is it really? what brightness did you have your screen on in your picture? also, how noticeable is the bleeding on the bottom edge of your screen in dark or letterboxed content? mine is pretty bad even at just 50%.. and i have the same left-side bleeding as yours, too.
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Late-2012 27" iMac backlight bleeding
- Thread starter kidwei
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is it really? what brightness did you have your screen on in your picture? also, how noticeable is the bleeding on the bottom edge of your screen in dark or letterboxed content? mine is pretty bad even at just 50%.. and i have the same left-side bleeding as yours, too.
the picture that i took was a fulll brightness. however its is still very noticable at all brightness levels. it always feels like the two hots spot are always glowing really badly, this really sucks. I however cant see that on yours; i dont see two really really brights spots on the left i could be wrong, i however see that yours is really messed up too. as far as the corners mine are yours are pretty much the same which still bad. Like you i do watch letterboxed video a lot, in fact thats what i bought the machine for so i can edit videos, having a messed up screen its just unacceptable.
Does your bottom edge glow noticeably when you watch letter boxed video? Mine is pretty bad at half brightness in a brightly lit room. And even worse in the dark.
Same issue here, not sure what to do. Might call Apple somewhere next week as I don't have time today.
This is with the backlight set to maximum. But it's pretty bad at 50% too.
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This is with the backlight set to maximum. But it's pretty bad at 50% too.
All iMacs seem to have the glowing corners, it's just the IPS tech.
My 2011 21.5 inch did the same.
Bottom bleed shouldn't be that bad though.
If the panel is good otherwise, you might be better off keeping it.
Having played both the iMac and iPad panel lottery, sometimes its best just to keep what you have, cause other units might have way worse problems.
And constant exchanges can wear on your mentality.
My 2011 21.5 inch did the same.
Bottom bleed shouldn't be that bad though.
If the panel is good otherwise, you might be better off keeping it.
Having played both the iMac and iPad panel lottery, sometimes its best just to keep what you have, cause other units might have way worse problems.
And constant exchanges can wear on your mentality.
I know exactly what you're saying here as my 2010 iMac had some bleeding at the corners too, but I really feel as tough this is off the charts. My 2010 iMac simply didn't have the issue where the backlight radiates all the way to the middle of the screen. As you can see above it's a totally different story with this late 2012 iMac. Like you said it's an ISP panel, but the moment you're not sitting directly in front of the iMac the entire screen shifts from black to yellow-ish. That's totally unacceptable. My 2010 did not have this issue either. Not to mention the fact in some corners you can directly see the bright white light coming through indicating the isolation strip came loose or something. Because of all the bleeding it's as if the screen is less bright too.
It's hard though because the screen has zero dead pixels, no artifacts of any kind and is otherwise perfect.
I have that same backlight bleeding lower left-of-center. I'm fine with the corners, but man having it right in the middle sucks during games cutscenes and viewing 2.35:1 videos.
Has anyone exchanged or used AppleCare to fix this yet? Is it worth it?
Has anyone exchanged or used AppleCare to fix this yet? Is it worth it?
I ended up doing two exchanges before getting one where the backlight bleeding was acceptable. My first replacement was far worse. And my second replacement is quite a bit better, though it still has some minor bleed. It's far less noticeable and doesn't grab my eye like the first two did.
If you're thinking about a replacement, I'd encourage you to do it quickly. You can get a replacement for a new iMac within the first 14 days. After that, you're gonna get into repairs, which is far less pleasant, and would involve taking apart your iMac.
My 27 just arrived and it's lovely. I must admit the screen appear to have streaks on it if I put a solid grey colour as the background, but they are not visible under normal use. Coming from my 10 year old Dell, it's a huge improvement.
I have those "streaks".. it looks just very very slightly patchy.. still, it's much better than backlight bleeding and yellowing on the screen. Quite happy with the iMac!
My backlight has looked like that on all four of the iMacs I've had. (I'm on the fourth now after exchanging three for image retention and one for a noisy fan.) The first one didn't have any bleeding, but the other three all have. I also have had the streaks on all four. Overall this is the crappiest IPS screen I've seen in years when it comes to a black screen.
Yep, to get picky, my 2009 had the streaks, and my 2012 does, too. Only really visible on a grey screen if you're looking for them.
Same backlite likage issue
Hi,
I got my iMac 27'' (late 2012) BTO last week and I think that I've got the same leakage issue. I've taken a picture with my iPhone 4S, so the problem is worst than it shows. I am really disappointed and Im thinking of using the DOA 14 days policy. My worries are that the next iMac could have a worst issue or maybe other issue like a dead pixel. Someone, I don't know if I read it here, that change it 3 times...
Hi,
I got my iMac 27'' (late 2012) BTO last week and I think that I've got the same leakage issue. I've taken a picture with my iPhone 4S, so the problem is worst than it shows. I am really disappointed and Im thinking of using the DOA 14 days policy. My worries are that the next iMac could have a worst issue or maybe other issue like a dead pixel. Someone, I don't know if I read it here, that change it 3 times...
Attachments
I wouldn't recommend to start this exchange game. My iMac (27'', 2012) has the same bleed "issue". I was very disappointed and asked apple for a new machine. The very good thing was to keep the first machine until the second one arrived. The screen of the second iMac had the same amount of backlight bleeding, and in my eyes it was actually even worse. Moreover, it had a really bad yellow tint. So I send it back and decided to stop this exchange lottery and to stick with my first unit. I'm now very happy with my decision, because I actually barely notice this "bleeding spot" in the every-day-use.
I attached photos of both screens (first iMac and exchange iMac, both 100% brightness) taken with my iPhone camera (which unfortunately exaggerates the bleed issue a bit).
Attachments
Backlight bleed...
Hi everyone,
After years of waiting for the right moment i finally ordered an Imac (my first mac!) 1 month ago and i finally got it last monday. It's a fantastic looking machine but the first time i played an Itunes movie trailer i immediately noticed something: Backlight bleed.
Now, i don't know if the bleeding my Imac has is considered "normal", but compared to my 5-year old HDTV (also an IPS panel) it's quite bad during dark scenes. The top left corner is a bit yellow and the bottom left corner has a grey "smudge".
Everytime i play a fullscreen movie, i catch myself wondering if it's acceptable or not. In truth, it bugs me like hell. I paid a hell of lot of money for a BTO Imac which i think should be perfect.
I'm considering sending it back but i'm not sure i'll get a better example. Could you guys please tell me an honest opinion about what you think of my screen?
Attached, you can find a picture of 100%, 50% and 4 clicks of brightness...
Hi everyone,
After years of waiting for the right moment i finally ordered an Imac (my first mac!) 1 month ago and i finally got it last monday. It's a fantastic looking machine but the first time i played an Itunes movie trailer i immediately noticed something: Backlight bleed.
Now, i don't know if the bleeding my Imac has is considered "normal", but compared to my 5-year old HDTV (also an IPS panel) it's quite bad during dark scenes. The top left corner is a bit yellow and the bottom left corner has a grey "smudge".
Everytime i play a fullscreen movie, i catch myself wondering if it's acceptable or not. In truth, it bugs me like hell. I paid a hell of lot of money for a BTO Imac which i think should be perfect.
I'm considering sending it back but i'm not sure i'll get a better example. Could you guys please tell me an honest opinion about what you think of my screen?
Attached, you can find a picture of 100%, 50% and 4 clicks of brightness...
Attachments
I almost regret starting this thread and adding to the collective neurosis of this community.. but hey, that's what we're all here for, right? 
One key thing is if you see any edge bleeding, center your eyes directly in front of the affected area. If it doesn't go away, then you have true backlight bleeding. All other glowing has to do with IPS being generally terrible at handling blacks off-axis.
However much backlight bleeding you can tolerate or find acceptable is pretty subjective.
I personally replaced my iMac twice before getting a screen that didn't have any real back-light bleeding. For me it was worth the trouble, as it really distracted me. But YMMV.
One key thing is if you see any edge bleeding, center your eyes directly in front of the affected area. If it doesn't go away, then you have true backlight bleeding. All other glowing has to do with IPS being generally terrible at handling blacks off-axis.
However much backlight bleeding you can tolerate or find acceptable is pretty subjective.
I personally replaced my iMac twice before getting a screen that didn't have any real back-light bleeding. For me it was worth the trouble, as it really distracted me. But YMMV.