23" Cinema display poor color consistency

Ya, they rather prefer to:
1. let these horrible products that carry their name to come out on the market,
2. abuse the trust of their loyal customers and make them pay for these units,
3. let them suffer the losses rather than Apple themselves,
4. not to stand up for us customer by rejecting these units from their suppliers/contractors...

Well, if these are their new approach to their bussiness, we should take a new stand on them and their products untill they get things right again.

One more continuing post in the saga, again on the agonizing decision about what to do with these 23"ers (2A43 vs 2A44):

Today I ran the two side-by-side, using the 2A44 as my main display and 2A43 as secondary. The more I used the 2A44 (which is better across the screen, no real pinkish band in the middle -but- the left edge is darker/duller/more greenish-yellow), the more I realized that the left edge situation made it worse than the other.

The loss of luminance on the leftmost edge, pretty much 1.5" or so, all the way up to the Edit menu in the Finder, is just too noticeable. Every time I browse a web page, read an email or do anything that's towards the left edge of the screen, it bothers me.

So, just for fun, I took some measurements in a grid on the screen to see what the numbers looked like vs. what my eyes have been telling me. This is using a Monaco Optix XR colorimeter and measuring pure white, with the display both uncalibrated, and then calibrated at about 6300K.

-Uncalibrated-, the 2A44 has a luminance of around 258 cd/m2 at the center (nice and bright). Midway to the left edge, it's still at 252 cd/m2 (good), but then it suddenly drops off to 227 at the center of the left edge; 211 in the upper left corner, and 195 in the lower left corner. You can really see this as a darkening in the 1.5" or so on the left edge, but interestingly enough, the -color- is consistent, there is no tinting. You don't start seeing this until you calibrate the display and shift the white away from it's "native", or "raw", uncalibrated white. Even with no color shift, the left edge drops off more than 10% in luminance fairly suddenly in the vertical band that ends just past the Edit menu.

-Calibrating- the 2A44 to 6300K, we start off with 232 cd/m2 in the center, 230 halfway to the left edge, and then a drop to 206 at the center of the left edge, 216 in the top left corner, 196 in the bottom left corner. Since the screen isn't quite as bright calibrated but we're still losing almost the same absolute amount of luminance, this is more like a 13% dropoff. And now, there is some color shift as well, which makes the left side look not only "dingier" but with that different color tint. Final decision: I can't live with it, and so the 2A44, which I had pinned my hopes on for "better", is going back. This is a tough nut to swallow.

The 2A43 23" display is better at the left edge; without going into the numbers, it has about 1/2 the luminance dropoff (from 233 in the center down to about 220 on the left edge) that I see on the 2A44, and although the color tinting is also there, it's not as objectionable because we're not getting as dark at the same time.

This isn't to say the 2A43 is good enough, because it's not. There is still the pinkish warmth in the middle vs the 2A44, but at -least- the luminance is more consistent going across to the left edge and this ends up being less of a poke in the eye when you're dealing with white-backgrounded documents.

I'm going to sleep on the 2A43, which started all of this for me. I'm on the verge of giving up on 23" displays altogether, getting a 20" HD Cinema instead. Even if it's not perfect, it's easier to justify $999 on that vs. $1799 on the 23", and maybe in a few more months there will be improved 23" displays that don't have these issues; at which point a 20" display can either be used as a 2nd display or used with a different computer (Mac mini, most likely) as a 2nd workstation.

I was also considering that option, but I had heard some complains about the 20"...
Any graphic people out there using 20"? Care to share with us?

At least one Discussions posting details the same 'pink screen' they saw on the 20" ACD.

That posting also mentions one specific area that I had been curious about - the video card. As you'll read in the posting, they upgraded the 9600 the Mac came with to a 9800 model from another Mac and - according to the posting - "the problem went away".

I wonder if the card isn't part of the equation in at least some of the cases here too.

No, it's not the video card.

I ran my 23" on both the 9600XT AGP card and on an older ATI PCI card, and the same effect exists. There's literally no difference whether you hook it up to one video card or another.

I have a 23" running off a 9800XT card and after 2 weeks there is no pink cast yet. The left edge does have a slight fade effect that seems to affect blue more than red or green.

My serial number starts with 2A5021.

Hi MegaBit,

that's the highest sn I've ever seen/read about.
I sent mine (2A439...) in last week and await the exchange model this or next week. This gives me a little hope to get a newer one... 😟

Björn

Have you tried a 9800 yet? The one poster I referenced, and the reply below yours both list 9800 cards with no pink screen. Without trying the 9800, maybe it is a card issue.

That success doesn't necessarily mean the sub-9800 cards are defective. There are a number of reasons that at least two persons posting here have had no 'pink-screen' issue with a 9800 card.

Given their 9800 successes, it might be the card, and definitely cannot be dismissed as not being the card.

Does the 9800XT encroach on the PCI slot above it at all?

Yup- the heat sink with fan assembly makes the neighboring PCI slot (No. 1 of 3) unusable.

I was really surprised when it arrived two weeks ago with that number. I think it was still warm from the final factory test when I opened it.

I keep looking at it with a very discerning eye for that horrible pink but so far there is no sign of it. Could be a good thing.

I received my 23" about a week before Christmas, and have noticed a very slight pink tint along the upper left-hand corner. I have only now really noticed it--out of the box it looked perfect. Considering some of the more extreme observations posted here, I think that I have been quite lucky.

Now, the question is whether it is worth returning it. Some posters have suggested that the problem only occurred with early builds, so a new monitor might do the trick. Others have pretty horrible stories suggesting that Apple just dumps a replacement in a box without checking it at all. Does anyone have experience returning a 23" recently? Since the problem is only very slight, and otherwise I am very happy with this monitor, I am beginning to think that it might be advisable to wait and see a little longer. On the other hand, it is very disappointing to have so expensive a piece of equipment be less than perfect. Now that I have noticed the problem my eye is invariably drawn to the upper left corner to see if I spot pinkness.

-Chris

PS--I will try to add my SN tonight--I'm not in front of my machine.

I bought one of the very first 23" displays released (Serial # 2A427...) and experienced the pink tint issue, the bands of blue and the uneven backlighting problems. Recently, I returned it to Apple for service. They temporarily fixed the pink issue, but did not correct the the other problems. Now the pink tint is back and I returned the display for repair again. This time, a level 2 tech support told me to make sure I tell the service center that engineering specifically suggests replacing the LCD with the "newer model."

That statement tells me that Apple is aware of the issue and that a second-generation LCD exists, which reportedly doesn't have the pink tint problem. Also, I noted that each of the two Apple Stores in San Diego finally has at least one 23" ACD with no pink tint (Serial #s 2A44...) It is very easy to see the difference between the "good 23" and the rest of them with pink tint sitting nearby.

When my repaired display returns, I'll report the results.

Thanks Hersco,

well THAT is some news, hope you are right!

Good Luck and Good Night 🙂
Björn