Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Is your display having the problem described?

  • iMac 21.5" both grey bars look identical in color

    Votes: 102 8.9%
  • iMac 21.5" the bottom bar looks more yellow

    Votes: 199 17.4%
  • iMac 27" both grey bars look identical in color

    Votes: 311 27.2%
  • iMac 27" the bottom bar looks more yellow

    Votes: 533 46.6%

  • Total voters
    1,145
Happy to report that my 27" iMac does not suffer from gradient yellow tinge. With that said, could the whole screen be an ever so slight tinge of yellow....Maybe but at least it is the whole screen and I assume I could adjust it.
........

You can adjust temperature of the screen somewhere on the display control panel (I don't remember exactly where). Lower temperature gives more yellowish, higher more bluish tinge.

Tom B.
 
Happy to report that my 27" iMac does not suffer from gradient yellow tinge. With that said, could the whole screen be an ever so slight tinge of yellow....Maybe but at least it is the whole screen and I assume I could adjust it.

If I compare the color of my screen to the crappy two TN panels that flank it on both sides, I can tell you it is definitely a whiter white. Not nearly as yellowed as those two ugly beasts (one is hooked via DVI to my mac mini and the other is hooked to a Network Media player for television and DVD playback).

You can go to System Preferences, Displays, Color. There is a program to run that Calibrates the screen, this will fix your yellow cast if it is constant over the whole screen. The Calibrate program is not nearly as good as a hardware calibration, but it will help.
 
I got my replacement 21.5 today. Old one was a week 51. New one is week 2. The Tint(TM) is less apparent now but covers more of the screen....

seriously apple I have no clue how you can keep sending out imacs with such inferior display panels.

People on my photos get a slight tan when in the lower part of the screen now. Great.........
 
I cancelled my 27" I7 today, for several reasons.

I got an email from Apple today, saying that it would ship 10 Feb, deliver 15 Feb. Of course, I've had ship/deliver emails from them before, (13/18 January, then 26-29 January) for the iMac, and only the first set of dates (late December)were met, and that machine was defective.

I ordered it (last December) in anticipation of having it for a project that ran Dec - April at my second worksite. I don't need it at my other site. About half my time will be gone by the time I (might) get it, and it might be bad. I have an acceptable setup (MBP, external display KB) so I'll stick with that in order to get my work done.

And what are the odds that the new one won't have the serious yellowing that the old one did? Who knows? Most likely the odds will be very low by mid-February, but because of Apple's ridiculous secrecy policies, it's up to me to guess.

Had they admitted to a problem and declared they would fix it in such and such a way by such and such a time, that would be one thing. But they haven't done so. Yes, I know there's been lots of anecdotal evidence in this thread, about "aware of" and so on, but I don't take action on rumors.

I'm left to take it on faith, and in the 29 years I've been intimately involved with computing, I've never been a faith-based computer buyer or user.

I'll order another one late this year, or early next.
 
Just had a surprise email telling me my 2nd replacement 27" iMac has shipped and due on the 3rd Feb. Awkwardly I'm away till the 5th though thankfully my mother-in-law will be here (though at 60+ she isn't going to be lifting that nearly 20kg box)

I say surprise as I was phoned by Apple support who told me there would be a 3 week delay and it would arrive 11th Feb. My fingers are crossed.
 
I cancelled my 27" I7 today, for several reasons.

I got an email from Apple today, saying that it would ship 10 Feb, deliver 15 Feb. Of course, I've had ship/deliver emails from them before, (13/18 January, then 26-29 January) for the iMac, and only the first set of dates (late December)were met, and that machine was defective.

I ordered it (last December) in anticipation of having it for a project that ran Dec - April at my second worksite. I don't need it at my other site. About half my time will be gone by the time I (might) get it, and it might be bad. I have an acceptable setup (MBP, external display KB) so I'll stick with that in order to get my work done.

And what are the odds that the new one won't have the serious yellowing that the old one did? Who knows? Most likely the odds will be very low by mid-February, but because of Apple's ridiculous secrecy policies, it's up to me to guess.

Had they admitted to a problem and declared they would fix it in such and such a way by such and such a time, that would be one thing. But they haven't done so. Yes, I know there's been lots of anecdotal evidence in this thread, about "aware of" and so on, but I don't take action on rumors.

I'm left to take it on faith, and in the 29 years I've been intimately involved with computing, I've never been a faith-based computer buyer or user.

I'll order another one late this year, or early next.


Just go to amazon, still got the warranty from amazon and everything. Also I ordered mine about 3 days ago, I just got it today, UPS. Been on it all day. I don't see any yellowing to my surprise. This is a week 03 Model.
 
I got my replacement 21.5 today. Old one was a week 51. New one is week 2. The Tint(TM) is less apparent now but covers more of the screen....

seriously apple I have no clue how you can keep sending out imacs with such inferior display panels.

People on my photos get a slight tan when in the lower part of the screen now. Great.........
My most current replacement is a week 02 also and I am returning for the same reason. At this point (being iMac number 5 for me) I have given up.
 
3 weeks of part delivery - not fixed :-(

Got mine back today from service (aka repair).

LED dimmer board and screen were changed. To no avail :-( Still making the whining noise, maybe even louder than before - I can't tell because I had to wait for over 3 weeks to come to this point.

The new LCD has less of backlight leaking but also has a wider spread yellow tinge, at least it's only of a "your wife won't recognize" intensity.

The guys from the shop told me, they could try to exchange again, but I should be glad that I got a panel "that good" at all. While at first deniing ever to have heard of yellow screens, it's now supposed to be "the way the 21-inchers are".

I got myself "armed" with AppleCare now and will possibly try an exchange later. Very sorry I spent the money with Apple at all, best experience of it all was the service of the small dealership I had the thing for repair. At least they were friendly and even called me (weekly) on status of my mac (not granted in Germany).

Thnks for reading my whining :)
SuAlfons
 
Week 04 - could the issue be fixed?

Many of us with orders dating as far back as 30th dec 2009 were put on a 7-day delay, followed by another 2-week delay. I called customer services who said that one speculation for the delay was that Apple had found the cause of the yellow-tint issue and were working with engineers on a fix at that time, and that as soon as the issue was resolved the orders would be shipped.

1 day after the 2-week delay e-mail (and after calling customer services), my order, along with others that were delayed, were suddenly shipped. Could this suggest the issue has now been resolved? We'll have to wait and see!

Having looked at my 'AppleCare Protection Plan Certificate' I can see that the serial number begins with "W8004", so I'm assuming this is a week 04 build. I'm not sure how long it will take to arrive as the estimation dates are wildly inaccurate at the moment with the delays, but i'll make sure to give it a full inspection and report the results on here when it arrives.

Will be interested to hear from other customers who have also received a week 04 build.
 
Having looked at my 'AppleCare Protection Plan Certificate' I can see that the serial number begins with "W8004", so I'm assuming this is a week 04 build.

That's right. And the "W8," in my experience, stands for Shanghai. I've had defective iMacs shipped from the US and China, so it appears the place of origin isn't an indicator of much.

Will be interested to hear from other customers who have also received a week 04 build.

So far there's already 2 Week 4 entries at this site: http://www.imac.squeaked.com/results.php?func=c&id=10-03
 
By the way, since the previous poster just mentioned the Week #, did the first 2 days of 2010, even though they were Friday and Saturday count as Week 1, which would mean this would be Week 5 presently?
 
I spoke to Applecare today and while on to them asked about the latest on the tinge issue. They confirmed that they are going to arrange screen replacements. The official notes he read from described the problem as being "perceived by some customers in certain lighting conditions". I asked what that meant but he couldn't add anything to what it said in front of him, other than to say it requires a hardware change. I asked him if the changes have been made to currently-shipping iMacs and he couldn't confirm that one way or the other. He said all people registering the problem with Applecare will be contacted within three weeks with instructions on how to proceed.
 
Any news on the week 2 batch (or any new batch)?
Is it okay? If so, I will ask for a week 2 replacement.

My week two has been fine. But not perfect if you're SUPER anal, but no display is...

IMG_0257.jpg
 
I spoke to Applecare today and while on to them asked about the latest on the tinge issue. They confirmed that they are going to arrange screen replacements. The official notes he read from described the problem as being "perceived by some customers in certain lighting conditions". I asked what that meant but he couldn't add anything to what it said in front of him, other than to say it requires a hardware change. I asked him if the changes have been made to currently-shipping iMacs and he couldn't confirm that one way or the other. He said all people registering the problem with Applecare will be contacted within three weeks with instructions on how to proceed.

Hmmm...that's interesting news. I think I'll give AppleCare a call once it's been verified that the replacement screens are actually free from the yellow tinge. I stopped playing the exchange game once I got a tolerable (but still yellow) iMac figuring I'd get a repair when the problem was finally solved once and for all. Hopefully this will be it.
 
Which, would you say, is the most likely to NOT have the yellow tint issue?
I asked a specialist at the Apple Store in Regent Street, London (UK).. who asked the store manager.. and it's possible for me to choose the 27" iMac i5 with the serial number I want (obviously it'll be limited to what's in stock).

So.. which batch / serial numbers are the most likely to be fine?
 
I spoke to Applecare today and while on to them asked about the latest on the tinge issue. They confirmed that they are going to arrange screen replacements. The official notes he read from described the problem as being "perceived by some customers in certain lighting conditions". I asked what that meant but he couldn't add anything to what it said in front of him, other than to say it requires a hardware change. I asked him if the changes have been made to currently-shipping iMacs and he couldn't confirm that one way or the other. He said all people registering the problem with Applecare will be contacted within three weeks with instructions on how to proceed.

I've been told the same thing. Hopefully, this will also mean the end of that annoying, high-pitched LCD whining.

Just 3 more weeks... Just 3 more weeks.... X_X
 
I've been told the same thing. Hopefully, this will also mean the end of that annoying, high-pitched LCD whining.

Just 3 more weeks... Just 3 more weeks.... X_X


The pessimist in me says that this might just be a ploy to encourage people not to exchange machines.
Offering a replacement or a repair, most people would choose a replacement.
But tell them a panel fix is due in three weeks (implying an exchange is presently a waste of time), and more people will hold on to what they've got. And after three weeks, beyond the return period and faced with having to take their machine in for repair and being without it for a time, many will not even bother.
 
The pessimist in me says that this might just be a ploy to encourage people not to exchange machines.
Offering a replacement or a repair, most people would choose a replacement.
But tell them a panel fix is due in three weeks (implying an exchange is presently a waste of time), and more people will hold on to what they've got. And after three weeks, beyond the return period and faced with having to take their machine in for repair and being without it for a time, many will not even bother.

That's what I'm worried about too.
 
I have just spoken with my point of contact at Apple Executive Care and they said there is currently no fix / solution to the yellow screen issue and it is still an ongoing issue being researched by their engineers? Don't shoot the messenger, I'm just repeating verbatim what I have been told.
 
I have just spoken with my point of contact at Apple Executive Care and they said there is currently no fix / solution to the yellow screen issue and it is still an ongoing issue being researched by their engineers? Don't shoot the messenger, I'm just repeating verbatim what I have been told.
I was told when I described the yellow issue on my 21.5 (week 51 BTW) last week that they wanted to capture my machine to give to engineering. Don't know if in the interim they have a cause/solution, but that was the story I was given as of last week. New replacement is on its way.
 
This thread is a bit nutty. I love my 21.5" iMac and don't have any desire to run this test. I think the display looks great and if I can't obviously see a problem, I sure as heck won't go looking for it!

I'm not saying the problem doesn't exist but I think a thread like this causes grief in a lot of people who have been enjoying their iMacs.

Ignorance is bliss I guess. LOL
 
Hmmm...that's interesting news. I think I'll give AppleCare a call once it's been verified that the replacement screens are actually free from the yellow tinge. I stopped playing the exchange game once I got a tolerable (but still yellow) iMac figuring I'd get a repair when the problem was finally solved once and for all. Hopefully this will be it.

If I were you I'd register right away. The new panels apparently are coming. Why wait, if you are not happy with your screen (or are you?).

My question on the side: When they start to call us, can we finally start calling it a recall?

Tom B.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.