Screen Quality

[JamieFarqy]

I took my late 2015 27" iMac to an Apple Certified repair centre last week, to have a small problem with the screen fixed. On a solid dark colour the top right corner appeared brighter and yellower than the rest of the screen. The technicians said there was nothing wrong with the screen and then said he would replace the screen anyway.

After a week I collected the computer, and the screen is worse than ever. Very uneven brightness, the top right quadrant of the screen is far cooler then the rest of the screen, and there are distinct light/dark patches along the bottom edge.

Spoke to the repair shop on the phoneand was told "the illumination lamp is in the middle of the screen, so of course there won't be even colour/brightness".

Am I crazy or is this not acceptable? I'm taking it to another service centre tomorrow, but I'd love to get some other opinions on this.

Attached is an image of the screen. 50% grey in Photoshop.

Many Thanks,

Jamie

 

[maflynn]

If it came back worse then you had it, then I would definitely complain.

 

[1050792]

I don't see anything unusual from an IPS screen so it's fine. Even mine has some black spots on the corners but it's perfectly natural on an IPS panel.

 

[JamieFarqy]

Thanks for your replies. My main concern is the colour shift, more than the brightness. I work on a lot of images with solid colours, and the change to a cooler temperature in the top right is very difficult to deal with. Doesn't show up much in my screen shot though.

I'm writing this on a 2010 MBP, with a perfect screen, so something must be up with the iMac. I guess I'll find out tomorrow.

Thanks again.

 

[cynics]

Take a pic of a pure black screen with the brightness of the monitor turned all the up with minimal ambient lighting.

That is just LCD blacklight bleed, it looks like it could be excessive. If you want, upload that 50% grey image (and the black one if you do that) and I'll take a pic of my 27" displaying them.

Its easier to find a unicorn with a mouthful of four leaf clovers then an LCD with no backlight bleed. And normally I would say yours is fine but if you use it for professional use then it would be nice to have a screen with minimal bleed.

BTW pulling the Mac apart will typically make it worse which is why you notice its worse after they fixed it.

 

[vrBrew]

iMacs are never uniform. Like others have mentioned back light bleed is normal. Not all bleed is identical.

 

[JamieFarqy]

Thanks again for your replies.

As I said above, it's the colour shift that is the really distracting problem.

In reply to cynics, it was the quality of a black screen that was the original problem. Black looks great now, but lighter tones really look bad with a cyan/magenta drift. Can't post any new images now, the iMac is with the repair people. Really don't want to appear like a moaning do-dah, but if this 7 year old MBP screen I'm using now, and my £300 tv screen can maintain colour consistency, then a 1 year old £2500 screen should be able to do the same.

 

[cynics]

Thanks again for your replies.

As I said above, it's the colour shift that is the really distracting problem.

In reply to cynics, it was the quality of a black screen that was the original problem. Black looks great now, but lighter tones really look bad with a cyan/magenta drift. Can't post any new images now, the iMac is with the repair people. Really don't want to appear like a moaning do-dah, but if this 7 year old MBP screen I'm using now, and my £300 tv screen can maintain colour consistency, then a 1 year old £2500 screen should be able to do the same.

I agree your screen looks worse then many others I've seen, especially more then mine (not 5k). I don't consider your valid complaint "moaning" at all.

While no excuse there are reasons for it which make it harder to prevent and why certain screens are more prone to it. One the screen is capable of being brighter then you MBP. Any source of bleed is exaggerated. Two, not only is it brighter externally its exponentially brighter internally to shine through the denser resolution (higher PPI), again exaggerating backlight bleed more.

Just trying to explain the technical aspects not justify them.

I thought you said 21" for some reason. But yes your screen has excessive backlight bleed and needs to be fix. Hopefully they get it sorted out for you. Post back when you get it back, if its not reasonably fixed I would contact Apple directly and let them know the screen of their 5k iMac isn't of high enough quality on you particular system for you to complete your work. And its even worse after their repairs. They may end up replacing it for you.

Best case is you get it back and its perfect. Good luck!