27", 21.5" iMac Owners, test your screen for yellow tint issue here

Just off the phone about mine. Support listened, accepted what I said with issue and he even freely admitted that they are having many problems with the 27" iMac.

He quickly passed me onto sales, who I have agreed with, that I will contact them before the 8th of January to organise the replacement. Its a busy time for all and apparently Apple extend the 14 days during the Xmas time period.

So now need TNT to collect machine 1, use machine 2 till early Jan and hope/pray in the mean time that they are retooling and will have things sorted out by the new year. If this one fails I will hold off till the next hw rev, I want / need the machine but not enough that I will accept a none perfect machine.

The question is, who do we contact to make sure they are aware of all of these Yellow Tinge problems? I did try sending an email to sjobs@apple.com but didn't get a response (tho some seem too).

Well, I made a site to document the issues: http://www.listenupsteve.com/fixtheimac/

I guess people just need to tweet & blog about these issues so that awareness is generated.

Mine also has the yellow screen... On the phone with Apple today and they sent me to a store. I want a new iMac, so recalled later and it was no problem. The friendly lady told me that she is going to order a new one on my name and that I will get a confirmation by email.

That was 2 hours ago, still nothing. I hope that the lady did her job ok and that I will receive the email soon.

About the yellow screen. First I thought OK I can live with it, but at this time it is annoying me so much that I had no other option than sending it back.

fobfob said:

My symptom is not covered. The bottom bar is not really "yellow" but the right hand of the bottom bar (from about the middle onwards, it is lighter than the top bar. Using a solid background I can see that's it's pretty much the whole lower right quarter that is affected. It is quite subtle though, and I didn't notice until now...hmm More noticeable is a dark shadow band that runs along the length of the screen near the bottom. Again, only noticeable on solid backgrounds, and mainly on the left hand side this time...

How sure are we that it is the LED backlighting that is causing these problems? It seem the backlight should be the easy part

Click to expand...

Fobfob, I have the same horizontal, albeit subtle, dark horizontal band in my display.

Did/are you going to do a warranty claim on the screen with Apple or are you living with it? Mine is just about to pass 14 days since purchase and I can't decide whether to live with it... (it could get worse).

After doing the test, I also have a slight yellow color shift at the bottom, well within acceptable tolerances for casual users like me. It was browsing through these discussions that brought it to my attention, otherwise I never would have noticed it. I can understand how this would be an issue for high-end graphic artists, but I don't feel the iMac was ever intended for professionals. Let's be realistic, we all know the "advertising fluff" describing the uniformity of the screen was written by the marketing department, not the engineers or technicians. BTW, I have a week 49.

dpig69 said:

After doing the test, I also have a slight yellow color shift at the bottom, well within acceptable tolerances for casual users like me. It was browsing through these discussions that brought it to my attention, otherwise I never would have noticed it. I can understand how this would be an issue for high-end graphic artists, but I don't feel the iMac was ever intended for professionals. Let's be realistic, we all know the "advertising fluff" describing the uniformity of the screen was written by the marketing department, not the engineers or technicians. BTW, I have a week 49.

Click to expand...

Having worked in advertising, I can tell you that there is usually a fairly rigorous approval process for the content of ads. It's not like some dude wrote that, and it was never checked by anyone in engineering. Apple Legal and Engineering generally have a veto power over what gets touted about. Sure, they push the truth a little bit, bending it this way and that... that's the name of the game. But if they knowingly advertised this product that way, intending for the yellowed screens to be the result, then that's pretty clearly false advertising, and a bald-faced lie.

knewsom said:

Having worked in advertising, I can tell you that there is usually a fairly rigorous approval process for the content of ads. It's not like some dude wrote that, and it was never checked by anyone in engineering. Apple Legal and Engineering generally have a veto power over what gets touted about. Sure, they push the truth a little bit, bending it this way and that... that's the name of the game. But if they knowingly advertised this product that way, intending for the yellowed screens to be the result, then that's pretty clearly false advertising, and a bald-faced lie.

Click to expand...

I admit I have no advertising or manufacturing experience, my statement regarding the relationship between engineering and marketing departments was only an assumption.

To shift the discussion slightly to a possible solution for lower quality screens, it seems to me that is should be possible to correct a non-uniform color monitor with calibration software? For example, a graphic artist should be able to create a yellow-to-white gradient in Photoshop similar to the screen, then flip the image and use it as a desktop background. In theory this should correct the screen deficiency so it appears as a solid yellow, and the white point could be adjusted if it's too yellow. Now if this image could be somehow applied as a system calibration, then we would be in business. Any Mac programmers out there?

dpig69 said:

In theory this should correct the screen deficiency so it appears as a solid yellow, and the white point could be adjusted if it's too yellow. Now if this image could be somehow applied as a system calibration, then we would be in business. Any Mac programmers out there?

Click to expand...

I've hoped that there was some way to overlay a gradient, at some kind of basic driver level, but no one answered my pleas. I mentioned it in one of these many yellowing threads, maybe a few of them.

Problem is that you'd need a high-end DSLR to get a very accurate image of your screen at say, 50% Grey, and then invert it, and send the 50% Grey to transparent so you're left with an exact negation of the discoloration. With a DSLR you could more easily white balance and set manual exposure, but mostly because crappy point and shoots are probably not sensitive enough to pick up the color gradations without a significant amount of their own noise/artifacting. Though I guess that's what they made gaussian blur for.. =p

Reason being because in my experience it's definitely not a perfect gradient. Top left appears darker and bluer, bottom right appears brightest and yellower. And then from there the yellow gives way to a more bluish white/grey in different areas.

Although I guess a simple gradient could help to alleviate the majority of the yellowing...

jonwd7 said:

I've hoped that there was some way to overlay a gradient, at some kind of basic driver level, but no one answered my pleas. I mentioned it in one of these many yellowing threads, maybe a few of them.

Click to expand...

So much for my million dollar idea

Rather than using a physical camera, I was thinking of an artist reproducing the screen appearance using the airbrush in Photoshop which would eliminate artifacts. For example in Photoshop, go to full screen on the affected monitor then airbrush in the white/blue parts until the entire screen appears yellow, then use that image for the correction. It's easy to imagine, I suppose the reality of making something like this work is a different story. Oh well.

I think the other problem with that is that this yellowing is not FIXED, it changes over time, growing and receding. That's the sort of thing it would be absolutely impossible to do an image-calibration type fix for.

dpig69 said:

After doing the test, I also have a slight yellow color shift at the bottom, well within acceptable tolerances for casual users like me. It was browsing through these discussions that brought it to my attention, otherwise I never would have noticed it. I can understand how this would be an issue for high-end graphic artists, but I don't feel the iMac was ever intended for professionals. Let's be realistic, we all know the "advertising fluff" describing the uniformity of the screen was written by the marketing department, not the engineers or technicians. BTW, I have a week 49.

Click to expand...

well when we are paying €2200 for a machine you expect it to be right. ESP when cheaper panels don't display this problem (tho have their own problems)

I'm not a graphic artist but I find it annoying to be Reading down a page in Safari and seeing the White shift in tone.

dpig69 said:

I can understand how this would be an issue for high-end graphic artists, but I don't feel the iMac was ever intended for professionals.

Click to expand...

If you’re a photo fanatic who loves the power and precision of more professional applications, the 2.8GHz quad-core iMac gives you up to 2x faster performance with Aperture.

Click to expand...

http://www.apple.com/imac/performance.html

And I find a number of examples where they plug "professional" apps on the iMac pages.

For web design an expensive EIZO monitor doesn't make much sense, but what does make senses is that white is white.

To be honest for what would a professional webdeveloper or webdesigner need a machine with 8 cores ? I've done webprojects for Nokia, Cap Gemini , Euroclear .... on a 800 euro Dell computer (unfortunately at the office it was Windows onlt ) without any problems. The cheap ass screen could display white as white at the bottom, on the top, ...

Let's be realistic, we all know the "advertising fluff" describing the uniformity of the screen was written by the marketing department, not the engineers or technicians. BTW, I have a week 49.

Click to expand...

When an ad tells me that it has feature A, I expect feature A. You can't bend and twist color consistency. It is consistent or its not.

One of the features of a good LED screen is it color consistency ! So why should we as apple users expect anything less ? It is not that when they slap pro on it, that it is an alibi to have a drop in quality. Especially for that kind of money.

I'm really disappointed in Apple. I have an imac with this problem -> http://www.trick77.com/2008/01/13/uneven-imac-displays/ and I was so excited when they announced the iMac with a LED S-IPS panel.

Yellow tinge issue gets worse with time..

I have spoken with Apple Tech and Customer Support (level 1 and 2) at length. They were extremely courteous and patient, but have clearly stated that there is not a recognised manufacturing issue and their feeling is that it is dust behind the screen. As we all know, it is not dust.

It is my experience that the yellow tinge is getting worse and I suspect would justify an exchange under warranty further down the line - but it is not a given and you are into subjectivity.

So sadly, if one is inside the 14 day return period, then an exchange is the only 100% guaranteed route to resolution. I have opted for this and if the next machine has the same or any other issue I will cancel my order until this and other forums generally report that quality is up to standard. Shame.

Viewing Angle Dependent.

Ok, I have a week 50 iMac, i7, silent, free of cosmetic flaws despite there being a giant hole in the shipping box, even a ding in the screen coverings... only one minute piece of dust behind the screen, in the lower left corner.

I DO have a yellow tinge, but it's VERY subtle, and I've noticed that its severity depends on VIEWING ANGLE, such that if my eyes are perpendicular to the display, and level with the top of the screen, I certainly see a gradient, and a fairly clear blotch on a clear screen or on Tapplox's test. HOWEVER, if my eyes are level with the middle of the screen and also perpendicular, there is only a SLIGHTLY visible blotch, the color of which is less of what I would call yellow, and more of what I would call green. Incidentally, it is FAR less of a difference in color than my previous display's unevenness from backlighting and viewing angle almost no matter HOW you look at it. Now, if I look at my new iMac from an angle level with or below the bottom of the display, I'm not so sure I can see ANY sort of a blotch. Taking pictures of it with my iPhone does bring it out just a little bit, but it's still nowhere near clearly there. Guess I'm lucky, considering some of the other results I've seen on these threads.

I wouldn't use this monitor as a hard and fast reference monitor, but I do certainly feel comfortable working on it, especially since the vast majority of the display is remarkably even, and gorgeous, and the VERY small part of it that exhibits any sort of discoloration .

I'm not heartbroken, and frankly, I'm actually a little relieved. You can bet your bottom dollar that I will be giving this mac a periodic test every day or two, and looking at it with an incredibly critical eye for the next couple weeks, to ensure that it's good to go. I do think, though, that for now, I'm tentatively calling this one ok. I like a lower viewing angle anyways - I'm a leaner, not a slumper.

Am I disappointed? Perhaps ever so slightly. But the rest of this computer is enough to make up for it for now. We'll see how I feel in a week.

Well, I got my replacement 27" i7 yesterday. I didn't get to check my original for the yellow tinge, but I sent it in to be replaced because stuck pixels. This current one is a week 49 build. I do have the yellow tinge problem on this one, though. I am debating so badly whether or not getting this replaced. I really don't want to go through the hassle again and having to wait a long time to get the replacement and be out a computer the whole time.

Though I am really worried that the problem does get worse. Aside from that, my current iMac is pixel perfect and perfect otherwise.... which makes the decision that much harder.

Aetherhole said:

Well, I got my replacement 27" i7 yesterday. I didn't get to check my original for the yellow tinge, but I sent it in to be replaced because stuck pixels. This current one is a week 49 build. I do have the yellow tinge problem on this one, though. I am debating so badly whether or not getting this replaced. I really don't want to go through the hassle again and having to wait a long time to get the replacement and be out a computer the whole time.

Though I am really worried that the problem does get worse. Aside from that, my current iMac is pixel perfect and perfect otherwise.... which makes the decision that much harder.

Click to expand...

I had stuck pixels and took it back. This one has the yellowing problem but its just not bad enough to keep exchanging as its a major time hassle. I had this problem with a MacBook Pro some time ago and exchanged out four times.

My wife and I almost cringe when we think about buying a new Mac these days. We've had so many have problems including DOA.

I will say however, without fail, the Apple Store has fixed every problem. It's a shame that there have been so many for us.

teerex, that's the same mentality that I am kind of having right now. I have loved all my macs that I've had since I switched from PC to Mac, but this is leaving a bad taste in my mouth right now.

I love this i7 and if it were as easy/quick as me taking it to the apple store to get it exchanged, then I would do that. But, as it is... the apple stores don't have the i7 (I am not sure they will ever since they are a BTO). At this point, I am also even considering just downgrading to the i5 so I can have the convenience of replacing in store if I needed to.

I don't know....... I don't know.....

Aetherhole said:

teerex, that's the same mentality that I am kind of having right now. I have loved all my macs that I've had since I switched from PC to Mac, but this is leaving a bad taste in my mouth right now.

I love this i7 and if it were as easy/quick as me taking it to the apple store to get it exchanged, then I would do that. But, as it is... the apple stores don't have the i7 (I am not sure they will ever since they are a BTO). At this point, I am also even considering just downgrading to the i5 so I can have the convenience of replacing in store if I needed to.

I don't know....... I don't know.....

Click to expand...

I understand. From what I have been reading, and my visits to the Apple Store, the chances of getting one better than what you have are slim even an i5. I think until it is proven that replacements people are getting don't exhibit these problems it may be a waste of time to exchange. The other part of it is it could end up in a worse one than you have with dust or dead pixels.

I feel that there are only two choices right now. Keep what you have or get a refund until these problems go away (if they ever do).

My wife says I'm too picky and she doesn't see any of this as a problem Wish I could adopt her attitude

You paid top dollar for this product. It should be perfect.

teerexx52 said:

My wife says I'm too picky and she doesn't see any of this as a problem Wish I could adopt her attitude

Click to expand...

Don't feel bad. My wife thought I was being stupidly picky when I returned my i5 for yellow tinge. Now the replacement i5 has dead pixels and she STILL thinks I'm being picky!


I keep mentioning this, but people keep bringing up the 14 day return policy. Check this out for your area (esp. international), but I've been told repeatedly that Apple has extended their return period for computers bought after Oct. 31st until Jan. 7th.

I'm eager to replace my dead pixel i5, but with the current issues I figure waiting a few more weeks for the possibility of improved manufacturing may be worth it. In the mean time, what should be a fantastic experience with an amazing new piece of machinery is marred by the underlying feeling that I'm working on a temporary computer that will eventually have to be replaced by a similarly deficient model.

In any case, I bought 4GB of cheap memory on eBay ($83) and was worried it might not work after being scared by some people on this board about buying from eBay. I wanted to be sure it worked within the sellers return period so I popped them in last night. I’m happy to say they work great and I now have more memory than I can shake a fist at!

I think one question worth asking is whether this is an issue from LG (who makes the screen) or something that Apple has done during the assembly/design process? I doubt we will be able to answer that question, but I guess in the end Apple is responsible. If the problem is from LG, there isn't much that can be done until LG fixes their manufacturing. If the problem resides with Apple, then they can fix/change something about their assembly process.

sfmountainbiker said:

Don't feel bad. My wife thought I was being stupidly picky when I returned my i5 for yellow tinge. Now the replacement i5 has dead pixels and she STILL thinks I'm being picky!


I keep mentioning this, but people keep bringing up the 14 day return policy. Check this out for your area (esp. international), but I've been told repeatedly that Apple has extended their return period for computers bought after Oct. 31st until Jan. 7th.

I'm eager to replace my dead pixel i5, but with the current issues I figure waiting a few more weeks for the possibility of improved manufacturing may be worth it. In the mean time, what should be a fantastic experience with an amazing new piece of machinery is marred by the underlying feeling that I'm working on a temporary computer that will eventually have to be replaced by a similarly deficient model.

Click to expand...

x2

I too am waiting until the first week of January to return my i5 for a replacement (and possible upgrade to i7). Not sure why everyone is rushing to exchange theirs when there's clearly many issues with them. Hopefully there will be a few less issues come January. I can confirm that this extended return period is also applied in Canada, at least at the Yorkdale Retail Store.

Yeah, that's worried about - getting one that is worse...

week 50

hi, new recipient of a week 50 27" i7 here.... fresh off the fedex truck 20 minutes ago...

when i first ran the grey bar test, the left side looked a little yellow to me in that pitstain-ish way. the right side too perhaps, difficult to say. (bottom edge looks fine.) but now i really think it may be an issue of viewing angle because when i look at the "pit stain" straight on the yellow is not visible in that area.

i'm guessing my hard drive is a seagate? it says "1 TB ST#####" with a bunch of numbers and letters. no strange noises.

the screen size is bordering on comical. i guess i should have looked at one in person to prepare myself.... ah well, no regrets

rrrrr said:

the screen size is bordering on comical. i guess i should have looked at one in person to prepare myself.... ah well, no regrets

Click to expand...

Don't worry, after a few hours it will seem normal sized, and after a few days, it will seem too small.