Problem with 20 inch iMac screen - colours washed out

Wed, 5 September 2007

If you’ve got the all new 20 inch silver iMac, you may have noticed how beautiful the colours on that glossy screen are. You may have also noticed that they are more beautiful on the top of your screen than on the bottom.

It’s not only that colours are washed out as you go towards the bottom of the screen, they also change as you change your viewing angle. This makes the new iMac very much useless for any half-serious graphical designer. (see the video on the bottom of this page)

The reason for this is that Apple has used TN displays, which are the low end displays and are very cheap. 24 inch model comes with IPS displays, just like the old 20 and 24 inch white iMacs, and they are perfectly fine.

Take a look at the first picture below. Two Finder windows, none of them selected, positioned right at the top of the screen. The colour of the toolbars is identical. When I moved one window down to the bottom of the screen, the brushed metal toolbar became very light grey, almost white.

When I slice this picture and bring both toolbars next to each other, you can see the real difference.

A few iMac users claim to have limited success with fixing this by re-calibrating the screen, but that makes the problem only a little less obvious, it really doesn’t fix the issue.

You can also minimise the problem by tilting the screen backwards, but again - the issue is still there.

I came across the following post in Apple support forums…

As being a technician I opened my iMac (which is very easy) and found out that the connector of the bottom fluorescent light had come loose. After putting it into place and assembling the whole thing, the display looks better than ever. I really love this computer

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1110321&tstart=0

… but I’m yet to find anyone else who is able to confirm that this could be the fix.

Another problem is the horizontal viewing angle, if you move your point of view slightly, the colours on the screen will change.

Here is an example, the Apple support forum page. This is the normal view. The page background is white, the post background alternates between white and light blue, and the menu bar on the right is grey.

If I move to the left, so that I look at the screen from a 30 degrees angle, the far side of the screen changes colours, so grey becomes light brown.

If I go to the other side, same angle - same colour inconsistency.

If this is not bad enough, just wait until you stand up, becasue if you look at your screen from the top (30-45 degrees) this is what you will reward your beautiful eyes with:

Please note that the colours from the normal viewing angle are:

  1. white
  2. blue
  3. grey

Here is the screenshot of what’s actually there

So Apple - it’s your turn now. Are we going to see the recall or will it end up in some kind of class action? I guess we’re yet to find out.

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Category Posted in Hardware, Mac

64 Responses to “Problem with 20 inch iMac screen - colours washed out”

  1. gerry said: Wed, 5 September 2007 at 22:36

    I have the same problem. Its my first Mac and i can’t bring it back, because this is only possible within the first 3 weeks, i think. I have my iMac for 4 weeks now. I first thought, that the display looks great, but i had to calibrate it first. Than i read about the brightness and i saw, that the blue lines in iTunes are not much different from the white ones in the bottom. On the top i could see the difference. Changing the viewing angle didn’t help.

    I still hope, there will be a solution. I’m a technician, and i read the article about the loose connector too. But i don’t know, if i should really risk to check it…

    PS: Sorry for my english, its not my language… ;)

  2. Ba-humbug said: Thu, 6 September 2007 at 12:58

    All LCDs change colors at different angles. Try it on any LCD.

  3. Mike said: Thu, 6 September 2007 at 19:10

    Ba-humbug, yes it’s true that all LCDs change colours, but comparing this computer to a 20 inch white iMac, to 17 and 15 inch MacBook Pros, to a MacBook, to 24 inch silver iMac and to a 19 Samsung screen, next to each other - the colour distortion on this iMac is enormous. A huge difference. I went to the Apple store today and looked up two display models there, same problem. The technician agreed that this is something that should have never got out of factory.

  4. mauidj said: Fri, 7 September 2007 at 13:47

    Wow…looks exactly like my MBP C2D 17′ that I’ve been bitching about for 8 months.
    This thing has such bad color shift I simply do not know what the real color of some pages are at all.
    And this is computer number 3 and it is on it’s second display!!!
    AAAAGH!!!

  5. Heyu said: Sun, 9 September 2007 at 06:45

    WHAT?, even my new CHEAP 22″ TN (160) display don’t got those problems, WTF? this screen looks worse than my 3 year old cheap dell laptop screen. Seriously? Apple doesn’t want me to get a Mac apperently… They can’t even get the CHEAP tn displays, the get SOMETHING worse.

    How can they deliver something more worse than 200 dollars 22″ tn displays? seeeriously !!!

  6. Ian said: Mon, 10 September 2007 at 10:06

    @Ba-humbug: Sorry, if this is the case, it’s so minor that the average human eye can’t pick it up on good screens.

    My MB screen is crap - in that viewing it on any angle other than 90º produces colour distortion. But my 24″ C2D iMac (1st gen) and my Samsung TV don’t suffer the same problem.

    @Mike (OP) I agree that this is really bad on the latest iMacs. Why didn’t you see this in the store? Was the floor model in better condition or you just didn’t notice it? Just curious - not flaming :)

  7. colinear said: Wed, 12 September 2007 at 06:00

    Apple makes good products, both hardware and software - but they are still a corporation with the intent to make money. Therefore they will sometimes f*** things up. Though they’re not as bad as MicroSoft.

    Gerry, your English is better than a lot of English-speaking people’s. Why couldn’t you return your iMac? Why would you only have three weeks?

  8. fd said: Thu, 13 September 2007 at 00:05

    Apple has unfortunately started to pick cheaper LCD panels for their systems. Evident in our MacBook with glossy film and super narrow viewing angles. SJ can say ‘our customers said they want glossy’, but boy is it a pain to see all those reflections when you prefer to work in a well lit environment. Don’t know where/how they did their research. Nobody I know likes glare. Most certainly an issue for many who spend a lot of time behind their system without living in a cave.

    Looking at ‘value’ LCD monitors in about any big box store, you can see the colors shifting if you’re not dead on centered. Move a few inches in any direction and watch. That and the fact that they are only capable of thousands of colors and interpolate the rest.

    Really sad Apple does this. A company which has always catered to media oriented people, pro, prosumer and consumer.

    By all means complain about color accuracy, glare, viewing angles.

  9. Jeff said: Thu, 13 September 2007 at 00:24

    i have the new 20″ imac and I have these same problems. I am not a professional in a color sensitive situation. but it is annoying that I essentially have a laptop screen in my brand new imac… and you can see it in Vista… there are waves that go through all the transparent parts.

  10. Luis said: Thu, 13 September 2007 at 02:15

    24″ perfectly fine? My new 24″ alum imac is super white and bright on the left side and dim yellowish on the right. I’ve read this is a common thing on the 24’s. Apple????

  11. Joe said: Thu, 13 September 2007 at 03:10

    I have the new 20″ iMac and I have this problem too. It was slightly better once calibrated, but it’s fucking useless for all the web design I have to do. I’m very annoyed I didn’t notice this earlier.

  12. Braeburn said: Thu, 13 September 2007 at 05:12

    Thanks so much for the heads up! Two days ago I bought the 20″ iMac for my daughter and it just shipped today. Because of your article, I was able to get Apple to send me a prepaid shipping label to return the inferior 20″ iMac and I’ve now ordered the 24″. It’s more than I wanted to spend, but I refuse to pay for a crappy TN display.

    I don’t blame Apple for trying to trim costs, but they should make it absolutely clear on their webpage that these monitors have different panels so that the consumer can make an educated choice.

  13. Leo said: Thu, 13 September 2007 at 09:47

    I have a 20″ iMac, and it’s my first Mac. I am seriously annoyed sometimes because I do some Photoshop and watch lots of videos that I like to share with people. They have noticed the problem as well and I was hoping Apple could say something about this soon since this is my third week I’ve had it.

  14. Leon Kowalski said: Thu, 13 September 2007 at 21:35

    I took my 20″ iMac back today (after a 4 week “test drive”) and traded it in on the 24″ model.

    The ‘genius’ declared it ‘DOA’ based ONLY to my complaint about the brightness gradient, and offered (my choice): exchange, repair, or full refund …with no restocking fee.

    I didn’t see much hope in getting a 20″ without the same problem, so I gave ‘em the extra $300 and walked away with a better product.

    I’m a happy camper! I was expecting a MAJOR hassle, but Apple was willing to do anything within reason to address the issue and satisfy a first-time customer.

  15. Dave said: Mon, 17 September 2007 at 10:39

    Thanks for going into detail with this problem. I’m on my first Mac and terribly disappointed that Apple would release a product with such a wide-spread flaw. Good to know I’m now alone!

  16. Claude Gelinas said: Tue, 18 September 2007 at 10:18

    I’m posting this comment from my new iMac 20” and the documented issue (in the screenshots) is occuring for real.

    The issue was apparent from the first time I looked at the screen but I was so confident about the product that I didn’t check the iMac at the computer store before buying it — I just bought it and came home with the sealed box.

    Generally speaking, the iMac is amazing -but- the screen issue should get dealt with by an Apple recall. It would be the right thing to do.

  17. scott said: Sun, 23 September 2007 at 22:12

    I also have this problem. Although I can live with it. Sometimes it even looks cool. But, a company that prides itself on user experience should own up to their mistakes. I’ll wait and see.

  18. Braeburn said: Fri, 5 October 2007 at 23:54

    UPDATE: I just returned the 24″ iMac as well. Luis is correct - unacceptable color issues. I have a previous generation iMac and it displays none of these flaws. I’m really disappointed in Apple.

  19. William Kalck said: Tue, 9 October 2007 at 04:10

    I just purchased a brand new 20 inch silver iMac and almost immediately noticed that all images and colors are significantly washed out at the bottom of the screen. Why is Apple releasing such a noticably defective product from their factory?

    Fortunately, I have not submitted payment for this item as of yet and plan to demand a replacement.

    Besides dealing with my local Apple dealer, does anyone know how to reach a knowledable Apple representative here in the USA?

  20. Levi said: Wed, 10 October 2007 at 05:36

    I just got my new iMac today and it’s already back in de box for return. I don’t know really what to do now. I really want to have an Apple computer, but wich one, I don’t know..

    I’d got the washed-color problem and a dead pixel in the middle of the screen.

  21. spiderlama said: Tue, 16 October 2007 at 08:45

    Most of the problem is a low viewing angle. All LCD screens exhibit these results unter similar tests (past their viewing angles). I know my old iBook G4 does the same thing, and nobody has complained about it’s “washed-outness”.

    What do you expect with a large consumer screen?

  22. Mike said: Tue, 16 October 2007 at 17:09

    @spiderlama: To be as good as any other large consumer screen, e.g. 20″ iMac with non-glossy screen.

    I have compared the ‘washed-outness’ of the new iMac with: 15″ MBP, 13″ MB, 12″ PB, 20″ white iMac, 24″ silver iMac, 19″ w/s Benq, 19″ HP and 17″ Samsung LCD’s and the silver iMac 20″ comes dead last, far far inferior to any of the above.

  23. spiderlama said: Wed, 17 October 2007 at 16:08

    @Mike

    Well that’s very disappointing. I just hope they are not all like that. It’s bad enough that they only have 6 bit colour channels and dither, but they are great at washing-out windows.

    I hope there is a hardware update when Leopard comes out. I think a 24″ is just way to big for desktop use.

  24. Davon said: Tue, 23 October 2007 at 03:15

    I’m thinking of buying an iMac 20″ silver mostly to use it for music production, but of course i dont want it to be useless for photoshop etc. I talked with my local applestore and they said that the shipment of iMacs was stopped for a couple og weeks but they didnt know the exact reason. Is it true that Apple is actually doing something with the screen and sending out new iMacs with improved screen?

  25. Braeburn said: Tue, 23 October 2007 at 14:07

    More bad news for aluminum iMac owners - Condensation problems arise with some aluminum iMacs (link goes to arstechnica):

    http://tinyurl.com/ynot22

    I’m so glad we sent both of ours back. These recent quality control issues from Apple are really worrisome. I’ve been waiting for over two years to replace two of my monitors with new Apple Cinema Displays, but I’ve seriously lost confidence in them. I’ll likely be spending my money elsewhere this Christmas season.

  26. JW said: Thu, 25 October 2007 at 23:28

    I do IT work for a group of graphic design professionals. When we bought this new 20″ iMac recently and the user noticed it right away. We talked to Apple and the response we got was pretty much ‘tough luck.’ It’s apparently a ‘consumer-level’ display and they don’t care…

    Does anyone have ANY solutions out there? The user is currently set up with an external monitor set to mirror, but this is obviously not the ideal solution for that expensive a computer.

  27. Maxintech said: Fri, 2 November 2007 at 01:48

    Sorry for my English. I’m a PC user. I’ve got a dell notebook for my work; I’m a software architect (java/.net/oracle/etc… and all this stuff). I’ve got a 2 years old desktop PC with a 20” Dell LCD. I use this PC for mailing, browsing, chatting and so on. My wife uses this PC for editing video (home and just a bit professional). I was thinking in make a change and buy the new gorgeous 20” iMac in replace of my PC, but this review discourages me. What kind of certainty that 24” iMac display is truly 24bit and IPS. And the displays for MacBook Pro lacks the same thing?

  28. brn2ski00 said: Fri, 2 November 2007 at 05:28

    I bought the 20″ iMac on October 20th (just under 2 weeks) and I am seriously thinking about returning it. But really, what is my next best option? I want the latest and greatest, but not if it isn’t truly the greatest.

    Help!

  29. Chuck Smith said: Fri, 2 November 2007 at 17:22

    I bought my iMac 20″ 2 weeks ago. and was disappointed to find this gradient screen problem. Apple have no solution to this problem, which appears to be world wide. I personally checked around 20 of these iMacs in retail stores and ALL had this defect.
    I took my 20″ back to my reseller for a refund.
    I loved the Apple computing experience, but the screen is clearly flawed.
    If Apple fix this problem in their next release.. as I will switch to an iMac. It’s a fun machine.

  30. Daryn said: Mon, 5 November 2007 at 01:18

    I think you guys might be making a mountain out of an ant hill. My Macbook Pro does the same damn thing. Change your viewing angle and it’s fine! The 30 degree angle pictures are a joke — you aren’t going to look at the screen from those angles.

  31. Arik said: Wed, 7 November 2007 at 18:04

    I confirm this issue. Just got mine tonight. I’m pretty pissed about it considering I do LOTS of web development. Like others, calibration has helped but doesn’t remedy the problem. I am definitely thinking about taking this back and getting the 24 inch. Seriously.

  32. Chuck Smith said: Wed, 7 November 2007 at 19:40

    ( Daryn said: Mon, 5 November 2007 at 01:18

    I think you guys might be making a mountain out of an ant hill. My Macbook Pro does the same damn thing. Change your viewing angle and it’s fine! The 30 degree angle pictures are a joke — you aren’t going to look at the screen from those angles.)

    Daryn.. the ‘mountain’ is the gradient issue.. Bright and vibrant on top 1/3 of screen.. dull and washed out, on bottom 1/3…… 20″ iMacs.
    The ‘ant hill’ is the viewing angle and orange/brown discoloration.. I can put up with this.. as I LOOK at my screen straight on when using it.
    Your point is not.. the main issue here.

  33. chris said: Mon, 12 November 2007 at 10:18

    I do not know about this much but thats how LCDs are at diff angles,

  34. Kees Rappoldt said: Mon, 12 November 2007 at 22:39

    I can just confirm that there is a problem with the 20″ iMac. After one day, I changed mine for a 24″ iMac which is fine. It is exactly how it has been described on this page and it is certainly not a “normal LCD” thing. I find it a shame that Apple sells these machines to art students, for instance. They spend their savings on an iMac and will not be able to do photo work on it. Anyone who understands Apple on this?

  35. Dave said: Wed, 14 November 2007 at 03:50

    Apple’s quality is going to crap. For what the iMacs cost they should use better LCD’s. I was planning on buying a 20 or 24in iMac w/Leopard for school but now I’m considering the Gateway One. I must have a PC that is realiable for school since I’m taking some online classes and it seems the new iMacs freeze and have quality issues. I refuse to pay Apple want they want for thier Macbooks when I can buy the exact same hardware for over $500.00 less and get a choice of LCD’s types like Dell’s laptops. I like OSX and for me the iMac would be a good choice.

    It really makes me sad to see Apple doing what thwy have accused the PC market of doing. Mac people sometimes complain about Dell but currently Apple is just as bad if not worse than Dell.

  36. Dave said: Fri, 16 November 2007 at 00:54

    I went to Compusa last night to see if the iMacs on display would freeze. After playing with it for about an hour it started giving me graphical distortions. This problem must be a hardware related problem. I personally think the GPU is over heating. The model I was working on hade the HD2400XT GPU in it. Problems like this are generally heat related.

    Apple needs to issue a recall.

  37. AARRGGHHH said: Wed, 21 November 2007 at 06:55

    > colinear said: [T]hey’re not as bad as MicroSoft.

    Can those of you that are doing so please STOP obsessing on Microsoft? Of course you can’t. But it doesn’t hurt to ask. BTW, Microsoft doesnt even make computers or displays.

    The issue is that the display sucks. Apple needs to do a recall. There is no Microsoft vs Apple issue here. STAY FOCUSED ON THE RECALL. Period.

  38. antirich said: Sun, 25 November 2007 at 07:44

    In our design studio, we just replaced a G5 pro system with an iMac. For what we need, we couldn’t justifly the $3,000+ for a pro system, so the iMac was a no-brainer. We’re currently running the 20″ iMac with a 20″ cinima display as a second monitor (a must in our business). It’s clear to anyone who walks up to this system that the iMac monior is crap. If I go to the designer’s workstation and view something on the iMac screen, I have to kneel down to the hight of the user to see anything. The viewing angle is virtual non-existent. The cinima display next to it is perfect, I can view the screen at almost 100 degrees.

    We’ve returned the machine once, replacement machine was not much better.

    In all honesty, we’re keeping the iMac, cause it benefits us to see our deisgns on a crappy monitor. 90% of our clients have the most God-awful monitors in the world, so this puts us closer to what they see.

    Yes, the iMac monitor is way substandard for Apple, even worse than my 2 year old Powerbook G4. I wouldn’t even get one of these for home, instead I have a mini with a 20″ cinima display. But dispite it’s shortcommings, most sub $300 LCDs are far worse.

    Overall, Apple needs to put out a reasonble priced busienss desktop. The Pro units are way too big, over powered for 90% of business uses and EXPENSIVE. The iMac is close, but the screen is going to result in unhappy workers.

  39. friends1stu2 said: Thu, 29 November 2007 at 10:47

    This is not a “viewing angle” problem with the new 20″ iMacs. I am selling my brand new 20″ machine even after replacing the “LCD engine” three days out of the box. The color wash from top to bottom was terrible. The new one is a little better, but still far from satisfactory. I just bought a used white iMac, just like the one I sold to buy this one. The white iMac monitors are great. The glare problem on this “mistake” is a deal breaker for Apple in my opinion, and I’ve owned 14 different macs starting with the Mac Plus in 1986.

  40. stevegx said: Fri, 30 November 2007 at 03:37

    Got my 20″ on 4 days ago. As soon as I tried designing in indesign, I noticed the problem straight away. A 15% tint of yellow was visible at the top of the screen an near white at the bottom. I love mac OS, but this is simply unusable for any serious designer - you simply cannot have faith in the output of your work. It’s going back tomorrow. Shame as the spec of the machine other than that was ideal. Doesn’t look live a batch issue problem, but failure on all 20″ models.

  41. dom said: Sun, 2 December 2007 at 05:48

    i have the same problem. does anyone know if there is a chance for a recall. i bought this computer for photo editing and i can not even use it. if there is not a recall the only option i can think of is to by a second display and i really don’t want to do that!

  42. joangarcia said: Mon, 3 December 2007 at 01:15

    Hi, I have a 20″ Cinema Display and see it perfect, about same quality of Dell 20″, I think this issue in iMacs will limit to people take one iMac for design and media, the option maybe are one mac mini + cinema display, or one big mac pro.

  43. joangarcia said: Mon, 3 December 2007 at 03:38

    I reply again,
    or another option… Apple build Imacs with cinema displays

  44. dom said: Mon, 3 December 2007 at 10:28

    imacs with cinema displays would be nice but probably will not happen. does anyone have experience with apple tech support? are they willing to work with the consumer? i just want the problem fixed or trade the imac in for a mini with a cinema display (i know that will cost a little bit more) eventhough the imac is the better the computer and has a better graphics card that doesn’t mean anything if the display does not function proberly!

  45. Glenn said: Tue, 4 December 2007 at 23:48

    Has anyone tried to remove the display and fix it? A tech removed his to find that “the connector of the bottom fluorescent light had come loose. After putting it in to place and assembling the whole thing the display looks better than ever.”

    Read here:
    http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1110321&tstart=0

    Disassembly Pics:
    **Note the last pic that a blue connector looks disconnected?
    This whole problem maybe solved by that?
    http://babelfish.altavista.com/babelfish/trurl_pagecontent?lp=ja_en&trurl=http%3a%2f%2fwww.kodawarisan.com%2fimac_2007_mid%2fimac_2007_mid_03.html

    I did the comparison between the 20″ and the 24″ iMac displays at the Apple Store. The 20″ had the display issues in the lower portion, whereas I didnt see this on the 24″. This maybe just Apples way of getting us to go for the higher priced model for designer purposes, but this like false advertising in a sense.

    There has been some mention that the newer shipments have improved despite the store models. Anyone know about this? Is the problem fixed or do I have to buy a 24″?
    In the meantime, we should all be sending in complaints to Apple too!

  46. Glenn said: Tue, 4 December 2007 at 23:53

    Oh yah, the 20″ display model # is LCD Panel (LG PHILIPS LM201WE3)
    Google that.

  47. Glenn said: Wed, 5 December 2007 at 00:11

    Voice your comments to Apple!:

    http://www.apple.com/feedback/imac.html

  48. Niels said: Mon, 10 December 2007 at 00:36

    I got a 20″ iMac from Apple Europe. The silver aluminium iMac replaced my white 20″ iMac which I have sold recently.

    What can I say? Replacing my old (white) iMac with the silver one was a HUGE mistake. The LCD display of the silver 20″ iMac is the WORST DISPLAY I have ever seen. And I know of many different LCD’s. The computer displays of the desktops in my company are all LCD’s. But this new Apple iMac display is UNUSABLE for many tasks.

    My recommendation to 20″ iMac buyers is to RETURN the iMac within 14 days to Apple. The 20″ iMac display can never be used for graphic design, web development and desktop publishing.

    Shame on Apple for this newly piece of shit which Apple put on the market!

    PS. I was one of the first owners of the Mac Book Pro with Intel CoreDuo. I had many REPAIRS due its crab design (overheating, instability, battery)

    PPS. The so-called “aluminium iMac” does not have an all-aluminium case. The back-side of the “aluminium” iMac is of cheap plastic.

  49. 3nigma said: Mon, 24 December 2007 at 06:13

    Ok, I was thinking of buying a 20″ iMac Alu but as we all should, I was searching the net to see if there are any reported issues or errors on this machine. As you expect, I stumbled upon this blog. All these errors in the screens do not bode well if you ask me, but then again; what’s the magnitude of the problem?

    If I contact Apple on this they would tell me there is no problem, if I ask some of the users such as the people giving their comments in this blog they would all recommend me not to buy it. But are all iMac Alu’s badly put together or is there a chance of getting a correct working one? And if so, how big is the chance of getting a bad one?

  50. Scott Philip said: Wed, 26 December 2007 at 19:25

    Typical cheap LCD problems, the macbook has a lot of viewing angle issues as well.

    HOWEVER, I find the screen on the 20 inch aluminum mac is an improvement over the 17-inch it replaced. The 17 inch imac (at least the intel one I use at work) has a very bad colour gradient shift from the top to bottem, and I have noticed this in most models I have used. This problem was far more distracting for graphical work than the problems on the new 20 inch. With some calibration I don’t have much trouble with it, but I don’t do a lot of colour sensitive work.

    If you are a serious photo or design person you should get a second display or consider a different system. It doesn’t impact my sound and video work that much though (although video work always requires a second display or tv to test on)

    The previous gen 20 and 24 gen imacs had great, matte displays. It’s too bad they replaced them.

  51. Dave said: Fri, 28 December 2007 at 11:10

    Definitely an imac issue.

    Take a look at this video of a Dell 20″ Ultrasharp. Same tests run, very different results.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNNcW3OTZ-4

  52. c said: Thu, 10 January 2008 at 01:22

    Has anyone had luck with getting the screen on the 24″ replaced?

    I called today and apple are going to take a look at it, but i’m worried about being misinformed.

  53. einstein said: Sat, 19 January 2008 at 01:32

    My colleague had mentioned that her new 20″ silver iMac screen died 3 weeks after she bought it (November07). Apple store replaced the screen AND the connector. She says the new monitor is fine. BUT When she picked it up (December) she casually asked if this had happened to anybody else and the Apple guy snapped at her in a very nasty & condescending way - giving her NO information.

    I still love Apple products but they need to handle this better! Also I stopped paying for Applecare - it’s a waste of time & money -more about protecting Apple than helping the customer.

  54. R G said: Thu, 24 January 2008 at 04:02

    same thing here, 3 imac and none of them with a decent display. I doubt there is one out there that has an acceptable one.

  55. nick said: Sat, 26 January 2008 at 11:57

    I just bought a new 24″ imac. So far, so good.

    Shopping:

    At the Northridge AppleStore, I asked the manager if he could open a new 24″ imac for me to look at. I told him about my difficulties with the screen on the 20″ that I had to return and the uneven displays on the 24″ units that I had looked at a couple months ago. My forlorn hope was that by now Apple might have corrected them.

    He said no, he could only open a box after full payment. I asked if I could pay him and look at it. If good, I keep it. If not, he would refund the full amount on my credit card. That seemed advantageous for both of us. :)

    The screen color is even, and text is uniform all over the screen, at least on that one. Sold to the man with the green mustache!

    My last ditch effort:

    This was prompted by the problems with buying a computer and a separate display. The mac mini ran too slowly for me, and a Mac Pro is a gross overkill in computer power for me. A thousand dollars more than the 24″ imac (take $500 off the suggested model by going to one quad processor instead of two, add hundreds more for a good display) is obvious, but the most difficulty is the uncertainty in buying a display. The stores stock the lower priced units of various brands, but not the better, more expensive models. That would mean buying one sight unseen, relying entirely on the many reviews online, some contradictory. Then add the risk of the manufacturer substituting a lesser screen instead of the type offered originally, with the same model name and number. :(

    Nick

  56. Paul said: Sun, 27 January 2008 at 13:49

    Just came across this site, and now I am very concerned. I was looking to switch to a Mac, the 20″ iMac in particular - and now I have concerns. I am going to return to the Apple store and inspect the models on display more closely.

    btw.. exactly what qualifies as a ’silver iMac’? These models appear to be available in black, while, and silver. Does this problem exist on all iMacs, or just the silver one?

  57. Dax said: Mon, 28 January 2008 at 21:52

    I purchased a 20″ Aluminium iMac and have been using it for the last few days. It’s my first Mac and its fantastic… but yep, it has the dreaded gradient issue. Looks like this is a problem on all models and Apple won’t be fixing this issue range-wide.

    I have read on other forums that many users have taken theirs back, received new ones, and they still have the same issue. It also looks like the 24″ model also suffers a gradient issue that is not quite as bad, where the gradient goes from left to right instead of top to bottom. (Oh and not forgetting the yellowing in the corners!)

    After browsing these forums, I can see that some users have either opened the unit up themselves or had a third party open it up for them, and adjust the flourescent bar underneath the monitor, which seems to resolve the issue! I am certainly in no position to void my warranty by doing this, and neither should any other customer. If you try sending it back to Apple, it looks like they can’t seem to find this fix. Either that or this fix doesn’t actually work for all iMacs.

    At the moment, I am stuck. This iMac is almost useless for my primary use; graphic design work (Photoshop, Illustrator, Quark, etc) as the gradient issue gets in the way. In fact the blue bars on either side of this forum site appear to have a gradient when they shouldn’t.

    If I exchange for a 24″, I will lose £60 for transportation fees according to Apple (I purchased it over the phone). But even these still seem to have issues. Another option is to purchase a Mac Mini with a separate display. This won’t be as fast as the iMac,plus if I order an expensive Apple cinema display, I will probably have to spend more, and also suffer with the ‘pinking’ issues they are having at the moment. I could buy a non-Apple monitor, but it would be such a shame to slip away from these gorgeous iMacs and their power/speed.

    It looks like Apple has taken a turn for the worst after may years of supplying great products.

    If anyone else is in the same situation or has any advice to me and everyone else who has commented here, please help!

  58. anthony said: Sat, 2 February 2008 at 04:52

    I am on the market for a new desktop and wanted to purchase a 20″ imac. However, with the gradient issue I am a bit taken back. Any suggestions on an equivilant out there.

    Surprised that CNET didn”t catch this and gave it rave reviews.

  59. drp said: Sun, 3 February 2008 at 15:13

    I have owned a 20″ aluminum iMac for the last three months. And yes, compared to the IPS panels of the previous (white) 20″ iMacs, there is a noticeable difference.

    Although I don’t make my living with Photography, it extends far beyond a hobby for me, and I have some serious photo gear. As a result, I’m well aware of the current iMac’s limitations.

    The biggest issue is that out of the box, the color profile is awful — it’s been adjusted for the bright lighting of an Apple Store, and in a normal setting, looks “washed out”.

    The default profile also exaggerates the gradient that people are talking about. Once calibrated with a monitor Spyder, however, the display improves dramatically. There is still a very small gradient. However, it doesn’t impact day to day use.

    In the photography world, there is a certain segment of people called “measurebators”. They spend all of their time photographing rulers and test charts and not taking meaningful photographs. I believe that the majority of people complaining about the 20″ iMac are measurebators. They’re so obsessed with the small differences in their iMac display that they don’t notice that nearly every LCD display in the world has some trade offs.

    Now, calibrating the display won’t impact the off-axis color shifts that people are complaining about. (And are inherent in almost every LCD panel to one degree or another) However, if you’re using the display for real work, you’ll be looking at it on-axis.

  60. Jazz1 said: Sat, 8 March 2008 at 08:53

    Is there any more news available on this subject. Has Apple fixed this problem? Is it a manufacturing problems or just the nature of the “cheaper” screen?

  61. Kirk Giudici said: Thu, 20 March 2008 at 08:24

    Uggg. I switched from the white iMac the the metal one thinking it was an upgrade. This monitor on the metal one is clearly not as good as my old one. my photos look horrible and washed out on the new one. Is there anything we can do?

  62. Cue said: Fri, 4 April 2008 at 23:43

    Is this the case for for both 20 inch iMacs? (e.g. the one with ATi HD2600 Pro)

  63. Derek Currie said: Wed, 16 April 2008 at 00:33

    SHAME ON APPLE!

    To clear up some misinformation and toss in my own rant:

    1) Every LCD suffers from color and contrast distortion whenever you change the angle of view of the screen.

    2) There is an angle of view for every worthwhile LCD within which you will see only a minor change in color and contrast. This is called the ‘Viewing Angle’ of that LCD and it is different for each model of LCD.

    3) Apple (are supposed to) provide a better Viewing Angle on more expensive LCD models.

    4) If you are expecting a decent Viewing Angle on any laptop, forget it. MacBooks and MacBook Pros are not any good for professional color matching. Don’t waste your time. You can buy all the gadgets you like to do calibration and you will never improve the crummy viewing angle on these LCDS. Their colors are simply unreliable.

    5) Then toss in the fact that Apple are scamming us all with their lie that the MacBook and MacBook Pro can show ‘millions of colors’ when in fact they are not 8 bit color LCDs, but are actually 6 bit color LCDs capable of only showing 262,144 REAL colors. Dithering of the missing millions of colors does not equal actual millions of colors. It does constitute false advertising. SHAME ON APPLE!

    6) As to what is happening with the 20 inch iMac, I have to assume that they have the crummy 6 bit color LCDs as well. Part of the demo here shows the result of the LCDs having a very small Viewing Angle. You see the color and contrast distortion as you move your head. However, from watching the video I can’t see that there is any angle from which you don’t get distortion. It looks like these LCDs are so poor that they always have color and contrast distortion, even if you look at them perpendicular to the screen surface’s center. That is really really lousy quality. SHAME ON APPLE! Are iMacs used in professional shops? Yes!

    7) And now I am hearing that this 6 bit color disease scam has been passed along to one of the ‘proffession’ quality Cinema Displays? SHAME ON APPLE!

    What blithering idiot marketing moron at Apple thought that the top color professionals in computing would not notice this fraud? Apple are gonna pay big time for their outrageous scam against their dedicated users/customers. This sort of lie from Apple is unprecedented.

    I have a letter to prove that Steve Jobs himself was informed of this problem in mid-2006 by a group of photography professionals who realized the cheat that had been perpetrated against them. You can read it yourself over at: http://www.colorblindmac.com/

    Apple have maintained, since this scandal was discovered, that dithering the missing millions of colors equals actual, real, (in a News Corp / Fox Broadcasting kind of way) ‘millions of colors’ which any first year photography student knows is a total lie. SHAME ON APPLE!

    (Think I am using too many big angry words? Nah. Apple deserve to be royally ripped for this one. How dare they! And I am one of the most dedicated Mac proponents on the net. I think I’m gonna hurl).

  64. Dennis Lamb said: Tue, 1 July 2008 at 01:44

    I have just spent about 4 days considering whether to buy the new 24″ iMac to replace my PC and give up 25 years of experience from MSDOS to Windows XP. Thankfully I read through a lot of opinions on the web about reliability etc and having read all the complaints about the quality of the screens on this and other sites plus the video demos on YouTube I have decided to postpone my purchase until Apple provide a fix.

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