Quick Yellow Tint Question

[smiddlehurst]

Hey folks, received a brand spanking new 2011 27" iMac today and it's a fabulous machine except for one problem... yep, the dreaded yellow tint screen is in full force.

This sort of thing normally doesn't bother me but it's really quite bad, to the point that the bottom of the screen looks like a totally different colour temp than the top. Looking to make a genius bar appointment ASAP but is there anything I can do to try and relieve the problem? I'm assuming that the screen doesn't need running in or anything like that and haven't been able to get anywhere with calibration. Doesn't seem to make any difference where I'm sitting or what angle I'm looking at the screen from either... really annoyed by this as it's a BTO machine and my Macbook Pro is currently on its last legs (hence the new iMac).

Any thoughts or advice would be gratefully received.

 

[Ubuntu]

Hey folks, received a brand spanking new 2011 27" iMac today and it's a fabulous machine except for one problem... yep, the dreaded yellow tint screen is in full force.

This sort of thing normally doesn't bother me but it's really quite bad, to the point that the bottom of the screen looks like a totally different colour temp than the top. Looking to make a genius bar appointment ASAP but is there anything I can do to try and relieve the problem? I'm assuming that the screen doesn't need running in or anything like that and haven't been able to get anywhere with calibration. Doesn't seem to make any difference where I'm sitting or what angle I'm looking at the screen from either... really annoyed by this as it's a BTO machine and my Macbook Pro is currently on its last legs (hence the new iMac).

Any thoughts or advice would be gratefully received.

If you're going to take it into the Apple Store I'd call ahead and explain the situation to make sure they'll replace it. The benefit would be that you could actually see the replacement iMac before you take it back home.

Ideally though my advice would be to actually return it to the store even if you purchased it online (I'm sure you can do that) and politely ask them to let you boot the new iMac before you take it home. If you can't do that I'd just get a refund and order a new one because (depending on where you live) you're obliged to a reason-free return at the moment but if you just exchange it for another unit and its just as bad they might not be so friendly about exchanging it again.

 

[The Samurai]

OP, have you tried this yet.

 

[smiddlehurst]

If you're going to take it into the Apple Store I'd call ahead and explain the situation to make sure they'll replace it. The benefit would be that you could actually see the replacement iMac before you take it back home.

Ideally though my advice would be to actually return it to the store even if you purchased it online (I'm sure you can do that) and politely ask them to let you boot the new iMac before you take it home. If you can't do that I'd just get a refund and order a new one because (depending on where you live) you're obliged to a reason-free return at the moment but if you just exchange it for another unit and its just as bad they might not be so friendly about exchanging it again.

Good advice, though while I'm going to be polite it's not going to be a fun meeting as this is going to be something like the tenth time I've been to that Apple store in four years for broken hardware... The only reason for buying the iMac is my Macbook Pro is on the point of death following (deep breath) a broken keyboard, expanding battery, replacement battery that goes from 90% health to 6% in a split second, broken camera and now a broken screen with possible graphics card issues. To say I'm not impressed is an understatement. Only reason I'm sticking with Apple is I've got such a lot of investment in the software and workflows that's going to be a major pain (and expense) to change.

@The Samurai: cheers for the link, interesting stuff but really no need to do the test. Just with MacRumors open the colour change is horribly obvious.

 

[Toadette]

Good advice, though while I'm going to be polite it's not going to be a fun meeting as this is going to be something like the tenth time I've been to that Apple store in four years for broken hardware... The only reason for buying the iMac is my Macbook Pro is on the point of death following (deep breath) a broken keyboard, expanding battery, replacement battery that goes from 90% health to 6% in a split second, broken camera and now a broken screen with possible graphics card issues. To say I'm not impressed is an understatement. Only reason I'm sticking with Apple is I've got such a lot of investment in the software and workflows that's going to be a major pain (and expense) to change.

@The Samurai: cheers for the link, interesting stuff but really no need to do the test. Just with MacRumors open the colour change is horribly obvious.

That's some bad luck. my sole need to return has been cracked palmrest on the wife's white macbook.

 

[archer75]

I wouldn't have thought I had yellow tint until I watched that video. Now I know I do

 

[smiddlehurst]

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Good advice, though while I'm going to be polite it's not going to be a fun meeting as this is going to be something like the tenth time I've been to that Apple store in four years for broken hardware... The only reason for buying the iMac is my Macbook Pro is on the point of death following (deep breath) a broken keyboard, expanding battery, replacement battery that goes from 90% health to 6% in a split second, broken camera and now a broken screen with possible graphics card issues. To say I'm not impressed is an understatement. Only reason I'm sticking with Apple is I've got such a lot of investment in the software and workflows that's going to be a major pain (and expense) to change.

@The Samurai: cheers for the link, interesting stuff but really no need to do the test. Just with MacRumors open the colour change is horribly obvious.

That's some bad luck. my sole need to return has been cracked palmrest on the wife's white macbook.

Heh, had the cracking palm rest problem too, White work MacBook, told by the genius it was a design fault, nothing under the rest where the two little plastic ridges on the screen make contact with it so over time it shatters.

 

[corvus32]

The light coming from the iMac's screen is partially polarized. I don't know if it's produced by the display itself or if it's the glass in front of it that's doing it, but it is partially polarized. One can test this for themselves by viewing the screen through a polarizing filter, and watch the screen dim and brighten as you rotate it around. I used an ordinary 2" astronomical polarizing filter.

When I do this same test on my Motorola Droid, the screen doesn't change brightness - it changes hues. Rotating the filter causes its screen to go from normal to greenish/yellow, and then to a reddish hue.

I'm no optical engineer, but maybe this, or something similar working in combination, has something to do with the yellow tint issue. I know some people say it doesn't matter what angle they view from, the yellow tint is always there, but I find the opposite to be true.