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

[mfogarty5]

Hi everyone. First post here at macrumors!

After 16 years if using PCs I decided to switch to Mac mainly because I like all in one computers and the iMac met my needs the best. I had previously read this thread, but decided to take the plunge anyway. My refurbished 21.5 inch iMac arrived today and one of the first things I noticed is that the bottom 1/2 of the screen on the entire right side appeared yellow.

In addition, when my wife came in to look at the iMac she immediately lowered the brightness at which time the screen began to flicker. I did some testing and if the screen brightness is between 1 and 5 the screen flickers. At level 6 and above it ceases to flicker.

My serial number is YD018XXXXXX which I believe means this is a week 18 build. Is that correct?

Would you mind looking at the attached photo and letting me know what you think? Per the instructions on the prior page of this thread, I copied and pasted the bottom line right below the top line.

Should I return the refurbished one and get a new one instead?

I'm quoting myself here, but after posting I talked to Apple and they arranged to pickup my refurbished iMac and give me a full refund. I have boxed it, but have not returned it yet.

I then went to the Apple store and picked up a new 21.5 inch iMac. The flicker is definitely worse on the new one and I think it is more yellow than the refurbished one. The new iMac flickers all the way through brightness level 8 whereas the refurb only flickered through brightness level 5. Has no else noticed the flickering or does everyone have their screens set in the top half of the brightness levels?

I think I'm going to return the new iMac to the Apple store and try one more new iMac.

 

[Btom]

I'm quoting myself here, but after posting I talked to Apple and they arranged to pickup my refurbished iMac and give me a full refund. I have boxed it, but have not returned it yet.

I then went to the Apple store and picked up a new 21.5 inch iMac. The flicker is definitely worse on the new one and I think it is more yellow than the refurbished one. The new iMac flickers all the way through brightness level 8 whereas the refurb only flickered through brightness level 5. Has no else noticed the flickering or does everyone have their screens set in the top half of the brightness levels?

I think I'm going to return the new iMac to the Apple store and try one more new iMac.

What do you call a flicker here? Flicker was supposed to be fixed in December by a firmware update.

Tom B.

 

[mjohnston39]

Replaced a week 15 27" QP015.... with a week 20 W8020.... due to a black blotchy line running across the bottom of the screen. Both the week 15 and week 20 display some yellow in the lower part of the screen. The week 20 screen is in the photo below:

 

[cryer]

Replaced a week 15 27" QP015.... with a week 20 W8020.... due to a black blotchy line running across the bottom of the screen. Both the week 15 and week 20 display some yellow in the lower part of the screen. The week 20 screen is in the photo below:

Your screen looks pretty good to me. Maybe I'm not the best judge, but that's what I think. If my 2nd replacement that I'm going to call in for ends up like yours, I think I'd be decently happy.

 

[Btom]

Replaced a week 15 27" QP015.... with a week 20 W8020.... due to a black blotchy line running across the bottom of the screen. Both the week 15 and week 20 display some yellow in the lower part of the screen. The week 20 screen is in the photo below:

Actually this screen seem to be quite good. Most of the surface is almost neutral, the only problem seem to be the low left corner, where it misses less than ~3% blue.

Tom B.

 

[cryer]

This is going to be a dumb question but I just wanted to make sure. My iMac has got a slight yellow at the bottom left but I can live with it. My concern is that I also have two dead pixels, a fan that is running at 1109+ constantly and doesn't seem to stop (used istat pro to find out and was told that it should be running below 1100; and I assume the fan shouldn't even be on at all if all I'm doing is browsing several non-flash web pages), and the hd has that stomach grumbling noise every so often.

I'm within the 14 day period to replace but I wonder if I should repair instead? What if my replacement is worse? If I go for a repair, will every single one of the issues listed above be fixed?

Been thinking of this issue for the past few days so really would appreciate an educated response. Thank you in advance.

 

[mtgentry81]

@cryer

I was in the same position and I returned the machine. I'm waiting until June when there is the possibility of an upgrade to the imac line. Theres a chance all these issues will be solved with that update.

 

[cryer]

@cryer

I was in the same position and I returned the machine. I'm waiting until June when there is the possibility of an upgrade to the imac line. Theres a chance all these issues will be solved with that update.

But I save some money being that mine is a rerfurb, a new June iMac would of course not be in the refurb store so soon. Was yours a refurb?

 

[mtgentry81]

no, mine was new.

 

[cryer]

no, mine was new.

Which fan should be below 1100? The optical drive, hd, or cpu?

 

[mtgentry81]

Which fan should be below 1100? The optical drive, hd, or cpu?

There are other threads about fan speeds but this was my machine when I first booted up, just running safari. This seemed about normal:

Then after 20 minutes of still just using Safari and maybe one other program everything heated up and got loud:

 

[cryer]

There are other threads about fan speeds but this was my machine when I first booted up, just running safari. This seemed about normal:

Then after 20 minutes of still just using Safari and maybe one other program everything heated up and got loud:

Do you remember if you could still hear the fan (however small) in that first picture? Mine is around those values and I can still hear a fan sound constantly even though it may count as being loud (it's obvious if you put your ear to the Apple logo below the screen). I guess what I'm asking is if it was ever 100% dead silent while you were using it (not asleep or anything).

ps. my current values are:

optical: 999
hard drive: 1300
cpu: 1520

the room is kind of warm/hot though and I've got Hulu playing in the bg with some other non-flash Safari windows open, and I've got Photobooth open just to test with the iSight on this whole time. However, I should mention that what I wrote above about the constant fan sound -- it still is the case even if the room is less warm.

edit: within the time I typed this up, the values are even higher now. It may be because the heat emitting from the iMac is making the room even warmer/hotter, which adds to the problem. It's now at:

optical: 999
hard drive: 1549
cpu: 1732

edit again: quit Photobooth and moved a small fan into the room, it's been on for about 15 mins and sitting behind me.

optical: 999
hard drive:1299
cpu: 1157

 

[RDoe]

Similar

Actually this screen seem to be quite good. Most of the surface is almost neutral, the only problem seem to be the low left corner, where it misses less than ~3% blue.

Tom B.

I have a similar setup and for now will not replace it. It does it job wonderfully when editing photo's. The tint is only noticeable on light gray backgrounds in webpages of menu's.
I love the screen and the power of the i7 and 8GB although Aperture3 can sometimes still be sluggish, especially when exporting jpg to jpg.
One minor point is that the resolution rocks for photo editing, but for normal desktop work it is a bit high, tiny fonts....

 

[Btom]

I have a similar setup and for now will not replace it. It does it job wonderfully when editing photo's. The tint is only noticeable on light gray backgrounds in webpages of menu's.
I love the screen and the power of the i7 and 8GB although Aperture3 can sometimes still be sluggish, especially when exporting jpg to jpg.
One minor point is that the resolution rocks for photo editing, but for normal desktop work it is a bit high, tiny fonts....

I fully agree the 27" iMac's screen and the overall concept is very nice. I decided long time ago to wait for the line refresh and hope Apple will iron out at least the key bugs (remember, the new iMac line was a total redesign, with new screen and introduction of the LED back light). In the meantime I am missing all the fun though....

Tom B.

 

[superduperultra]

Taken with my iPhone, 50% brightness. Model number W8014. This is actually a repaired one which received a new panel. The original was yellow but now I don't know anymore. Btw, there is some backlight bleeding in the right corner.

 

[BlackMax]

I have a 27" iMac i5 I bought last week. It was built in week 21 (May) of 2010 and the bottom half of my screen has a slight yellow tint as compared to the top half.

So it would appear Apple is still using the same monitors with uneven tinting top to bottom.

 

[Btom]

.......
So it would appear Apple is still using the same monitors with uneven tinting top to bottom.

And we are all shocked, shocked!...

But seriously, they never really did anything, but I still hope they will fix it in the incoming update.

Tom B.

 

[cryer]

Yea, refurbs (which are checked and repaired, so it should stand that these should be in working order 100%) are also still "yellowed". The one I'm typing on right now has it.

 

[Niko03]

Yea, refurbs (which are checked and repaired, so it should stand that these should be in working order 100%) are also still "yellowed". The one I'm typing on right now has it.

I'm on my second. Yellow bottom. Built in May as well.

Sad thing is the manager of the apple store kinda tried hard to push me to keep the first one. He told me he was afraid the next one might be worse since he and his genuises didn't really think my first one had that much of a problem. I told him I was also concerned the second one would be worse. Then I told him I didn't know what bothered me more, his lack of faith in Apples QC or the fact that they really haven't fixed the problem. Nothing is perfect he said.

Well unboxed the second one at home a quarter inch scratch on the chin that's really only noticable from the right angle but visible under normal circumstances and annoying, the yellow is about the same and to top it off it seems the fan is more noticable. (still quieter than the old Dell box still standing next to it though) kinda wish I kept the first one.

sigh.... I'm not sure what I'm going to do. I still have a week on this second one for return. Damn that screen for being so big and awesome unless I have a white window open! My first mac and ready to go full tilt with it. Bought and read through 'Mac OSX for dummies'. Cleaned up and organized all my docs on the Dell, ready for transfer but I haven't pulled the trigger yet until I sort it out.

 

[Niko03]

@cryer

I was in the same position and I returned the machine. I'm waiting until June when there is the possibility of an upgrade to the imac line. Theres a chance all these issues will be solved with that update.

I really don't know about that. It's just the damn screen. It could be fixed at anytime, you wouldn't need a line refresh to address the problem.

Lean on the frickin supplier for cryin out loud Apple!

 

[TDHXXX]

i don't know if it's just me... but my screen seems to be getting progressively yellower along with the hard-drive becoming nosier... i received my iMac in Nov. 09...

 

[Btom]

i don't know if it's just me... but my screen seems to be getting progressively yellower along with the hard-drive becoming nosier... i received my iMac in Nov. 09...

Since the root cause of the yellow tinge was never revealed, it is hard to comment. It might be just you, but it might also be aging of the screen panel boosting the effect.

Tom B.

 

[cryer]

I'm on my second. Yellow bottom. Built in May as well.

Sad thing is the manager of the apple store kinda tried hard to push me to keep the first one. He told me he was afraid the next one might be worse since he and his genuises didn't really think my first one had that much of a problem. I told him I was also concerned the second one would be worse. Then I told him I didn't know what bothered me more, his lack of faith in Apples QC or the fact that they really haven't fixed the problem. Nothing is perfect he said.

Well unboxed the second one at home a quarter inch scratch on the chin that's really only noticable from the right angle but visible under normal circumstances and annoying, the yellow is about the same and to top it off it seems the fan is more noticable. (still quieter than the old Dell box still standing next to it though) kinda wish I kept the first one.

sigh.... I'm not sure what I'm going to do. I still have a week on this second one for return. Damn that screen for being so big and awesome unless I have a white window open! My first mac and ready to go full tilt with it. Bought and read through 'Mac OSX for dummies'. Cleaned up and organized all my docs on the Dell, ready for transfer but I haven't pulled the trigger yet until I sort it out.

I feel you, I really do. I've got a week left and asked for another replacement, but I said I'd think about it for a few days to consider a refund instead. I think I'm going to go for the replacement. I think I'm going to keep going they won't let me anymore or I get a good one (I'm even willing to keep one that has [very] minor issues).

I was hoping Jobs would've announced a new MB Air, as I would have gone that route as well.

So your first one had just one issue (yellow) but your second has two issues (yellow and scratch)?

 

[Niko03]

I feel you, I really do. I've got a week left and asked for another replacement, but I said I'd think about it for a few days to consider a refund instead. I think I'm going to go for the replacement. I think I'm going to keep going they won't let me anymore or I get a good one (I'm even willing to keep one that has [very] minor issues).

I was hoping Jobs would've announced a new MB Air, as I would have gone that route as well.

So your first one had just one issue (yellow) but your second has two issues (yellow and scratch)?

Yup.... a scratch on the front of the aluminum chin, to the right of the Apple logo. It's not super deep and only about 1/64"-1/32" wide and a 1/4" long. But still there and bothers me on a new machine.... But I would deal with it if the screen didn't have the yellow cast!

 

[Btom]

Yup.... a scratch on the front of the aluminum chin, to the right of the Apple logo. It's not super deep and only about 1/64"-1/32" wide and a 1/4" long. But still there and bothers me on a new machine.... But I would deal with it if the screen didn't have the yellow cast!

I am starting to suspect (as some other guys over here already do), that the yellow tinge replacements are really "recycled" units.

But seriously, the line refresh is coming and there is no reason for a plunge, unless you really, REALLY HAVE to have it NOW. Also I'd suggest to return it first, and then buy another one a few days later.

Tom B.