the splash screen ...same gray band, same location, just slightly fainter. He put it back in the box and slapped a green tag on it. He proceeded to get another one from the back, week 7 again, but manufactured from a different location "Q". Once again, upon the splash screen same gray band, this one was much more pronounced than the replacement display in my i5 and the new i5 he green tagged. He got another green tag and boxed up the second machine.

I was given a gift card with my cash on it and a 10% off in store coupon for my troubles. The store manager and the person who took care of me were incredibly nice ( yes...they still have my $$) and said they wanted me to be 100% satisfied with my purchase. I guess I will hold onto my money for a while until all this stuff gets sorted out.

Good luck everyone


-Marc
 
I have the same grey bar/band on my i7. There's been so much focus on yellow tinge however this problem seems pretty common as well. Just wondering what should I do, should I get replacement as well? What if the replacement (from what you described, it is highly possible) has the same issue?
 
picture?

Do you only see it during the apple splash screen at boot up?

If so, who cares...

I think if you take any new computer and comb it over with a very fine tooth comb, you are bound to find anomalies...

I'm just saying... I went through 4 imac and 1 lcd replacement, before I bought a week 7 that I am happy with.
 
xingstar - I can't say what you should do other than what makes you happy and satisfied. If you are willing to live with it, that would be your decision. I have alternative computing options that give me a chance to wait this stuff out.

toed - if Apple is not going to go through things with a fine tooth comb, for $2k I sure as hell am and will not stop until I get something that is worth my hard earned cash. To answer your question and if you re-read my post you will notice that it was noticeable on a full screen white slide I used to warm up the display. I do a significant amount of digital photo editing, both color and BW and need a display that can be calibrated properly and does not present color aberrations and distractions when I'm working on prints. I'm happy you are happy; I'm sure I will be soon.

-Marc
 
I've had 5 iMac's so far 4 were replaced due to the yellow tinge, none of which had this issue, now I finally got one with very little tinge (acceptable by my standards) but it has this dark bar issue. Trying to decide if its bad enough to do another exchange.
 
ok. Hopefully you can see it from this picture. Please pay attention to the lower part of the screen.
 

Attachments

  • screenshot1.jpg
    screenshot1.jpg
    1 MB · Views: 1,014
I have that on mine, but it doesn't bother me, can barely see it IF you're looking for it.
 
MT0227 said:
I do a significant amount of digital photo editing, both color and BW and need a display that can be calibrated properly and does not present color aberrations and distractions when I'm working on prints.
Click to expand...

Then what you really need is a properly calibrated CRT display ... despite what the manufacturers like to claim in their advertising, LCD / LED / Plasma displays are not properly up to the task.
 
Yeah if you're honestly nitpicking over very subtle differences in brightness uniformity on an LCD (something which is basically impossible to correct on a large LCD) then you should be looking into a high dollar, high resolution CRT.

CRT is a very mature technology, and when it comes to displaying blacks, displaying true color and response times, nothing beats a CRT.
 
I worked on a properly calibrated High Res 20" Mitsubishi CRT display using a Windows based PC for 7 years. After that hardware had exceeded is useful life, I converted to Apple in 2007. I purchased a late 2007 17" MacBook Pro High Res display (which was flawless) and never looked back.

I currently have a 24" iMac, purchased it about 3 months prior to the new 27" models; I also have a 17" MacBook Pro uni (mid 09) with high res display. I'd consider both panels flawless relative to what I've personally seen on the 27" i5s.

When I pay a significant premium for the Apple brand, which I'm happy to do and have done in the past, I expect perfection and settle for something slightly less. What is happening and has happened to me personally with these 27" displays is well below what I would call "slightly less". Again, if you are willing to accept something more than slightly less, that is your choice.

FYI...my 60" and 58" plasma displays from Pioneer and Samsung are incredible, no color uniformity issues at all with a bright white screen.


-Marc
 
I noticed this grey band/bar thing at my previous imacs. Actually the picture I pasted here is not that pronounced compared with looking at the screen. Maybe my point & shot camera is not that great. The point here is that this grey band/bar thing is very consistent (same color, same height, same location) on all the 27 imacs i have seen so far. As Marc pointed out, he went to the store and found brand new imacs had the same grey band. I am sure we are not the only two who have this issue.

At this point, i don't think i can get a grey band/bar free replacement if i return my current one. it is not that bad however sort of bothering you.

Thank you Marc to bring this up. I wish everyone get a perfect one!
 
xingstar said:
At this point, i don't think i can get a grey band/bar free replacement if i return my current one.
Click to expand...

xingstar -

Don't be so sure; you just need to push your way to the "Lead Genius" or Store Manager and tell them your are unsatisfied with your purchase. If it's visible to them, that's all it will take regardless how prevalent or faint it is. I'm not sure how old your machine is, but most likely they will offer you a display replacement if you are beyond 14 days. It seems as though you will be playing the display lottery; you may get one better or worse. If it's the latter you just demand to brand new machine or a store credit and wait this out of you have the option. Like I said...expect perfection and settle for something slightly less; if you feel OK with what you have then just enjoy what you have.

Good Luck!
 
Same issue here, I am on my 4th imac. 1 broken screen 2 yellow tints, and now this. I escalated the issue to the store manager. Got 3 techs to come out from behind the curtains, and verify the issue. Now I am on the waiting list for a replacement screen. This issue is not splitting hairs, its 2000 hard earned dollars being thrown back in our faces.

I was offered a refund, but declined , this is my first mac, and really wanted to believe that I was making the right choice. I still think I am.

I was compensated with free apple care, and a phone call or email from the store manager when my new screen arrives. I was also told if a new model iMac comes out within a year they will replace mine with the newer model. They also 'informally' informed me that they know of the issue, but really don't have any answers. I hope this is the last one... we shall see.

That grey bar, catches my eye everytime I look at my screen. It doesn't go away after time either, I ran a looping video for a few hours to see if that would wake the pixels up. No bueno.
 
i definitely dont see anything in the photos for which it's worth replacing the whole computer or even just the display
 
While this new problem is far less pronounced and intrusive, it is still a flaw. I'm going to keep letting the rest of you be frustrated. Once I see enough posts that say everything is good, I'll buy my new iMac.

Seriously, though, thank you to everyone who has been so diligent in bringing these flaws to Apple's attention. This is a company that cannot afford to do anything less than perfection.
 
roguepink said:
While this new problem is far less pronounced and intrusive, it is still a flaw. I'm going to keep letting the rest of you be frustrated. Once I see enough posts that say everything is good, I'll buy my new iMac.
Click to expand...

Why would people come here to tell you everything is okay? They're only going to come here to complain of problems. A few people out of thousands of sales is not an accurate reflection on the problems.

For what it's worth, I'm pretty sure my iMac is perfect.
 
AdamA9 said:
Why would people come here to tell you everything is okay? They're only going to come here to complain of problems. A few people out of thousands of sales is not an accurate reflection on the problems.

For what it's worth, I'm pretty sure my iMac is perfect.
Click to expand...

I have been running my iMac for 5 years now. I still have a IIGS in storage. My first machine was a II+. I'm not here as a Mac hater. But I'm not so blindly devoted to think that these reports are just trouble makers. Apple is taking action to resolve what are acknowledged problems. That lends validity to what I read here.

I'm perfectly fine with Apple turning out a lemon. I see them working to fix the problem and I am content. Mistakes happen. Its how they go about making it better that can define a company.
 
As I said, I probably did not take a good picture. However the horizontal bar is definitely there if you look at the picture a little bit further away from the screen. I will see if I can post another one once I reach home.

I am not a picky guy at all, I can tolerant with little yellow tinge however this one is really annoying.
 
I'm actually planning a 27" iMac purchase in the near future to supplement my MacBook and to be used primarily for web/print design and this is a huge concern. That's why I haven't pulled the trigger yet.

Screen real estate is a big deal to me, but I don't need the power/cost of a Mac Pro when I can run Photoshop/Illustrator on the iMac. The 27" makes sense to me, but the screen issues seen so far, gray banding included, is completely unacceptable.

Yes, you will not be able to achieve the same sharp, crisp image a design-CRT can produce but the subtle differences will become less of a nuisance shortly after making the switch. What is unacceptable is the sub-par quality of these panels compared to stand alone 27" monitors. The gray banding does not occur on my aging 24" Dell, nor on any of my other panels.

I think they're having quality issues with these panels. I'm sure they got a great deal on them and went cheaper to cut cost of the overall machine and now they pay the price.

Until these issues have been resolved I'm waiting to get my 27" iMac, no matter how shiny it is! :)
 
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