HELP 27" i7 backlight test

[ttopp]

Hi i got my 3rd 27" iMac and i have another one with back light issues please try this and tell me if you's get the same.

my problem is that with a black screen i get uneven black across it. when sitting in front its the bottom corners but if i look up from below the screen it moves about with me. its light coming through so on a black screen its not all black like it should be but a sort of a silvery glow in.

can people set there desk top to a black screen and let me know if they get it too or is it just that I have been unlucky and had two now :(

[MMM.PWR]

Definitely not just you. Can you post pictures?

[slicecom]

That's just how they are, thanks to Apple being too cheap to put a polarizer on the screen.

[ttopp]

heres a pic from my iPhome it should be a black screen

[MMM.PWR]

That's pretty bad. Could you take one straight on? Not at an angle

[ttopp]

heres another 2, one with ambient light other in the dark

[MMM.PWR]

Personally, I couldn't justify spending so much money with a screen like that.

[IndustrialSpace]

That looks pretty bad. No black screen at all in the corners. You wouldn't be able to watch a movie at all on a screen like that.

What week is it from?

Is this a widespread problem like the yellowing?

[IndustrialSpace]

Personally, I couldn't justify spending so much money with a screen like that.

I agree.

How can Apple sell such shoddy computers for such an expensive price. Unbelievable.

[ttopp]

i have two here just now one a week 07 is as bad but its back in the box, the one in the pic is week 53.

:( no happy. apart fi the rank screen the comp screams, its really good but the picture is rubbish :(

[mdewberry]

My fourth iMac (received in January) had the same backlighting issue as in the example photo.. Could really see it when I had the cool planet earth with black background wallpaper on the screen...

[ttopp]

post some pics o the good or the bad yins lets check the black issue...

[archipellago]

I agree.

How can Apple sell such shoddy computers for such an expensive price. Unbelievable.

I fail to see how you can be surprised...

[stu212]

I have had 4 iMac 27" all of them had the same backlight problems 2 of them had other problems that i returned them for and the third because of this backlight problem. I am just trying to make travel arrangements to return my fourth one.

[archipellago]

maybe the backlight bleed is a feature of the 'ultimate' display...

:rolleyes:

just guessing....;)

[student_trap]

I had this on an old 2.33 imac and sent it back. It's screen looked as bad as yours and i wasn't prepared to put up with it.

It is a fault, send it back

[ttopp]

Its like the first black MacBooks, you got terrible contrast if the screen wasn't at a precise angle. but with this big screen you canny get it all at the same angle so its distorted the blacks??? I hooked my plasma up its not got as good a resolution (1080i) but the blacks are uniform and this tv is 5 years old....

[slicecom]

Its like the first black MacBooks, you got terrible contrast if the screen wasn't at a precise angle. but with this big screen you canny get it all at the same angle so its distorted the blacks??? I hooked my plasma up its not got as good a resolution (1080i) but the blacks are uniform and this tv is 5 years old....

Plasma's don't have a backlight at all so thats not really a fair comparison, but yeah, the backlight bleed is annoying, and unfortunately it's common on the new iMacs.

[ttopp]

well they canny fix it at the repair shop. i had the last one in and the changed the screen and problem still there, changed the backlight board and then replaced a cable, no joy with any o those so it was to go back but i could hold on to the duffer till the replacement came.

that happened on monday but couldnt test it then as i was away on a trip lucky it came early or id have missed it. tested yesterday and bad backlight issues.

no happy emailed the customer service woman who was dealing with my case early yesterday still no heard back fi her yet :(

[ttopp]

here are pics of the yellowing :( and another backlight one

[slicecom]

here are pics of the yellowing :( and another backlight one

That's not a bad backlight, that's just how they look when you go off centre thanks to Apple not including a screen polarizer.

As for the yellowing, its definately there, but its not nearly as bad as some. I'm on my 6th iMac and that is less yellowing than 5 of them exhibited. There are perfect ones out there, but they're extremely rare.

[ttopp]

That's not a bad backlight, that's just how they look when you go off centre thanks to Apple not including a screen polarizer.

no thats bad backlight. non uniform blacks.. also from face on you notice it in the bottom corners. my macbook pro 15" is better at displaying black and it doesnt have IPS..

[tigereat]

Is this the black light bleeding?

[slicecom]

no thats bad backlight. non uniform blacks.. also from face on you notice it in the bottom corners. my macbook pro 15" is better at displaying black and it doesnt have IPS..

Then every iMac has a bad backlight. Take a picture of any 27" iMac displaying a black screen in the dark and it will look just like yours.

[TMRaven]

That's not a bad backlight, that's just how they look when you go off centre thanks to Apple not including a screen polarizer.


I get this too, and it's pretty annoying-- it's like I might as well be looking at a gray screen if I ever happen to look at a pure black screen from a great angle.


As for a backlight bleed, I guess I have some, but at the same time I guess it's what the average LCD panel gets with a super ****ing bright led lighting it from the rear. Most of the offblack in this picture is coming from flaring of the menubar and icons. However when I look at it with my own eyes, I see some gradients of backlight bleed on all 4 corners-- nothing I can't live with though.

http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c104/twisted_metal_2/P1050079.jpg

[WilliamG]

While excessive bleed is unacceptable, I haven't really seen anything out of the ordinary here. IPS panels really don't do great blacks, ESPECIALLY at high brightness levels. This is true of every IPS panel I've ever owned. From off angles as well, the blacks REALLY wash out.

Also, cranking the brightness to max and turning the lights off and complaining about backlight bleeding is ridiculous. My Samsung LN46B750 46" LCD TV is considered one of the best out there. However, with the brightness/backlight at max, it looks like CRAP in a dark room. Backlight bleed, uneven brightness etc.

This thread = fail. Period.

[ttopp]

While excessive bleed is unacceptable, I haven't really seen anything out of the ordinary here. IPS panels really don't do great blacks, ESPECIALLY at high brightness levels. This is true of every IPS panel I've ever owned. From off angles as well, the blacks REALLY wash out.

Also, cranking the brightness to max and turning the lights off and complaining about backlight bleeding is ridiculous. My Samsung LN46B750 46" LCD TV is considered one of the best out there. However, with the brightness/backlight at max, it looks like CRAP in a dark room. Backlight bleed, uneven brightness etc.

This thread = fail. Period.

id take your telly/imac back as I had one in for repairs and they admitted a fault and that they could not fix it.... also this one they r taking back and replacing based on the pics alone..

I have an old lg lcd and the blacks in a dark room were fine but it is over 4 years old, i have seen cheep lcd tvs that matt out go the silver way but if u pay £200 for 27 inch u canny complain..

last but not least my 24" imac has no trouble with blacks as does my MBP 15"..


Your comment: Epic FAIL...

[WilliamG]

id take your telly/imac back as I had one in for repairs and they admitted a fault and that they could not fix it.... also this one they r taking back and replacing based on the pics alone..

I have an old lg lcd and the blacks in a dark room were fine but it is over 4 years old, i have seen cheep lcd tvs that matt out go the silver way but if u pay £200 for 27 inch u canny complain..

last but not least my 24" imac has no trouble with blacks as does my MBP 15"..


Your comment: Epic FAIL...


Well you're entitled to believe what you want to believe. I've owned a lot more TVs and monitors than you, apparently. I don't think I've ever had a TV or computer longer than 12 months, ever, since flat panels/computers etc move at such a pace these days.

So with that experience comes knowledge of how these things work. Again, I did say that excessive bleeding is unacceptable, and there are definitely some issues with these iMac screens in terms of color consistency (some non-uniformity is acceptable), and black level/backlight bleeding.

THAT said, I haven't seen anything unusual here. And I won't be returning my telly as it's well within spec. Just go read the AVS boards. ANYONE who cranks their TV up to max brightness will experience issues. Why don't you turn your brightness down a bit and THEN post pictures? Or do you honestly watch movies on your iMac in the dark with max brightness?

Plus I don't believe that your other Macs have no issues with their blacks. Turn the lights off, crank the brightness to max, and then post some more pictures. I'm sure you'll see it's fairly similar to what you're experiencing with your new iMac.

[ttopp]

sorry william i was a bit harsh there.

i took it in the dark due to the glare from the glossy screen. i include these pics where you can notice it but the glare does obscure it..

[nickdelvecchio]

I had to return my 27" i5 imac last night actually because i had a really bad back-light bleed. all of the guys at the store said it was un-acceptable and just flat out replaced the computer.... the new one is 7 weeks newer and looks fantastic. if the back-light bleed is noticeable (i.e. purplish grey in corners instead of black) i would say take it back. they should help you.

[nickdelvecchio]

sorry william i was a bit harsh there.

i took it in the dark due to the glare from the glossy screen. i include these pics where you can notice it but the glare does obscure it..

i would say that is worth having someone take a look at it and test it. that looks a lot like my old one did... mine was REAL bad in the bottom right corner

[ttopp]

MBP full brightness in the dark..

while its not pitch black i think its extremely convincing that the iMac has backlight issues..

[ttopp]

Well you're entitled to believe what you want to believe. I've owned a lot more TVs and monitors than you, apparently. I don't think I've ever had a TV or computer longer than 12 months, ever, since flat panels/computers etc move at such a pace these days.

So with that experience comes knowledge of how these things work. Again, I did say that excessive bleeding is unacceptable, and there are definitely some issues with these iMac screens in terms of color consistency (some non-uniformity is acceptable), and black level/backlight bleeding.

THAT said, I haven't seen anything unusual here. And I won't be returning my telly as it's well within spec. Just go read the AVS boards. ANYONE who cranks their TV up to max brightness will experience issues. Why don't you turn your brightness down a bit and THEN post pictures? Or do you honestly watch movies on your iMac in the dark with max brightness?

Plus I don't believe that your other Macs have no issues with their blacks. Turn the lights off, crank the brightness to max, and then post some more pictures. I'm sure you'll see it's fairly similar to what you're experiencing with your new iMac.

i do have it at full brightness on the 24" as i use that one when at mines to watch movies. i have the 27" at the GF and my plasma tv (pioneer pdp428) its lush being a plasma blacks r great. on that i dont have the brightness at full crank its bad for plasmas but you dont need it on tvs at full pelt as it distorts the image.

of course if you turn the brightness/backlight down on a lcd the back light issues will lessen lol

but all that aside i did think it was just me being picky but the tech guys did find it faulty too.

[Sambo110]

My 20" iMac has no backlight bleeding at all, or if it does, it's only a few pixels down the bottom. I wouldn't say that iMac backlight is normal, far from it. But does it annoy you enough to replace it? How often do you look at a black screen.

[ttopp]

My 20" iMac has no backlight bleeding at all, or if it does, it's only a few pixels down the bottom. I wouldn't say that iMac backlight is normal, far from it. But does it annoy you enough to replace it? How often do you look at a black screen.

yes its brand new so should be perfect.. i have the desktop black most o the time with a white apple in the middle :D sad i know :(

[Sambo110]

I dunno, I think Apple just really screwed up with these, or maybe LG, as they did make the screen. I think they need to refresh the iMac's or something, with a screen that works, and offer one of the new ones to everyone who had problems, maybe an upgrade if possible as well.

[WilliamG]

ttopp, no worries. I think we're both being defensive, here.

I do agree that backlight bleed does suck and I've seen it worse on some IPS displays than others. Your MacBook Pro isn't an IPS panel, though, but it's clear it has some bleed, too. I'd be interested to see your 24" iMac (IPS-based) photos. Especially off-angle, you'll see a great amount of wash-out/bleed on black screens.

[WilliamG]

I dunno, I think Apple just really screwed up with these, or maybe LG, as they did make the screen. I think they need to refresh the iMac's or something, with a screen that works, and offer one of the new ones to everyone who had problems, maybe an upgrade if possible as well.

I disagree, respectfully. :) I and many, many others have no issues with their screens/iMacs. Apple has sold thousands of these systems. The most vocal are the small percentage who complain. I don't doubt these people have issues (perhaps the screen or the owners have issues :p), but in either case a faulty product in your house doesn't equal a faulty product in everyone's house.

[Sambo110]

I would agree that the problem wouldn't be as bad as it seems. But it is definitely worse than most products launches, which is unfortunate.

[archipellago]

I disagree, respectfully. :) I and many, many others have no issues with their screens/iMacs. Apple has sold thousands of these systems. The most vocal are the small percentage who complain. I don't doubt these people have issues (perhaps the screen or the owners have issues :p), but in either case a faulty product in your house doesn't equal a faulty product in everyone's house.

its not what he's saying..

lol, you have no clue!

it is fairly safe to assume that there are significant issues with the iMac 27" screesn given the widespread coverage the issue has got outside of the main Mac sites.

is it 1/10/50% ?

only Apple know and as the saying goes.

"..they couldn't lie straight in bed..."

[WilliamG]

it is fairly safe to assume that there are significant issues with the iMac 27" screesn given the widespread coverage the issue has got outside of the main Mac sites.


Wrong. It's not safe to assume that at all. There is such a thing as widespread coverage of things that don't deserve it.

[archipellago]

Wrong. It's not safe to assume that at all. There is such a thing as widespread coverage of things that don't deserve it.

there's also..no smoke without fire. ;)

ok, I'll assume it.

you keep that ol head of yours safely in the sand.

[Fiddler70]

OMG...

Anyone ever thought about statistics of these issues????

I have been through 5 iMacs...

#1 Yellowing ( I thought it was bad... took it back... should have kept it)

#2 DOA although had great screen when turned on in shop. Dead on Desk...

this was actually #3 because we opened and tested one in the shop that was not acceptable even according to shop crew (yellow)

#4 Yellowing, stuck iSight pixels (20+), noisy fan

#5 More Yellow than ever before, backlight worse than pics in this thread.

These were all from different batches, weeks 48-53.

Someone tell me the chances!!! Even if 1 in 100 had this problem like some say??? I bet you all of them have one or more of these issues. You cant blame us who are on iMac #5, 6 or 7 for believing this. Go get your own and see for yourself I would say.

And for those who have a perfect one. Well done. The store promised me they will continue exchanging until I have a decent screen, so one day I should be good...

[Kabir8]

I get this too, and it's pretty annoying-- it's like I might as well be looking at a gray screen if I ever happen to look at a pure black screen from a great angle.


As for a backlight bleed, I guess I have some, but at the same time I guess it's what the average LCD panel gets with a super ****ing bright led lighting it from the rear. Most of the offblack in this picture is coming from flaring of the menubar and icons. However when I look at it with my own eyes, I see some gradients of backlight bleed on all 4 corners-- nothing I can't live with though.

http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c104/twisted_metal_2/P1050079.jpg

I see how you can settle for that little bit of bleed. But I would still do something about it.

At low brightness settings is it the same or does it disappear?

[ttopp]

I'm about to get my 4th replacement and I asked my customer service rep to send it to quality control or the tech guys to look at it b4 it comes to me. I said I didn't mind waiting longer to get a perfect one. She said she would do her best..

Fingers crossed..

[TMRaven]

At low brightness settings is it the same or does it disappear?

I keep the screen brightness at 5 squares, and I still get the subtle gradients radiating out from either corner (although not as bad), but it's nothing I don't expect from any LCD out there on the market.

As you can see, the gradients are so subtle the camera can't really even pick them up.
http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c104/twisted_metal_2/P1050081.jpg

[Kabir8]

I keep the screen brightness at 5 squares, and I still get the subtle gradients radiating out from either corner (although not as bad), but it's nothing I don't expect from any LCD out there on the market.

As you can see, the gradients are so subtle the camera can't really even pick them up.
http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c104/twisted_metal_2/P1050081.jpg

Yeah, that's not so bad at all. I get mine next week. :D

[ttopp]

well my next one is due 16th march 2010. my fingers r crossed

[ttopp]

got my 4th i7 replacement and its another one with bad backlighting :(

this is a nightmare will put a pic up later going to have to do some investigating to see if its ips panels or just total bad luck for me :(

[ttopp]

so heres my 4th imac (one on the right) another bad backlight :(

they are both meant to be displaying a black desktop pic :(

[genu1ne]

Would someone owning a 27" call their screen perfect ? I have the same issue.. just sent it back