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30 inch Cinema Display owners reassure me please :)

AdvocateUK

AdvocateUK

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jan 10, 2008
185
45
Billingham, United Kingdom
Hi all,

I originally bought my '06 spec quad 2.66 Mac Pro with an Apple 23 inch Cinema Display. It wasn't long before I realised I needed the screen real estate of a 30 inch so went ahead and bought one a little under a year ago. As usual with Applecare (I never buy without it).

Anyway, little under a year later and I notice that the 30inch ACD is starting to look a little "yellow" compared to the 23inch ACD next to it. So out comes eye one and I spend a couple of hours calibrating both monitors, to no avail.

Then I notice that it's only the right hand side of the 30inch ACD that looks yellow (I just moved the 23inch ACD to the right of the 30inch ACD) and no matter what I do there is a definite yellow cast to the right hand side of the 30inch ACD.

So today I took the 30inch ACD into my "local" (150 miles away) Apple Store and got a genius to take a look at it. Give her all credit, she took my word for it as on its own the yellow "stain" was hard to see in the store but she has ordered me a replacement anyway.

I'm very worried that the replacement will, in a years time have the same problem. Have I made a mistake buying Apples flagship monitor? What are your experiences with it? Have I just had a dud?

Please reassure me as I really don't want to be back at the Apple Store in a year with the same problem.

Regards

Alistair
 
My ACD is white as can be and has been since I bought it. However, it does have a weird ghosting effect - looks like screen burn on old plasma displays. I've spoken to people at Apple several times now and they all say it'll be easy to replace but I haven't got round to taking it to an Apple store yet. I'll get it done before the Applecare runs out though obviously!!
 
I didn't realise just how much I loved having 30 inches of real estate until I had to use this 23inch as my main monitor lol.

I mentioned to my future wife that maybe I should get another 30 inch but she's convinced that I should buy another 23inch to "even things up" lol

I'm just worried that the next 30inch will have the same problem within a year.
 
wpc33 said:
If you love the monitor, awesome, but the 30" has been so darn long-overdue for a refresh.
Click to expand...

As much as I'd like them to refresh it now so that I can take my current 30" in in three months time and hope for a new model in return, I don't think they'll be releasing new 30" displays any time soon. When they do they obviously want to make it an LED display and right now LED 30" panels are just too darned expensive. They'd have to at least double the cost of the 30" ACD to even break even.

I don't think they're really that bothered anyway. The 24" ACD is clearly marketed mainly as a screen for their laptops first and foremost. They realise that most people only use one display. Mac Mini owners will predominantly use third party displays. IMac owners will simply use their 20" or 24" built in displays (and there's a definite push towards moving the iMac line to all 24). The only area where their main customer base might want an external display is for desktop use of their MacBooks, hence what the 24" ACD is now for. Most Mac Pro users will either use third party displays or Apple's 30" display. Most current 30" ACD purchasers would certainly not be interested if the price were to be doubled. Most would certainly not be interested if it were glossy too.
 
Hmm.. That's odd. If you have Applecare with the panel, why not check it in for service? Or is it just a worthless rant? Non of mine has become yellow over the years and I leave them on almost twenty-four-seven.

wpc33 said:
If you love the monitor, awesome, but the 30" has been so darn long-overdue for a refresh.
Click to expand...

Refreshing the product line won't do much especially since the panels will probably be the same (usually made by LG Philips) And I'd imagine until Dell releases the 3009WFP, Apple won't be releasing a refresh either, as those newer panels are in short supply.
 
After using a 20" ACD for a few years, then upgrading to a new 30" ACD, the 20" looks very yellow in comparison.

I assumed that it was normal for monitors to turn a yellowish tint after being heavily used for a few years, but if yours is only a year old then that probably shouldn't be the case.
 
AdvocateUK said:
I didn't realise just how much I loved having 30 inches of real estate until I had to use this 23inch as my main monitor lol.

I mentioned to my future wife that maybe I should get another 30 inch but she's convinced that I should buy another 23inch to "even things up" lol

I'm just worried that the next 30inch will have the same problem within a year.
Click to expand...


I went from a 23 to a pair of 23s to a 30, then back to the pair of 23s. I realized that for my work, a 30" is pointless since it's not high enough resolution to hold a full-frame 1920x1080 output viewer, as well as timeline, toolbars, file browser, etc etc.

Plus at the end of the day my video card can't handle 2560x1600 gaming :cool:
 
UltraNEO* said:
Hmm.. That's odd. If you have Applecare with the panel, why not check it in for service? Or is it just a worthless rant? Non of mine has become yellow over the years and I leave them on almost twenty-four-seven.
Click to expand...

I don't quite understand what you're getting at. I've got Applecare, I took it in for a Genius to look at, she's replacing it for me. It's not a worthless rant when £1200 worth of monitor develops a fault after just under a year is it?

If there was any way it could be "serviced" I'd have expected the Genius to organise it for me rather than outright replace it.
 
AdvocateUK said:
I don't quite understand what you're getting at. I've got Applecare, I took it in for a Genius to look at, she's replacing it for me. It's not a worthless rant when £1200 worth of monitor develops a fault after just under a year is it?

If there was any way it could be "serviced" I'd have expected the Genius to organise it for me rather than outright replace it.
Click to expand...

Don't worry about the other poster, I think they didn't read your post and thought you were just ranting without taking it in.

Chances are they'll just replace it. I've been told by Apple several times that they usually just replace failed monitors. Its not worth the time or effort to open it up and replace the panels. After all, the panel is about 90% of the cost in materials of the display so why waste the money on man hours to disassemble the thing.
 
AdvocateUK said:
I don't quite understand what you're getting at. I've got Applecare, I took it in for a Genius to look at, she's replacing it for me. It's not a worthless rant when £1200 worth of monitor develops a fault after just under a year is it?

If there was any way it could be "serviced" I'd have expected the Genius to organise it for me rather than outright replace it.
Click to expand...

Who's ranting? :rolleyes: I think with a display, it's practically unrepairable - there's practically zero serviceable parts inside.
Though, if it happened to me, I'd just make a claim for it, say it failed, get a new one within 48hours. After all, that's what's insurance is there for!! :p
Then again, I've yet to experience any actual faults with them... they're much better than some of the other brands in my experience.
 
Toggle

try toggling cmd alt ctrl 8 inverting sometimes shows anomalies better. By the way did youu know that alt and a brightness button opens display preferences ? Likewise alt and volume jumos to sound ?
 
UltraNEO* said:
Who's ranting? :rolleyes: I think with a display, it's practically unrepairable - there's practically zero serviceable parts inside.
Though, if it happened to me, I'd just make a claim for it, say it failed, get a new one within 48hours. After all, that's what's insurance is there for!! :p
Then again, I've yet to experience any actual faults with them... they're much better than some of the other brands in my experience.
Click to expand...


Lol one minute you're asking if it was just a worthless rant and suggesting I get it serviced the next you're saying you'd just get it replaced, which I did. I can't work you out Neo :p

Anyways my replacement should be at the Apple store in a couple of days, which means another 256 mile round trip to collect it which I honestly don't mind.

I'm still a bit worried about how the replacement is going to fare over the next year. I use a 30" and a 23" ACD, with the 23" in Portrait mode, to edit photographs and side by side the 23" has always looked a bit brighter, sharper and whiter than the 30". Who knows maybe I should have taken the 30" back sooner. I really hope I'm pleasantly surprised and get a replacement 30" that is every bit as sharp and bright as the 23" I have :)
 
all of us at work have 30" ACDs and we've not had a single problem with them the past three years. i don't think you should worry about your replacement. they're fantastic monitors.
 
grue said:
I went from a 23 to a pair of 23s to a 30, then back to the pair of 23s. I realized that for my work, a 30" is pointless since it's not high enough resolution to hold a full-frame 1920x1080 output viewer, as well as timeline, toolbars, file browser, etc etc.

Plus at the end of the day my video card can't handle 2560x1600 gaming :cool:
Click to expand...

Huh? I do that all the time. Just put your other junk on the second monitor.
 
OK so I make the 270 miles round trip back to the Apple Store in Manchester to collect my new 30"ACD. Except when I get it home and start unpacking it it doesn't exactly look "new".

I figure maybe they take the monitors in, replace the panel and ship them back out to replace other faulty monitors, and set it up.

Sure enough this monitor doesn't have any yellow cast on it at all, edge to edge white....YAY! Thinks I :)

Unfortunately it DOES have two stuck pixels, one right in the centre of the panel which is stuck bright pink, and one towards the top of the panel, which is stuck dark grey. :(:(:(

Anyone know Apples policy on stuck pixels?

I'm NOT prepared to make another TWO round trips to the Apple Store Manchester to potentially have another dud so this time I'll be doing it all by phone and Apple can couch up the courier charges to have my monitor shipped back and another (I would say new but I really think they replace with refurbished, which I wouldn't mind if it was "like" new, but I digress) sent to me in its place.

*sigh*
 
Sometimes they replace them, sometimes they don't. If its an obvious pixel in the middle of the screen and you can argue that you're a graphics professional who does look at individual pixels then they could replace it. Its a big grey area though, sometimes they do, sometimes they don't. I know that they 100% always replace any iPhone with dead pixels because but I don't think this policy extends to other products. If you do go back and they do give you a replacement then:

Spanky Deluxe said:
You might want to give it a full check over in store before you drive those 128 miles back home. :p
Click to expand...

;) By that I mean plug it into one of their displays there and test it. You're perfectly within your rights to do so.
 
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