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Returned a perfect iMac

S

Sir Cecil

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Mar 31, 2008
793
0
Will sound like sacrilege, but I returned one of my two non-yellow, quietly-running 27" i7 iMacs. I still have one at my secondary working location that requires the machine to be used relatively little, but my home iMac (also my prime work machine as I have a home studio) has now gone back to Apple. I received a full credit for it. A fine machine, but...

Quite simply, the screen has proved to be way too much hard work for my eyes. The wall of light that irradiates one's face when sitting at a reading distance is overwhelming. Great for movies when sitting back at a comfortable distance, but for up-close work, it's like sitting with my face a few inches from a TV.
Interestingly from my point of view, I never had this problem with my former 24" Apple LED display. I used it with a Macbook Pro and for whatever reason, viewing was entirely more comfortable.

So, yesterday I went back to a (newly bought) 24" LED display and MBP combination. I regret having sold the earlier setup to get the iMac, but at least the MBP is a newer version than the one I had so it isn't a 100% step backwards.
Having used this latest pairing, I am absolutely certain that this 24" LED display screen is doing something very differently to the iMac's screen. Whether it has to do with the size or the technology used, I have no idea, but I definitely feel much, much more comfortable with the 24". It's not that one is brighter than the other, but more a case of the 24" feeling less like the light is being "thrown" at you. Less "hot" on the eyes even at what appears to be the same brightness level.
Anyway, it's enough of a difference to have made me spend more money rectifying it.
 
This will do nothing but enrage the iMac users who are trying to get used to their 27" that is only 16" from their nose.

I was tempted but even got the 21" as my desk is only 18" deep and I would want nothing bigger. :rolleyes:
 
Like many, I was comparing the older 24" iMac to the new 21.5" iMac as well. Especially the "true" screen sizes of each. On the PC side, I like 23" PLUS size screens the best. Love my PC's Samsung 2333 screen. Thus, the 24" screen on the iMac sounds best (compared to the current 21.5" models). Then, I found a video that allowed me to compare "visual" of both 24" to 21.5" - side by side. To view this video, surf: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJuUr3u0-C0&feature=related

Within this video, do a Fast Forward to its 2 minute mark (where both 24" and 21.5" screens are side by side). To me, the 21.5" screen (on the right) looks much better then older 24" screen (on the left). After seeing this video and both iMac screens "side by side", I now like the 21.5" screens much better (then older 24" screens). To me, the 21.5" looks wider and just as tall as the 24" model. Hopefully, I will obtain an iMac 21.5" this Christmas time. At that time, I'll have enough saved up dollars...

Glad you like your 24". If it were me, I'd pick the 21.5" - after seeing their screens "side by side" within this video....

.
 
It's true.
The 27" iMac isn't really ideal for web browsing or reading stuff.
I think it has to do with the high dpi. Also it has a glossy screen with glass over it =(. Wost combination for day to day stuff. It's good for movies though.
 
I'm having the same problem with my perfect 24" refurb. The light is a huge strain on my eyes and I'm 2" away. It breaks my heart, I'll have to return this because otherwise it's perfect. In a way, I wonder why I jumped since the 21.5" gave me the same kind of strain.

but given the situation question: should I look into anti-glare screens for the 15 or 17" laptops?
 
add a d6500 bias light behind the monitor, it will likely help dramatically.
 
Dimming the screen can help. Also, I've a desk that's 36" deep and have the iMac back that far (the back of the base is flush with the back of the desk). I can view the whole screen without turning my head and can read the print of web pages and documents fine from this distance...this opinion will vary from person to person, though, as each person has a personal preference on how much of a distance they read.
 
Spike88 said:
Like many, I was comparing the older 24" iMac to the new 21.5" iMac as well. Especially the "true" screen sizes of each. On the PC side, I like 23" PLUS size screens the best. Love my PC's Samsung 2333 screen. Thus, the 24" screen on the iMac sounds best (compared to the current 21.5" models). Then, I found a video that allowed me to compare "visual" of both 24" to 21.5" - side by side. To view this video, surf: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJuUr3u0-C0&feature=related

Within this video, do a Fast Forward to its 2 minute mark (where both 24" and 21.5" screens are side by side). To me, the 21.5" screen (on the right) looks much better then older 24" screen (on the left). After seeing this video and both iMac screens "side by side", I now like the 21.5" screens much better (then older 24" screens). To me, the 21.5" looks wider and just as tall as the 24" model. Hopefully, I will obtain an iMac 21.5" this Christmas time. At that time, I'll have enough saved up dollars...

Glad you like your 24". If it were me, I'd pick the 21.5" - after seeing their screens "side by side" within this video....

.
Click to expand...
The older iMac in that video is a 20"

Watch this video for a comparison of the 24 and 21.5:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4arS5knmnEg

The 24" will net you a larger display and a larger pixel count in height.
 
I returned a i7 27'' iMac for similar reasons. Considering the size of the monitor, I found the resolution less than ideal for post-processing of images since at 900-1000 pixels they are smaller than on a 24'' monitor at 1920x1200. I also didn't like the fact that it was considerably noisier than my previous C2D iMac, both HDD and fans under load.

I got a 24'' ACD that I hook up to my MBP but wish I had a more powerful computer for PS and ACR. Too bad there is nothing in Apple's lineup between MacMini and Mac Pro. I really like the screen size and resolution, though.
 
thanks

Tried dimming and contrast/brightness, thanks for the tips.

Still too much on my eyes though: I'm used to 15" to 20" monitors. Too much of a leap for me.

So, the 24" refurb is going back. No restocking fee since I played very nice and kind of stupid. Unfortunate, and I'd definitely buy a refurbished Mac again in the future.
 
try using something like "shades" to decrease the brightness

Ive used a 24" monitor as my main monitor for almost 9 years, so the resolution wasnt an issue for me -- but my 24" iMac was too bright --- shades fixed that.
 
akm3 said:
add a d6500 bias light behind the monitor, it will likely help dramatically.
Click to expand...

This is similar to what I do. I use indirect light to increase the light level in the room. This makes a big difference to me. Of course with glossy screens you also need to make sure your light source isn't visible as a reflection. Too bad I didn't buy a 24" matte iMac back when Apple was still selling them.
 
Try f.lux utility it will save your eyeballs

http://www.stereopsis.com/flux/

I'm running this on my iMac 27" i7 and found it great for saving my eyes. I used it with my previous system a MacPro with 3 Dell LCD's, but this is even more useful to me on my iMac.

For color critical applications you can turn it off, but it keeps my eyeballs from melting when there is a lot of white space on the screen.

I've also found having a small light behind the iMac to backlight the wall gives good relief. Same trick for t.v.s is not to watch in a room in total darkness.
 
while waiting for the new mac pro to arrive i got impatient and bought a iMac 27" i7 yesterday from the local apple store, but I ended up returning it today for two reasons.

1. screen had a bad yellow tint problem toward the bottom of the display. i was really surprised when the Apple techs and the manager told me that Apple had recently decided that the yellow tinting was a normal artifact of these displays because of their size.

2. way, way too much heat. after about 3 hours of use, i thought i would feel how much heat was coming out the top vent....and i burned my finger!!! i was really surprised at the amount of heat that the iMac generated. if i were to render Maya scenes with that machine all day, i'll fry it for sure. apple told me that the amount of heat the iMac spewed out was normal.

so in essence, i guess i returned a perfectly fine iMac too, at least according to apple.
 
bluesteel said:
1. screen had a bad yellow tint problem toward the bottom of the display. i was really surprised when the Apple techs and the manager told me that Apple had recently decided that the yellow tinting was a normal artifact of these displays because of their size.
Click to expand...

Maybe they decided that but gradient problems occur on monitors of all sizes equally. The size of the screen is irrelevant.

2. way, way too much heat. after about 3 hours of use, i thought i would feel how much heat was coming out the top vent....and i burned my finger!!! i was really surprised at the amount of heat that the iMac generated. if i were to render Maya scenes with that machine all day, i'll fry it for sure. apple told me that the amount of heat the iMac spewed out was normal.
Click to expand...

My i7 is quite warm to the touch when it is under heavy CPU load with video encoding, etc but never anywhere near danger levels in terms of the actual temps of the individual components which I monitor with iStat. If you had an i7 so hot that it was burning your fingers you probably had a faulty one. If it was going to fail under normal usage you definitely had a faulty one.

I don't find the size of the 27" screen on my iMac to be too large at all. I sit a comfortable distance from the screen and have no trouble reading text nor do I experience any ocular discomfort. Coming from a 24" iMac, at first this screen seemed huge but quickly just became normal to me. The same thing happened when I went from my 20" to the 24".

It doesn't feel small to me either although I suppose I wouldn't mind a 30" screen someday.

What I do love about the 27" iMac is the brilliantly wide screen which allows me to comfortably arrange the windows of several apps at once. It is also brillant for movie viewing. All in all, I have no hesitation in saying this is the finest Mac I've ever owned.
 
bluesteel said:
1. screen had a bad yellow tint problem toward the bottom of the display. i was really surprised when the Apple techs and the manager told me that Apple had recently decided that the yellow tinting was a normal artifact of these displays because of their size.
Click to expand...




WTF?! They must be joking.. how is THAT normal? And I don't know what that store manager was smoking, but I recently called AppleCare and got my machine replaced BECAUSE of the yellow tinting and also minor backlight bleeding.

I don't see how a yellow tinted screen is 'normal' but I sure hope that Apple work on. That's just unacceptable.
 
mtnDewFTW said:
WTF?! They must be joking.. how is THAT normal? And I don't know what that store manager was smoking, but I recently called AppleCare and got my machine replaced BECAUSE of the yellow tinting and also minor backlight bleeding.

I don't see how a yellow tinted screen is 'normal' but I sure hope that Apple work on. That's just unacceptable.
Click to expand...

that's crazy, right? i think its really bad that she told me the problem was normal when it obviously isn't. i don't expect that from apple. and it wasn't just the manager, two apple genius dudes that were standing near us said the same thing, nodding their head, oh yeah, engineers say that's normal now. that's why i just stared the manager in the face. she knew i wasn't an idiot and didn't even end up charging me a restocking fee.
 
My i7 is quite warm to the touch when it is under heavy CPU load with video encoding, etc but never anywhere near danger levels in terms of the actual temps of the individual components which I monitor with iStat. If you had an i7 so hot that it was burning your fingers you probably had a faulty one. If it was going to fail under normal usage you definitely had a faulty one.
Click to expand...

i agree. the heat coming out of that iMac was not normal. maybe a fan issue or something. don't know.

It doesn't feel small to me either although I suppose I wouldn't mind a 30" screen someday.
Click to expand...

i've got two 30" apple cinema displays, and they are awesome, but not as crisp as the newer displays.

What I do love about the 27" iMac is the brilliantly wide screen which allows me to comfortably arrange the windows of several apps at once. It is also brillant for movie viewing. All in all, I have no hesitation in saying this is the finest Mac I've ever owned.
Click to expand...

other than a few problems, i can admit that the 27" iMac is beautiful and the screen ratio really is great. i thought the loss of vertical space would bother me, but it really didn't. if i can afford it after i get my new mac pro, i would definitely get another iMac, that isn't defective that is.
 
Spike88 said:
Like many, I was comparing the older 24" iMac to the new 21.5" iMac as well. Especially the "true" screen sizes of each. On the PC side, I like 23" PLUS size screens the best. Love my PC's Samsung 2333 screen. Thus, the 24" screen on the iMac sounds best (compared to the current 21.5" models). Then, I found a video that allowed me to compare "visual" of both 24" to 21.5" - side by side. To view this video, surf: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJuUr3u0-C0&feature=related

Within this video, do a Fast Forward to its 2 minute mark (where both 24" and 21.5" screens are side by side). To me, the 21.5" screen (on the right) looks much better then older 24" screen (on the left). After seeing this video and both iMac screens "side by side", I now like the 21.5" screens much better (then older 24" screens). To me, the 21.5" looks wider and just as tall as the 24" model. Hopefully, I will obtain an iMac 21.5" this Christmas time. At that time, I'll have enough saved up dollars...
.
Click to expand...

that did not look like the 24" on the left. i think it was the 20" (non-ips) screen. and with only a 2ghz cpu.
 
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