Do the new imacs fix the Backlight Gradient Problem?

Yesterday I have ordered a imac 3,06ghz...and after reading here and on macrumours, now i fear to receive one with the gradient\light issue...

I hope that someone of the staff can to clarify about this issue..

Okay, so I bought the 3.06Ghz 24 inch iMac today and I have to say it's absolutely gorgeous and incredibly fast. However, I've been dropping into these forums for months now following the progress of the screen gradients issues and I was very apprehensive about checking mine out. Well, I set the screen background to white and checked and... the left side is considerably brighter than the middle or the right. The left is a kind of bright bluey white, which gradates into a yellowy white in the centre and to the right.

Unreal. After all this waiting and hoping the problem would be solved, I'm now not sure what to do.

I'm a graphic designer and need the screen to be top notch. Now I'm wondering whether the gradient issue is bad enough to warrant sending it back... it's such a pain, this thing should have a fantastic screen without any gradient problems.

What should I do????

To tell you the truth, the gradient problem is not as bad as some have anticipated. The fading is very minimum and I suggest you to leave your screen on for at least 24 hours and let everything burn in before throwing a fit.

Burn in? Burn in is not something you should let any display do. Burn in is usually associated with plasma screens when text or some other static image is lett on the screen for a long time and leaves a ghost image. I have now has 13 of these 24" iMacs! Number 9 was ok (ish) and was the 'old' 2.4GHz week 14 and VM unit made in the Czech republic. I upgraded to the new model 3.06GHz model as I was within the 2 weeks for foc upgrade. ALL the screens I have seen have the gradient issue left to right and ALL have had backlight bleed bottom left/right and top left hand corner. I posted Mac Rumors forum anout this issue too. If you want a screen without these issues you will have to buy the cinema display (if you want to stay with apple). I'm very dissapointed that apple cant do better than this.....these iMacs have had this issue since launch in August! My 20" core2duo from late 06 has a great screen and I saw the 24" as a logical upgrade......how wrong I was.

Talked to apple support and they said the replacement will be sent out after fedex pick-up confirmation. Even though I would've liked apple to ship a brand new imac first before shipping my current iMac, I guess it is better than nothing.

I'll keep everyone updated on the issue.

So it wasn't an issue for you 1 post ago? and now it is and apple are sending a replacement that i guarantee you will have the same problem.....your not making much sense?

After doing more research and using this following resources:
http://downloads.zac.ch/imac/imacgradient_test24.html

I've come to a conclusion that the problem was more prominent than my initial analyzation. The problem is also escalated when screen is dimmed at the minimum brightness, which made it a lot less desirable to keep.

Ah.....ok I see. Be ready for the new one to suck too.

I appreciate your anticipation? LOL

Hopefully I won't have as much bad luck has you've had with your exchanges.

Its not bad luck.....its an issue with the screens

The left side of my 3.06GHz iMac screen is just a very small bit brighter than the right side, but I don't experience any yellowing mentioned before. I think the cause of my slight gradient is the fact that the backlight bleeds in all corners except for the top right corner, so the right side is a little darker than the left side. But, in real use, I can't really see the gradient unless I look really hard for it, and the bleed can't be seen at all unless the image displayed is very dark (I only noticed the bleed when entering Front Row). I checked some 2.8GHz iMacs at the Apple Store today and they all seemed to be fine.

Decrease your brightness to the lowest and set a dark gray background and you'll notice it more.

I did, and both sides are about even, but I seem to be seeing some yellowing in the centre of the screen that I didn't see before, but I don't think it's enough for me to warrant an exchange.

Then I would say you got the good batch and I'm awaiting my new replacement.

As for the yellow centre of the screen, you could try calibrating your monitor to the adobe 1998 and should fix the problem.

I already did, and it was a HUGE improvement over the washed-out standard profile. I hope you have better luck with your replacement.