27-Inch iMac Production Halted Pending Fix For Display Issues?

[AAPLaday]

Of course I'm not the only one, but I knew I was right about the delay being due to Apple fixing the issues. Just ridiculous how some people here said the delay was due to Apple fulfilling reseller orders.

That being said, my i7 just arrived 15 minutes ago and I'm about to open the carton and check it out. Will report back. Not taking any screenshots. I'm not getting caught up with people judging my screen and giving mixed opinions.

Whats the verdict?

 

[Kehaan]

Hey

The questian is though if i shuld cancel my order. Or just let it be? I just want to have the fix on the unit hehe.

From Kehaan

 

[crees!]

iMac Arrived

I ordered a custom 27" on Jan 2nd. It was delayed for 3 weeks and was just delivered today. If I notice something not right you'll be sure to hear it here.

 

[TimTheEnchanter]

Well, it's about time Toyota... err I mean Apple did something about this.

 

[Poudresteve]

En route

I can confirm that delays are coming to an end. I ordered a custom i7 and was originally quoted a shipping date of Jan 27. Was revised that day to a Feb 11 shipping date. Got a surprise notification that it shipped last Wednesday, and is due here on Thursday. Hope that it is working...need to crunch some numbers!

 

[crees!]

I was just about to drop some money on an i5. Im glad this has appeared. I will definitely wait until a fix has been confirmed.

You know you're probably paining yourself more by waiting instead of purchasing now; and that it's probably only a fraction of a percent of iMacs with this issue. A handful of people has a problem and it manifests into every single machine is flawed. That my friend is flawed logic.

 

[KaneBaker]

my prob

it took about 3 weeks for me "perfect" 27" i7 to start flickering.

Right now it seems it happens if I use open GL apps like Cinema 4D for a while. Low CPU usage, but definitely some GPU usage.

Right now a reboot fixes it, but the flicker gets rather bad and proceeds to the point where the screen goes to black and than resumes.

 

[ThunderSkunk]

the Engineer who designed this and the Engineer who checked this

"the engineer"?

 

[scrapple]

my 21.5" has the yellow problem...
what about us small imac owners?

 

[pmz]

Absolutely. Have you had a look at the actual leaked memo? It actually advises support personal to say that the colour variations are consistent with LCD panels.

At least they are offering to fix faulty iMac's.

The way that reads, Apple wants to prevent CS from accepting repairs or replacement on models that are Not defective, which is why they clarify the difference between normal LCD color shift, and the yellow tinge problem.

 

[barkingsheltie]

We purchased two 27" imacs for work in late dec 09. One i5, one i7.

One machine didn't come with OS install disk. Apple store response "if 2nd machine came with disk, use that if needed".

Both machines are plagued with the flickering display issue. Brought it up with local Apple store on two occasions, and *genius* try to brush it off (reset PRAM, say 5 hail mary's, "does it really bother you?, etc).

Frustrating. I can appreciate that many customers bring in superfluous complaints, often brought upon by user error; issues such as the imac flickering should be treated somewhat differently, however, even before an official Apple declaration when the problem is reported with some significant frequency in the wild. Especially when an experienced user presents the problem to support.

Uggh. Even with Applecare, I bet it's going to be a struggle to get them to do anything quickly.

Long time Apple user, >20 years. We have 15 macs (5 windows machines).

Anecdotal., but the past decade improvement in sales, support and quality is starting to wan a bit. Perhaps inevitable with their dramatic growth.

Sigh.

 

[HLdan]

Whats the verdict?

Okay, so help me out here, anyone. What am I looking for in terms of yellowing? Warmer colors in certain parts of the screen?

 

[bassplayer13]

....

So, I purchased my new 27" iMac on Dec 23rd and had it delivered on Jan 13th. I don't have the flickering/yellowing issue, but I do have a "dead" pixel in the screen.

What do you think? Is that normal for a screen of this size???

 

[KaneBaker]

So, I purchased my new 27" iMac on Dec 23rd and had it delivered on Jan 13th. I don't have the flickering/yellowing issue, but I do have a "dead" pixel in the screen.

What do you think? Is that normal for a screen of this size???

Generally yes. If it's dead center and red stuck pixel it's bad. But with this pixel density a bunch of black dots I can live with. I used to obsess over those, I'm a bit more practical now though. The flickering however is bad.

 

[unamused]

At least they're fixing it. Give credit where credit's due, ya know?

*facepalm*

so they deserve at most a crumb of credit.... but seriously, after all the denial and attempts to sweep the issue under the rug id be hard pressed to even give them that.

Apple screwed up big time on their "ultimate display"

And before someone says that its the Chinese factory, or Lg's fault... keep in mind Apple is the one that calls the shots, if the factory or supplier THEY CHOSE screws up, it is still Apples responsibility.

Needless to say, I'm glad they are finally addressing the issue and hope that the refurbs with whatever fix they implement (new lcd panel id assume) comes out soon!

 

[danielwsmithee]

I received my 27" i7 iMac in the middle of December the thing is perfect. By far the best computer I have ever used.

I keep hearing about these problems. I'm glad I don't have them I assume the failure rate is still relatively low. Even 0.5% is quite a few people affected though.

Even knowing this issue I'd recommend a 27" iMac to others. Chances are you won't be affected if you are Apple has a strong record of helping people. Certainly better then the experiences I've had with Dell at work ugh.

 

[nicroma]

I have spoken with Apple recently. They are receiving iMacs with the yellow display to do a "case study" on them from customers who have complained. They wouldn't give me a definitive answer if they are fixing them, but they also told me that there is no definite ship time either and that the 3 week time is just an estimate. The rep told me to expect a call when they fix the screen issue and they will replace the defective units.

 

[spcdust]

Has anyone considered that this story possibly doesn't really have any strong journalistic backbone - it's all rumour and hearsay that Apple have halted production. It's just as likely the whole story is based on some lazy "hack" trawling the various threads and posts discussing the issue and conjured the story out of the information contained within them. All these threads speculated that the reason for the delayed orders was because Apple were fixing the issue but this was just pure speculation - no one actually knew. I actually don't think there has been one whole week where orders weren't despatched from China (unless Apple were just sending out the remaining "faulty" inventory they held before some great solution to the issues was implemented).

I'm just being slightly cynical and hopefully I'm in-correct but this sounds like a story created by the forums, reported like it's a fact and that the info came from "an inside source" by a lazy "hack" and ultimately lapped up by forum posters as it's the news they want to hear.

 

[revilo1]

27" iMac ordered Jan 10th / Received next day. ALL GOOD

I Ordered my iMac from MacMall on Monday afternoon and received it next day 9am with $100 Overnight Shipping. This was when The Apple Store had a 2 week wait. MacMall also gave me discount on Applecare and threw in a Printer and Parallels software with Rebates. Sold both on ebay for $170 total.
Ohh and no tax to pay. I'm Happy.
Anybody needing a new 27" iMac NOW call MacMall, talk to a representative and have it by tomorrow.
and..
My 27" i7 iMac runs great. No cracks, no yellow tinge, no start up problems, no problems with video. The top Rear casing does get VERY hot to the touch with continued use... But after reporting concern to applecare with temperature feedback numbers. All is good. I was thinking too good to be true just for a moment.!!
Good Luck.

 

[danielwsmithee]

My 27" i7 iMac runs great. No cracks, no yellow tinge, no start up problems, no problems with video. The top Rear casing does get VERY hot to the touch with continued use... But after reporting concern to applecare with temperature feedback numbers. All is good. I was thinking too good to be true just for a moment.!!
Good Luck.

Yeah the top of mine does get hot especially after a few hours of video encoding or COD4. I wasn't concerned about it because majority of the enclosure stays nice and cool to the touch. It just at the top near the exhaust that gets hot which means the cooling system is working and moving the heat out the top of the iMac.

 

[nelmat]

+1 - same here. Zero, zilch, nada issues.

+3, three arrived first day back in the office in January - no issues, no glitches. Best macs we've ever had in the studio.

 

[gskidmark]

I was going to order a 27" iMac this week but I'm pissed at how poorly Apple is handling this so I'm getting a Dell instead.

Ha! Just kidding. I guess I'm waiting a bit longer...

 

[HLdan]

Sorry, I asked this already but I need help. I just received my i7. What are we looking for in terms of the yellow tinge? Mine is week 5, hard drive is silent, no dead or stuck pixels. I noticed its a bit warmer in the middle of the screen when panning a TextEdit window back and forth. Is that the yellow tinge?

 

[KaneBaker]

Sorry, I asked this already but I need help. I just received my i7. What are we looking for in terms of the yellow tinge? Mine is week 5, hard drive is silent, no dead or stuck pixels. I noticed its a bit warmer in the middle of the screen when panning a TextEdit window back and forth. Is that the yellow tinge?

I/f it doesn't bother you it's likely a non issue.
Pick a neutral solid grey background as your wallpaper and compare. It will either look even grey or be warmer (yellower) in certain areas.

Not a problem on my machine. I got the flicker instead

 

[xraydoc]

Glad things are (finally) getting straightened out. I'm likely to purchase an i7 27" in the next 30 days.

Still debating, though. The 27" i7 iMacs are faster and cheaper than the new base model quad core Mac Pros. I've got a 2006 2.66GHz quad Mac Pro which I wouldn't mind upgrading, but the least expensive Mac Pro I'd consider would be the 2.93GHz quad, which is $3,300 in the configuration I'd want (ATI video, 6GB RAM minimum, wifi).