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Seramir

macrumors member
Original poster
Nov 10, 2006
85
20
I hate to bring up another dreaded image retention issue regarding the iMac, but I like to think my issue is unique in that it only manifests under Windows and not at all on OS X.

On OS X (running Yosemite), I have absolutely ZERO IR. I can leave a finder window open for hours, switch to a gray screen and it leaves nothing behind. The IR tests such as the grid test all succeed without any IR present.

But whenever I boot into Windows, even if I leave a browser window up for a mere 5 minutes, it causes IR. Also all the icons on the desktop are burned into the screen too under Windows.

I have attempted a few things, such as lowering brightness, updating Nvidia graphics drivers, changing resolutions, etc. to no avail.

This is extremely PUZZLING to me of why Windows will cause IR and not OS X. Does anyone have a similar problem or have any suggestions of what I can do to get this fixed? I use Windows a lot so it's not like I can get rid of it and use OS X exclusively.
 

kepler20b

macrumors 6502
Oct 18, 2014
483
411
its possible. Image retention isnt always permanent, but in my experience it usually is.
 

Bomb Bloke

macrumors regular
Feb 12, 2015
222
6
Tasmania (AU)
Now isn't that interesting. Makes it sound like there's something in the drivers which is alleviating the issue under OS X - perhaps they subtly change the colours of the display to prevent the retention being noticed. If they hadn't done the same thing in their Windows drivers yet, then...
 

blufrog

macrumors member
Dec 19, 2014
97
10
A better question is why is this image retention occurring in the first place? What is it about the screen that causes this to occur?

Maybe try switching between a series of black and white screens to see if you can force the pixels change?
 

Seramir

macrumors member
Original poster
Nov 10, 2006
85
20
I still haven't been able to figure it out. I actually attempted to reformat the Boot Camp partition and install Windows 8.1 (instead of 7) and the display still gets IR after a few minutes of having something high contrast up in the same spot.

The only thing that gets rid of it is to use Windows 8.1's automatic brightness feature, but that causes the display to be too dim to be useable.

I'm really bummed because this display looks amazing otherwise. The backlight is perfect on it (no backlight bleed at all) and it has no bad pixels. There's some yellowing towards the bottom that I still can't get over and now this IR problem seals the deal for me to get rid of the computer.

I am going to sell it for whatever I can get and just wait for the 5k iMac refresh. I wanted one since last year, anyway. If that one has yellowing or IR as well, I'm going to just build a Hackintosh and pick out my own monitor. LG sucks! :mad:

So for those who have the iMac and not experiencing IR, I recommend doing the IR tests on Windows to see if you have the issue. I already found another user on Apple Discussions saying IR only happens under Windows as well. Apple may be indeed hiding or eliminating the problem somehow with OS X drivers and not with Windows drivers. I'm not going to bother waiting for them to fix Windows drivers though.
 

wim.v

macrumors regular
Jul 13, 2011
105
47
I too have seen image retention occur more prominent after using bootcamp.
See my earlier posts with pictures just after the iMac late 2013 was released.
Most noticeable after playing games in windows.
I think it has something to do with screen brightness in windows and the heat the iMac produces. How hotter the iMac gets, the more IR I see.

Luckily, I have noticed IR only a few times since the end of 2013 (because I almost never use Windows :)).
 
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