Apple Cinema Display Shifting Color?

[TheSpaz]

I have a question about my new 20" Apple Cinema Display.

I'm looking at this screen and one side has a slight cyan tint to it and the other side has a slight red tint to it. It really makes grays and whites look odd. Is this a defect or is this acceptable? Should it be one solid shad the whole way from left to right? If not, can I return it for another one?

I'm running this display from my PowerBook G4 1GHz with only 32MB of VRAM. Could the video card play a roll in this?

 

[YS2003]

My 20" ACD is perfect. I know you've been posting lots of posts on screen issues on this and other forums.

 

[TheSpaz]

Okay... I'm torn on what I should do. I still have the same display but, I'm worried that if I return it, I may get one that is worse or I may get one that has dead pixels. According to Apple, their screens can have up to 5 dead pixels and it's still considered to spec. I don't want ANY dead pixels and this display has none. So is it worth it to try and bring it back and I could end up with something I'm still not going to like? Why is this so hard to do? On the other hand, I could return it, get another one and it could be PERFECT. What are the odds of getting a perfect screen? Is it more likely that I'll get a good one or is it more likely I'll get the same or worse?

 

[SMM]

Okay... I'm torn on what I should do. I still have the same display but, I'm worried that if I return it, I may get one that is worse or I may get one that has dead pixels. According to Apple, their screens can have up to 5 dead pixels and it's still considered to spec. I don't want ANY dead pixels and this display has none. So is it worth it to try and bring it back and I could end up with something I'm still not going to like? Why is this so hard to do? On the other hand, I could return it, get another one and it could be PERFECT. What are the odds of getting a perfect screen? Is it more likely that I'll get a good one or is it more likely I'll get the same or worse?

I thought you were worried about the Mac Pro grainy display.

 

[YS2003]

Okay... I'm torn on what I should do. I still have the same display but, I'm worried that if I return it, I may get one that is worse or I may get one that has dead pixels. According to Apple, their screens can have up to 5 dead pixels and it's still considered to spec. I don't want ANY dead pixels and this display has none. So is it worth it to try and bring it back and I could end up with something I'm still not going to like? Why is this so hard to do? On the other hand, I could return it, get another one and it could be PERFECT. What are the odds of getting a perfect screen? Is it more likely that I'll get a good one or is it more likely I'll get the same or worse?

I am also a perfectionist when it comes to expensive screens such as ACDs. I picked up mine at a CompUSA store whose manager in the Apple section said they have the free-of-charge exchange policy for the first 15 days or so if the ACD I find something wrong. Both of my 20" and 23" were from CompUSA (different stores).
Why don't you check out the well-established 3rd party brick-and-mortar retailer if they have a customer-friendly exchange policy?

 

[TheSpaz]

I am also a perfectionist when it comes to expensive screens such as ACDs. I picked up mine at a CompUSA store whose manager in the Apple section said they have the free-of-charge exchange policy for the first 15 days or so if the ACD I find something wrong. Both of my 20" and 23" were from CompUSA (different stores).
Why don't you check out the well-established 3rd party brick-and-mortar retailer if they have a customer-friendly exchange policy?

Okay, I returned my Display for an exchange and the problem is still there but, not as bad so I think I'll keep this one. they didn't even plug it in and look at it... for all they know, it could've been perfectly fine. Anyways... it wasn't fine and I got a new one. This one is actually better, but the effect it still slightly there but, I'll keep it since it's not as apparent. I didn't see this effect happening on the 23" ACD but, the same thing was happening on the 20" Display Model they had out but, that one was worse than this new one. I think it's just how they come... or maybe a bad batch... I wouldn't really classify this as BAD because most people wouldn't even notice it to even care or even if their screen has it... they might not even know it. I think I said before that I work with photos at work and they need to be "color corrected" to be printed on a flexo press and my eyes have become very observant to every color shift such as being able to tell if something is too warm, too cold, too dark, too light and there's very fine adjustments that we do to them to make them look as good on press as they do on screen. Maybe that's why I criticize these displays. However, after all that, I must say that this is a very well built display and the hardware is amazing and the brightness is top notch... whites are very white (unlike my yellowish whites on the PowerBook) and overall I'm satisfied with this display as a whole.

So in conclusion... if you're thinking of getting a high quality widescreen LCD... definitely choose Apple for the most professional looking hardware and sharp image. Trust me, I looked all around for a third party display and they all disappointed me in one way or another. A lot of them felt cheesy or there was too much design to them or ugly buttons on the face of the display. On the other hand, Apple's displays are very sleek and beautiful as well as very very well put together with a nice aluminum case and that solid feel. Also, it's very easy to tilt the display up and down... you almost don't have to use any force yet when you're not touching it, it stays exactly in place. The brightness buttons are on the side and so is the power button (touch buttons). Lastly, there's 2 USB and 2 Firewire ports on the back and there's only 1 cable that pops out the back and it goes through the stand and splits into 1 connector cable and 1 USB cable and 1 Firewire cable (to make the ports on the display work) and the power cable that plugs into the power block which then plugs into the wall or powerstrip. There's my mini-review.

Quality: 10
Design: 10
Ease of use: 10
Ease of setting up: 10
Price: 5
Picture Quality: 8

Overall Rating: 9

 

[YS2003]

I think it all boils down to who has the best product in the market (it would be nearly impossible to find "perfect" products as it is difficult to define what is "perfect" in the computer products or any product for that matter).

I see many LCDs (up to 23-24") at the retail stores such as CompUSA and I simply cannot buy those LCDs because I am already using 2 ACDs and buying those LCDs are like a step-down from my current set up (when I buy new gear, I would make sure it would be a step-up / improvement over my current stet up). I am thinking about getting another 23" ACD as I would like to have ACD for each of my Macs.

 

[TheSpaz]

I just found out last night that my display panel is a little bit loose and when I view an all-black image I can see backlight bleed on almost all sides of the display. Is this a major issue or did I get a bad display... I can only see it when the screen is black and the room is dark but, if I keep all my lights on and use the screen like normal, it's not visible. Should this be enough reason to bring it back... I don't want another blue and pink one.

 

[Neonguy]

I just found out last night that my display panel is a little bit loose and when I view an all-black image I can see backlight bleed on almost all sides of the display. Is this a major issue or did I get a bad display... I can only see it when the screen is black and the room is dark but, if I keep all my lights on and use the screen like normal, it's not visible. Should this be enough reason to bring it back... I don't want another blue and pink one.

Backlight bleed is common on all ACD Monitor. I have never seen anyone tell me yet or post a picture of their ACD that have no have the backlight bleed problem. I exchange 3 ACD and all backlight bleed is there. Yes, it's very annoying watching DVD movies in dark room. Depend on how bad the backlight bleed is you should return it or not. But if your have no dead pixels then definitely keep it, because if you exchange it you mayl get another one with backlight bleed and dead pixels. You should try examine it carefully for stuck pixels too with black background and light turn off. My 3rd ACD have atleast 8 - 10 stucks pixels. I ship it back to Apple right away.

And for the backlight bleed. It does get better after you use it for a long period of time like a weeks. It become more even but it's definitely still there.