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Do the new imacs fix the Backlight Gradient Problem?

I am... like many... the owner of a 24" 1st gen aluminum imac with a terribly uneven backlight. The left side of the monitor is twice as bright as the right.

Using this machine for aperture isn't really an acceptable solution, which is sad, because my $1099 macbook has a better more accurate screen.

I returned the machine twice, and when I got the 3rd one that still had the problem, I just decided to wait it out a year on the warranty and see if the 2nd generation fixed the problem.

Does anyone who is familiar with the problem have 1st hand reports of how much better the screen panel / backlight / CCFL inverter is in the new model? Has anyone gotten through to applecare on this issue successfully?

24" imac 2.8 gen1, Mac OS X (10.5.2)

Posted on Apr 28, 2008 8:14 AM

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94 replies

Apr 29, 2008 11:07 PM in response to rpeters83

I did see the new ones tonight at the Apple Store Costa Mesa, CA. They didn't have any 3.06 models with the newer vid card but they had a bunch of 2.8's. I checked them out for gradiant. I looked at 3 of the 24" the other couple were being used. I switched to a solid gray desktop, even played around with setting the gamma to 2.2 from 1.8. the results were. That all three of them had a slight differential still from the left to right with the left being a little lighter as before. I couldn't detect any yellow coloration in the middle like many of the last model. I thought compared to what I'd seen on the last ones, they were improved. Enough? Well, probably if you have your work palletes on the left or the image in the left middle to right as I normally do, if they stayed like they are, it would probably be good enough for photo work, but you would have to judge. They did look better to me on this first look.
You'll just have to look yourself. I guess if I was actually ready to buy a new one, i'd take my light meter there and see what the exact difference is. I'd guess about 1/2 to a 1 stop guestimate. The sales dudes were able to see it. The 20" still pretty much *** for gradiant, darker on top to lighter to bottom.

Apr 30, 2008 5:34 AM in response to rpeters83

My old 20" G5 iMac doesn't have a gradient issue. So are we saying those models had a high end display then? I think the problem here is that Apple set a high standard with iMac displays and then made them cheaper. Especially in the case of the cheap TN panel now in the current 20" iMac. That is an annoying downgrade for anyone who doesn't need the larger screen. It's forced me into buying a 24" iMac, which at least still does use a high quality display. The gradient issues on the 24" display seem to be a build quality issue. Some have it to varying degrees, some don't. Both the colour and gradient issues on the 20" are a feature of the model!

Apr 30, 2008 6:37 AM in response to Matthew Bergsma

I'd like to know the same thing. I went through 3 of the previous 24" aluminum imac's returning them all for this issue. They were all really bright on the left side and much darker as you went to the right. I finally gave up and figured I'd wait until the next revision to see if this gets fixed. I may swing into the local apple store here today to have a look at the new ones.

Does anyone know if they used new panels in these models or are they the same previous generation crap?

Apr 30, 2008 7:32 PM in response to Barry Fisher

Barry Fisher wrote:
My 24" white does not have a gradient, at all. It meters even all the way around.


My white 20" has a _very slight_ gradient; the brightest and darkest regions of the
screen differ by less than 20% , (i.e., less than 1/3 f-stop). It's probably uniform
to within 10% or so, but I don't have a meter capable of detecting 10% differences.

rpeters83 wrote:
AFAIK (and I'm no guru), all low to mid level LCD's have a brightness gradient,
simply due to the way the backlight is.


I returned a 24" ALU iMac with a gradient of 2.5:1, (i.e., about 1.3 f-stops). While
no display is "absolutely perfect," there's a HUGE difference between 0.3 f-stops
and 1.3 f-stops.

Looby

May 1, 2008 12:06 PM in response to moonpup

During lunch today I went to my local apple store and took a look at both the 20" and 24" iMacs. The 20" still suffer from the top to bottom gradient issue with colors fading out towards the bottom and the severe restricted viewing angles.

As for the 24" iMac's I must say they looked pretty good. I tested 3 of them by changing the wallpaper to different solid colors and it was pretty consistent across the screen with a little bit of darkness around the edges. Bottom line I ended up purchasing one and will post back when I get it setup tonight and check it out. Wish me luck as the ones in the store looked good.

May 3, 2008 9:15 AM in response to Matthew Bergsma

I just recently received the iMac 3.06ghz and the screen does fade from left to right (bright to dim). Even after heavy calibration, the screen still show uneven lighting and is quite discouraging for a first time apple user....

For now, I'll just stick to this iMac as the only few things I do are coding and surfing. If the problem escalates, the iMac is going in for service.

Do the new imacs fix the Backlight Gradient Problem?

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