iMac screen looks yellow/orange from 45 degree angle

The 20 inch iMac has a TN display with a shallow viewing angle.

I sit in front of mine so do not see this effect.....

Tony McGrath wrote:

Hi, yesterday I bought a 20" iMac 2.4 Ghz and the screen looks yellow/orange from a 45 degree viewing angle (as if looking through yellow glasses).

Yep, ALL the new 20" ALU iMacs do that. Some folks will try to tell you it's "normal" for TN-film LCD displays -- and there's a grain of truth there -- but I've never seen a computer monitor with viewing angles as poor as the new 20" iMac. Danm shame, too; all previous 20" iMacs had beautiful displays.

Regardless of what's "normal," Apple's specs and product blurbs are 'slightly' out of touch with reality:

http://www.apple.com/imac/technology/display.html
http://www.apple.com/imac/specs.html



...*"from every seat in the house"* ... (** Not applicable to houses over 250 mm wide.)

Looby

Tony McGrath wrote:
Well I dropped down to the shop and the 20" did have the yellow, but not as extreme or kick in as soon as mine. The 24" was almost normal, only a bit of yellow when almost at 90 degrees from the front.

I will have another look at the color calibration tonight but am not hopeful. This baby may be going back to the shop!

The 24" won't have the Yellow Tint that the 20" has, because the LCD panel used is a far superior panel to that in the 20".

However, what the 24" does appear to have though, is a left to right gradient issue, where the left hand side is really bright and the middle and right hand side of the screen tends to be darker, giving a white or light grey background a sort of Yellow tint to the screen. This is seen from sitting straight on and just turning the brightness down.

Most people say they can't see it, but so far, I have seen around 20 24" iMacs that all have this fault from various locations.

It's a shame really, because I really want to buy a new 24" iMac, but not with this faulty screen.

As for the 20", from the screens I have seen so far, they also have a fault, where the bottom of the panel tends to wash out the bright colours, such as can be seen on the docking bar. Just check these forums and you'll pick up the stories.

Tony McGrath wrote:

Well I dropped down to the shop and the 20" did have the yellow, but not as extreme or kick in as soon as mine. The 24" was almost normal, only a bit of yellow when almost at 90 degrees from the front.

Here are some photos of the typical problems seen with the new 20" and 24" ALU iMacs -- plus photos of a previous-generation white 20" C2D, for comparison.

http://picasaweb.google.com/TheLooby

Every 24" ALU I've seen has a left-to-right brightness gradient and (to varying degrees) a blue cast on the left and a yellowish tint in the center and/or right of the screen. However, the 24" displays DO NOT suffer from the "washed out color" or poor viewing angle problems found in most (all?) 20" ALUs.

Looby

I have a white 20" iMac, purchased in August, and I can tell you that the screen remains clear and the colors retain their integrity from any angle. Looking at this screen is like looking at a solid photograph. It's perfect. The aluminum 20" iMac, however, is another story. I've sat in front of many of them and you have to sit dead center or else the colors appeared skewed. I also suspect that the top-to-bottom screen gradient issues people are experiencing are just the result of the poor viewing angles. Colors appear darker at the top of the screen because most people position themselves at eye level or above, so they're actually looking down at the lower part of the screen. Try sitting below the screen, and then you'll notice the color gradient running from the bottom to the top instead of the top to the bottom.

lakeshore wrote:
I also suspect that the top-to-bottom screen gradient issues people are experiencing are just the result of the poor viewing angles. Colors appear darker at the top of the screen because most people position themselves at eye level or above, so they're actually looking down at the lower part of the screen. Try sitting below the screen, and then you'll notice the color gradient running from the bottom to the top instead of the top to the bottom.

Nope. Not the case. I have been to several Apple stores and all the 20" models produce the problem, where the bottom of the screen washes out the colours and this is from sitting straight in front of the screen and looking from Top, Bottom or Middle of the screen, and the bottom always shows the screens to be washed out and a lot less colourful.

The top of the screen never changes, unless of course I look at from a 45degree angle or further, and then the TN panel really shows it's faults, but the bottom still stays the same.