23" Cinema display poor color consistency

Update: Now that I am specifically looking for them, I have spotted the following issues, which seem to be common:

1) slight brightening and pinkening in the upper left;

2) dingy yellow whites on the left side;

3) narrow pink band along right edge.

I did not see any brightness banding, and in normal use none of these are really problematic.

The SN begins with 2A436.

Point very well-made and well-taken.

What do you think of a possible video card compatibility issue being at the source of (or at least contributing to) these various ACD issues?

The pink tint isn't the only problem with these 23" ACDs. They also have backlighting and color consistency problems that most people who buy them seem to experience. So, if you get one without the pink tint problem, it will probably have the yellow/gray edges (on white) or color fading on the left and right sides.

I wonder how long this will go on before it gets fixed. I'd really like to get another 23" (I returned mine for a refund), but, only if the problem is fixed.

Just to give everyone a little more insight into the thing called "color temperature".

For color publishing work, it's generally accepted that white should have a color temperature of 6500K, aka D65. A while further back, the "standard" was 5000K, aka D50, which corresponded to illuminants in a color controlled viewing booth, but D50 is generally warmer than people want to see on their screen (too yellow) and so D65 has become the defacto standard.

So, ideally, an LCD's "native" white color temperature should be somewhere close to 6500K. This is how the white looks "raw" from the display, without any color calibration adjustment. If you have the right utility or calibration software, there's usually a way to "turn off" calibration so that you can see this and measure it on the screen with a sensor, if you're inclined. Regardless, when you have the default Cinema HD Display profile selected in the Displays/Color pref panel, you should end up with a color temperature very close to 6500K.

If you don't, as is the case with the new 2A43 23" I'm currently using (7100K), then there's no way on earth the display is going to look correct without calibration software and a sensor. (I keep forgetting that most people don't have this). This 23" would look very, very cold (bluish), just like an old, uncalibrated CRT, and there would be not a thing that could easily be done about it without building a custom profile.

To calibrate white on a display, calibration software has to play with the contents (curves for the three color channels) in the video card. The more you have to adjust video card to shift white, the more you eventually start to reduce the overall color quality of your display. Small adjustments are preferable to large ones; so if the display starts very close to 6500K, calibrating to get there exactly will be a slight change (good). Calibrating to get all the way down to 5000K is a larger change (less desirable).

If you start at over 7100K (as on -this- 23"), things are getting pushed more than you'd want already to get down to 6500K, and going down to 5000K is definitely not a good idea. Plus, what happens at 5000K is that the pinkish warmth in the center of the screen becomes more visible. Calibrated at 6500K, it's still there, but less noticeable.

The only way that this particular 23" could be "fixed" so that it's native color temperature is closer to 6500K would be to replace the backlight and/or LCD. I don't believe there's any internal adjustment that Apple service could do to change this. Either put in a "2nd gen LCD", as is being desrcribed here, or simply replace the entire unit (the more likely solution).

Yes, I completely agree, and that is the experience I just went through: what ended up being a frustrating waste of time (plus a round trip shipping fee to investigate it). The 2A44 that didn't have the pink tint in the center of the screen has the yellow/gray edges and color fading, particularly on the left side. This ended up being -worse- than the pink tint issue.

One problem, or the other. Not good either way.

I don't think the video card is a culprit in the problems. I ran my former ACD 23" on my G4 and G5 with the exact same results on both with 2 entirely different video card models. And, my older LCD monitor did not show the same issues... one would think if the video card was a problem it'd be consistent on different displays.

Definitely the monitor...

Aside from the color/brightness issues, has anyone noticed an increase in the sharpness & clarity of type against a white background on this monitor? I design books and I'm desperate to replace my Sony Triniton with something better for displaying lots of type on white pages.

Do you remember draging a heavy magnet across a television set as a kid? yeah, that's what my 23" ACD looks like, god awful and getting worse each week. how can anyone not notice how bad it is?

I think we all got ACD beer goggles only to wake up the next day with
a piece of trash.

but I'm positive you see...... no wait, I'm negative... it happens everytime
I blow 2 grand, I get edgy..... y-e-a-h.

Exactly!!! I feel you, I too am frusterated... I bought my Pink23 on monday and already today it has been at the local Apple Store all day, I used it maybe 5- 6 hours, watched two dvd's and tried to do some photoshop and ichat, and it was so crappy to move windows in and out of pink or dingy yellow zones. I tried to do the advanced calibration, and where it said "move the slider on the left to make the grey apple etc..." I am thinking, "what grey apple?" "My apple is green & pink, but hardly grey, whereas the 30" never showed this, nor did my previous 23" HD display, The color did seem to wash out on the edge of the 30, but it was still consistant. My 23" was getting washed out on the edges, dingy yellow on the sides and pink everywhere else. This was all witnessed and confirmed by the certified Apple technician who I bought the computer from. I left with the impression he was going to shoot for a replacement, being that the display was bought less than a full day earlier. Good Luck to all!!!

Here's an update, with tonight's comparison of my original 23" with a 20".

I can tell you right off: color consistency-wise, the 20" beats the 23" hands down. It looks perfect, at first. Native color temperature is spot-on at just over 6500K; there is no visible tinting, anywhere, and if there is, it is SO subtle that you would never notice it. (and remember, I've picked through two 23"s so far and found many issues with both of them). Things are smooth and even. None of what I've seen on every other aluminum display I've looked at.

The 20" just kills the 23's (this 2A43, and a 2nd one, 2A44, that I found to be even less acceptable). If Apple could make a 23" (-any- 23") that is as good and clean as this 20", it would be heaven. (But this is what everyone -should- be getting for the extra $800: a 23" display that is simply a larger version of the 20" display.)

Anyway, more on the 20". I was so amazed to see an aluminum display which finally looked "perfect" that I did my measurements at the center and around the edges. It gets interesting here. As with the 2A44 23" that I found -unacceptable- (very dark banded left edge), this 20" -also- drops off a little more than 10% brightness from the center to the left edge; based solely on measurements. But the transition is so smooth that you just cannot see it happen. I had to recheck my readings twice to believe it. Looking very very carefully, there is a -tiny- shift of things around the left edge, but again, it is so slight that it would never be an issue. I have absolutely no problem with this after agonizing over the two 23"s the past two weeks.

The 20" calibrates beautifully at D65 and D50. (The 2A43 23" has a 7100K native color temp and doesn't look right if you calibrate it down too far).

The 20" has a single dead pixel stuck on green slightly off right of center, but it's such a small speck that shows on only dark backgrounds; well within reason.

DVDs, I'm convinced, (but now have to re-check) look better on the 20" than on the 23" because there isn't as much scaling going on. Contrast also seems better; but I will recheck this tomorrow, side-by-side.

The 20" is by far, significantly better than either 23" I've used; better than the one I saw in an Apple store; better than the (very pink) 23" I saw in an Apple store. It is the best of any of the aluminum displays I've seen. And the dead pixel is not enough to spoil this. (any other display is just as likely to have one pixel, or more than one).

Time to be happy, right?

Wrong.

The 20" is too small. It is just Too Blasted Small. After having spent time on a new G5 sitting in front of 23", 20" just doesn't cut it, no matter how much I want it to be OK. The G5 suddenly feels like a toy computer (which it is not). And this is a very troubling thing.

We appear to have been given an impossible choice: the right size with the wrong color consistency; or vice versa.

Have you consider other 23" LCD? Like Sony, HP, Benq...
Have you compare these with the Apple?

My dealer was willing to change the Alu display for a 23" 'clear case' display!
I'm realy happy that they did, this is SO much better!

I've read about them, and yes, I've thought about them, but I'm not convinced that I wouldn't end up seeing the same problems, potentially. I would actually have to see one in person to believe that it would be better.

I've gotten so weary of this process that I just can't continue worrying about it. I could see it taking forever, trying to evaluate other displays to come up with a "perfect" one, between looking at backlight evenness; color consistency; and then (don't forget) dead pixels.

I've seen comments here in the discussion forums to the effect that some people with the HP 23" have had issues with it, too.

It seems that there are no sure things in life, but that one of them right now is that 23" LCD technology has some problems across the board, no matter who is putting these LG-manufactured LCDs in their displays.

That might be an idea, and I'd thought of that, too. I'd been using a clear case 22" ACD in the past (larger pixels, same count as the current 20" aluminum).

But a) It's physically larger; I really like the design of the aluminum, and the fact that it doesn't lean back on that plastic hinge/foot like the old ones did; I had problems with that thing on the older 22". b) I've also read about problems people have with the clear plastic 23's, same possibilities of color inconsistency, dead pixels, etc.

What's becoming clear is that there's no guarantee of what you'll get, and that if you get something good the first time around with any of these LCDs (Apple, or otherwise): (good color, no dead pixels) you are either extremely fortunate ("good" is really "good") or just don't notice the problem areas.