Yellow tinge from bottom to top of the screen, 27" iMac

"There are iMacs (of both screen sizes) in stores that have perfect displays."
WHERE ARE THEY? I just got back from Best Buy at lunch - big surprise - all their iMacs had the same yellowing. Every single one.

Where are these perfect screens you're talking about? I've not seen a single one in a picture or in a store. I've seen dozens of iMacs now, and 3 Cinema Displays, and not a SINGLE instance of a screen without some slight color discrepancy.

"You may choose to accept the defect in the computer and live with it, but please, let's not pretend or rationalize that this is normal."
This is your opinion and only your opinion. I haven't seen a SINGLE iMac or Cinema Display screen that isn't a bit 'off' in uniformity. NOT A SINGLE ONE. The Dell displays in my office also 'fail' the 'test'. The 30" ACD sitting 20ft from me fails the test. My MBA fails the test.

What would blow me away? If I saw a single display pass this test. That's what I want to see. I want a display larger than 20" to take this test and pass with untouched photos from a reliable source. I won't hold my breath since these LG panels are used in millions of displays around the world.

Occam's Razor: "All things being equal, the simplest explanation tends to be the most simple."
So which is more likely:
• Every single display larger than 20" exhibits this behavior and is therefore defective and broken and there is a huge conspiracy to hide it...
or...
• This is a symptom of displays at this size with sidelit LEDs and is normal.

" And trust me, no one has a more paranoid eye towards the yellowing than I do"
You said it. If you decide to stop looking at gray bars 23hrs/day and start looking at photos and videos you'll find the display is flat-out gorgeous. My hueyPRO required next to no calibration on a 21.5" to hit colors dead-on. That's impressive.

At some point you will decide to either move-on or get a refund, I hope either gives you the result you are looking for. If, at some point, Apple finds a better way to disperse the light (and I'm sure Ives is on the case) they'll roll it out in an iMac revision.

Everyone just needs to know, with 99.8% certainty, if you purchase an iMac it will have a huge, beautiful display. Colors are accurate. Photos are stunning. Video is amazing. If you look at huge gray bars on your screen, you may notice some areas that have lighter or darker grays.

If you're on your 3rd, 4th, etc iMac, maybe it's just time to get a refund? The display is what it is - which IMO is awesome. But in your opinion is the worst thing that ever happened to computers. If you are the latter, just get a different machine. Don't get a mini or Mac Pro with a Cinema Display, though. It'll have the same LED LCD tinging and you'll be right back in the same boat.

Best of luck - I just placed an order for 3 new 27" and 1 21.5" - everyone around here is very excited to start working on the Core i5 and that HUGE screen.

pballbeast wrote:
Question - was asked before but I don't know if it was answered to my satisfaction. Being that they are replacing screens for anything that has yellow tinge is there any reason not to buy from a online reseller that I can save $150 and get free stuff with the machine?

You can also save $100 from the Educational store off the iMac (Core i5). Though a bit unethical, you can choose to buy from the educational store. You also get the free Epson printer after mail in rebate and save $30 off iWorks from official channels.

Buying from MacMall for example, the only extra they are throwing in is Parallels or VMWare after rebate. I believe they knocked off $50 the retail of the iMac i5 when I checked. You also get the free printer as well.

So, buying from Apple directly could end up cheaper and more convenient as well (warranty wise) esp if you do not need Parallels or VMWare.

I was going to buy from Macmall, but after reading reviews about them (esp about honoring rebates), I pass. Rather go straight to the store and pick one up myself, unless you need i7 which is a special order.

Message was edited by: hamproof

You are completly right that on this grade of display a slight color varience from the top to the bottom of the screen is acceptable. Short of purchasing a Lacie, Eizo or high end NEC your not going to get a perfect panel. Especially for the price of the 27" iMac.

However, with that said, the yellow streaking and intensity is the real problem and something we should not have. Its not normal in anyway and needs to be fixed by Apple.

Took the plunge and traded my 27" iMac. Waiting for one to be delivered this week or next. Mine not only had the yellow stains, but also blackdots and fuzzy lines in the top right corner. The DVD caught arthritis as well. I'll report back when the new one arrives. What are the odds?

Yes I'd like Parallels for free (though where have you read they don't honor rebates?) and I am a student so it wouldn't be unethical to buy from the Apple store. That would be a big thing saving a couple hundred bucks (parallels and $50). My biggest concern was what their replacement/service policy is when the buying from other resellers. Will they replace or only repair if I have a problem? Or are they going to tell me to take it up with the company? If repair doesn't work I take it I don't have the same 14 day leeway that Apple offers.

Message was edited by: pballbeast

pballbeast wrote:
Yes I'd like Parallels for free (though where have you read they don't honor rebates?) and I am a student so it wouldn't be unethical to buy from the Apple store. That would be a big thing saving a couple hundred bucks (parallels and $50). My biggest concern was what their replacement/service policy is when the buying from other resellers. Will they replace or only repair if I have a problem? Or are they going to tell me to take it up with the company? If repair doesn't work I take it I don't have the same 14 day leeway that Apple offers.

Message was edited by: pballbeast

If you look at the Macmall prices, it is not all that great. It is $50 less than retail, but if you buy as a student from Apple, you get $100 off. So, you are ahead $50 already.

Apple throws in the free $100 Epson printer after rebate. You only get $40 back off >$69 printer.

So, you do get Parallels worth $60. But the lower price, $100 for printer (maybe you can sell it for $60). In the end, I think it is not worth buying from Macmall. But you do save on salestax.

I doubt you can return the iMac from a reseller to the Apple store.

Resellers rating:

http://www.resellerratings.com/store/MacMall

Message was edited by: hamproof

Dino, the dispay that I thought was perfect, sadly is not. I've had this imac since Last Monday and the display did seem white throughout. However, when it's first started cold, there is yellow in the middle of the screen. It's always white in the corners and on the bottom and top. Oddly it seems I have two bands of yellow. Left of display is white then about six inches into the right, there is a vertical band from top to bottom about four inches wide, then white in the middle, then yellow band, then white on the right side. So instead of horizontal yellowing at the bottom I have verticle band from top to bottom. It seems to go away when the monitor heats up. Or maybe it's just my eyes adjusting. I don't know. I was willing to live with it until last night. My wife and I decided to watch a moving on it for the frist time. There is a huge light leak that you can only see when the horizontal black bands are on the top and bottom of a hd movie. It's about four inches from the right side of the screen on the top. Im not impressed to say the least. First time I've seen this with the five imacs I've had. And to top it off the screen has developed three dead pixels. They were not there at first. And to really top it off the computer won't go to sleep on it's own like the last one. I forgot that i had installed the pleas sleep app to force the imac to auto sleep like it should. So I uninstalled it last night and same as before. It won't sleep on it's own. Called apple care and went through all the normal procedures and the guy said it's a hardware problem. I explained that the computer was only a week old and told him it was a replacement. He told me to call my executive care rep and ask for another replacement and not repair. He was very vocal about this. Must have said it a dozen times to get a new computer. I really don't think they will send another new one. I'm almost sure she will make me take it in for repairs. No apple store here in vt so I'm pretty ruined I'll have to go to some red neck AASP. I'm starting to think these things are total junk. Four totally defective imacs out of five. The only good one I had I returned for an upgrade. Wish I had kept my orinal i5. The two replacement i7's are worse than what I started with.

Just a word to the Wise: When you do not Buy direct from Apple & decide on going with a Reseller, Apple will Instruct you to get the Reseller to exchange it, if there are any issues. In other words, be careful what your resellers exchange & Refund Policy is. They too may not consider a Color Variance to be enough for a Return or an Exchange. All the extras are nice but not if you have to send everything back to the Reseller. I bought my first iMac from B&H in NY. I live in Florida. When I told Apple my problem, they told me to get the Reseller to exchange it. They suggested this on the 2nd defective iMac as well. And they suggested I keep on swapping with the Resseller. But I fought it & told them, I was not going to swap iMac after after iMac with a Reseller that had Old Stock in their Warehouse. They finally agreed. But this was back in January, when they were more lenient with the swapping process. I bet they are being a lot harder on people who use a Reseller now. Just some food for thought. Better safe than sorry.

Why then is apple replacing imac after imac and screen after screen if it's considered normal??????

Because the ratio of unhappy folks to happy folks would blow your mind. They clearly stated the production issue had been solved, shipping times are down to a day, everything is back online. Yet... people are still receiving the same iMacs with the same screens and the same tinge.

Basically, Apple has looked at the issue and done what they can. It's either normal, or normal for this revision of the iMac and cinema display. I'd watch for repairs to close soon, or at least become much more difficult to obtain. Very soon you'll start getting the "it's normal" line - as you should for your 5th (or whatever number) iMac you're on.

In THIS revision of the iMac, there may be no fix. They replace your LG panel with another panel. Leaving the glass, diffuser, and LEDs in place. It's the current assumption that the panels aren't the cause of the tinge - it's the combo of LED, glass, and diffuser.

Therefore 100 screen replacements won't fix anything. Nor will 100 new iMacs.

If there is a design flaw that causes it, then it'll get worked out in the next revision (or quietly in this one). Going on 4 months of iMacs now, you all know the answer... it's just hard to face the facts for something you believe is so terribly wrong.

I had a similar fight with Apple over the wear-rate of my MacBook Pro keyboard. After 60 days of use it looked like it was 3 years old. Same for many people, but clearly there has been no change to the keyboards in 1.5 years... so you either move on or get over it. I chose to get over it.

There are some photos of screens I've seen which are seriously messed up - those folks deserve new iMacs, and are getting them. It's my guess that Apple is worried about THOSE severe cases, not the cases where the color is ever so slight, and certainly no worse than most other screens on the market. It appears that Apple is over-correcting to make sure no one ends up with a really yellow screen - which is good. As those cases get flushed out, I'd bet the free-for-all iMac swaps going on in here will end, with Apple requiring a tech to see the unit before allowing repair.

Again, all just my opinion.

Jeremy, You make some very valid statements I think what you write is probably true. But when Apple made the mistake of advertising the iMac as the "Ultimate Display", someone started investigating & came up with the Grey Bar Test. I had 2 unacceptable Yellow Screen iMacs. Apple upgraded me from a base 21'5" iMac to the 27". My 27" looks perfect to the eye, but when you do the Grey Bar Test, the right side & Lower Portion of the Screen appears Darker or Warmer than the Top & Left Side. Apple said my next step if not happy was a screen replacement. Since I don't see ANY Color Variance when full screen in Safari or any other App, I'm not getting a Screen Replacement. I'm keeping mine & am very happy with it. Like I have been suggesting to everyone on here, "If you can't see a Color Variance or a Yellow Tinge, when in Full Screen mode of your browser, It's A Keeper!" But I have to tell you, my last 2 screens were unacceptable & like you said, people with obvious screen problems, should be taken care of by Apple, which I feel they are doing. I am extremely happy with Apple's Customer Service in my particular case. Again, people only considering the Grey Bar Test & not asking themselves if they can see Yellow or a Color Variance, probably should not be swapping their iMac out or getting Screen replacements. But again, I think there are people on here with real screen issues. I've seen the pictures & not even my past iMacs were that bad. Again, I agree with you. Nothing more will be done to fix this new iMac. It is what it is!

rick, I can't believe it took you so long to check your iMac out thoroughly. You should have watched a piece of a Movie, the first day you got it. Anyhow, if it's THAT bad, I'd go with a Screen replacement or a replacement. I'm thinking even if you get it swapped, the new one can't be worse after what you found on your current one. Give them Your CC info. Sign the Form, Have Apple send you another. That's what I did. Lost no time without a machine. Good Luck once again!

I just tried to have an advance replacement with a CC by signing the form as you mentioned Dino and they refused to do this. Instead they charged my AMEX card for the new machine and after I receive it i send the older one back and get a credit on my card. This is ALL they would offer me.

chatterbrain, it seems Apple is changing things at this point. Was this a Tech you spoke to? Should have escalated the Call to a Supervisor. That's ridiculous. Maybe they have had some people try to scam them, so now they are being extra cautious. Still sounds strange to me. Good Luck on the new one!

I put my 27"i5 replacement on my credit card but it doesn't get charged unless I don't send in the original iMac in 30 days. Perfectly reasonable since I will have two machines at once so I can transfer data. I've done this before and it has always worked out well. Now, if the iMac has no issues the story has a happy ending.