Just because you asked: "2)And, how much RAM the machine in questions had?" I didn't get why you asked that also
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Recieved my imac 2,4, 24" today and...
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I've seen dozens of both 20" and 24" Aluminium iMacs. It's becoming a habit; whenever I go into an Apple Store or reseller I go up to the iMacs to check them out. To this day, I have not seen a single glossy screen iMac without issues. What I have seen is a mac mini connected to an Apple Cinema Display, hardware calibrated, that looks superb. The Cinema's really are impressive - any owner will tell you. Unless you want to do gaming (get a PS3 with the money you save) get a mini with 2gb ram and Cinema Display.
Good luck...although from what I've seen and heard the components haven't changed. I've now seen probably 25-30 24" iMacs, right up until last weekend, and have not seen a single one that doesn't exhibit almost identical problems.
When someone says "my new iMac screen is perfect", it probably means "I don't see an issue that bothers me". There's absolutely nothing wrong with that, but it's very unlikely that the screen was much different, it just means for their purposes it's fully adequate (if you take the colour shifting and uneven lighting out of the debate, it's a nice-looking vivid screen).
Personally, I think your idea of switching to a Mini/ACD is a good move. I returned a few 24" iMacs and checked out a number of others in multiple stores before deciding it wasn't suitable for my purposes - I have the luxury of waiting a few months, so I'm holding out for an updated MBP with an ACD, but if I needed something today I would have probably gone with a Mini/ACD.
It all depends on your requirements, and for me a pristine screen is a show-stopper.
Cheers, Colin.
I also think that the problem is widely spread but still believe that there are good screens out there. I mean there´s lots of people knowing about the issue and still can´t see any gradient. If it´s as obvious as it is on mine you should notice it within the first day even if you didn´t know about it before.
Once you see it, you REALLY see it.
I read about some guy at another forum who claimed he got one of the good ones after a replacement.
Sadly the good screens seems to be few...
I find it strange that apple hasn´t even commented on the screen issues with both the 20" and 24".
Once you see it, you REALLY see it.
I read about some guy at another forum who claimed he got one of the good ones after a replacement.
Sadly the good screens seems to be few...
I find it strange that apple hasn´t even commented on the screen issues with both the 20" and 24".
Just out of curiosity, when I was running some errands today I went by the local Best Buy (the closest Apple Store is quite a trek for me) and took a look at the 24" Alum. iMac they have there. The only thing I noticed on the screen was it seemed minutely darker in the center and got a little darker out to each side, but it was uniform, the left wasn't really brighter than the right side of the screen.
I'm not sure if this is just me and how I see LCDs that are that big though, because when I looked at some of the other LCDs in the store (the PC LCDs anyway, not the TVs) they all looked to have the same "fade" out near the left and right edge of the screen.
I'm not sure if this is just me and how I see LCDs that are that big though, because when I looked at some of the other LCDs in the store (the PC LCDs anyway, not the TVs) they all looked to have the same "fade" out near the left and right edge of the screen.
Because the GMA950 shares the system RAM.
In this case, you don't seem to know what you're talking about, and yet are giving your opinion as if it were based in fact (GMA950=crappy colors).
By your own admission, you a)don't own a mini b)haven't even used the most recent version (Core 2 Duo). Yet, you speak so authoritatively
Because the GMA950 shares the system RAM.
In this case, you don't seem to know what you're talking about, and yet are giving your opinion as if it were based in fact (GMA950=crappy colors).
By your own admission, you a)don't own a mini b)haven't even used the most recent version (Core 2 Duo). Yet, you speak so authoritatively
Sorry, but when I have doubts I have no problem to write them and I don't say that I know something when i don't know. I have a new macbook, which I can compare with the mini. So, the latest hardware was put on test by me. I know perfectly that the 950 shares 64Mb with the system ram in osx (total near to 80Mb but just 64 of vram) and the full 256 in windows.
I don't have a clue why you asked about ram when the problem here was IQ. Because with 512 or 2Gb the IQ is the same. WTH where you thinking about? Are you trying to tell me that the mini has better IQ than the MB with the same gma950?
Good luck to you. I'm on my fourth iMac, and they all had this issue (and others). Some have been worse than others though. There's either a gradient across the whole screen like on yours, or a dark area in the middle of the screen.
Apple Store has been very very helpful, their support is really wonderful in my experience. But sadly, that doesn't help me getting a good screen. And now they won't replace it anymore (which I find understandable). So I've decided to keep this last one, it's still bugging me, but I just don't have the time or energy to spend of the issue any more. It's been over 2 months since I made my initial purchase, and I haven't been able to fully use the computer.
Hopefully, they will eventually either fix the issue (which I think has to do with the backlighting inverter) or switch to a LED-based in the future. Then I will sell this one and get the new model.
The panel itself is really good on the 24" in my opinion. But the backlighting completely ruins it. And from my experience with the other three, it gets worse over time. I pray that this one doesn't get any worse.
However, it doesn't bother me that much when editing photos really. But when doing graphics design with a lot of solid colors it's really horrible. And even web browsing is annoying since the screen looks dirty, like an old paper.
I hope you find a good one, but I have personally given up hope. But there is no other option that suits me unless I go back to Linux (which I don't want to since I've invested tons of money in mac software).
Shouldn´t apple agree to either repair or exchange your unit when they have fixed this issue which I believe they will.
Did you ask them?
I mean if they exchange it without question and know that this is a widespread issue they should certainly agree to that.
If my next unit is also bad I might try a new one or ask them to replace/repair it once the issue is fixed.
How is the display on the one you have now?
Worse or better than the other three?
Hearing this story about someone getting 4 bad mac screens in a row makes you think that it is very likely that every single iMac has these problems. It could very well be the case.
And it is not necessarily the case. If 10% of iMacs are bad, the odds of someone drawing a bad 4 times in a row is 10,0000 to 1. If there are 500,000 people out there trying to get a good iMac, there could be as many as 50 who have the dreadful experience of getting 4 bad ones in a row. That is really sad, if you think about it.
Indeed, very sad. The iMac is probably Apple's most important computer, and been a thing of beauty for a long time. I'm very sad about the high percentage of bad screens (not to mention the freezing). Rev A's models can be a little patchy, but all these bad screen iMac stories is really not on, especially for a company who pride themselves on solid products.
Indeed, very sad. The iMac is probably Apple's most important computer, and been a thing of beauty for a long time. I'm very sad about the high percentage of bad screens (not to mention the freezing). Rev A's models can be a little patchy, but all these bad screen iMac stories is really not on, especially for a company who pride themselves on solid products.
We were talking about the statistics of these machine at work the other day. There are probably a thousand things that could go wrong in an iMac that would result in a unit failure and a return as defective. For the overall defective rate to fall in the industry average range of something like 5-10%, each of these components must have a teeny tiny chance of failure - something like 0.01% or less. For one item, like a bad inverter unit (or whatever is causing it), to have a failure rate itself on the order of 10% would be incredibly bad. If it was something like 50% it would be colossally bad. If this was a design defect in every single unit, Apple would be looking at a total recall.
Indeed, very sad. The iMac is probably Apple's most important computer, and been a thing of beauty for a long time. I'm very sad about the high percentage of bad screens (not to mention the freezing). Rev A's models can be a little patchy, but all these bad screen iMac stories is really not on, especially for a company who pride themselves on solid products.
It's really not a high percentage. It appears that way because you are reading complaints on a forum. Think about it this way, for all the people that buy Windows computers only a 3rd of them actually maintain the computer and let alone even install the anti-virus software.
Same goes for posting on forums. For all the thousands of computers Apple sells less than 1/4 even post to online forums about their experiences. Even more so, the people that post to online forums that love their new iMacs and have no complaints about them generally won't post about how good it is, they generally don't say anything.
Don't allow these forums to convince you that the majority is having issues.
Apple will replace what is actually defective and causes the computer to malfunction.
Uneven screen backlighting and slight shading of brightness on an LCD is considered acceptable in terms of calling it a defect. My 23" Cinema display was pink, had dark colored banding from top to bottom and several people on the forums complained. This complaint was legit because you could see the pink and the banding with any background and it would disturb the web browsing experience but Apple never recalled the displays.
Some things are just not considered defective and you have a choice to take it or leave it.
I'm sorry but do you actually have any evidence that this is the case? Based on my experience there's actually only a small percentage without this issue.
This is because I have now seen 8 iMacs in real life where one had good display, I have seen pictures of about 40 iMacs where all had this issue, and this is actually mostly from people who claim that they don't have the issue. So that makes 1 out of 48 iMacs.
Also consider that many of us that consider this an issue has had several replacement without any luck. That wouldn't happen if it actually only concerned a small percentage of the iMacs.
I would say that there's four categories. A) The small percentage that has a good screen. B) Those who has the issue but doesn't notice it. C) Those who can see it but isn't bothered by it. D) Those who can see it and are bothered by it.
I might agree with you that group D is a fairly small compared to A, B and C put together. But that doesn't say that the issue isn't there and that it isn't a real issue for those people.
I personally can't understand how some people can't see this. But then again, there's lots of people who won't notice if a guitar is slightly out of tune. I guess it depends on how trained the eyes are.
I have compared the iMac screen side by side with both a Dell and a Samsung 24" display. I have also looked at other 24" displays in stores. None of them has had these kind of backligting issues. I would actually go as far as saying that the iMac display is one of the worst 24" displays on the market right now. And this is all due to the backlighting. The panel itself, as I've said, is really good.
If you belong to category A or B then congratulations to you! But I will not for one second believe you when you say that only a small percentage of the screens has this issue unless you have some kind of proof.
There are lots of photos of good iMac screens here. If the problem were so prevalent as to exist in 47 out of 48 iMacs and to be so obvious as to warrant the statement: "I personally can't understand how some people can't see this.", then you would think that it would be possible to to go to someplace like google images, do a search, and see many iMacs with this problem. And yet, when I did the same thing, I can hardly tell if any of them have the issue. Try it yourself.
Trust me, I've spent countless of hours trying to find pictures of iMacs with good screens. The thing is that most of the images in that thread are either small, overexposed, taken from an angle or a combination of it (a couple of them are even fakes). So it's hard to see if it's there or not. It's not how you would view the screen when actually using it.
But the few pictures in that thread that are technically good enough clearly shows the issue. The one with the car is a good example.
The default blue background makes a good job in masking it. It is much more visible when you have something on screen that has solid colors (except blue) and cover a good portion of the screen. Pretty much any application would do that. A web browser for example.
Taking a photograph from an angle also mask the issue since this panel turns blueish when seen from the side and makes the yellowish part less visible.
Actually, since I've spent some time documenting the issue and reporting to Apple support about it, I have noticed that it usually appears less obvious in a photograph and it's also barely visible when you view the photo on certain screens. But if you know how it looks and what to look for, you can easily spot it in a photo as well. And the eyedropper in photoshop will confirm that.
I have invited several people to look at my iMacs. I didn't tell them what the issue was, I only asked them if they noticed anything unusual about it. All but one instantly spotted the issue. The one that didn't clearly saw it when I pointed it out.
So it's not that I'm extremely sensitive or anthing.
You can't see it in a photograph really well? And off angle viewing makes it harder to see? That is not what the people who have the issue and are posting photographs are saying.
We will see. I just ordered one, and when it comes, I'll post some pics under different conditions, and you can consider me a random sample. If it is anywhere close to as bad as some of the photos I have seen, it is going straight back. I suspect it will look as good as most of the images I am seeing on google images and in the reviews: just fine.
We will see. I just ordered one, and when it comes, I'll post some pics under different conditions, and you can consider me a random sample. If it is anywhere close to as bad as some of the photos I have seen, it is going straight back. I suspect it will look as good as most of the images I am seeing on google images and in the reviews: just fine.
Well, at least to me, it is more obvious when actually using the computer than it is when viewing it in a photo. To make it really obvious in a photo I have to fill the screen with a solid gray color. That's most likely because the brain knows what to expect when you use a solid color so it will notice differences much easier. In a desktop where a lot of things is going on, it's harder for the brain to know how it's supposed to look. But when you actually use the computer it becomes much more obvious what's wrong since you know what to expect.
I'd love it if anyone could prove me wrong. But so far I have seen no proof that it isn't the norm.
If the screen was 2.5x as bright on one side versus the other, it would seem like it would be obvious in any photo. It would be interesting if you or Leon would post some photos with normal things on your screens, and see if you can't see the problem at all. That would provide us with a control for all these pics all over the web that you also can not see it at all.
Pics of a known problem screen straight on, in low light, with a solid background clearly showing the problem, compared to pics from the same machine showing a normal picture with a normal screen content and room lighting that does not show the problem at all. That is what you are contending right?
bad one again...
Bad news...
Recieved my second Imac today and the gradient issue is only slightly better than on the last one.
This one also has the freezing issue and I´m sending it back tomorrow.
Now I don´t know what to do, the waiting between shipments just sucks and I´m not even sure the next one will be better.
I´m NOT demanding a perfect screen just a tolerable one.
Losing faith in apple...
Bad news...
Recieved my second Imac today and the gradient issue is only slightly better than on the last one.
This one also has the freezing issue and I´m sending it back tomorrow.
Now I don´t know what to do, the waiting between shipments just sucks and I´m not even sure the next one will be better.
I´m NOT demanding a perfect screen just a tolerable one.
Losing faith in apple...
Alright...
Seriously I just got my iMac with Leopard, and I absolutely love it. Starting into Vista on the black screen I can see the same issues you are complaining about, but be honest, out of ALL the things that can be wrong with a system, you're going to complain about uneven backlighting? Out of the 2.4 (roughly) million pixels on the screen I have one bad one, am I complaining? No, the purpose of a computer is for many uses, but if you're going to sit here and slam apple day after day for one issue, give them a fricken break. Everything else on the system is so nicely designed and well laid out, I give props to Apple, this is the 2nd computer of my own and after using hundreds of friends, family, and school computers, this is the one I love the most to sit down in front of and just use....
So yes I have the same issues, but you hardly ever notice them and if you buy an iMac, go with the 24" screen, and prepare to get some headaches because the screen is so big!
Seriously I just got my iMac with Leopard, and I absolutely love it. Starting into Vista on the black screen I can see the same issues you are complaining about, but be honest, out of ALL the things that can be wrong with a system, you're going to complain about uneven backlighting? Out of the 2.4 (roughly) million pixels on the screen I have one bad one, am I complaining? No, the purpose of a computer is for many uses, but if you're going to sit here and slam apple day after day for one issue, give them a fricken break. Everything else on the system is so nicely designed and well laid out, I give props to Apple, this is the 2nd computer of my own and after using hundreds of friends, family, and school computers, this is the one I love the most to sit down in front of and just use....
So yes I have the same issues, but you hardly ever notice them and if you buy an iMac, go with the 24" screen, and prepare to get some headaches because the screen is so big!
Seriously I just got my iMac with Leopard, and I absolutely love it. Starting into Vista on the black screen I can see the same issues you are complaining about, but be honest, out of ALL the things that can be wrong with a system, you're going to complain about uneven backlighting? Out of the 2.4 (roughly) million pixels on the screen I have one bad one, am I complaining? No, the purpose of a computer is for many uses, but if you're going to sit here and slam apple day after day for one issue, give them a fricken break. Everything else on the system is so nicely designed and well laid out, I give props to Apple, this is the 2nd computer of my own and after using hundreds of friends, family, and school computers, this is the one I love the most to sit down in front of and just use....
So yes I have the same issues, but you hardly ever notice them and if you buy an iMac, go with the 24" screen, and prepare to get some headaches because the screen is so big!
Its clear - some of us can put up with the current backlighting & some of us can not, but I totally agree with you on the overall design and the performance is just blistering......Enjoy your new Mac
Just adding to the list. My new iMac (week 39) has the very slight gradient. the left side is ever so slightly brighter than the right. it's only a little noticeable on white colors.
i'm still happy though. no bad pixels. given what i got for the money, i cant complain. my macbook even has a similar gradient about the same magnitude.
however, i'm keeping an eye on it until my 14 day return policy runs out to make sure it doesn't get worse.
i'm still happy though. no bad pixels. given what i got for the money, i cant complain. my macbook even has a similar gradient about the same magnitude.
however, i'm keeping an eye on it until my 14 day return policy runs out to make sure it doesn't get worse.