Bought new iMac 20" Faded Screen

They didn't notice it on the initial review, but the reviewer mentions the gradient issue later in his blog when he notices it.

That review was written by the ars technica managing editor. I could not find his mention of the gradient when I looked through his comments in the discussion thread that followed or in the list of his articles published on their web site. Could you post a link to it, please?

I've never used Flickr before, so hopefully you can all access this.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/21613757@N06/

People are clamoring for images, so here are mine. For those who say the camera does not lie, you may be technically correct, but in practice, these pictures do not look like the screen looks to my naked eye. The pictures are dimmer and slightly off color, but that's due to the fact that I don't know how to use my camera to take a completely accurate picture. My screen looks much better in person than it does in these photos with regard to clarity, brightness, and color quality. Regardless, the color gradation is still represented accurately, which is the issue at hand, so I feel they are worth posting. These images came straight from my camera with no intermediate processing.

As a side note, any blurriness is due to my unsteady hand and is not an accurate portrayal of the sharpness of the screen.

These pictures illustrate my screen at its worst. I do not have a solid background desktop in practice. The gradation problem cannot be seen in 95% of the work I do on my iMac, and even when it is, I don't notice it unless I'm looking for it.

So, that's my screen, it is perfectly acceptable to me, it may or may not be to you. I would hardly use the word "atrocious" or any of the other negative terms used on this thread for my screen, so if those words describe your screen, maybe there is something very wrong with it. Hopefully these pictures will help people who are on the fence decide one way or the other for themselves, either save them from the hassle of getting this machine or affirm that they can live with the problem.

I think the ultimate insult to the 20" Al iMac is the fact that the 20" G4 iMac (the desk lamp looking one) has a better display and that computer came out in 2003. If that's not the ultimate sign of going backwards in technology I don't know what else is. Maybe the next generation iMacs will have the original Mac B&W CRT display in them? I bet Apple can buy those for cheaper than the TN displays.

I just bought the entry level iMac and it to displays the top to bottom gradient brightness problem. It isn't horrible but it is definitely a disappointment from what is otherwise a great Mac. Apple needs to quickly own up to this defect and replace our screens. I hope they do.

Martin.

nbirchler wrote:
As I mentioned before, your technical arguments were incorrect. And seriously, you're really going to argue that the camera lies? You're really stepping into my technical wheel-house here and you're just making yourself look stupid. Digital camera's may not always faithfully reproduce color and may have reduced dynamic ranges, but if part of a digital image is brighter than another part of that digital image, you can be pretty darn sure that the brightness difference was visible to the naked eye. Trying to argue otherwise is just trying to fit reality into your apparently myopic view of Apple technology. Or as they might say in the Queen's English, rubbish.
AND FOR PETE'S SAKE, PLEASE STOP TELLING US TO JUST TAKE THEM BACK. Anyone who bought from a reseller doesn't have that option.

You got me mixed up with someone else (and by the way, if you're going to call other people stupid, you might want to avoid using apostrophes for plurals such as "digital camera's" and you might want to avoid using all-capitals for random sentences. Both of those make you look stupid). However, I think viewing angle probably refers to the angle from one's eyes to points on the screen. Looby's fish-eyed photos suggest he stuck his camera 6 inches away from the screen and then had a large angle up to the top part of his screen and another large angle down to the bottom of his screen. If he had taken his pictures from further back they probably would have looked different. You need to calm down and stop saying that anyone who disagrees with your use of the terms "junk" "atrocious" etc is a "myopic" Apple fan.

I just bought a 20'' iMac on Monday 12/3 and there is an obvious gradient problem from top to bottom.

Using the color correction utility within System Prefs -> Displays does help quite a bit but I can still see it.

I have about a week and a half to either return it or exchange it for another.

My question is if they fix the LCD problem in a couple of months, will I be able to get it switched out with a newer display since the originals are somewhat defective?

Did you read this thread?

What thread is that? You did not provide a link.

LOL, ROFLOL, I am not sure which post is funnier caphos or derbystars

TallyHo wrote:

If he had taken his pictures from further back they probably would have looked different.

*"Few things are harder to put up with than the annoyance of a good example."*
\- Mark Twain

*Focal Length: 9.95 mm (35 mm equivalent: 60 mm)*


*Focal Length: 5.8 mm (35 mm equivalent: 35 mm)*


.

What thread is that? You did not provide a link.

This thread, as in this thread.

First point - I was heading off the inevitable "return it comments - not directed at you specifically.
Second Point - Looby already pointed out the focal lengths he used. Not 'fisheye' by any stretch of the fanboy imagination.
With regards to the all caps, it was intended to be shouting. It wasn't a random sentence. Holier-than-though netiquette police who incorrectly chastise people are the ones who look stupid. Go back to justifying the poor quality of the displays. The rest of us will keep 'whining' until Apple actually fixes the problem.

The Looby wrote:

Hundreds of models of TN econo-monitors routinely pass TC'03 certification tests, and thus meet exactly the same display uniformity specs as an $1800 Apple Cinema Display.

http://www.tcodevelopment.com/

The Looby wrote:

"Few things are harder to put up with than the annoyance of a good example."
- Mark Twain

I checked the manufacturer specs on a few of the certified displays listed on the website you referenced in an earlier post, but could not find any with TN panels. Could you post a list of a few good examples of TC'03 certified LCD displays with TN panels (manufacturer and model number)?

capaho wrote:

I checked the manufacturer specs on a few of the certified displays listed on the website you referenced in an earlier post, but could not find any with TN panels. Could you post a list of a few good examples of TC'03 certified LCD displays with TN panels (manufacturer and model number)?

1) * http://www.tcodevelopment.com/ > Language: English*

2) *Search Certified Product > Product Type: Displays > Size: 20 > Certification: TCO'03 > Search*

FOUND: Two pages with 88 line-items and multiple model numbers per line-item.
The _vast majority_ are TN panels -- easily confirmed at http://tftcentral.co.uk.

Literally hundreds and hundreds of models -- and that's just the 20-inch monitors.
Notice that the list includes many 'prestigious' products such as Acer's AL2016W ...

...yours for the princely sum of $189.9989.99 at newegg.com,

Looby

*"Few things are harder to put up with than the annoyance of a good example."*
\- Mark Twain

*"Uh, ...with the possible exception of the annoyance of hundreds of good examples."*
\- The Looby

Thanks for pointing all that out so lucidly: I didn't intend to be holier-than-thou(gh) just by pointing out the over-the-top nature of your ranting. I don't know why Looby didn't take his pictures from a normal viewing distance. I don't know why AceDew's post is being ignored. I do know that it's fun to point out flaws in your arguments, but also that it isn't leading anywhere. So, keep up the whining, (or 'whining' if you insist on the scare-quotes). Have fun! (But try not to throw your rattle out of your pram.)